Windows 11 breaks ROG Xbox Ally, as Microsoft works to fix bad updates
Microsoft has been having an abysmal time lately keeping Windows 11 running smoothly. It’s latest rollout of updates has caused more problems than it has solved, leading to device that have failed to boot, users unable to log in even if it does boot, and perhaps incredibly have even managed to brick the Armory Crate app on ROG Xbox Ally handhelds—hardware that comes with their own Xbox-branding.
Starting with the issues plaguing ROG Xbox Ally series, these handheld gamers began posting on ROG and ROG Ally subreddits complaining that their Armory Crate no longer worked after a Windows 11 update. Specifically, they would get a Windows Security Smart App Control pop-up saying that it can’t confirm who wore the app, even though it’s by ASUS, their own hardware partner.
If you’ve used an ROG Ally or ROG Xbox Ally, you would know that not having access to your Armory Crate is pretty bad, as that means you can’t tweak performance settings, features or game profiles. You should be able to at least turn off Smart App Control in Windows Security and reboot to temporarily fix it, but it’s not great optics when a Windows 11 update breaks the Microsoft Xbox-branded gaming handheld.
Separately, Microsoft is investigating an issue where some Windows 11 devices fail to boot after installing the January 2026 Patch Tuesday security updates. According to Microsoft, affected systems display the “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” stop error during startup, preventing Windows from loading normally.
Users encountering the bug are greeted with a black crash screen stating: “Your device ran into a problem and needs a restart.” However, restarting does not resolve the issue, and affected PCs require manual recovery steps to boot again. The issue impacts Windows 11 version 25H2 as well as all editions of Windows 11 version 24H2 after installing the KB5074109 cumulative update, which was released on 13 January 2026.
On top of that, Microsoft has also released out-of-band updates to address another issue that caused Microsoft Outlook to freeze when PST files are stored on cloud services such as OneDrive or Dropbox. This Outlook-related problem primarily affects enterprise users. Then there was also another update that was released to fix disappearing password sign-in options on the lock screen, which had been a known issue since a Windows 11 update in August last year.
For now, it seems that the best way forward is to actually hold on updating your Windows 11 system until it’s actually proven to be stable, as Microsoft scrambles to fix their bad patches.
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