Microsoft has confirmed that the October security updates disable USB mice and keyboards in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), rendering it unusable.
WinRE is a minimalist, Windows-based environment that runs independently of the main OS. It lets you restore, roll back, or troubleshoot the operating system even if Windows itself won’t boot.
According to Microsoft, after installing the October update KB5066835 a problem occurs: users cannot use wired USB mice and keyboards in recovery mode. The input devices continue to work in Windows itself, and the issue only appears when a user needs to enter WinRE — that is, when the OS already requires troubleshooting or diagnostics.
The issue is known to affect client (Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2) and server (Windows Server 2025) editions of the OS. There’s no patch for this bug yet, but a fix is in the works and should be released in the coming days.
In the meantime, users can use Bluetooth mice and keyboards or older models with a PS/2 connector, which are not affected by the issue.
It’s worth noting that last week Microsoft fixed another bug in Windows 11 caused by the October updates. Because of this bug, HTTP/2 connections to localhost (127.0.0.1) stopped working.