Microsoft has taken swift action to address critical issues with its operating systems by releasing a series of emergency patches, commonly referred to as “out-of-band” updates. These updates include KB5066189 for Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2, KB5066188 for Windows 10 versions 22H2 and 21H2, and KB5066187 for Windows 10 LTSC 2019.
[Fix for reset and recovery issue] This update addresses an issue introduced by the August 2025 security update, which caused difficulties in resetting or recovering devices. Users may have encountered problems when attempting to perform the following actions:
- System > Recovery > Reset my PC
- System Recovery > Fix problems using Windows Update
- RemoteWipe CSP
What do the emergency updates do?
The August 2025 update inadvertently led to installation failures, marked by the error code 0x8007007F, impacting both client and server systems across various Windows versions. This included Windows 10 (21H2 and 22H2), Windows 11 (22H2 and 23H2), as well as Windows Server editions (2016, 2019, and 2022).
Moreover, the August update disrupted the reset and restore functionalities on numerous Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices. Fortunately, the newly released emergency updates effectively resolve these issues, restoring normal operations across the affected systems.
How to get the emergency updates
In a recent announcement, Microsoft clarified the process for obtaining these updates:
A non-security out-of-band (OOB) update was released today, August 19, 2025, to address this issue. This is a cumulative update, so you do not need to apply any previous updates before installing this update, as it supersedes all previous updates for affected versions. If you haven’t installed the August 2025 Windows security update yet, we recommend you apply this OOB update instead. If your device is not affected by this issue, you do not need to install this OOB update.
The updates will be deployed through Windows Update, but users must manually select and install the appropriate patch for their systems. According to reports from Windows Latest, the Windows PC reset feature is expected to function correctly once the update has been successfully installed.
