Windows Update KB5034765 is causing mounting problems for millions of Windows 11 users since its release on February 13th. The cumulative update for Windows 11 version 23H2, which fixes known security issues, has at least three widely reported issues that either break Windows features, prevent installation or even cause performance problems.
Firstly, as reported by Neowin and in dozens of Reddit posts, the update has been breaking the Windows taskbar, preventing it from appearing and severely hampering their ability to access programs and other taskbar features quickly. Uninstalling the update fixed the issue for some, but others found other problems made it even harder to fix the issue or work around it.
For instance, some people reported Windows Explorer started crashing after installing update KB5034765. Annoyingly, the error message that’s thrown up suggests a problem with your PC’s memory and many users have reported running memory tests after seeing it as reported by Windowslatest. Ironically, this issue was introduced in an update released in January and was meant to be fixed with update KB5034765. According to Microsoft, the issue was related to the use of a gaming controller on your PC or laptop. It seems it’s either not been fixed or has introduced something similar with plenty of people saying once installed the issue wasn’t fixed or their PC had been running fine, but was not crashing after installing it.
If you’ve had either of these issues recently on a previously stable PC then it’s likely the update is to blame and you can take some steps to try and fix it detailed below. Firstly, you can check to see if KB5034765 is installed by heading to the Start Menu and typing update, clicking on Windows Update and locating the update history tab where you can see all previously installed updates.
In addition to general performance issues, you’ll actually be quite lucky if the update installs at all. The most widely-reported problem is that KB5034765 fails to install and gets stuck at 96 percent – a common and very annoying issue with many Windows updates.
Thankfully, Microsoft does at least recognise this issue even if the taskbar and other performance issues haven’t been and does have a temporary fix to allow KB5034765 to be installed properly. According to this update page, if you head to Windows File Explorer and delete the hidden folder C:$WinREAgent, after restarting your PC, the update should install correctly.
However, a step Microsoft has missed in its update page is that you will likely need to unhide hidden files and folders first by going to Start and typing File Explorer Options, then hitting the view tab and clicking on Show hidden files, folders and drives as shown above.
It’s still worth installing the update as it has various other fixes and there’s a good chance it will have been installed without issue too. However, if you find it’s stuck at 96 percent then try the fix above. If you find it causes any of the other issues mentioned here then uninstall it via Windows Update.
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