14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has confirmed that the issue causing certain operating system windows to flicker in Safe Mode on Windows 11 is now fixed.
In an advisory published on April 29, Microsoft says File Explorer, Start menu, and Task Manager were all impacted by the screen flickering bug.
The company has also confirmed that a previous cumulative update shipped to Windows 11 devices was the one to blame for the whole thing. “After installing KB5012643, devices starting in Safe Mode might show a flickering screen. Components that rely on Explorer.exe, such as File Explorer, Start Menu, and Taskbar, can be affected and appear unstable. Devices experiencing this issue can log a System error on the Windows Event Log, with Source “Winlogon” and the following description: “The shell stopped unexpectedly and explorer.exe was restarted,” Microsoft explained.
Fix already available for impacted devices
Microsoft has already fixed the glitch, though this time, the company hasn’t turned to another update for the whole thing.
No input is required on the user side, as the fix is powered by the Known Issue Rollback system that Microsoft has been used for quite some time.
“This issue is resolved using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices. Restarting your device might help the resolution apply to your device faster. Enterprise-managed devices that have installed an affected update and encountered this issue can resolve it by installing and configuring the special Group Policy listed below,” the company further noted.
The full instructions on how to configure a special Group Policy to resolve the glitch are available on this page.
Only Windows 11 version 21H2 is impacted by the error, according to the official information provided by the company.