Microsoft has acknowledged and issued a fix for an issue in the latest Windows 11 builds that some users reported. It bricked a whole bunch of features in the upcoming OS.
Namely, the Taskbar, the Start Menu, and even Explorer.
The problem is rather widespread, and users who installed either build 22000.176 or build 22449 were said to be affected. These are, of course, the latest preview releases of the operating system available in the Beta and Dev channels, respectively.
Testers report a range of issues on the Feedback Hub, and they apparently all stem from a single cause.
This is how it looked for these users:
Basically, the Taskbar broke, which made the rest of the user interface pretty much useless for those who were plagued by this pesky little bug.
Thank you again for your patience #WindowsInsiders – If you were impacted by this issue, you can use the steps added to the top of these blog posts to get back into a working state on your PC:
Build 22000.176 https://t.co/dpwehA9nTJ
Build 22449 https://t.co/oathE7BE5U https://t.co/ouO6sh8vLj— Windows Insider Program (@windowsinsider) September 3, 2021
Thankfully, Redmond was quick to acknowledge the problem and was even quicker to release a workaround that resolves the issue on the affected systems.
- Open the Task Manager by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys.
- Choose More details at the bottom of the Task Manager to expand it.
- Go to File, and choose Run new task.
- Type cmd in the Open field.
- Paste the following: reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\IrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0
- Hit Enter, and your PC should reboot.
Everything should be back to normal after the restart, with your Taskbar, Start Menu, and File Explorer appearing once again as they were.
If you are still unable to access these elements, then uninstalling the update may be in order.
You can do so by going to the Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features and then clicking on the View Installed Updates option. Here, you will need to select the KB5006050 update and then uninstall it to get your system back to its previous state.
Some users also tried a different workaround where they changed their clock 24 hours into the future. Going forward by one day into the future, rebooting, and then changing it back again also seems to seal the deal for these folks.
