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Microsoft is reportedly shifting Windows 11 engineering toward improving performance, reliability, and overall user experience in an effort to rebuild trust after ongoing complaints about buggy updates and UI issues. Reporting cites an internal focus on “swarming” to address core problems, following high-visibility failures such as boot issues after a January 2026 security update and prior updates that disrupted recovery and reinstall workflows.
In parallel, user-facing friction around Windows 11’s TPM 2.0 hardware requirement continues to drive “unsupported” upgrade behavior. Guidance circulated on how to bypass Microsoft’s compatibility checks to install Windows 11 on otherwise capable Windows 10-era systems that lack TPM 2.0, framed against Microsoft’s end of Windows 10 support and upgrade prompts encouraging users to buy new hardware; the article also reiterates TPM’s role as a security component for protecting keys and mitigating certain risks.
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Microsoft said at WinHEC 2026 that it is launching a Driver Quality Initiative to improve Windows 11 stability, reliability, and security by tightening driver standards, expanding quality metrics beyond crashes, and improving driver lifecycle management in Windows Update. The company also said it will stop downgrading graphics drivers, with changes rolling out over the coming months; AMD publicly backed the effort.
Microsoft said some Windows 11 updates may intentionally take longer to install because the OS performs automatic background recovery when installation problems are detected, aiming to improve success rates and reduce abrupt failures. The company also described Windows Update control changes, including preventing forced installs via Shut down/Restart when updates are deferred and allowing more flexible pausing beyond the prior five-week limit.
Microsoft said it was following through on its March 2026 pledge to improve Windows 11, outlining changes such as a simplified Insider channel structure, more user control over feature testing and updates, reduced Copilot visibility, quieter Widgets defaults, and File Explorer fixes. The company also said it was reducing memory use, improving shell responsiveness, and tuning scheduler performance, with some changes already live for retail users and more planned for the May 2026 Patch Tuesday release.
Microsoft began shipping Windows 11 Insider builds with broad reliability, performance, and security improvements affecting components such as File Explorer, taskbar, Settings, clipboard history, storage, Windows Hello, and input systems. The changes are expected to reach general users via the April optional update and the May 2026 security update, and include kernel trust hardening for cross-signed drivers and a secure processing mode for batch files.
According to reporting cited by Tom's Hardware, Microsoft began an internal effort described as 'swarming' to address longstanding Windows 11 complaints around performance, reliability, and user experience. Windows and devices president Pavan Davuluri said Insider feedback on fixing core issues had been 'loud and clear.'
ZDNET published a step-by-step method for installing Windows 11 on PCs blocked by Microsoft's compatibility checks, using Rufus to remove TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and RAM requirements from installation media. The article argued that many older systems can still run Windows 11 despite being deemed incompatible.
Reports emerged that a January 2026 Windows security update caused boot failures on some systems. The issue was cited as a recent example of the reliability problems affecting Windows 11's reputation.
Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 last October, increasing pressure on users to move to Windows 11 or buy newer hardware. This change is cited as a key reason users are seeking ways to upgrade unsupported PCs.
At launch, Windows 11 drew criticism for requiring features such as TPM 2.0 and for user experience and performance issues compared with Windows 10. These requirements left some otherwise capable PCs officially unsupported for upgrade.
Before the latest reports, Microsoft said it would improve Windows 11 gaming performance and BitLocker-related storage performance. The references cite these as part of ongoing efforts to address complaints about the OS.
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Microsoft reported **over 1 billion monthly active Windows 11 users**, but user sentiment remains negative, with prominent complaints focused on **buggy updates**, perceived reliability regressions, and unwanted feature changes (including AI-related additions). Microsoft leadership publicly acknowledged the feedback and said the company will prioritize **performance, reliability, and overall user experience** improvements to rebuild trust. Microsoft also released the **KB5074105** optional *non-security* preview cumulative update for Windows 11 (24H2/25H2), positioned as an end-of-month quality update ahead of the next Patch Tuesday. KB5074105 includes dozens of changes and targets operational issues including **boot problems** (e.g., startup hangs when Windows Boot Manager debugging is enabled and iSCSI boot failures with `Inaccessible Boot Device`), **sign-in issues** (including `Explorer.exe` hanging on first login under certain startup-app configurations), and **activation/license migration failures** during upgrades when devices cannot register with the Windows Activation server; the update is available via Windows Update or manual download from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
Jun 29, 2026
Microsoft began rolling out **Windows 11 preview updates** for versions **25H2 and 24H2** (including the optional non-security preview update `KB5074105` and Release Preview builds `26200.7701`/`26100.7701`) focused on functionality, performance, and reliability improvements rather than patching new security vulnerabilities. The updates emphasize expanded **AI-driven experiences** (including refinements to Copilot+ PC-related models and more natural-language assistance within Settings), along with usability changes and a simplified Windows update title format intended to reduce administrative friction in tools like **WSUS** and **Microsoft Configuration Manager**. Alongside these feature updates, Microsoft highlighted an operational security risk: **Windows Secure Boot certificates** used by most Windows devices are expected to begin expiring in **June 2026**, and organizations that do not update Certificate Authority (CA) material in time may face devices that cannot boot securely. Separately, consumer guidance circulated on bypassing Windows 11 hardware eligibility checks (notably **TPM 2.0** requirements) to upgrade “unsupported” PCs; while this may extend device usability after Windows 10 support ended, it can also undermine Microsoft’s intended security baseline and increase enterprise risk if adopted outside controlled policy.
Jun 29, 2026
Microsoft attributed **Windows 11 no-boot failures** seen after installing the January 2026 cumulative update `KB5074109` (Windows 11 **24H2/25H2**) to devices that had previously **failed to install the December 2025 security update** and were left in an “**improper state**” after rollback. Affected systems can crash on startup with a BSOD `UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME`; Microsoft said the issue appears limited to **physical devices** (no confirmed VM impact) and is working on a **partial mitigation** to prevent additional systems from entering a no-boot scenario, while continuing to investigate why some devices fail updates or end up unstable after rollback. Separately, Microsoft’s recent Windows 11 servicing and security work included **deliberately disabling legacy dial-up modem drivers** (e.g., `AGRSM64.SYS`/`AGRSM.SYS`, `SMSERL64.SYS`/`SMSERIAL.SYS`) due to reported vulnerabilities including **CVE-2023-31096** (EoP) and **CVE-2025-24052** (stack-based buffer overflow), which can present risk even if the modem hardware is unused—at the cost of breaking connectivity for niche systems relying on those drivers. Microsoft also patched **nine bypasses** reported by Google Project Zero that could undermine the new **Windows Administrator Protection** feature by enabling silent admin privilege gains via legacy Windows/UAC behaviors (including a token/Logon Sessions-related technique involving `NtQueryInformationToken` and DOS device object directory creation), ahead of broader availability beyond Insider builds.
Jun 29, 2026