It exclusively impacted the Enterprise and IoT variants of Windows 11 23H2, and a critical repair is currently available.
It exclusively impacted the Enterprise and IoT variants of Windows 11 23H2, and a critical repair is currently available.
Microsoft issued its initial security update of 2026 for Windows 11 on January 13th. Just four days later, it had to release an emergency out-of-band update to address some significant bugs that arose.
The security update was causing certain systems to fail to shut down or hibernate correctly, and was also hindering some users from accessing their machines via remote desktop. The problem with the shutdown bug was confined to devices still running Windows 11 23H2, specifically those using either the Enterprise or IoT editions. Nonetheless, this is merely the latest problematic update that has compelled Microsoft to roll out an out-of-band update, which used to be quite uncommon, but appears to be growing more prevalent nowadays.
As per the changelog:
Microsoft has noted problems upon the installation of the January 2026 Windows security update. In response to these problems, an out-of-band (OOB) update was issued today, January 17, 2026.
– Failures in connection and authentication within remote connection applications: This issue impacts multiple platforms including Windows 11, version 25H2; Windows 10, version 22H2 ESU; and Windows Server 2025. Refer to the end of this message for the full list of impacted products.
– Devices utilizing Secure Launch may struggle to shut down or enter hibernation: This particular bug solely affects Windows 11, version 23H2.
Update January 18th: Provided additional details clarifying that only Windows 11 23H2 was impacted.
