I've been gaming again lately on my desktop PC thanks to cooler weather, but thankfully I haven't experienced this new Windows 11 bug that cropped up after the August 11 (KB5121003) update.
It's apparently affecting 25H2 and 24H2 installs of Windows 11, as this update rolled out to OS builds 26200.9168 and 26100.9168.
According to Microsoft, the Windows 11 update is forcing some games to go unresponsive, crash, or reboot your PC entirely. You might also see the EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION error pop up, forcing you to close your game.
Thankfully, it doesn't seem like the issue is too widespread. At least, not yet. Microsoft says it has received reports mainly focused on ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals.
As of August 19, when the support page was last updated, Microsoft says it is investigating the issues to figure out if it's a problem on its side. Microsoft is asking any PC gamers experiencing a similar issue to file a report in the proper Feedback Hub app.
Embark Studios, the team behind ARC Raiders and The Finals, took to Discord to address the problem (via Windows Latest).
We’re aware of a new crash introduced with the release of a Windows update (KB5121003) that may be affecting some of you. The team is working on a fix, and we will keep you posted on any updates.
Embark Studios (via Discord)
In another post, the Embark team points at the crashes being caused by an inpoutx64.sys file change in the recent Windows 11 update. It seems like the kernel-level driver is having a hard time communicating properly.
Embark says it's working on its own "long-term fix," but in the meantime, affected gamers might be able to solve the issue on their own.
A temporary fix for the new Windows 11 gaming issues
Embark has laid out the steps required to temporarily fix the crashing and freezing issues on KB5121003.
Launch Command Prompt as Administrator, type "sc stop inpoutx64", and press Enter.
In the same Command Prompt instance, type "sc delete inpoutx64" and press Enter.
Next, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers in your PC's File Explorer. Find the file called inpoutx64.sys and delete it.
That should let your games run smoothly again, but hopefully we'll soon have a fix that doesn't require the manual workaround.
You can, of course, also roll back your Windows 11 PC to an older update version until the problem is officially fixed by Microsoft.
This seems like a fairly minor Windows 11 issue compared to some others we've already experienced this year, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating for those affected.
Most recently, on July 15, Microsoft had to block the Windows 11 KB5101650 Patch Tuesday update on Dell PCs after issues involving unexpected shutdowns, overheating, and generally poor performance were reported by users.
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