Known Windows 11 issues nobody talks about

This issue causes Windows to claim that a device, that is effectively not in use by any program (even after meticolously checking), is "in use" when trying to eject.

Cause: I could not determine the cause of this problem, I've been trying ever since this happened for the first time to no avail. Seems to affect everybody, but nobody talks about it.

Workaround: There is no known workaround to solve this problem. Just unplug the storage device if you 100% believe it is not in use, or turn off your computer if you don't want to risk.

Windows keeps reverting paging settings at random times

This issue causes Windows to keep reverting your paging settings to "System managed" at random times.

Cause: I could not determine the cause of this problem, it seems to be completely random.

Workaround: There are no known workarounds at the moment, but I am actively investigating this issue. Your only option is to keep setting your paging file every time.

Windows fails to reallocate VRAM overtime

An issue may arise which may cause your VRAM to fail reallocating overtime. This is especially remarkable when the OS is up for more than one day in a row under extremely GPU intensive tasks, such as artificial intelligence and intensive gaming. It becomes even more remarkable when using a low VRAM GPU. Allocating any amount of VRAM that is above a certain threshold will make Windows attempt to allocate "wasted memory", which will cause programs to run out of memory or simply crash.

Cause: The exact cause of why this problem happens cannot be completely determined, but it could have something to do with memory fragmentation.

Workaround: Instead of rebooting your machine, press the Windows, CTRL, SHIFT and B keys altogether to trigger a buffer reset. You should hear a beep and your screen may go blank for a short while. Once you do this, the "wasted memory" will become available again. This trick only works if you have a valid pagefile available.

Note: This trick will eventually stop working because Windows 11 is a quite broken OS. To workaround this, you need to restart your GPU from device manager as a last resort. Stop the device, your system will then switch to software rendering, you can then start the GPU again. This will completely restart the GPU driver.

Windows boot gets stuck at logo without spinning wheel

An issue may arise which consists in your Windows boot getting stuck at Windows / OEM / Manufacturer logo, and no spinning circle appears at all.

Cause: Windows can't handle certain Razer Devices properly on boot time

Workaround: Unplug your Razer devices before booting the system. Otherwise, you can power off and power on the system repeatedly using the power button until it finally boots. To prevent automatic repair from happening when you keep turning off your system while it's stuck, you need to use bcdedit /set recoveryenabled no when your system is working. This is not a PC hardware problem with your computer, please do not spend money on new hardware! This problem is solved in the latest Canary Insider Preview build (26040+).

Credits: A 8 years old video confirmed the issue, I personally tested this and it's reproducible 100% of the times

Other causes: Although this problem was always reproducible by using certain old Razer devices, I was able to reproduce this problem on a brand new computer with 14700K and 4070 SUPER, without any usb device plugged in. The problem can still happen, but the exact cause of it cannot be determined. I'm actively looking for a solution but, for now, I suggest using bcdedit /set recoveryenabled no when the system is in operational state, which will prevent the system from entering automatic repair.

Workaround 2: If you're using Large Page Drivers, stop using it. Try creating an empty LargePageDrivers REG_MULTI_SZ in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management if the problem persists.

Random KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED BSoD when using certain USB sound cards, and other problems

This problem causes your USB sound card/s to cause a KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, turn mute, have robotic weird sound or to repeatedly reconnect themselves up to 5-7 times in a row without an apparent reason. A known USB sound card to cause this problem is the Creative Omni 5.1.

Cause: This problem seems to be caused by the system time not being UTC, for some reason.

Workaround: Tell the system to use UTC time. Reach HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation and set RealTimeIsUniversal 32-bit DWORD to 1 (create if necessary). Once your system reboot, resync your time by using net start w32time and w32tm /resync commands.

SMB is broken

You might not be able to see SMB shares, access them, see your Windows 11 computer from other computers or even access your SMB shares from other computers.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: There's no known workaround or fix to this problem at the moment. Although, disabling SMB 1.0 might make your computer visible on the network again (to do so, run appwiz.cpl, go to Windows Features and turn SMB 1.0 support off).

DirectX 8 and DirectX 9 games randomly crash

Launching and trying to play DirectX 8 / DirectX 9 games might result into a crash of the game. This only happens on certain graphics cards, it is still unknown what exactly causes the crash in the D3D9on12 module.

Cause: Malfunction of D3D9on12 module and/or Game Bar.

Workaround: Use DXVK (for DirectX 8 use a DX8-to-DX9 convertor + DXVK). DXCPL settings will be ignored, so capping the feature level at 9_x and disabling Feature Level Upgrade won't work. Uninstalling the Game Bar might solve the problem for some users.

Note: this is fixed in the latest Windows 11 versions.

arp -d command breaks Internet

Running arp -d might break the Internet on some systems.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: There's no known workaround. Fixing the arp table manually, resetting the IP stack or resetting the network connections won't fix the problem. The only solution is to format.

Browsers take a long time to connect to websites

Opening a web page in specific browsers (like Microsoft Edge) will be stuck for a while retrieving proxy configuration.

Cause: Malfunction of the automatic network detection script.

Workaround: Open Internet Settings (inetcpl.cpl), open the Connections tab, open LAN settings and untick "Automatically detect settings". Set a proxy up if you use one and accept the new settings.

Hosted servers may not appear in the server list (LAN)

Hosting certain servers in Windows 11 while being in a LAN will work, the server will accept inbound connections from the outside perfectly fine, but the server won't appear in the game's server list.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: Directly connect through PPPoE and/or remote connection bypassing your LAN. You can use the rasdial utility to manage your direct connection. At that point, the server will appear in the server list.

Safely removed devices will be stuck in Device Manager

Using the "Safely remove hardware" feature on devices might sometimes lock the device in Device Manager with a status of "Windows cannot use this hardware device because it has been prepared for safe removal". Reconnecting, disabling or uninstalling the device won't work.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: Reboot the system. Switch to a different power plan and Windows should play the "device removed" sound, at that point the problem will be solved. You can then safely switch back to your power plan. If this doesn't work, try switching timer resolution back and forth. Opening programs like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome should automatically switch the timer resolution from the usual 15 ms on idle to around 1 ms depending on the load. My Low Latency Software is also able to force the timer resolution down to 0.5 ms, but there are other programs around that can do that.

nslookup doesn't work

The nslookup utility might report 127.0.0.1 as the address of domains.

Cause: Unknown

Workaround: There's no known workaround or fix.

USB Network Cards randomly disconnect themselves

USB Network Cards might randomly disconnect themselves and automatically reconnect after a few seconds. This should happen very rarely in the best case scenario.

Cause: Unknown

Workaround: There's no known workaround or fix.

Lag when using 8000 Hz mouse

Using 8000 Hz polling rate in certain games will cause them to lag massively.

Cause: This is caused by the fact that Windows 11 forcibly uses platform tick, which is uncapable of properly handling 8000 Hz polling rate.

Workaround: Set your polling rate to 4000 Hz. Windows 11 forces platform tick regardless of bcdedit settings.

Latency problems when a COM/LPT port is in use

Using a COM/LPT port will cause latency problems, especially latency spikes.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: Disable all serial ports in your BIOS or disable all the COM and LPT ports in Device Manager.

DMI does not work properly

Direct Media Interface won't operate.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: Upgrade to the latest Insider Build (as of 27th of July 2022, DMI works fine in build 25163).

Closing tabs in File Explorer might make the taskbar disappear

When you open several tabs in File Explorer and try to close them, the taskbar might just disappear (explorer.exe won't close or crash, though). In the best case scenario, this behavior is very rare.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: Open the Task Manager by using the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC combo, click on the Windows Explorer item and click "Restart".

USB ports might stop working but still charge the devices

One or more USB ports might stop working, but the ports themselves will still be able to charge and/or give power to the connected devices. This problem doesn't happen on any other Operating System (ie. Windows 10, Arch Linux, etc.).

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: There's no known workaround or fix at the moment. Windows won't detect anything when you plug any device to the port, so there's no way to troubleshoot the problem through the Device Manager, since nothing is detected at all.

AMD Ryzen processors stutter every few seconds

While playing games or even using the computer normally, the system might exhibit a heavy stutter every few seconds.

Cause: Firmware TPM is the cause of the stutters on Ryzen processors.

Workaround: Install a Dedicated TPM device on the motherboard or try updating your motherboard's firmware to the latest version.

General AMD Ryzen performance problems

Some AMD Ryzen processors might exhibit poor performance in general (ie. the CPU might run much better on Arch Linux, etc.). This potentially happens on Windows 10 as well.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: There's no known workaround at the moment.

Poor network performance on fast connections

Using Ethernet, the system might suffer from poor network throughput on fast connections (ie. on connections that can reach around 1 Gbit/s, maybe even less), only getting half of the speed or even less than that, while getting full speed on other Operating Systems (like Arch Linux) and other devices. This doesn't seem to be a very common problem, but it indeed exists. It is more likely to happen when downloading actual files and, for example, games from Steam and Origin, since speedtests are usually fine for some weird reason.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: There's no known workaround at the moment. Updating the drivers doesn't work, and other systems with the same network card usually perform normally instead. It doesn't appear to be a problem with disk bandwidth, CPU usage or other bottlenecks.

100% CPU usage from System Interrupts on Ryzen laptops

While using a Ryzen laptop on Windows 11, you might experience 100% CPU usage from System Interrupts when checking the Task Manager. In the best case scenario, this issue is very rare.

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: There's no known workaround at the moment. There doesn't seem to be a certain misbehaving driver or device causing this behavior at all.

BSoD on boot when trying to use "host" CPU on QEMU/KVM

Booting a Windows 11 Virtual Machine with the "host" CPU configuration on QEMU/KVM might cause the guest to BSoD with error "SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED".

Cause: Unknown.

Workaround: Use a different emulated CPU in the VM configuration.

Constant system stutters after installing the GPU driver

Installing, reinstalling or clean installing the GPU driver might put your system in such a state that everything stutters, including moving windows around, games and programs such as Discord. This can also happen when properly uninstalling the GPU driver by using DDU and then installing it normally afterwards when switching from Safe Mode to normal. This problem seems to be quite rare and there's no proper way to reproduce it 100% of the times.

Cause: Unknown

Workaround: It is still a mystery to me why this works. Go to Device Manager and expand your GPUs category. Right click the GPU and hit "Uninstall", uninstall the device without deleting the driver files. Once done, your screen should go black and then back to normal, but running in basic VGA mode. Click on your computer name and click Actions -> Detect hardware changes. Once done, nothing will happen except the Device Manager will refresh, just give it some time and, all of a sudden, your GPU driver should automatically install itself. Check Task Manager to analyze the current processes with CPU and Disk Usage in order to understand when the driver installation has fully completed, then just reboot the system. Once done, the stutters should be all gone.

Note: likely fixed in the latest Windows 11 versions. More tests need to be performed.

Some old InstallShield Wizards won't run

Trying to run certain old InstallShield Wizard installers won't work. No error message is shown. This also happens on certain older versions of Windows.

Cause: Certain modern running processes, such as nvcontainer.exe, will interfere with these old installers. The InstallShield process will be stuck waiting for something from those processes.

Workaround: Terminate the programs the installer is waiting for. The InstallShield process should remain running waiting for those, so reach the installer's executable in Task Manager (in details), right click it and click on "Analyze Wait Chain". Try to close the executables shown in the list, or kill them if necessary. The Setup will then proceed normally, unless it will be stuck waiting for a different process, in that case just repeat the process.