If your Windows 11 PC recently refused to boot and you suddenly found your keyboard and mouse unresponsive, you weren’t alone. A botched October update left many users stuck in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) with no way to control their PCs — a nightmare scenario that forced Microsoft to push out an emergency fix this week.
The issue came from update KB5066835, rolled out earlier this month. It broke support for USB keyboards and mice inside WinRE — the part of Windows that kicks in when something goes wrong, like failed startups, malware cleanup, or system resets. Without working input devices, users were left staring at the recovery screen, unable to even select options or type commands.
Reports quickly spread across Reddit and Microsoft’s support forums, with some desperate users digging out ancient PS/2 keyboards or pairing Bluetooth devices just to escape the recovery loop.
“After installing the Windows security update released on October 14, 2025 (KB5066835), USB devices, such as keyboards and mice, do not function in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This issue prevents navigation of any of the recovery options within WinRE,” the company clarified in a blog post.
Microsoft has since released a fix: KB5070773, an “out-of-band” update now available via Windows Update and the Microsoft Update Catalog. It restores USB functionality in WinRE for Windows 11 versions 24H2, 25H2, and Windows Server 2025.
For everyday users, it’s a good reminder to keep both your system and recovery partitions up to date — and maybe keep a bootable USB handy, just in case. With KB5070773 now live, affected users can finally regain control of their PCs — and breathe a little easier next time Windows decides to go off-script.
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(Source: Microsoft)
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