
Windows update leaves some virtual desktops staring into the void
Microsoft has acknowledged a bug in recent Windows 11 updates that causes virtual desktops to fail loading, resulting in a black screen for affected users. The issue primarily impacts Azure Virtual Desktop hosts using FSLogix, requiring users to manually restart Windows Explorer to recover their session. Administrators can deploy a Known Issue Rollback via Group Policy as a temporary measure while Microsoft works on a permanent fix.
- ▪The glitch affects Windows 11 versions 26H1, 25H2, and 24H2 following the August 2026 non-security preview update.
- ▪Users can temporarily resolve the black screen issue by opening Task Manager and running explorer.exe as a new task.
- ▪Microsoft has issued a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) that administrators can deploy through Group Policy to disable the offending change.
- ▪The problem is distinct from a previous issue where customized desktop backgrounds were replaced with solid black, which was fixed in September.
- ▪Microsoft stated the issue appears more frequently with some existing user profiles but has not explained the precise cause.
The Register publishes from United Kingdom and files mainly under tech. We currently carry 716 of its stories.
Story provenance
Source · retrieval · rights · ranking — open for full record
inspect →
Story provenance
Attribution is not the same as permission. This drawer separates discovery metadata, excerpts, WeSearch-generated summaries, reuse status, and whether the publisher receives the visit. Nothing here claims a legal grant the publisher has not made.
Record
| Original publisher | The Register |
| Canonical URL | https://www.theregister.com/os-platforms/2026/09/25/windows-update-leaves-some-virtual-desktops-staring-into-the-void/5299106 |
| Publication time | Fri, 25 Sep 2026 15:32:00 +0200 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-25T13:35:32.432Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-25T13:35:32.432Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | O9xFDD4cUrXb · 1 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
(function() { let windowUrl = window.location.href; windowUrl = windowUrl.substring(windowUrl.indexOf('?') + 1); let messageElement = document.querySelector('.shareableMessage'); if (windowUrl && windowUrl.includes('code') && windowUrl.includes('expires')) { messageElement.style.display = 'block'; } })(); os platforms Windows update leaves some virtual desktops staring into the void Users may need to summon Explorer manually after signing in Richard Speed Richard Speed MICROSOFT ECOSYSTEM REPORTER Published fri 25 Sep 2026 // 14:32 UTC READ MORE Windows CLOSEDQUORUM malware uses AI models to autonomously select post-compromise actions 2 days ago NightmareEclipse's latest zero-day leaves Microsoft Defender stuck in the past 2 days ago Register reader hit with surprise bill after Microsoft…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Register.