Windows 11 update knocks out USB mice, keyboards in recovery mode Microsoft has confirmed a bug that disables USB mice and keyboards in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) after installing security update KB5066835, released October 14. The bug affects Windows 11 version 25H2 (2025 Update) users only when accessing WinRE – the diagnostic toolset used to troubleshoot boot failures. USB …
They only apply the update on the machine assigned to the developer(s) and if it seems to work, they ship it.
Therefore, it's possible for each update to only actually work on that specific hardware and the specific configuration.
The proper solution is to install GNU instead of funding microsoft and their buddies.
I thought the same thing - everything is USB. I was pretty sure even the built-in HID devices are USB.
However, I just pulled up Device Manager, for the laptop I'm using (Lenovo ThinkPad), and checked the trackpad. It identifies as a "Synaptics Pointing Device" and reports the location as "plugged into PS/2 mouse port". It seems that there might be some PS/2 devices, even if there isn't the external port.
My two most recent PC mainboards, still very much on sale and advertised as Win11 compliant*, both have PS/2 sockets on the back: Asrock N100DC-ITX and N100M. No, I didn't go looking for that as a feature.
Asus "Prime" and "Corporate" mainboards all seem to provide PS/2. Harder to tell quickly with Supermicro, as their site is naff and doesn't hasn't images for the rear i/o, but from the top view, if that is the Ethernet, those USB then this other size of silver box, always in the same corner, is almost certainly PS/2.
In fact, it mostly seems to be "gaming" mainboards, and the grotty things that get crammed into name-brand boxes like HP, that are more likely to be missing them. On the outside, at least (there are still plenty of mainboard headers for serial ports, if one looks, so the missing PS/2 might be there as well - the generic chippery still provides the pins).
* not that they've been anywhere near Windows
People like Nadella despise everybody who don't earn at least one million. There are no customers for him, just consumers that should be herd like serfs.
It's not that people hate alternatives, it's they lack the applications (Linux) or are too expensive (Apple).
.. and Apple is only too expensive until you start incorporating manhours into your Total Cost of Ownership (something that MS aggressively encourages its acolytes to avoid).
The moment you start adding up wasted manhours though patching, reboots and general usability (every version has its own UI as opposed to Apple's UI which doesn't change all that much over time other than in a decorative fashion) you will discover that Macs are actually the cheaper and safer option.
But hey, most walked into that trap and all they can do now is twitch (and manipulate budgets to hide the above).
"Total Cost of Ownership (something that MS aggressively encourages its acolytes to avoid)."
Except when trying to dissuade some large customers switching to Linux, when MS will trumpet as loudly as they can, every little tweak or change needed in Linux as a "cost" in man hours" to artificially claim Linux "costs" more than Windows.
The generic chippery still provides PS/2 so not making it available is the choice that is being made; plenty of current mainboards on sale today even bring them out to the rear panel (see comment above for a couple of URLs). As at least one other person has found (see other comments around here) even laptops can be using PS/2 - why bother with building up internal USB if the lines are there for the simpler alternative?
Long time Linux user (1991), I left Windows at 7, never looked back. The only reason I used W7 was for gaming and that came to an abrupt halt when different games wanted different versions of Direct X. W7 didn't like that at all so no more gaming either. Lots of modern motherboards, at least on AM4 MBs, have an integrated keyboard/mouse PS2 connector. I have had problems with a couple of adapters that split out that connector to separate keyboard and mouse connectors not working at all so?
Except that error made a lot of sense. Booting without a PS/2 keyboard/mouse could be problematic (you couldn't plug one in after Windows had booted, a) it wouldn't recognise it, b) it could damage the motherboard), and no way to power the machine down safely without one. Halting to give you a chance to correct it and then pressing F1 was sound logic.
If you wanted to boot it headerless, you would disable the check in the BIOS.
Yes, I am a laugh.
Pretty sure Windows 95 didn't support USB (USB 1.0 came out in 1996). You may be thinking of Windows 98/ME.
An old help page for Windows 98 I found online says:
> In order to have a USB-only system, the BIOS must support USB keyboard functionality natively, as it does with PS/2 keyboards, or you may be unable to use a USB keyboard in MS-DOS mode or in Safe mode, because there is no driver support in these two modes. In order to initialize the device, the USB driver relies upon the registry entries for the device. Plug and play enumeration occurs very early when you start your computer, but the Hardware Wizard starts only after you log on, permitting you to be authenticated on your network, and obtain access to your network resources. If, when you start your computer, Plug and Play Configuration Manager detects a USB device, either the Usbd.sys driver file or Openhci.sys driver file is loaded, which automatically turns off BIOS support for the keyboard because a device must be disabled before it can be configured and re-initialized. If the Registry entries for the USB input devices (mouse, keyboard, or composite input device) are missing or damaged, user input is required to get past the "Windows did not detect a mouse" error message that may occur when you start your computer, and the USB driver did not have the initialization information it needed.
Ignoring the collection of fantasies presented to me by Igor (or whatever Google calls their AI agent), I was able to confirm my hazy recollection that USB support was added to Windows 95 in OSR 2.1 or 3. It wasn't a big deal at the time because it only worked with a few USB devices and then only on alternate Sunday mornings. And, if memory serves, there were initially two incompatible USB interfaces with distinct (incompatible) drivers. As I recall, it took several more years for everyone to get on the same page and get to the point where a newly purchased USB device might very well work with Windows 9.
https://www.hirensbootcd.org
Haven't used it for many years but I think it should be able to get to an update rollback place if Micro$haft break something critical yet again.
At a minimum it should allow you to do an update-over - where you overwrite the OS with an earlier version but leaving data intact.
Ran into this issue this weekend. First windows latest update wouldn't install did the normal checks and ran dsim for corrupted files. Rebooted and critical service failure. Rebooted into winre and asked for bitlocker.
So unable to decrypt the drive. Since it was ten at night decided to leave it for another day.
In the end had to create a windows to go usb decrypt the drive then go to the backup from my NAS. Luckily I hadn't started swapping my NAS over to a newer one.
Thanks Microsoft for wasting my time.
They've really got to get some proper programmers and testers in ones that don't rely on AI as well.
"This particular snafu echoes Windows 95's early USB support, when BIOS firmware lagged behind the OS, leaving users with USB keyboards unable to access BIOS settings without digging up legacy PS/2 keyboards."
Happened well into XP times from my memory - a BIOS would only natively support USB keyboards quite late on. Blew my mind the first time I saw one with mouse support. From my memory though, keyboards stayed PS/2 for quite a while, it was mice that first made the jump (and always came with that USB/PS2 dongle - fun fact, they didn't really do anything, the mouse recognised it was connected to one and started sending PS/2 signalling through the USB interface instead)
"This particular snafu echoes Windows 95's early USB support, when BIOS firmware lagged behind the OS, leaving users with USB keyboards unable to access BIOS settings without digging up legacy PS/2 keyboards."
This particular snafu is a lot worse because in the year of our Lord 2025, PS/2 peripherals are an aberration rather than a norm. I'm sure I speak for many when I say that it's been literal decades since a PS/2 input device was even available for purchase.
Worst is it crapping out at this particularly crucial instant, when your precious PC is down for the count and you're probably not too happy about that to begin with. I'd be more miffed than if I'd bought a poorly-designed $2500 3D card that burns through power cables and RMAs.
PS2 is one thing, but USB mice/keyboards are quite common. And it is an absolute failure, not one USB keyboard or mouse works, so this has never been tried out.
If I was responsible, I’d have a cupboard full with all kinds of devices that you want to work, and try them systematically.
Plus this USB support doesn’t disappear. Someone must have deliberately removed it.
> Someone must have deliberately removed it.
Not necessarily… Remember MS claimed that 30 percent of their code was written by AI. Given the AI would have been trained on historical repositories, it is quite possible for the AI to have hallucinated and used code modelled on W95…
Would not be surprised if the code for the USB is still there, just the hooks needed to invoke this code no longer exist.
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