Windows Boot Loop Delays Microsoft’s Forced Windows 11 23H2 Update

The update ships with three known issues, one being excessive device restarts.

Because of a known issue forcing computer to restart (boot looping), specifically on any computer using virtualization, Microsoft has been forced to stop the rollout of its cumulative Windows 11 2023 Update AKA Windows 11 23H2. Previously, this topic has been covered here before as well as Microsoft’s choice to force the rollout of the update on selected systems back in February 2024. While the issue of forcing updates on users persists, Microsoft has now been forced to investigate the root cause of the known issues causing the delayed rollout. Cloud PC, DevBox and Azure Virtual Desktop are listed as likely culprits., but it looks like any virtual machine applications are likely unsafe to run with the 23H2 update.

Windows 11 23H2 has only minor cumulative improvements from Windows 11 22H2. While there are new features such as a tabbed file explorer, little extra functionality has been added. It is therefore shocking to see Windows 11 23H2 in such a bug-ridden state so close to rollout. While Microsoft notes that most home users will not be using virtualization software, it still seems like a glaring issue in basic functionality that shouldn’t be there and should have surely been picked up on during insider and canary testing.

While Microsoft essentially has a monopoly, with Windows operating systems having by far the greatest market share on PCs, compared to various Linux Distros or Hackintosh configurations. Despite being in a comfortable place on the market, consumers are still frustrated with the forced upgrades to a controversial, unfinished update, which has now been delayed half a year later.

The other two issues listed do seem minor. Microsoft’s original post identified likely settings changes as culprits for the first issue, with the other being an already resolved Microsoft Edge issue.