Microsoft’s first Windows 11 update of 2026 goes wrong—here’s what happened

Microsoft’s first Windows 11 security update of 2026 has quickly turned into another 'patch-after-the-patch' moment — after a bug left some PCs unable to shut down or enter hibernation, prompting the company to release an emergency out-of-band fix.

According to The Verge, the January 13 security update caused shutdown and hibernation failures on a limited set of machines running Windows 11 23H2, specifically Enterprise and IoT editions with Secure Launch enabled. The same update also triggered remote desktop connection and authentication failures, affecting multiple Windows versions beyond Windows 11.

Microsoft confirmed the problems in its official Windows Message Center, saying it identified issues after the January 2026 security update and issued an out-of-band (OOB) update on January 17, 2026 to address them.

The company’s release health notes for Windows 11 23H2 describe the shutdown issue as resolved through the OOB patch KB5077797, which is available via the Microsoft Update Catalog and is also expected to be included in updates released after January 17.

While the shutdown bug was tied to Windows 11 23H2, Microsoft said the remote connection failures reached further — listing impacts across platforms including Windows 11 25H2, Windows 10 22H2 ESU, and Windows Server 2025, among others.

The rapid turnaround has drawn attention because out-of-band updates are typically reserved for urgent fixes outside the usual Patch Tuesday cycle — and their frequency has become more noticeable as Windows updates increasingly land at scale across mixed enterprise environments.