Summary
- Windows 11 24H2 update breaks core shell components—Explorer, Start menu, and Settings crash.
- XAML packages fail to register in time after updates, causing many app XAML views to crash.
- Users are unhappy; Microsoft risks losing people to alternatives unless it improves fast.
Windows 11 hasn't had the best of years. We've seen it break spectacularly a few times, such as when theWindows Recovery Environment stopped working properly. We also had a bit of an issue when peoplecouldn't migrate from Windows 10 to 11 mere days from the end-of-life deadline.
However, it doesn't seem like Microsoft's woes are over yet. The company has announced a few issues that have arisen since the Windows 11, 24H2 update, and, uh...it looks pretty dire.
7 design flaws in Windows 11 Microsoft still hasn't fixed
What are we waiting for?
Windows 11's core components are a bit of a mess right now, says Microsoft
The company describes the issues on a Microsoft support page titled "KB5072911: Multiple symptoms occur after provisioning a PC with a Windows 11, version 24H2 update" (thanks for the spot,Neowin!). Microsoft says that the Windows 11 24H2 update is causing problems when someone logs into their Windows system after applying a cumulative update.
Here are the shell components and symptoms that got hit with this bug:
- explorer.exe
- shelhost.exe
- StartMenuExperienceHost
- Application crashes when initializing the XAML views
- Explorer running but no taskbar window.
- other XAML island views fail to initialize.
- ImmersiveShell
- Explorer crashes
- TheStart menu fails to launch, often displaying a critical error message
- System Settings.Start >Settings >System silently fails to launch
- ShellHost.exe crashes
- Application crashes when initializing XAML views
- Explorer running but no taskbar window
- other XAML island views fail to initialize
That's, uh...that's a lot of important user-facing processes having problems. I don't think it should be doing all that.
Microsoft pins the blame on "applications have dependency on XAML packages that are not registering in time after installing the update." The company does detail some solutions for this problem in its blog post, but for the most part, getting this issue fixed is very much in Microsoft's court. As such, all we can really do is hang tight and wait for a Windows update to fix everything.
Microsoft needs to be careful with how it handles its operating system these days. While it used to have a strong grip on its userbase, we're seeing signs that people are beginning to wriggle out of it. For instance, people have united invoicing their distaste for the new agentic Windows experience that Microsoft is trying to push. At the same time, a Linux distro aimed at a comfortable experience for Windows escapeessaw 780,000 downloads in the space of a month from Microsoft's userbase. Windows users are getting uncomfortable, and Microsoft needs to up its game if it wants to keep them around.
