It affects apps using non-ASCII chars in their registry keys

Oct 20, 2021 07:25 GMT  ·  By

The Windows 11 rollout continues, but in the meantime, Microsoft is carefully watching how the whole thing goes, trying to spot bugs in their early days and prevent them from hitting more devices.

Most recently, the Redmond-based software giant confirmed a new bug (originally acknowledged earlier this month) hitting some Windows 11, in some cases even causing a Blue Screen of Death error.

The company explains it’s all caused by apps using non-ASCII characters in their registry keys, as it discovered a compatibility problem that could potentially cause all kinds of problems, including a failure of launching these apps.

“Compatibility issues have been found between apps using some non-ASCII characters in their registry keys or subkeys and Windows 11. Affected apps might be unable to open and might cause other issues or errors in Windows, including the possibility of receiving an error with a blue screen. Important Affected registry keys with non-ASCII characters might not be able to be repaired,” the company explains.

Upgrade block in place

Microsoft has already announced an upgrade block, so computers that could be impacted by this problem would no longer be offered the upgrade to Windows 11.

Of course, it’s still possible to install Windows 11 using other methods, but the company strongly recommends against them, explaining that if you bypass this restriction, devices could end up struggling with critical bugs, including some potentially causing fatal crashes.

“To safeguard your upgrade experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on these devices from installing or being offered Windows 11. If your organization is using Update Compliance, the safeguard ID for devices with Cốc Cốc browser is 35891494. The safeguard ID for devices with Aplicação Autenticação.gov is 36632506,” Microsoft says.

A fix is already in the works, but at this point, there’s no ETA as to when it could be published.