Windows 11 users, be careful with the latest update – Microsoft admits it can cause havoc with crashes, endless restarts, and BitLocker woes

KB5043145 is an optional (preview) update, though, so thankfully you don’t have to install it

News By Kristina Terech published 30 September 2024

Last week, Microsoft released an optional update for Windows 11, and unfortunately it has been causing some serious trouble in some cases.

This is an optional update (KB5043145) for Windows 11 23H2 which was supposed to bring some minor quality-of-life improvements, but turned out to pack some unexpected bugs.

In the support document for the update, Microsoft has acknowledged some known issues, with nasty problems including some users being prompted to restart their devices, sometimes multiple times, while others are witnessing their PC locking up with either blue or green screen errors.

Furthermore, some devices open the Windows Automatic Repair tool after multiple restarts, and even BitLocker recovery can pop up in some cases. BitLocker is a Windows security tool that can protect your device’s data by encrypting it, but it’s only available to users of Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. So, if you’re not using those - and most folks reading this will be on Windows 11 Home - you won’t be affected by that particular bug.

We saw BitLocker-related update problems and repeated unprompted restarts earlier in the year, and so these issues seem to be continuing, sadly. 

Investigation is underway - standby for further info

In the support document, Microsoft says that it’s currently investigating these issues and that more information will be provided when available. So for now, we can sit tight and wait for feedback from the software giant.

Remember, though, that this is an optional update - you don’t have to install it and can just steer well clear. I would recommend doing just that with this preview update, especially as we currently aren’t aware of any workarounds for these bugs.

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