Out-of-band update arrives to clean up Windows reset and recovery mess

Microsoft has moved swiftly to remove the bullet it fired into its own foot with the August 2025 Security Update reset and recovery bug.

The company has released out-of-band patches for Windows 10 and Windows 11 to deal with the problem in which attempts to reset and recover a device fail following the installation of the August update. The patch is optional – users who haven't encountered the issue don't need to install it.

Microsoft added the issue to the Windows release health dashboard on August 18. There was no workaround for the problem, which arose on some devices when users attempted to use Windows' recovery tools to reset their PC or fix problems with Windows Update. It affected pretty much every supported version of Windows, including the soon-to-be-terminated Windows 10, although Windows 11 24H2 was unscathed. Windows Server was similarly spared the borkage.

An out-of-band patch was needed ...