Windows 11: 3 patches destroy start menu – Microsoft takes emergency measure

The KB5015814 update released for the July 2022 patchday can damage the Windows 11 start menu. This has been known for a few days. But now Windowslatest reports that the optional update KB5015882 is also causing problems. KB5015882 was supposed to solve problems with File Explorer. But KB5015882 can also paralyze the Windows 11 start menu: The start menu can no longer be opened, even if you click on the start button or press the Windows key. Microsoft has now confirmed this.

In the case of KB5015882, Microsoft solves the problem with a so-called Known Issue Rollback (KIR): KB5015882 is therefore automatically rolled back and Microsoft also applies the same emergency solution to KB5015814. Restarting Windows 11 can speed up the removal of both patches.

In June 2022, Microsoft released an optional update with KB5014668 that was supposed to solve some problems with Windows. You can read details about this in the message Windows 10 & 11: Microsoft is bringing important repair updates – this is how you install them. This KB5014668 is specially designed for Windows 11 machines.

But Microsoft has stopped the delivery of KB5014668 and is also rolling back updates that have already been delivered. Microsoft also uses a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) for this. The reason for the known issue rollback is the same as with KB5015882 and KB5015814: Because KB5014668 also causes problems and can damage the Windows 11 start menu. According to the US IT news site Betanews, the affected users were unable to open the start menu by clicking on the start button or by pressing the Windows key. Microsoft first noticed this problem with the already mentioned update KB5015814.

Microsoft only speaks of a “small number of devices that are no longer able to open the start menu”. However, the problem is obviously so serious that Microsoft decides to use the KIR method again.

The Known Issue Rollback (KIR) starts automatically on private user computers and on company computers that are not managed centrally (Windows 11 Enterprise PCs managed centrally in the company, on the other hand, require a special group policy, as Microsoft explains). By restarting the Windows PC, users can accelerate the start of KIR.

Presumably only a few Windows users are actually affected by this problem because KB5014668 is an optional update that is not automatically installed on Windows computers. According to previous plans, only the final version of KB5014668 should be released on Windows 11 computers for the next Microsoft patch day in August 2022. However, this will only be the case if Microsoft has fixed the start menu problems caused by KB5014668 by then.