Microsoft's May Patch Tuesday update fails on some Windows 11 VMs

Microsoft's latest Patch Tuesday update is failing to install on some Windows 11 machines, mostly virtual ones, and dumping them into recovery mode with a boot error. Its only recommendation to avoid the problem for now is to dodge the update.

According to an advisory published on Wednesday, the problem affects Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2, specifically during the installation of the May 13 update. Redmond says the issue is hitting a small number of devices, primarily virtual machines, including Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Virtual Desktop, and on-prem VMs hosted on Citrix or Hyper-V.

When the update fails, systems may land in recovery mode displaying this message:

"Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. The operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors. File: ACPI.sys. Error code: 0xc0000098."

The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is a power management spec ...