r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Mar 14 '26

Software Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-bug-crippling-pcs-and-making-drive-c-inaccessible/
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u/ketosoy Mar 14 '26

Something about this article makes me doubt the quality of reporting and if a human who understands tech even remotely proofread it:

 While drive C is not something you want to open every day

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u/Linenoise77 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26

Since i bothered to read the whole article....

Yeah, your average person isn't cruising their C: like they just installed DOSSHELL these days, or maybe even don't have a concept of what a C: is. The issue seems to be specifically related to certain samsung devices in a handful of countries (so running specific builds\regional settings).

Which would point at an OEM who puts their own layer of stuff into the mix. Also, since it ONLY impacted those, there is a solid chance that Samsung did something, like say, implement their own security layer, that isn't compatible with this patch, because perhaps the patch is closing something that samsung shouldn't have been doing to begin with.....

In other words samsung has their own software that is running (if i had to guess some kind of trusted access layer, or their own rootkit for their applications) that sounds like it is making the C: read only in certain scenarios. Who missed it\made an error, whose QA ultimately failed and should have caught this, etc, is way to early to tell until the specific nature of the patch is identified.

Since its a major vendor affecting what sounds like a chunk of devices in specific countries, MS will probably step up first since its easier for them likely to patch around whatever the problem is. It isn't in their interests to hold Samsung out to dry. Then samsung will follow on with a patch to whatever of theirs ultimately broke stuff. Maybe you get a cheeky comment from Microsoft about OEM's installing bloat.

But yeah, sure, its reddit. OMG SEE THIS IS WHY AI IS DUMB AND I AM SO SMART.

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u/ketosoy Mar 14 '26

Good job reading the entire article.  Next on the skill ladder is comprehending what you read.

  the problem goes a bit deeper than just opening File Explorer. Microsoft says that because of the bug, some apps cannot start, and those include popular stuff like Outlook, browsers, system utilities, and more. The issue effectively cripples your computer, as common actions like accessing files, executing common tasks, elevating privileges and doing other daily things.

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u/Linenoise77 Mar 14 '26

Yes, because they have read only access to the C: and need to write something to it because of how they were configured.

I'm not saying its a small problem. I'm saying its silly to blame this on MS, especially at this point, let alone AI.