Patch Tuesday Stopped on Windows 11? The Official Fix from Microsoft Arrives

The installation problems that have plagued several Windows 11 users during the May Patch Tuesday have finally been resolved. Microsoft has confirmed the closure of the bug related to the cumulative package KB5089549, which in recent weeks showed a marked tendency to fail across a wide range of configurations, impacting both systems updated to Windows 11 24H2 and those based on the 25H2 release.

The symptom described in the reports was almost always the same. The update process progressed normally to the restart phase, only to freeze abruptly around 35-36% completion. At that point, the system returned the error 0x800f0922, accompanied by the classic and overly ambiguous Windows message informing of the rollback of changes, forcing the machine into a complete rollback.

According to the technical details analyzed by the Redmond company, the freeze was triggered under specific storage conditions. The installation failure was linked to a shortage of space in the EFI System Partition (ESP), specifically activating on all devices that had 10 MB or less of free space in this critical volume.

The Definitive Fix Arrives with Preview KB5089573

To overcome the impasse, Microsoft technicians had initially suggested some rather cumbersome temporary workarounds. These ranged from manually editing certain keys in the Registry (an operation always delicate and potentially risky for the stability of the operating system, especially if handled by less advanced users) to enabling the Known Issue Rollback (KIR) mechanism.

The definitive solution is decidedly more straightforward and does not require manual intervention on the software configuration. Microsoft has indeed integrated the resolving fix within the optional non-security update KB5089573, distributed in recent days as a preview. Once this package is applied, the EFI partition bug is automatically overcome, unlocking the correct receipt of subsequent updates without the user having to perform further steps or forced restarts.

As this is a preview build, the installation is currently optional (it can also be executed manually via the Microsoft Update Catalog), but the fix will be included by default in the overall cumulative package for next month. In addition to correcting the installation hang issue, the KB5089573 release introduces a series of performance and functional optimizations for the Windows 11 ecosystem. Among the new features in the code are the debut of the Low Latency Profile, shared audio management, as well as a series of updates aimed at improving the efficiency of the Task Manager and indexing in Windows Search.

We had already discussed this here.