This, of course, is the latest version of the operating system that just launched.

According to Redmond, clips that are recorded using Xbox Game Bar might encounter audio sync issues, especially when using the Record Last 30 seconds feature. The company considers this problem serious enough to issue an upgrade block.

This means that if you previously used the capture feature in Xbox Game Bar, the Windows 11 2022 Update will not be available until the software titan provides a permanent fix.

Interestingly, the bug affects more than just the Xbox Game Bar. Microsoft confirmed that video recording apps that use the same underlying Windows libraries and APIs may also be affected. In other words, this is a problem deep within the system, not just the Game Bar.

Thankfully, the problem is not widespread and only affects Windows 11 2022 Update, not the older versions and variants of the OS.

However, those of you who are already using the latest Windows 11 release can resolve the problem by downloading the optional KB5018496 cumulative update. It is in preview right now and will arrive for all users later this month, when this upgrade block will be lifted.

Gamers will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as they update their gaming systems to the most recent version.

Not that many of them are keen to hop onto the latest that Microsoft has to offer. Windows 11 is finding it a bit of a steep climb, convincing gamers that it is the best of the bunch.

Hopefully, the numbers next month make for a more pleasant read.

This is another feature that the first feature update for the OS is not playing nicely with.

And Microsoft itself has confirmed this.

According to the software giant’s latest, users of the 22H2 release could experience problems with Windows Hello authentication. The various sign-in methods for the feature, such as face recognition, fingerprint, or regular PIN, may not work as intended.

Redmond makes clear that this new bug affects folks who set up Windows Hello before installing the Windows 11 2022 Update. The problem will not surface for those who have enabled Windows Hello after upgrading to this newest version of Windows 11.

But there is a bit of a silver lining amidst all this if you will.

That is the fact that botched Windows Hello does not result in users being fully locked out of their systems. Windows 11, as you can imagine, falls back to Microsoft Account or those good old offline account passwords if it finds the feature unavailable.

That said, Microsoft has applied a compatibility hold to protect users from what is a frustrating experience. Affected systems will not get the Windows 11 2022 Update until the company provides a permanent fix to this pesky problem.

There is a timeline for when that will happen. Microsoft plans to remove the safeguard sometime in the middle of October 2022, but you can expect the bugfix to arrive in the Patch Tuesday updates that arrive today.

The good thing is that you can bypass this particular problem by installing KB5017389, which the keenest mind among you may recall is the first optional cumulative update that the company is testing for Windows 11 22H2.

Nevertheless, Windows Hello has joined the growing list of known issues in Microsoft’s latest operating system. That is why it might be better not to force the update, wait it out, and stay on the initial version of the OS until the company gets a better handle on things.

The slow file copy problem has been plaguing many folks.

Microsoft confirmed this niggle that led to massive slowdowns in copy speeds of large files when done remotely on a Windows 11 22H2 system. The software titan said that it observed around 40% lower speeds being witnessed.

However, users are reporting even worse performance hits due to this bug.

Some are even claiming dips of up to 100%, as strange as it sounds:

“I would just want to correct 40% slower statement from Ned, im seeing way over 100% difference on setups like 10gb NICs (5gb/s vs 2gb/s) difference, or on SMB multi channel setups with multiple gigabit NICs.”

How that is possible is anyone’s guess, but it is clear that something very sinister is at play here that tanks the throughput to this degree.

And while the initial impression was the that issue affected the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol mainly, Ned Pyle from Microsoft has confirmed that their initial suspicion was way off. Apparently, the problem exists somewhere else.

His words:

“I can’t share too many details yet, but we know exactly where it is getting slower in Kernel, nothing to do with SMB or compression.”

Gulp!

A kernel issue, eh?

Nevertheless, Microsoft has provided a detailed workaround for users struggling with this problem. You can follow that to get some breathing space while the company works to finally nail this issue right in the source—wherever that is.

The software titan has confirmed that it is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

Microsoft has officially confirmed this bug lives in the latest version of its operating system, which thankfully is not a problem in the initial release of Windows 11. Thus if you are still rocking the vanilla OS, you will not encounter this.

So, what’s exactly the issue, you ask?

Well, this post on the Tech Community forums has Ned Pyle, the Principal Program Manager in the Windows Server engineering group, sharing the details.

Users are warned about performance degradation when copying large files from a remote computer to a system running the latest version of Windows 11. Apparently, users who do this experience massive slowdowns.

The throughput is up to 40% lower due to the presence of this bug in the Windows 11 2022 Update.

Interestingly, the bug is not exclusive to SMB. That is to say, users might notice performance dips even when copying local files. SMB, of course, is the Server Message Block network file-sharing protocol that comes into play when moving files.

While Microsoft is busy investigating the issue and figuring out a fix, affected customers can, in the meantime, use robocopy or copy commands with the /j parameter to restore the lost performance.

Expect to hear more from the company on this bug.

There were few who believed this was a new design change that Microsoft was perhaps testing.

Apparently not.

The main man, Brandon LeBlanc, himself has confirmed that this looks like a bug and that the software titan is not conducting any A/B tests for this feature. The Senior Program Manager on the Windows Insider Team says that this is simply something that alters the normal functioning of the user interface.

This looks like a bug. There are a few bugs like this that change the UI in various ways. It's not something we're doing any A/B testing on.

— Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) August 5, 2022

Of course, as you would expect, there is no shortage of users who want to make this bug a reality.

They are asking Microsoft to make this a feature and allow Windows 11 users to round the corners of the Taskbar to better align with the rest of the operating system’s user interface, which is—shall we say—very well rounded.

Whether something like this actually happens is still up in the air.

However, this undocumented feature appeared for users who downloaded Windows 11 build 25174.1000 from the Dev channel. This was earlier the case with build 25131, which also made the corners round and added several Microsoft Store updates.

Only this time, there is evidence to back up this claim.

The Reddit user indicated that the rounded corners appeared randomly and did not disappear even after trying to update the display drivers. It did, however, disappear after restarting explorer.exe via Command Prompt.

Bugs work in mysterious ways!

At least when it is working.

Microsoft has confirmed—through a post on Reddit, of all things—that there are reports of users encountering some challenges while using the service. Technical errors with the Collections feature on the Edge browser are preventing users from viewing their saved images and videos on other devices.

In fact, some folks have lodged complaints that they are unable to enable or disable the feature in their profile settings altogether. In certain cases, their changes do not appear on their other devices.

A signal that something sinister is at play here.

On the bright side, Microsoft has indicated that they are aware of the issue, and the Edge development team is currently working on a way to resolve it. Bug fixes are coming soon, likely with the next version of the browser, Edge 104, for desktop, which should be available early next month.

According to the Edge Community Manager, Redmond will also fix the broken Collection sync button in the next Android release.

Aside from quashing bugs like these, the Edge team is also busy adding new features to Collections. This feature recently added several new productivity-focused capabilities, such as collaborative editing, support for images and videos, and a feed with recommended content.

Or ads, depending on who you ask!

Here’s hoping that Microsoft nails this one, as well.

It brought several fixes and improvements, almost all of them welcome. This release included fixes for DirectX 12 and a whole bunch of other enhancements. Those went well with new features like IP address auditing and Search Highlights.

This update also offered a solution to an OS upgrade fail issue. Microsoft notes that it fixed an issue that might cause an upgrade to the original release of Windows 11 to fail.

Ironically, this particular update itself fails to install!

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg for this disreputable release.

It has become the cause of a number of problems for users who deployed it on their systems. User reports continue to pour in throughout the internet, indicating a whole number of issues with this cumulative update.

The latest of which is the disappearing Start Menu, where it does not show up no matter what you do or which keys you press on your system — like the Windows key or Ctrl + Esc key combination.

Thankfully, there is a workaround for this, which Redmond is now rolling out as a KIR, short for Known Issue Rollback.

But overall, this is one of those releases that is just not worth it for some users. It unleashes more trouble than it adds.

Fingers crossed that Microsoft gets a handle on this one, and rather quick!

And, occasionally, a feature that disappears.

Like in this instance.

Microsoft has confirmed that the latest cumulative update for Windows 11 could break the Start Menu. The good news is that the company has revealed that only a small number of devices are impacted by this new bug.

The update in question is KB5014668, and once it triggers the problem, there is no way for the user to launch the Start Menu.

As explained by the software titan:

“After installing KB5014668 or later updates, we have received reports that a small number of devices might be unable to open the Start menu. On affected devices, clicking or selecting the Start button, or using the Windows key on your keyboard might have no effect.”

As of result, the company has issued a Known Issue Rollback fix so that the Start Menu works correctly as intended on impacted devices.

The KIR resolution might take up to 24 hours to propagate automatically to consumer and non-managed business devices. But Redmond claims that restarting the device could help apply the fix faster in some cases.

If you are battling this problem, you might want to seek this workaround.

The next round of cumulative updates for Windows 11 is on track to go live as part of the August 2022 Patch Tuesday update cycle. This will customarily happen on the second Tuesday of next month, which, according to the calendar, falls on August 9.

The operating platform is not new to these printer issues, but these pesky problems have been plaguing the modern versions of Windows on a rather regular basis lately.

But while the previous one involved the Edge web browser, this latest one hit after the recent release of a cumulative update by the company.

This time, Windows 10 is impacted, with Redmond revealing in an advisory that printing could fail after installing the June 2022 cumulative updates. The culprit in question is KB5014666, which was released on June 28 and added several new printing features.

The issue apparently exists in newer updates as well, so if you have installed the July updates, there is a chance that your USB printers could start acting up, too.

Microsoft clarifies that in most cases, Windows may start showing duplicate copies of printers already installed on the device. In some instances, other folks could see an error when trying to print from an application that refers to the printer using a specific name.

But fret not, for the company already has a few workarounds in place.

Yet, while they do exist, there is no guarantee that they will fix the problem and bring everything back to normal. For that, you may have to wait for the software titan to fix these problems properly via a dedicated fix.

You can gather the details of the workarounds at the link above.

Additionally, another option is to update your printer’s driver, uninstall and reinstall the printer, and do all that good stuff.

According to the Windows Health Dashboard, the new printing bug only affects Windows 10 21H2, 21H1, and 20H2, including Windows Server for this version. So, while the issue is not terribly widespread, it is cause enough for concern.

Fingers firmly crossed for a fix soon.

The latter of these comes with new features enabled.

And to test said features, Redmond wants you to join a good old-fashioned Bug Bash. This is to make sure that these new options are ready for mainstream and arrive for end users without any problems or major issues.

Microsoft talked about enlisting for this new Bug Bash in the announcement post.

Detailing that if you are running this particular build, you can crack open the Feedback Hub to find a selection of Quests that are waiting for you to try and give feedback on. However, the company did not mention what the bug bashers would receive for their efforts.

However, judging by previous such events, participants were awarded a Bug Bash sticker that appeared in the Feedback Hub.

If you want to join, though, you’ll have to be quick.

The Bug Bash will only run between July 20 to July 25 PDT, meaning if you want in on the Quests, you will have to get your machine to update fairly quickly and start spotting and reporting any bugs that you encounter.

For those of you who are curious about the tasks, fairly run-of-the-mill activities await you. Previous Quests included tasks like “Access your Microsoft Account free benefits in Settings” and “Easily find the Settings you need via the Settings in-app search box.”

In other words, these are the simplest of tasks that only the absolute novice would struggle with. But the again, newbies usually are not running a beta build of Windows 11, anyway.

Feel free, then, to join the hunt and provide your feedback to Microsoft — feedback that is sure to come in handy for the company as it gets ready to launch the first feature update for Windows 11 in the coming months.