Microsoft fixes weird bug that's been messing with Windows 11 updates for years

• Microsoft has fixed a longstanding bug in Windows 11
• The glitch meant the 'Update and shutdown' option didn't work properly
• Instead of applying a pending update and shutting down, the bug meant the PC would restart, and require you to shut it down again

Microsoft has finally swatted another annoying bug that affected Windows 11 PCs when updates were being applied, though the fix is only in testing at this point.

Windows Central noticed that in the latest Windows 11 preview build in the Dev channel, Microsoft announced the following: "Fixed an underlying issue which could lead 'Update and shutdown' to not actually shut down your PC after."

You may have encountered this problem before. In fact, it’s quite likely, at least if you've used the mentioned option, a lot of folks may choose 'Update and restart' instead, which applies the pending update for Windows 11, and then reboots the system.

If you're in a hurry, though, you might want your PC to shut down at the time, and then finish the upgrade the next time you turn it back on - so you'd select 'Update and shutdown' to do just that.

However, the bug means that rather than shutting down, the PC still goes ahead and reboots, meaning you must wait for the update process to run through, get back to the desktop eventually, and then shut down the computer once again.

Analysis: a longstanding oddity

This bug is something I've experienced a lot, and in fact, more often than not on the occasions when I've used the 'Update and shutdown' option, the PC just restarts. Indeed, I haven't bothered choosing the option in quite some time because of this.

It's a strange bug (not the first such oddity in Windows, of course) and one Microsoft has never touched on as far as I can recall. For laptop users, it could be a particularly problematic glitch, as if they've left their Windows 11 laptop with the notion that it's shutting down – because they instructed it to do so – and it doesn't, the notebook might end up staying on for ages. And if operating on battery, the power pack could then run out, of course.

What's also odd is that this has been a problem with Windows 11 for years – it can be traced back more or less to the launch of Microsoft's newest desktop OS – and indeed I've experienced this on my Windows 10 PC, too.

The good news is that this bug shouldn't be bothering us for much longer, but we still need it to come through testing successfully, and reach the finished version of Windows 11 – and be confirmed to work – before we start celebrating.

However, the glitch seems so heavily ingrained in Windows as a recurring problem that it's easy to be skeptical about whether Microsoft has actually cracked the solution here. Fingers firmly crossed.

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