2 weeks Ago By David Phelan, Senior Contributor
Have you seen the dreaded Blue Screen of Death on your Windows 11 PC since installing an update? You’re not alone, and Microsoft has now confirmed the problem. Windows 11 It did so in a support document , spotted by Windows Latest . If you’re looking for it, it’s in the section headed Known issues in this update, in the Symptom part of Blue screen exception (the official name for what everybody calls Blue Screen of Death).
“After installing this update and restarting your device, you might encounter a blue screen exception with error code 0x18B indicating a SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR,” it reads. It relates to the Windows 11 version 2H42 release, and Windows Latest says it affects these three versions: KB5053598, released on March 11 as a Patch Tuesday update, KB5053656, out on March 27 (optional update) and KB5055523, released on April 8 as a Patch Tuesday update. Microsoft says it’s working on a proper fix, but in the meantime, it has shipped a server-side update that turns off the change that caused the Blue screens, it’s reported.
“This means most of you’ll be fine, but if you run into a Blue Screen of Death error, try to go back to the desktop, open Settings, and immediately check for updates,” Windows Latest advises. So, what to do if you’re affected? Check for updates is the first step, and early and often is good practice. “I recommend checking for updates as many as five times and rebooting your PC because this will allow you to grab the server-side patch faster,” Mayank Parmar at Windows Latest says, noting that users won’t spot any additional update listed on the Windows Update page since it’s a server-side release.
The April update has had other issues, too, such as breaking Windows Hello for some users, so signing in using face or eye recognition has stopped. Microsoft has acknowledged this part of the issue, too, and is planning to patch it in the update in May 2025..
