A glitch that was causing some games and apps to run slowly has finally been patched by Microsoft in the Windows 11 22H2 update.
The company made the fix update available recently through a preview release known as KB5020044. Microsoft states in the update's release that it addresses the recent issue that affects various games and applications. This problem involves the GPU performance debugging features, and as a result, the gaming performance was decreased for a brief time.
According to Trusted Reviews, Windows users were first made aware of the flaw on November 10 on a support page. While playing games, the Windows 11 22H2 upgrade would start additional debugging software processes, which reportedly caused game performance to suffer, including stuttering.
Windows 11 Fix Initially Launched Only On Select Devices
As seen on some games and other software, the Windows 11 22H2 problem resulted in "lower than expected performance," including stuttering frame rates. This resulted from the affected PCs' incorrect usage of GPU debugging features.
However, after the launched update, Neowin reports that Microsoft has not fixed the Windows issue entirely yet, but has added a fresh note to its release health dashboard, which states the following:
"The safeguard hold with the safeguard ID of 41990091 has been updated to only safeguard Windows devices which have one of the small subset of games and apps which are still affected by this issue."
This implies that many Windows 11 users who had previously been prevented from downloading the 22H2 update by the mentioned safeguard hold are now free to do so. However, only those who run one of the few games or apps that are vulnerable to the problem are now being prevented from doing so.
Fortunately, as Microsoft announced recently on its health dashboard, the upgrade is now readily accessible to everyone currently qualified to get it. It is worth resetting your computer and checking for updates if you haven't yet received the 22H2 update, but if that doesn't work, you're probably still unfortunate enough to be impacted by the bug.
How to Install Windows 11 22H2 Update
Additionally, Bleeping Computer reports that since the release of Windows 11 22H2, Microsoft has introduced four additional precaution holds to prohibit upgrades due to problems with Xbox Game Bar Capture, blue screens, printing, and Windows Hello.
Microsoft has stated that due to the seriousness of the issue, the company decided to stop rolling out the Windows 11 22H2 upgrade to the affected devices for a brief time.
However, following the fix, Windows 11 22H2 users can download the fix as an optional update. Users can access the update by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. There should be a link to download and install the update in the " Optional updates section." There are numerous additional performance-enhancing bug fixes in the KB5020044 preview version.
