Microsoft's mandatory January Windows update has reportedly caused multiple issues for users. While emergency updates have been released, several significant problems persist without a firm timeline for resolution.
Acknowledged Issues
Microsoft has acknowledged three specific issues:
- A Classic Outlook freezing bug.
- A Remote Desktop bug.
- A failure-to-shutdown bug.
Other Reported Problems
Users continue to report additional problems beyond those acknowledged. Microsoft is investigating a desktop.ini issue, which may be fixed soon.
A new "sleep state" issue is also gaining increasing complaints. This problem prevents PCs from entering sleep mode as intended, impacting battery and power preservation. According to Windows Latest, this is a regression bug in Windows 11 25H2 on the desktop S3 sleep path. It reportedly causes immediate wake-ups after the first sleep due to the system-level Maintenance Activator (SystemEventsBroker) not clearing the maintenance wake context.
Other reported issues include problems with keyboard and mouse functionality.
Recommendations
Users are advised to monitor for additional out-of-band updates to address these issues. Some may need to await February's scheduled updates for potential fixes. The ongoing increase in reported problems for the January 2026 update follows a trend from 2025, where Windows 11 experienced over 20 major problems across 12 security updates.