Microsoft Admits Windows 11 Update Is Nuking System Drives but There's 'A Limited Number Of Reports'
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Windows 11 has another serious bug hidden in the January update, and this is a showstopper that means affected PCs fail to boot up.
Neowin reports that Microsoft has acknowledged the bug with a message as flagged up via the Ask Woody forums: "Microsoft has received a limited number of reports of an issue in which devices are failing to boot with stopcode 'UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME', after installing the January 2026 Windows security update, released January 13, 2026, and later updates.
"Affected devices show a black screen with the message 'Your device ran into a problem and needs a restart. You can restart.' At this stage, the device cannot complete startup and requires manual recovery steps."
[...] So, the good news is that we're told there's a limited impact here, so not many PCs are hit by the bug according to Microsoft. The company said that the issues pertain to Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2.
The not-so-great news is that it's a nasty bug, and as Microsoft notes, you'll need to go through a manual recovery, meaning using the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). That can be used to try and repair the system, returning it to a functional state.
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