On Thursday, Microsoft issued a warning to customers about the May 2024 non-security preview update for Windows 11, which has been causing taskbar crashes and glitches.
The optional KB5037853 update, released the same day, addresses multiple File Explorer problems and 32 other issues. However, within a day of its release, Microsoft added a new known issue to the KB5037853 support document. They confirmed that users of Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2 might experience problems with their taskbars.
"After installing this update, you might face issues using the taskbar. You might notice the taskbar temporarily glitching, not responding, disappearing, and reappearing automatically," the company said.
This issue might also show up in the Event Viewer with an Application Error ‘Event ID 1000’ under Windows Logs, listing 'Explorer.EXE' as the 'Faulting application name' and 'Taskbar.View.dll' as the 'Faulting module name'.
In addition to the Windows 11 update, Microsoft also released the optional KB5037849 Preview cumulative update for Windows 10 22H2. This update comes with four known issues, including two long-standing problems: Copilot causing icons to jump between displays and not being supported when using a vertical taskbar. The other issues involve Microsoft Connected Cache (MCC) node discovery breaking when using DHCP Option 235, and Windows users encountering 0x80070520 errors when trying to change their account profile pictures.
Fixing Taskbar Issues with Known Issue Rollback
To address the taskbar crashes caused by the May 2024 Windows 11 preview update, Microsoft has employed a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to undo the faulty non-security updates delivered via Windows Update.
The fix may take up to 24 hours to automatically reach consumer and non-managed business devices. To speed up the process, users can restart their Windows devices.
For enterprise-managed devices, Windows administrators need to install and configure a KIR Group Policy to resolve the known issue. This policy can be downloaded from the provided link. After installation, the Group Policy can be found under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows 11 22H2 KB5037853 240505_142035 Known Issue Rollback.
To deploy the Known Issue Rollback, access the Domain policy or Local Computer Policy on your domain controller via the Group Policy Editor. Click Here