Microsoft confirms new Windows update is sending PCs into recovery

Windows has had a hell of a week as last Friday, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike rolled out an update that caused approximately 8.5 million Windows machines to be thrown into infinite boot loops.

2

While the fault of the global outage that disrupted airlines, banks, telecommunications systems, supermarkets, and point of sale systems lies at the feet of CrowdStrike and not Microsoft, the Redmond company was lumped into the negative wave of press simply because it was their platform the disruption occurred on. Unfortunately, Microsoft has another negative press story that perhaps wouldn't even be discussed if the CrowdStrike meltdown didn't happen.

Microsoft has confirmed a security update for Windows 11 is sending PCs into recovery. The fault was spotted by BleepingComputer, which states the fault affects versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft confirmed this via an update on its Windows release health dashboard where it explained that users may see a "BitLocker recovery screen upon booting your device".

Microsoft wrote that this error "does not commonly appear after a Windows update" and that "You are more likely to face this issue if you have the Device Encryption option enabled in Settings under Privacy & Security -> Device encryption." Users presented with the BitLocker recovery screen will be required to enter the 48-digit-long BitLocker encryption key. Once entered, the user will be able to access the drive normally.

Affected Windows Versions (Client/Server)

• Client: Windows 11 version 23H2, Windows 11 version 22H2, Windows 11 version 21H2, Windows 10 version 22H2, Windows 10 version 21H2.
• Server: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008.