How to Fix January 2025 Windows Updates Breaking Everything.
It's that time of the year again! Microsoft is rolling out updates that break tons of stuff on Windows 10 and Windows 11. The Windows January 2025 update is causing issues with USB connections, Bluetooth devices, DAC drivers, webcams, and more. These problems are being widely reported by users after updating to KB5049981 for Windows 10 KB5050009 (Windows 11 24H2), and KB5050021 for older Windows 11 versions. So follow along as we show you how to fix these issues.
How to Fix January 2025 Windows Updates Breaking Everything.
Recent mandatory updates for Windows 10 and 11 have led to issues with USB connections, Bluetooth devices, and other system functions. If you're experiencing problems, rolling back to a previous version of Windows may help resolve the issues. For those who haven't updated yet and are concerned about potential problems, delaying the installation of these updates could be a good precaution. This month, Microsoft released updates KB5049981 for Windows 10, KB5050009 for Windows 11 24H2, and KB5050021 for earlier Windows 11 versions. While all three are standard security updates, KB5050021 includes minor adjustments related to date and time settings, according to Windows Latest. Thankfully there are two options you can follow to either avoid this problem or fix it if you weren't lucky enough to avoid it.
Before Installing Windows Updates
If you're quick enough, you can save yourself all of the drama that comes with the latest Windows updates. Simply pause updates for a while and you can rest easy. I've paused mine for 5 weeks because it might take Microsoft a while to fix all the different issues these updates have caused.
- Go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Pause Updates and select the period of postponement.
If you've Already Installed Windows Updates
You might not know this but in situations like this, it's better to roll back an update than move forward. Microsoft releases a lot of updates with issues that break future updates so going back then trying to update can help solve the problem. Check the article linked below for a detailed guide on how to uninstall a Windows update:
How to Uninstall a Windows 11 Update
Once you roll back to a previous version all of these problems should go away. Hopefully, this new update didn't mess things up so bad you can't even roll back. That actually does happen sometimes.
Nothing Has worked?
If you can't uninstall the Windows update that broke everything you might have to clean install Windows. Or you can wait and hope they fix the issue soon. If not the options showing how to Reset Windows are below.
- First Press Windows Key + I to open Windows Settings.
- From the main System tab on the left change to Windows Update.
- Next, scroll down and select Advanced Options, then click Recovery > Reset PC.
- This is the important part! Now you need to choose how to reset your computer. As we are clearing everything using this process choose: Remove everything.
- Windows will deep format the drive with the aim of making any and all data recovery impossible. This means that this process will take a fair bit more time than if you were keeping your data.
- Next, choose Cloud download so that you get the most up-to-date files and the cleanest installation. Just be aware that this will use about 4GB of data.
Once the process completes, you’ll have to follow the standard Windows 11 setup process which will take a little bit of time to work through.