Microsoft Admits Most Major Windows 11 Core Features Are Broken

A Challenging Period for Microsoft

This past fortnight has undoubtedly presented a series of difficulties for Microsoft. Just today, the company resolved an outage affecting Microsoft 365, which rendered numerous files inaccessible. Such downtimes have become alarmingly frequent, raising concerns among users and IT departments alike.

Windows Performance Issues Arise

The challenges extend beyond Microsoft 365. On the Windows front, Nvidia has placed blame on Microsoft for performance disruptions linked to its latest Patch Tuesday update. In response, Nvidia has issued an emergency hotfix driver to mitigate these gaming issues.

Backlash from Recent Developments

Adding to Microsoft’s challenges is the recent criticism directed at the company’s Windows leadership. Just earlier this week, concerns were raised regarding the transition of Windows into an agentic operating system, which has fueled dissatisfaction among users.

Microsoft Acknowledges Windows Issues

On a more positive note, amidst the backlash, Microsoft publicly acknowledged the issues plaguing Windows. According to a newly released support article, the company admitted that nearly every core feature of Windows 11 is facing difficulties, particularly concerning XAML, which impacts critical Shell components like the Start Menu, Taskbar, Explorer, and Windows Settings.

Long-Standing Problems Finally Recognized

Interestingly, while Microsoft has chosen to formally recognize these issues in November 2025, many of these problems have been ongoing since the July 2025 Patch Tuesday update (KB5062553).This means that users have been dealing with these complications for about four months. Furthermore, as Windows 11 version 25H2 shares the same codebase with version 24H2, the current feature update is also affected.

Specific Issues and Workarounds

According to the support article, the problems can manifest when provisioning a PC where users encounter errors with various applications like StartMenuExperienceHost, Search, SystemSettings, Taskbar, and Explorer. The company specifies that these challenges occur during:

The first login of a user after applying a cumulative update.
All user logins to a non-persistent OS installation, such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), where application packages must be reinstalled each time a user logs in.

Provisioning, for context, refers to how administrators configure devices by deploying specific settings and policies on client PCs. Microsoft explains that issues have arisen due to updates to Windows’ XAML component and related package updates affecting several core services.

Identified Failures and Recovery Options

Microsoft has outlined several dependent Shell components that may encounter failures, including:

Explorer.exe crashing unexpectedly
Shellhost.exe crashes
Issues with StartMenuExperienceHost
System Settings may fail to launch altogether
Application crashes upon initializing XAML views
Explorer may run without a visible taskbar
Failures in initializing other XAML island views
Concerns with ImmersiveShell

In response to these issues, Microsoft is currently working on a fix but has provided two workarounds for users:

Option 1: Restarting the Shell Infrastructure Host Service

Restarting the Shell Infrastructure Host (SIHost.exe) service can help restore missing Immersive Shell packages. Users can execute the following commands:

Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows. Client. CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft. UI. Xaml. CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows. Client. Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode

Option 2: PowerShell Logon Script

The second workaround involves implementing a PowerShell script that prevents Explorer from launching prematurely until all necessary packages are provisioned. The following batch script can be utilized:

@echo off REM Register MicrosoftWindows. Client. CBS powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows. Client. CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode" REM Register Microsoft. UI. Xaml. CBS powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft. UI. Xaml. CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode" REM Register MicrosoftWindows. Client. Core powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows. Client. Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"

For further details and guidance, you can access the complete support article here under KB5072911 on Microsoft’s official website.

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