Microsoft suspects some PCs might not boot after Windows 11 January 2026 Update

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/01/25/microsoft-suspects-some-pcs-might-not-boot-after-windows-11-january-2026-update-kb5074109/

40•nsoonhui•3h ago

Comments

ronsor•2h ago

I've got to stop doing Windows Updates

blibble•1h ago

just delete the service entirely, same with defender

it's great

my only remaining windows PC is for games, and it's on its own vlan with its own external IP

if it gets hacked: I simply don't care

pilif•1h ago

You should care because once your PC is part of a bot network, it’s part of the problem

blibble•1h ago

it's running Microslop Windows, so it's born compromised

it's an OS with constant built-in ads and spyware

it would have been considered malware in the 2000s

wileydragonfly•47m ago

Herr derr derr!

KMFMS

CamperBob2•43m ago

Not being an incompetent or inexperienced Windows user, I'm vanishingly unlikely to be infected by a bot network trojan... and if that does happen, rest assured, I'll notice it.

Windows Update, on the other hand, is part of my threat model.

brian-armstrong•1h ago

You don't really need Windows for gaming anymore unless you're playing the games that absolutely insist on kernel-level anti-cheat. Proton is extremely good on Linux these days.

blibble•1h ago

I have a 2nd nvme in that machine for bazzite

not quite there for me yet I'm afraid!

jayGlow•35m ago

sometimes games just won't work on Linux, doom the dark ages refuses to work on Linux for me.

fh973•5m ago

VR?

voxadam•1h ago

I suppose that's one way to make Windows secure, keep it from running entirely.

jampa•1h ago

I am glad that I don't need to use Windows anymore. When I did, the LTSC version (the one made for ATM and Kiosks) was the only one that was productivity-friendly.

Microsoft doesn't want to accept that no one cares about Windows, and the OS is the thing that gets you to the thing you want to do.

I saw 2 instances of people getting "updating windows" in their personal laptops when they tried to present something and lost everyone's time. I imagine this happens a lot of times every day. And now they are just breaking everyone's system by forcing updates as well.

MegaDeKay•1h ago

LTSC is what mainstream Windows should be. It doesn't load up a bunch of apps you don't ask for or throw ads in your face all the time. Solid, dependable, reliable, and stable.

kyriakos•1h ago

If nobody cared about windows there wouldn't be any posts like this one everyday on HN. The problem is people do care and need to use windows which makes all these stupidity by Microsoft the recent years frustrating.

jmward01•54m ago

I am personally just a lurker. Windows used to be my only OS for a -very- long time (DOS 2.x, yes 2, was my first MS OS). Now I click on these just to see how far it has fallen. It is like that friend you drifted away from and now you look at their FB posts now and again to watch as they get crazier and crazier.

wileydragonfly•50m ago

But is she still hot, tho?

cjbgkagh•7m ago

bdcravens•1h ago

I switched to Macs almost completely for personal and devlopment use about 13 or 14 years ago. However, last year I started a 3d printing side hustle, and got an HP laptop for running the print studio since the amount of hardware I could get for less than $1000 was hard to ignore. However, things like this, and other weird issues (my fonts have gone all wonky a couple of times after random updates) make me want to switch it over to a Linux distro (even though the software support for what I need is much better in the Windows world, and in some cases, better than even on the Mac)

edg5000•1h ago

> the software support for what I need is much better in the Windows world

Please elaborate; can you name a few tools and what you use them for? Just curious.

wileydragonfly•48m ago

So sayeth the sea lion

kstrauser•26m ago

Not the person you replied to, but I’ll go. Try experimenting with ham radio on anything but Windows. As far as I can tell, they revoke your Apple developer’s license and confiscate your Linux install disks when you start selling radio hardware.

That’s not completely true. There’s good Linux and Mac software for lots of things. But approximately 100% of radio manufacturers ship Windows software. Far fewer support anything else.

I bought a new radio at Christmas. Before buying it, I ruled out alternatives that didn’t have 1st party or good 3rd party support. It’s like trying to buy a scanner in 2003.

leptons•1h ago

Simple fix, move to Linux. (unless you're forced to use it like I am at work, for security theater reasons)

nsoonhui•53m ago

Last Thursday windows 11 forced this update on my Acer machine. It caused me BSOD: inaccessible boot device, so I had to reformat my machine to get Windows running again.

So I am now very wary of this Out of Band Update[0], especially when it's not mentioned whether the latest update solve my issue or not. I don't know the same problem is still there, or whether this update makes the problem any better or worse.

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46750358

pizlonator•49m ago

I had to renuke one of my gaming PCs this month so yeah

Except I think the problem happened just before Jan 13

But symptoms were almost exactly what TFA says

lofaszvanitt•37m ago

And noone asks why Windows looks, feels and operates the way it is. Isn't it strange that a megacorp creates these watermelon headed monstrosities and it gets worse after each iteration?

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