Microsoft warns of blue screen crashes caused by April updates
Microsoft warned customers this week that their systems might crash with a blue screen error caused by a secure kernel fatal error after installing Windows updates released since March.
According to advisory updates for the KB5055523 April cumulative update and the KB5053656 March preview update, this known issue affects devices running Windows 11, version 24H2. Those affected will see their PCs crash after installing these updates and restarting their devices.
"After installing this update and restarting your device, you might encounter a blue screen exception with error code 0x18B indicating a SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR," Microsoft said.
Until a fix is rolled out through Windows Update, Microsoft resolved this issue via Known Issue Rollback (KIR), a feature that reverses buggy non-security updates delivered via Windows Update.
This fix will propagate automatically to all home, non-managed enterprise devices, and business devices not managed by IT departments over the next 24 hours. To expedite the rollout, Microsoft advises affected users to restart their devices, which ensures the fix is applied faster.
To address the known issue on Windows enterprise-managed devices, admins must install the Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 KB5053656 250412_03103 Known Issue Rollback Group Policy.
After installation, you can find the Group Policy under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates. To deploy it on affected endpoints, you must go to the Local Computer Policy or the Domain policy on the domain controller using the Group Policy Editor to choose the Windows version you want to target.
"You will need to install and configure the Group Policy for your version of Windows to resolve this issue. You will also need to restart your device(s) to apply the group policy setting," Microsoft added.
Windows admins can find additional guidance on deploying KIR Group Policies on the Microsoft support website.
Earlier this week, Microsoft released emergency Windows updates to address an issue affecting local audit logon policies in Active Directory Group Policy and warned admins that Windows Server 2025 domain controllers might become inaccessible after restarts, causing services and apps to fail.
Today, Redmond also started deploying a fix for an issue causing some Windows devices to be offered Windows 11 upgrades despite Intune policies blocking them.
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