by The latest version of Windows 11 has suffered from a bug that is quite degrading gaming performance for some users, leading to the 22H2 update being blocked on these PCs to prevent the problem from manifesting – but the good news is that the upgrade block is now partially unblocked.
In case you missed it, the Windows 11 22H2 error in question was causing some games (and indeed other software) to experience “less than expected performance”, including stuttering frame rates (a seriously off-putting phenomenon). This was due to the incorrect use of GPU debugging features on the affected PCs.
As a newcomer (opens in new tab) notes that Microsoft hasn’t actually fixed this issue – yet – but has added a new note to its Release Health Dashboard stating: “Backup protection with backup ID 41990091 has been updated to only protect Windows devices which have one of the small subset of games and apps that are still affected by this issue.”
This means that many Windows 11 users who were previously blocked with the mentioned security freeze are now clear about downloading the 22H2 update – only people running one of a few games and apps vulnerable to the bug are is now blocked from updating.
Analysis: The unlucky ones will have to wait patiently – but for how long?
Hopefully this means that the majority of PC gamers who were put off from upgrading due to this bug are now able to purchase the Windows 11 22H2 update. However, you may not see the upgrade right away, and as Microsoft notes, it could take up to 48 hours for the ban to be lifted and 22H2 to actually be offered.
However, since Microsoft revealed this on its health dashboard a few days ago, the upgrade should now be available to anyone freshly eligible to pick it up. If you still haven’t been offered the 22H2 update, it’s worth restarting your PC and checking for updates – but if that’s not enough, you’re probably one of the unlucky ones still affected by the bug.
In that case, all you can do is wait patiently for Microsoft to pull itself together and implement a complete solution to this problem. How long that’s going to take, well, your guess is as good as ours.
To give you an idea, thornier bugs can require some unpicking, and we recently witnessed a rather nasty Windows 11 printer bug — one that removed critical features from some devices, such as the ability to print in color — that lasted be resolved in two months. Hopefully this game error doesn’t turn out to be such a complex issue to fix, but who knows.
Not being able to update to the latest version of Windows 11 is a frustrating experience as you may miss out on feature enhancements or, perhaps more worryingly, work on the security front to fix vulnerabilities – and the latter could potentially be yours PC left open to exploitation.
Because of this, we generally advise people to upgrade fairly quickly, although on the other hand, sometimes it’s best to be a little cautious on the day an update is released, as early adopters may encounter upgrade-related bugs or issues that stop the show . In other words, it may be wise to wait a little while, but not hang around for too long — just enough time to watch the headlines and online forums to see if any nasty-sounding glitches have popped up with a given update.
