The company says it’s already working on a fix

May 4, 2022 22:16 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just confirmed a new issue caused by a recent Windows 11 cumulative update, with the company also providing users with a workaround until a full fix goes live.

Microsoft says the update in question is KB5012643, and it breaks down some apps that are using .NET Framework 3.5.

The software giant explains that the affected apps might either malfunction or fail to start completely.

“After installing KB5012643, some .NET Framework 3.5 apps might have issues or might fail to open. Affected apps are using certain optional components in .NET Framework 3.5, such as Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow (WWF) components,” it says.

Surprisingly, the workaround is actually the removal of the update from the devices where it’s installed, with Microsoft also adding that users can re-enable the broken components in Windows 11 to bring things back to normal.

“If you cannot uninstall KB5012643, you can also mitigate this issue by re-enabling .NET Framework 3.5 and the Windows Communication Foundation in Windows Features. For instructions, please see Enable the .NET Framework 3.5 in Control Panel. Advanced users or IT admins can do this programmatically using an elevated Command Prompt (run as administrator) and running the following commands,” the company says.

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx3 /all dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:WCF-HTTP-Activation dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:WCF-NonHTTP-Activation

In the meantime, a full fix is already in the works, but an ETA as to when it could be released isn’t yet available.

KB5012643 was an optional update published in late March, and in theory, all its improvements should be part of the next cumulative update going live for Windows 11 devices on this month’s Patch Tuesday. It remains to be seen if the next cumulative update will end up causing similar problems, but without a doubt, Microsoft is working around the clock on a full fix already.