Microsoft says that it is working on a fix but, for now, has provided a couple of workarounds to deal with the issue. First, Microsoft says that restarting the Shell Infrastructure host (SIHost.exe) service will help restore the missing Immersive Shell packages. This can be done with the following commands:
Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentModeSecond, a PowerShell logon script has been shared that essentially blocks Explorer from launching prematurely until the required packages are fully provisioned. The batch script for that is given below:
@echo off REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode" REM Register Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode" REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"I swear to god, if I hear “Windows just works” one more goddamn time…
But Linux is too difficult, someone might suggest you use the terminal.
And don’t get me started on the people who assume macOS does not have a command line.
Bonus points if they open Spotlight and type “CMD”.
It does, if you are talking about pre 11, and dont care about internet pre 10. But otherwise fuck Microsoft with a rusty shovel, theyve ruined anything good about windows and make it harder and harder not to switch to steamos, the only reason I don’t is because of the pain of reinstalling everything and not having the drive space to shuffle files to it.
“Omg Linux is so hard!!” Meanwhile Windows:
“Linux is an objectively worse OS because you have to run all kinds of weird commands in an esoteric command line to even get it to work right”
Meanwhile: windows just works! You just have to run this batch file from some guy on GitHub, download this powershell script from some woman on MSDN, apply these reg hacks, and run this freeware debloat tool, and it’s smooth sailing after that. Well, at least until the next cumulative update which will make you repeat this process all over again. Oh whoops, something you did broke the install. Better sfc /scannow or clean install and try again!
What kind of idiots create a program that says, “Outlook failed to load. Repair application?” when the only problem is the wifi is disconnected?
vibe coders
The problem is that someone decided to dumb down the error message to not scare users, instead of passing on the real error code from the application that people could Google and fix in 5 mins themselves.
Dumb downed? They’ve taken a simple error and made it into something that does scare users. The “Repair application?” was far more alarming to my visiting friend than a “No Internet connection” would have been. It is astounding that any company would put out such complete shit.
It’s like this with a blue screen. You used to tell you what went wrong but now it just shows a :-( Which is pathetic.
The tiny text and QR code actually have the error still. It’s just the frowny face is 10x the font size.
They’re just generic error messages though. If you actually want to know what went wrong you have to go into the error log, which hopefully you actually have access to. If it just blue screens on boot your SOL unless you’re in a corporate environment with external logs.
On top of that, the logs for the actual support technicians are scattered all across the filesystem.
C:\ProgramData\
C:\Users\AppData\RoamingorLocalor maybeLocalLow
C:\Windows\Temp
It’s own install folder
C:\Programs
C:\Programs (x86)Like…why (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)
Maybe one folder was so full, they had to open up a new, bigger folder…?
Why does File Explorer freeze just because I opened it?!?
Every time???
How do they mess this up so bad?
How do they mess this up so bad?
They made their devs use copilot.
Yep. Vibe coding. Replacing knowledge and experience with hallucinations since 2025.
After firing everyone who knew anything about how the code worked.
I went back to Win10 at work because file explorer on Win11 was unusable. I’m not waiting a half second every single time I enter a subfolder.
and even worse in a OneDrive directory, often a full two seconds
that wasn’t the only issue, but it legitimately prevented me from being able to do my job, because I needed to be able to multitask on several projects at once. what used to be a two minute turnaround on a question somebody would ask me became hours, simply because I could not navigate to a directory in fifteen seconds and check a file quickly. and oh god the file explorer crashes
unfortunately I still deal with a bunch of that on Win10 now, because they somehow introduced that behaviour with greater frequency into Win10 in the past year
It’s amazing how a second or 5 at so many levels causes micro-frustration. And it builds up, too.
I admit I lose just a bit of my shit when the neu web-service web-apps get sluggish, which seems to be very often. Those of us who remember the halcyon days where things were responsive on a pentium know better than to accept the current mess.
My tolerance for the poor performance and saas-linked core services is rapidly waning.
File explorer has always been a weak point in Windows, it just got better in the later versions. Which speaks volumes about this OS too.
There’s a third party file explorer that works amazingly and it’s super fast. It’s freeware while in beta: https://filepilot.tech/
If a single guy can do it, why can’t Microsoft?
You might be interested in this tool
everything + qttabbar are what make work possible for me
without them, I’d be so inefficient. idk how my coworkers manage without. well, I do, they’re slow af sometimes
The funny thing is that both Outlook and OneDrive work way better on the Mac.
I just wish they were available for Linux.
Too sad that alternatives like Thunderbird doesnt have anything like automated rules or quicksteps.
I thought those linux guys were all about automating the shit out of their desktop???
On Linux there is “onedriver”, a 3rd party onedrive client. Works great, but iirc not with sharepoint shares linked in your onedrive folder.
I’m so glad I blocked all the updates from MS on mydesktopm. It’s a nice stop gap until I get moved to linux
I have that problem on my son’s pc. It’s definitely an io issue. A faster disk would solve the problem.
So would a working OS.
Slow disk is not the problem.
Maybe a factor, but it is not a problem.
lol that’s not the issue here
that can give you the same symptoms, but the tiniest bit of troubleshooting proves that that is not the scenario I have
Could be, my kids have identical pc’s, but the disks are different. One has a slower ssd and its symptoms are exactly how you described, I knew it was slower but it’s all I had around. Both pc’s have SATA ssds. We’re saving for new disks, which I’m sure will alleviate the symptoms.
At work a similar problem with Windows server. The hosting company changed the IO tier and like snow these issues disappeared. Clicking start and waiting for it to open would take a minute, completely unacceptable, but ultimately fixed by having faster storage.
I’m not saying Microsoft is doing good work, I’m suggesting a workaround until they do, which we both know is very probably never.
They already pushed out older hardware with Windows 11, they won’t care about slower storage options.
Do you have disconnected network drives or slow to spin-up?
Because that froze mine on the regular.I have a computer at work that has like 10 phones plugged into it. Opening “this PC” part of file explorer freezes it for about 5-10 minutes. It’s a very fun issue when I forget about. Normally I just avoid that screen.
It’s a fun bug.
That said, did they fix the issue where explorer (with the desktop) would just randomly crash for no reason? I’ve worked in IT for 3 months and it was a frequent issue.
I had this just last night and didn’t realise. Everything else was working fine, but then I glanced at my phone and realised that it was 2 hours later than the computer was showing.
My decision to switch to Linux feels better and better every day. Windows 11 sucks.
I wish all the companies using Windows 11 sued Microsoft for releasing a buggy product.
It’s like everyone collectively forgot Microsoft calling Windows 10 “the final Windows version”. How they avoided litigation about making non TPM hardware obsolete right after is bonkers.
Or just switched
Microsoft says that it is working on a fix but, for now, has provided a couple of workarounds to deal with the issue
Install Linux.
They could resolve many things if they did not push AI so hard, or making stupid things like removing the local account option, windows recall, etc…, but i guess SHAREHOLDERS.
We aren’t the consumer anymore. We are the product. The vessel which makes them money by collecting, storing, and selling our data. They don’t care about making a good OS for their users anymore. Just a money train to prove their value to their shareholders.
Man, I have 3 windows 11 desktops and a laptop. Sometime in the last month all of their edge browsers became “managed by my organization”… they’re all personal computers with no work info on them. And I can’t undo it. I’ve tried every trick on the internet. Fuck MS.
Ah but there are also a lot of minor features in Windows 11 that aren’t really looking too good.
In last April:
“Satya Nadella says as much as 30% of Microsoft code is written by AI”
That was this April
sorry I think in academic calender
You know I never really thought about it but do you think the spying tools these companies provide ever fail like the way their other products do?
Nah, if there’s one thing they thoroughly test, it’s the spying.
One might hope
IT has been an interesting ride the last two months, encountering some of the weirdest bugs I’ve ever seen, after two decades of Windows working just fine for the most part.
Yeah. Weird vibes.
*Weird vibe codes
Exactly
Had one yesterday where sound in win11 worked, except in browsers. Multiple browsers just wouldn’t output any sound through any site.
Haven’t fixed it yet… it was end of shift and there was a dell bios update to run (which has been known to fix some of the weird shit around there.) I uninstalled all the third party audio drivers, rebooted for the bios update, and called it a day. Will check on monday, haha.
I’ve seen a bunch.
Had my phone wish me a happy birthday on the wrong day. I had a whole folder of emails inexplicably moved back into my inbox, and yes, various wacky hardware problems.
It’s clear that a bunch of the people they laid off were QA people.
I use windows 11 everyday, without issue. what exactly is broken?
At work I’ve had issues with the Start Bar not showing any/most programs and centering the one program that does show up (even though I have it left aligned). Then when I mouse over it, it’ll try to move to where it should be causing it to jump around and be unclickable.
I’ve also had the file explorer just stop working entirely.
This is on a pretty powerful dev laptop, so it’s not lack of resources.
That being said I’ve never heard of anyone else having that issue so it seems rare.
The start menu is mostly white for me. I have to type out what I want because I can’t navigate it
I use windows 11 everyday
“no kink shaming” is a hard rule to follow sometimes
Your perception
Not that they’re going to fix any of them though.
“We’ll slap some ‘AI’ on any a few things and, boom, it’ll fix itself” -Whoever the Microsoft CEO is now
In the support article Microsoft explains:
"After provisioning a PC with a Windows 11, version 24H2 monthly cumulative update released on or after July 2025 (KB5062553), various apps such as StartMenuExperiencehost, Search, SystemSettings, Taskbar or Explorer might experience difficulties.
lol
