Thursday, April 17th 2025
Windows 11 April Update Triggers BSOD, Breaks Windows Hello
Ever since people installed Microsoft's April cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2 (KB5055523), many have been greeted by a blue screen showing error code 0x18B and the message SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR. What started as a few scattered reports after March's KB5053656 and KB5053598 patches quickly became a widespread frustration once the April release went live. Some PCs reboot every minute or two, while others refuse to start up at all. Microsoft has acknowledged the problem in an updated support notice and is rolling out a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to strip out the offending code. Home users should see the fix applied automatically within 24 hours, though you can speed things along by signing back in after a crash, opening Settings > Update & Security, and checking for updates up to five times. The rollback won't appear in your update history, but it will install quietly in the background.
IT teams don't need to wait, either. Administrators can push the KIR patch via Group Policy, and full instructions are available on Microsoft's support site. While the company hasn't detailed exactly what triggers the SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR or how often it occurs, a permanent correction is set to arrive in a future monthly update. In addition to the blue screens and reboot loops, some users have reported that Windows Hello facial recognition and fingerprint login stopped working. The quick workaround is removing and reconfiguring your biometric credentials. However, a complete repair is expected in May. After installing April's update, you may also notice a new "Inetpub" folder on your C: drive. This directory is the default home for Internet Information Services web files, and Microsoft confirms it was created on purpose to support optional web‑hosting features. If you haven't enabled IIS, the folder will sit unused and doesn't pose any risk, so avoid deleting it to prevent potential errors if you choose to turn those services on later. In the meantime, keep Windows Updates checked for any new patches.
Sources:
Microsoft, via Windows Latest, ComputerBase
IT teams don't need to wait, either. Administrators can push the KIR patch via Group Policy, and full instructions are available on Microsoft's support site. While the company hasn't detailed exactly what triggers the SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR or how often it occurs, a permanent correction is set to arrive in a future monthly update. In addition to the blue screens and reboot loops, some users have reported that Windows Hello facial recognition and fingerprint login stopped working. The quick workaround is removing and reconfiguring your biometric credentials. However, a complete repair is expected in May. After installing April's update, you may also notice a new "Inetpub" folder on your C: drive. This directory is the default home for Internet Information Services web files, and Microsoft confirms it was created on purpose to support optional web‑hosting features. If you haven't enabled IIS, the folder will sit unused and doesn't pose any risk, so avoid deleting it to prevent potential errors if you choose to turn those services on later. In the meantime, keep Windows Updates checked for any new patches.
19 Comments on Windows 11 April Update Triggers BSOD, Breaks Windows Hello
You're just an unpaid member of MS QA team if you're running their latest code.
I really dislike Windows 11. I have to use it on my laptop, I just updated it today and haven't had this BSOD issue yet so hopefully I won't do. It took over half an hour. I don't understand why Windows is never finished, it's always a work in progress? To me, it should be fully finished on release, and only receive essential bug fixes and security updates after that. If Microsoft built houses, you'd buy one and then be permanently living on a building site. Builders would come in regularly, rebuild things, rewire things, break things, just to keep the builders employed presumably. To give them something to do.
Tried for 3 weeks in Januari and after 3 weeks of troubleshooting i went back to Windows 10. And i WILL pay for an additional year of support at this rate.
It's not as bad for desktops, but Mac still has its own problems compared to PC's. I think the only compelling Mac's are the laptops imo if you aren't part of the apple ecosystem at all.
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Unfortunately, I also know what Windows Hello is – I was asked to mirror a Windows laptop. It’s a login method.
When someone has a PIN set up, you can’t just switch back to a regular username/password login without remembering the original credentials. And without a Microsoft account, ChatGPT suggested creating a new local user (with username/password) and migrating the data manually.
By the way, I managed to enable the built-in Administrator account on this PC, which didn’t have a password and had access to all files anyway.
The person also had BitLocker enabled without realizing it. I don’t know for sure, but in my opinion, they could’ve lost all their data – not only in case of NVMe drive failure, but even if the motherboard failed, since the recovery key wasn’t stored anywhere. Hard to believe people use this thing, pay for it.
Windows 11 pro is broken on this lenovo notebook. It tries to install dolby which does not work to install. It tries to install amd gpu driver which does not even start. I found a much older amd gpu driver which than let it update to 9 month old version. CPU = ryzen 4650 u pro.
I was forced to disable the automatic driver updates on my refurbished notebook.
The internet is full with lenovo notebooks and windows issues or windows update issues or windows install not correct amd gpu driver. It is a common 4.5 year old lenovo notebook with common amd processor. Nothing special or fancy. Ordinary notebook hardware.First thing I checked was "is windows activated" and is "bitlocker enabled".
If you create a local user you will not get bitlocker.
If you are smart and use the microsoft email account for login you will get automatically bitlocker on C:
Windows 10 doesn't suffer from that.If only the average joe could buy a key, apart from that it also needs a complete OS reinstall.
It becomes a problem when the number of tweaks to keep it running grows too large. Like Win7. Greatest OS MS has ever made, but running it on newer hardware became too much of a hassle in 2019 when i upgraded to Zen 2 3800X (from Sandy Bridge 2500K). USB flat out did not work on Win7 with Zen 2. Eventually there were workarounds but they became too cumbersome and time consuming.
I also did not like Win10's flat design. Glad to see Win11 has brought back some 3D elements. Im not saying Win11 is perfect - far from it. But i often think it gets a bad rep unjustifiably just like Vista did.
For example GIMP might have good functionality, but it gives me the creeps when I look at it and use it. :)