Microsoft has been forced to warn users to uninstall the Windows 11 update KB5012643, as it appears to be causing some apps to crash, especially if they rely on the .NET 3.5 framework.
As WindowsLatest explains, KB5012643 – which is an optional update for Windows 11 – brings several fixes to the operating system, but some people are reporting that apps that rely on the .NET 3.5 framework – which is quite a few – have been crashing since installing the update.
While not every user has been affected, and not all apps using .NET have been crashing, the issue is widespread enough for Microsoft to issue a rather humiliating message to users, telling them to uninstall the update.
How to uninstall the Windows 11 KB5012643 update
To uninstall the update, open the Start menu, then type in ‘Windows Update Settings’. From there, click ‘Windows Update’ then ‘View Update History’.
Next, click ‘Uninstall Update’ and select KB5012643 then click ‘Uninstall’. Hopefully this will fix the problem, however, you may find that other problems the KB5012643 update did fix have now returned.
Hopefully, Microsoft will release a new KB5012643 update that fixes those issues without introducing extra problems.
Analysis: Uh oh, not again, Microsoft
Having to warn users to uninstall an update is embarrassing enough at the best of times, but for Microsoft, this humiliation is even more acute, as it brings back bad memories of a few years ago, when the company went through a period of releasing increasingly broken Windows 10 updates.
Those dodgy Windows 10 updates, which caused more problems than they fixed at points, did a huge amount of damage to Microsoft’s reputation, as well as that of Windows 10, which up until then had been thought of as a return to form after the unloved mess that was Windows 8.
Anything that reminds people of that regrettable period isn’t going to be good for Microsoft. There have been a few noticeable Windows 11 problems recently, so the company definitely won’t want people to think that the bad old days of faulty Windows updates are back – especially if it means they hold off from upgrading to Windows 11 because of that.
There is some good news, at least. As KB5012643 is an optional update that people have to manually install, it means the numbers of potentially-affected users will be a lot lower than if the update was a mandatory one that automatically installs.
Microsoft’s swift response and transparency with this issue, despite the embarrassing nature of it, should also be commended, and will help minimize the effects of this problem. Let’s hope this is just a blip, and not an indication that Windows 11 updates could start breaking more things than they fix.
