Windows 11 24H2’s latest bugs are proving a nightmare for PC gamers (again) and are stopping some Dell laptops from shutting down

Windows 11 24H2 has run into yet more bugs
They affect Ubisoft games and cause them to freeze up in a nasty way
There’s also a bug with an encryption app hitting Dell’s laptops

Windows 11 24H2 seems to run into more and more problems as the update continues to roll out, and here’s another bunch of fresh issues which upgraders have encountered.

For starters, one of the most recent bugs to rear its head represents a spot of trouble for PC gamers (again), as flagged up on Microsoft’s release health status dashboard.

This one relates to problems with Ubisoft games whereby some titles can become “unresponsive while starting, loading or during active gameplay” with this resulting in a black screen crash in some cases.

The games affected are as follows:

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Star Wars Outlaws
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

We’re told that Ubisoft has released a patch for Star Wars Outlaws that means the game will no longer freeze up, but players might still encounter technical hitches in terms of unspecified ‘performance issues,’ so we can guess that means some bouts of sluggish frame rates, perhaps.

On top of that, there’s another gremlin causing havoc in 24H2 for some USB devices, mainly USB standalone scanners, as Microsoft again explains in its dashboard.

Windows Latest also spotted that Dolby Digital sound won’t work in Windows 11 24H2, with a fresh install, that is, as the Dolby Audio decoders aren’t preinstalled in the OS as of 24H2. So, in this case, you’ll need to manually install them.

Finally, the tech site also noticed that there’s a bug with Dell PCs with a certain app that means they won’t hibernate or shut down, a pretty major clanger it has to be said.

This happens when Windows 11 24H2 is installed on a Dell machine with an older version of the Dell Encryption app, as confirmed by the laptop maker itself.

In a support document, Dell tells us: “Dell Encryption v11.9 and earlier are not compatible with 24H2 and should not be installed to those computers.”

Note that this app is something you’ll see in a business setting, so the odds are that this isn’t one you’ll have to worry about – but it’s still something to be aware of, given the impact here, if you have a Dell notebook for working from home, for example.

(Image credit: Ubisoft/LucasFilm Games)

Analysis: Hell for Dell, and Ubisoft too

So, for those who do have such a Dell laptop, you need to be careful here, as failing to shut down the PC is a pretty critical bug. What’s more worrying here is that as Windows Latest observes, Microsoft hasn’t yet placed a hold on the 24H2 update for PCs running Dell Encryption v11.9 or earlier – normally, these systems should be blocked from the upgrade due to this incompatibility problem.

At least this was the case at the time of writing, and the current advice is to make sure you have Dell Encryption v11.10 (or better) installed before you grab the 24H2 update. Your Dell PC may have already updated that app, with any luck, but we wouldn’t take that for granted.

The good news is that the bug more likely to affect our readers – with the Ubisoft games – does have an upgrade block in place. So, if you have the mentioned games installed, the 24H2 update won’t be offered to you. Also, don’t try to fudge your way around that compatibility block by manually installing 24H2 (by using, say, the media creation tool), as that will end in tears (or your PC games crashing, rather).

As mentioned at the outset, there are a growing number of problems with the 24H2 update, so we can’t imagine the rollout will be opening up to a lot more PCs anytime soon. Microsoft has a lot of fixing to do here, work that’s already happening to be fair.