Microsoft released the October cumulative update KB5031354 to Windows 11, aimed at fixing various types of bugs and providing some functionality updates. However, as in the past, this update also brought new problems to some users.
A large number of users have reported that Windows 11 KB5031354 fails to install on some systems and causes File Explorer, games to crash.
Among them, installation error reporting as well as cyclic installation is the most common kind of problem, with error codes including 0x800f0922, 0x80070002, 0x800f0900 and so on. Of course, after some users encounter the error report, the system will usually continue to download and repeat the installation, and then continue to loop.
These users have tried the following solutions, but unfortunately, none of them worked:
- Delete the SoftwareDistribution folder.
- Windows Update Troubleshooting.
- Windows 11 Installation Assistant.
- Manual installation through the Microsoft Update Catalog.
- Running SFC scannow and other system integrity checks.
It is worth mentioning that some users who have installed KB5031354 are experiencing File Explorer crashes, for example, this user clicks on the Start menu and then selects File Explorer or clicks on the Settings app and it crashes, and then the desktop icon or the taskbar suddenly blinks, which means that explorer.exe just crashed and then restarted itself.
This phenomenon will only appear in a small number of PCs, and will not affect all users, we here recommend that users encountering such problems temporarily uninstall the update and choose to pause the update, and wait for Microsoft’s subsequent fix.
According to the feedback from Microsoft forums, there are still some Win11 users who can’t start their virtual machines after installing the update, but it seems that only virtual machines with “Safe Boot” enabled will be affected.
In addition to this, AMD users have reported that after installing KB5031354, they found that their profiles reset every time they restarted their computers. This means that there is a conflict between Win11 and AMD that prevents the system from saving AMD profiles, so we also recommend uninstalling the update for users who need to overclock or downclock.
It’s worth noting that KB5031354 also seems to cause some games to crash, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, though the issue mainly affects NVIDIA users. Users have reported that the logs in the Event Viewer show that such game crashes point to the Nvidia GeForce driver, but uninstalling the update solves the problem.
Additionally, some users have reported that they are experiencing a drop in-game FPS. This issue only affects systems running the Windows 11 October 2023 Cumulative Update, and removing the patch will resolve the issue.
