Microsoft continues to mess up Windows 11 Recall, failing to provide fix for weird bug that breaks the feature

Some Windows 11 testers found Recall didn’t work at all
Microsoft has explained this is due to a bug caused by an optional update
That optional update causes issues with the Dev build Recall is in, but there’s no fix for those affected

Some of the Windows 11 testers trying out the Recall feature (which recently went live for Windows Insiders) ran into a baffling issue where it didn’t work at all, and Microsoft has just explained the problem – but failed to provide a fix for those affected.

As we saw last week, after Recall was finally deployed in the Dev channel for Windows 11, it was immediately hit by some bugs. Indeed, some testers complained that it refused to save any snapshots at all (those being the regular screenshots Recall takes to facilitate its AI-supercharged search functionality).

According to an update on Microsoft’s blog post for the preview build in question, the glitch happens to Windows 11 users who first install patch KB5046740 – which is the preview update for November – and then go on to install build 26120.2415.

Essentially, something in the KB5046740 optional update for Windows 11 clashes with the Dev channel build, and throws a serious spanner in the works for Recall.

Microsoft’s advice is: “We recommend you not install this preview update before joining the Dev channel until we fix the issue in a future update.”

A man getting angry with his laptop.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Analysis: Already in this pickle? You’re out of luck, it seems

Of course, Microsoft doesn’t tell us what to do if you’re already in this pickle, and you’ve installed the preview update before deciding to join the Dev channel in order to test Recall. So, we can only presume that you’re going to need to reinstall Windows 11 to fix this (or just put up with Recall not working – and maybe never working, going forward with Dev test builds).

Recall is, of course, a feature for Copilot+ PCs only – and just Arm-based Snapdragon devices to begin with, too – so there will be a limited pool of testers anyway. And an even smaller subset who went this route before installing the Dev build.

Even so, that’s still a bunch of users who are left in the lurch, but such are the perils of being a Windows 11 tester. Especially in the earlier testing channels, Canary and Dev, where the changes brought in are fresher and more likely to suffer from bugs.

Via The Register