Microsoft has released an emergency update to fix the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), which became unusable on systems with USB mice and keyboards after installing the October 2025 security updates.
As the company explained on Friday, when it acknowledged it, this issue blocks users from selecting or navigating recovery options within WinRE, even though the mouse and keyboard continue to work after logging into Windows.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it had resolved the bug behind these WinRE issues and started rolling out an out-of-band cumulative update (KB5070773), one week after the KB5066835 buggy update started disabling USB-wired input devices in WinRE on client (Windows 11 24H2 and Windows 11 25H2) and server (Windows Server 2025) platforms.
"This issue was resolved by the Windows out-of-band update, released October 20, 2025 (KB5070773), and updates released after that date," Microsoft said in a Windows release health update.
"We recommend you install the latest update for your device as it contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one."
Affected customers whose devices cannot boot to install this update are advised to use one of the following methods as a workaround:
If your PC has a touchscreen, you can use its touch keyboard to navigate WinRE.
If your PC has a PS/2 port, you can use a PS/2 keyboard or mouse to navigate within WinRE.
If you previously created a USB recovery drive, you can boot your computer from it. This will take you directly to WinRE with restored USB functionality.
Microsoft also advised OEMs and enterprises to use the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) in Configuration Manager to install the KB5070773 out-of-band update to recover affected devices.
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