system recovery

  1. KB5077181: February 2026 Windows 11 Cumulative Update with AI Payloads and SSU

    Microsoft released KB5077181 on Patch Tuesday (February 10, 2026), a cumulative security-and-quality rollup for Windows 11 that advances the 25H2 and 24H2 servicing lines to OS Builds 26200.7840 and 26100.7840 respectively and is available through Windows Update, Windows Update for Business...
  2. Windows 11 Emergency Restart: Force Reboot via SAS (Ctrl+Alt+Del)

    Windows 11 contains a deliberately obscure, high‑privilege fallback for when the desktop locks up: a built‑in Emergency Restart accessible from the Secure Attention Sequence that force‑reboots the machine without the usual graceful shutdown choreography. Background / Overview For years IT pros...
  3. Windows 11 KB5074105 Preview: Risks, Fixes, and Safe Testing

    Windows 11’s optional January preview (KB5074105) has left a chunk of the community unnerved after some early adopters reported serious post‑install regressions — from File Explorer and Start/Taskbar failures to brief black screens and, in a handful of cases, boot problems that require recovery...
  4. Windows 11 January Update Triggers UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME Boot Failures

    Microsoft has confirmed a disturbing failure mode in its January 2026 security roll‑up: a limited but real set of Windows 11 devices can fail to boot after installing KB5074109, arriving as a black-screen stop with the historic UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error and requiring manual recovery from the...
  5. Windows 11 KB5074109 Boot Failures and WinRE Recovery Guide

    Microsoft released its January cumulative for Windows 11 (KB5074109) on January 13, 2026 — and within days a series of serious regressions began surfacing, from brief black screens on some Nvidia-equipped machines to full startup failures that print UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME (Stop Code 0xED) and...
  6. Windows Sandbox Timeout 0x800705B4: Widespread Failure Across Builds

    Windows 11’s built‑in Sandbox has been rendered effectively unusable for a significant number of users after a persistent launch timeout that ends with error code 0x800705B4, and the processblem has spread across multiple Windows builds and community channels without a consistent, safe fix from...
  7. Stop Reinstalling Windows: Modern Recovery Tools and Smart Maintenance

    Two decades of reinstall rituals have taught a useful lesson: the reflex to wipe Windows and start over was once a reliable fix, but on modern PCs it’s often an expensive, time-consuming detour that can make problems worse rather than better. The old payoff — removing intrusive third‑party junk...