Microsoft has released an emergency update to fix the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), which became unusable on systems with USB mice and keyboards after installing the October 2025 security updates.
As the company explained on Friday, when it acknowledged it, this issue blocks users from selecting or navigating recovery options within WinRE, even though the mouse and keyboard continue to work after logging into Windows.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it had resolved the bug behind these WinRE issues and started rolling out an out-of-band cumulative update (KB5070773), one week after the KB5066835 buggy update started disabling USB-wired input devices in WinRE on client (Windows 11 24H2 and Windows 11 25H2) and server (Windows Server 2025) platforms.
“This issue was resolved by the Windows out-of-band update, released October 20, 2025 (KB5070773), and updates released after that date,” Microsoft said in a Windows release health update.
“We recommend you install the latest update for your device as it contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one.”
Affected customers whose devices cannot boot to install this update are advised to use one of the following methods as a workaround:
- If your PC has a touchscreen, you can use its touch keyboard to navigate WinRE.
- If your PC has a PS/2 port, you can use a PS/2 keyboard or mouse to navigate within WinRE.
- If you previously created a USB recovery drive, you can boot your computer from it. This will take you directly to WinRE with restored USB functionality.
Microsoft also advised OEMs and enterprises to use the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) in Configuration Manager to install the KB5070773 out-of-band update to recover affected devices.
As an alternative, IT administrators can also deploy push-button reset features using the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) and Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) add-on to revive impacted endpoints on their network.
WinRE is a minimal Windows-based environment that allows users to repair or restore the operating system after the device fails to start following a blue screen of death (BSOD) errors and various other critical issues.
Windows Recovery Environment (BleepingComputer)
On Friday, it also shared guidance on resolving smart card authentication issues affecting all Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server devices, and it fixed Active Directory issues after installing security updates released since September on Windows Server 2025 systems.
The same day, Redmond addressed another known issue that broke HTTP/2 localhost (127.0.0.1) connections and removed two compatibility holds blocking Windows 11 upgrades via Windows Update.
In August 2024, Microsoft was also forced to retire Windows security updates that triggered 0x80070643 errors during WinRE updates on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server systems.
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