Microsoft has released multiple emergency, out-of-band updates for Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server to fix two issues caused by the January Patch Tuesday updates.
The first issue impacts Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows Server and blocks access to Microsoft 365 Cloud PC sessions. After installing the January 2026 security updates, some users may encounter credential prompt failures in remote connection applications.
“After installing the January 2026 Windows security update (the Originating KBs listed above), credential prompt failures might occur in some remote connection applications,” explained Microsoft.
“This includes remote desktop connections using the Windows App on Windows client devices, on Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. The Windows App is affected by this issue on specific Windows builds and can experience sign-in failures.”
The second issue prevents some PCs with Secure Launch enabled from shutting down or entering hibernation. This problem only affects Windows 11 version 23H2.
“After installing the January 13, 2026, Windows security update (the Originating KBs listed above) for Windows 11, version 23H2, some PCs with Secure Launch are unable to shut down or enter hibernation. Instead, the device restarts,” warned Microsoft.
“Secure Launch uses virtualization-based security to protect the system from firmware-level threats during startup.”
Microsoft previously said the issue could be worked around by manually shutting down impacted devices using the following command:
shutdown /s /t 0
Microsoft releases OOB updates
To address these problems, Microsoft released the following out-of-band updates yesterday:
Microsoft says these updates are not currently available via Windows Update and must be manually downloaded and installed from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
For organizations unable to install the out-of-band updates, Windows admins can instead deploy a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to enterprise-managed devices to address the broken remote desktop issue through Group Policy.
“The special Group Policy can be found in Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
“For information on deploying and configuring this special Group Policy, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback.”
If these issues do not affect your devices, there is no need to install the out-of-band updates.
Instead, admins can wait for the upcoming preview update or next month’s Patch Tuesday, when the fixes will be rolled out as part of the regular update schedule.
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