Microsoft admits Windows 11 24H2 could play havoc with some online games – and it’s blocked the update for affected PCs

PCs with a widely used anti-cheat tool may not be able to install the 24H2 update

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Windows 1124H2 is not long out and already there’s trouble brewing in the bug department, with some PC gamers finding themselves affected by frustrating issues.

So far, the 24H2 update has had a limited rollout (to Windows 11 PCs, that is – Copilot+ PCs ran 24H2 from the get-go, though not with all of its features, we should add,plus a bunch of new AI abilities are now inbound). Still, that cautious deployment hasn’t stopped some problems with 24H2 from rearing their heads, predictably enough, and a couple of these are hitting PC gamers specifically.

According to theWindows release health status dashboard, there’s an issue with Asphalt 8, and a bigger potential problem with some games running Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). That includes some very popular games such asFortniteandApex Legends, for example.

AsMicrosoftexplains: “Some devices using Easy Anti-Cheat stop responding and receive a blue screen.”

Note that not every EAC game is affected, and only those titles running an older version of the anti-cheating tool aren’t playing nice with Windows 11 24H2.Tom’s Hardwarereports that versions of EAC that date back before April 2024 will get a ‘Memory Management’ Blue Screen of Death (a complete lock-up, in other words).

Also note thatAMD Ryzen processorsare not affected, just PCs withIntelCPUs (and not older chips either – only Alder Lake processors or newer from Team Blue).

The Asphalt 8 bug is more straightforward in that it could, from time to time, freeze up and stop responding.

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As a result, compatibility holds have been put on PCs that have Asphalt 8 installed, or an out-of-date version of Easy Anti-Cheat, to prevent them from running into trouble.

If you fall into those categories, you won’t get Windows 11 24H2 – and won’t be able to see it in Windows Update – until Microsoft irons out these incompatibility flaws.

Analysis: Sugar on the asphalt

There’s not much you can do about Asphalt 8, except remove the game if you’re desperate for Windows 11’s 24H2 update (though you may still have to wait for it, anyway, given the phased rollout).

In the case of Easy Anti-Cheat, you can try installing the latest patch for any given game that uses this tool – in the hope that the utility is updated within that patch. In that scenario, with a more recent Easy Anti-Cheat version, you’ll hopefully no longer suffer from the glitch.

To be fair to Microsoft, in this case, you’d hope that any developer would have bundled the latest version of Easy Anti-Cheat with their game’s most recent update, and games shouldn’t be running an EAC version from six months ago (or older). If the dev hasn’t pushed a recent EAC build with game updates, that isn’t Microsoft’s fault.

Elsewhere there are some non-gaming problems Microsoft has flagged up with Windows 11 24H2. That includes fingerprint sensors becoming erratic, apps that customize wallpapers causing chaos, and other compatibility issues with PCs that have the Intel Smart Sound Technology (SST) driver.

There are no real showstoppers in evidence right off the bat, though, which is obviously something of a relief, though it’s still early days for the 24H2 update. As noted, only a limited number of Windows 11 users have 24H2 thus far.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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