[German]A brief update from this week. Blog reader Ingo contacted me immediately after Patch Day because he had encountered issues with his mouse in Win RE. Microsoft has now officially confirmed that there may be issues with USB keyboards and USB mice in Win RE. Windows 11 24-H2 – 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 are affected. Here is a brief overview of the situation.
What is Win RE and what is the problem?
The abbreviation Win RE stands for Windows Repair Environment. There is also Win PE (Preinstall Environment). Both are stripped-down versions of Windows that are useful for installing or repairing Windows.
You can access Win RE, for example, under Windows Update on the Settings page of Windows 10/10 via an entry. In the screenshot above, this would be Restart now, under "Advanced startup."
Reader reports problems with advanced startup
German blog reader Ingo had already reported the issue on October 15, 2025, via email with the subject line "'Advanced startup options' defective after October update" (thanks for that) and wrote that the "Advanced startup options" menu had not been working properly since the October 2025 update for Windows 10 and Windows 11. The reader needed this by chance because he wanted to perform a BIOS update for a friend. The error described was as follows:
- On the laptop, operation is possible with the keyboard and mousepad, but not with an external mouse.
- On several desktop computers, it does not work with any input device because they are connected via USB, wrote Ingo.
He commented: "There seems to be a problem with USB in this environment/menu. It's definitely worth mentioning." This refers to the operation of the "Advanced Options" tile menu, as shown in the following image that Ingo sent me.
I didn't get around to addressing this here in the blog in a timely manner for two reasons. First, I was busy with other topics that week. Second, I couldn't find anything wrong at first glance during a quick test in a virtual machine.
The image above shows the German "Advanced Options" page in the VM running Windows 10, and I was able to navigate the menu in the VM with my mouse without any problems.
Microsoft confirms USB problems with mouse and keyboard
On October 17, 2025, Microsoft confirmed the bug described above in the Known Issues section of the Windows 11 25H2 Release Health Status page in the support article USB mouse and keyboard not working in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) (noticed here, for example).
After installing the Windows security updates released on October 14, 2025 (e.g., Update KB5066835), USB devices such as keyboards and mice no longer work in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This issue prevents navigation to the recovery options in WinRE.
This issue only affects USB devices within WinRE after installing the Windows updates released on October 14, 2025. The USB keyboard and mouse continue to function normally in Windows itself. According to Microsoft, Windows 11 24H2 – 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 are affected. I have not verified whether it also affects Windows 10, as Ingo suspects above. Microsoft is working on a solution to this problem and plans to release an update in due course.
Similar articles:
Microsoft Security Update Summary (October 14, 2025)
Patchday: Windows 10/11 Updates (October 14, 2025)
Patchday: Windows Server-Updates (October 14, 2025)
Patchday: Microsoft Office Updates (October 14, 2025)
Exchange Server Security Updates October 2025
Windows 10 22H2/Windows 11 23H2-25H2: Preview Updates (September 23/25/29, 2025)
September 2025 Update KB5065426 causes issues with large AD environments
Windows 11 24H2/25H2: Localhost issues after October 2025 update KB5066835
Windows 11 24H2-25H2/Server 2025: Microsoft confirms issue with IIS/localhost, offers KIR solution
