New Windows 11 update fails to install for some, and I'm hardly surprised at that – but some other reported bugs sound more worrying

Yahoo

5 days ago

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A new update for Windows 11 24H2 is failing to install for some
While this has happened before, reports seem more prevalent with the July update
There are also other concerns such as overheating issues and buggy mouse behavior
Windows 11's latest update (for version 24H2) is refusing to install for some folks – which isn't a new problem – and there are scattered reports of other concerning issues with the July update.
Windows Latest reports that it suffered an installation failure itself, whereby the update appeared to work, but upon rebooting to finish, Windows 11 ending up rolling back the upgrade (with an error).
Numerous readers of the tech site have echoed that experience, with the July update either failing completely for them (not even reaching the reboot phase) or getting stuck before hitting 100%. There are other reports of the update actually freezing the PC, requiring a hard reset, too.
On top of that, there are multiple complaints on Reddit about installation failures, all of which are happening with the usual weird and unhelpful error codes (such as '0x8007371b' to pick an example, which means precisely nothing – and Googling won't help either).
In that Reddit thread, there are also various reports of all kinds of issues, some of which may only be affecting individual users – and which may be outliers with their system – but there are a few notable bugs that pop up repeatedly.
They include a user's mouse stuttering after applying the update – or the "mouse blinking the loading icon every two seconds" – as well as general performance issues, and crackling audio in a couple of cases.
Some folks are also encountering heat-related issues, with one complaint that the update made a Snapdragon X Plus laptop run hotter. Another person said their notebook is also struggling with heat and high GPU usage, with others observed high CPU temperatures.
There are also a fair few problems reported with USB peripherals and docks.
Finally, Microsoft said an issue with the Windows 11 firewall whereby it's logging errors that are actually false, has been resolved with the July update, but a lot of users are stating that it hasn't.
So, if you see firewall-related errors at all, just ignore them. The good thing is this is a completely harmless bug, and nothing is actually amiss with the system firewall. The error messages themselves are the errors, ironically.
Analysis: keep a watchful eye on these bugs
While complaints about updates failing aren't uncommon, there appear to be more than normal with this most recent update for Windows 11. Okay, so the odds are very much that you won't run into this bug, and these are likely still relatively isolated incidents in the bigger picture. However, the fact that these issues seem more prevalent than usual is still a red flag.
If you encounter such an installation failure, you can try to manually install the July update instead (from the Microsoft Update Catalog). I wouldn't recommend that for anybody but more tech-savvy Windows 11 users, mind – for most folks, I would just suggest you wait until the installation problems are ironed out by Microsoft. Yes, you will be without the latest security patches for a while, which isn't ideal – so bear that in mind and be extra safe in terms of your browsing (or other computing) habits.
(There's no guarantee a manual install will work, either, it's worth remembering – some on Reddit have observed that only a full reinstallation of Windows 11 did the trick for them, which is obviously a very drastic step to take. An in-place upgrade is another option explained in that post, though again this is only for the more technically confident).
The promised firewall solution – which doesn't work – is an odd one, though a fix failing to actually resolve a bug as intended is hardly a first for Microsoft. Still, it isn't an actual problem, as noted.
Some of the overheating issues are far more worrying, but as reports are still relatively thin on the ground, we can't jump to conclusions just yet. These are definitely worth monitoring, though, to see if more complaints along these lines pop up. Ditto with the erratic mouse behavior and glitches with USB peripherals.
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