Windows 11’s latest January 2026 update seems to be causing major issues for a lot of users. Many have reported that the update, which is a mandatory one, is leading many to experience extended black screens before the desktop appears.
Apart from this, the Desktop background seems to keep resetting, and Classic Outlook fails to open and keeps requiring you to kill the process in Task Manager each time. File Explorer is also reportedly ignoring desktop.ini customizations.
Microsoft seems to be aware of the recent Outlook issues that are being caused by the update, and they are also investigating the other problems.
Ever-growing Windows 11 problems can push consumers towards Linux
Windows 11 is getting worse by the day, and with every update, users are voicing a desire to move to a completely different operating system, like Linux.
With Microsoft’s constant focus on AI and how poorly their Copilot is doing, the Windows experience has just degraded. And many in the community feel that it’s going to get worse by the day.
Windows 11 is also having issues with System Shutdown
Apart from the black screen and the Outlook errors, the January update is also causing issues with shutdown. Many have reported that their systems are not shutting down properly and are sometimes restarting or staying powered on after the shutdown commands are given.
This specific issue is more prevalent on Windows 11 23H2 systems where Secure Launch is enabled. The Windows update is causing issues with the virtualization-based security feature, which causes problems with power management, where there is a conflict that breaks shutdown and hibernation behaviour. This will often force restarts and can drain batteries, impacting the entire system.
Microsoft is aware of this issue as well and has recommended that users use command line shutdown as a temporary workaround till they come up with a permanent fix to the problem.
