The Windows 11 22H2 mess has become even more confusing, as Microsoft has blocked big feature upgrades on some PCs due to potential gaming and performance issues. Microsoft has removed Windows 11 22H2 versions from its Windows Update server for specific devices after acknowledging reports of problems affecting gaming performance on the machines.
The company said it is working on another cumulative update to address the issue and will release it in the near future.
Version 22H2 of Windows 11 was released in September as part of the normal feature update cycle through Windows Update for all supported versions of Windows. This is the first major feature update for Windows 11, and it comes with many long-awaited new features, which is why many users are eager to download it.
In the documentation, Microsoft acknowledges NVIDIA’s statement that Windows 11 accidentally turns on “GPU performance debugging”.
One of the most frustrating issues with Windows 11 is that it affects gamers, with some users complaining of a drop in FPS when playing games. Uninstalling the update fixes the issue, confirming speculation that the problem lies in a feature upgrade. 22H2 for Windows 11 made gaming performance worse, audio was also affected, and some people noticed frequent lagging.
NVIDIA itself has been looking into these reports, and they’ve also released two official fixes via the GeForce application and driver updates, but the chipmaker’s efforts alone are not enough.
After ignoring the reports for weeks, Microsoft is now actively investigating the issue, and the company has pulled updates for the affected machines.
The tech giant said it is making adjustments for cumulative updates, and it also reminded users not to use the “Update Now” button or the media creation tool to manually upgrade until the issue is resolved.
Windows Insiders have been testing the feature upgrade for months, and the issue was flagged by some testers earlier this year. Some highlighted performance issues with Windows 11 22H2 in March itself, but it looks like those reports were missed by Microsoft, and the company released this update without addressing the issues. There have also been reports of other issues with the update.
We can only hope that Microsoft will be able to address these issues in the coming weeks, but the Windows 11 2022 update does seem to be more stable than previous Windows 10 feature updates. For the most part, the problems were not too wide and were quickly resolved.
