A buggy Windows 11 update from Microsoft has a silver lining for those who aren't keen on the operating system's Copilot assistant. When installed, the software patch will remove the AI app on at least "some" PCs.
The update in question – KB5053598 (OS build 26100.3476) preview, to give its full identifier – was released as a security fix last week on March's Patch Tuesday. It applies to all editions of Windows 11 version 24H2.
While it will therefore address some problems, it'll also add some for keen Windows AI users, as well as Citrix and Roblox punters. The update includes code from late-February's KB5052093 (OS build 26100.3323) preview update, which also affected Citrix and Roblox, which explains why the pair shows up in March's KB5053598 advisory.
"We're aware of an issue with the Microsoft Copilot app affecting some devices," Redmond said in an advisory for the latest update.
"The app is unintentionally uninstalled and unpinned from the taskbar."
Hold your applause.
"Microsoft is working on a resolution to address this issue. In the meantime, affected users can reinstall the app from the Microsoft Store and manually pin it to the taskbar."
But all is not lost for Copilot, er, fans. Microsoft tells us the 365 Copilot app is unaffected by the change; this broken update just applies to the Microsoft Copilot app.
IT admins will have to keep a weather eye on KB5053598 if they are running Citrix Session Recording Agent (SRA) version 2411, which was released in December. The Windows 11 update has a conflict with some enterprise versions of SRA and might end up stripping January 2025's security updates from your system.
"Devices that have certain Citrix components installed might be unable to complete installation of the January 2025 Windows security update," Redmond warns.
"Affected devices might initially download and apply the January 2025 Windows security update correctly, such as via the Windows Update page in Settings. However, when restarting the device to complete the update installation, an error message with text similar to 'Something didn’t go as planned. No need to worry – undoing changes' appears. The device will then revert to the Windows updates previously present on the device.
"This issue likely affects a limited number of organizations as version 2411 of the SRA application is a new version. Home users are not expected to be affected by this issue."
As the final icing on the cake, if you're running Windows on Arm and like playing Roblox, you're out of luck as the KB5053598 update will make it impossible to download and play this from the Windows Store, although you can download it from the game maker's website. Redmond says Roblox is working on a fix. ®