Microsoft Fixes SSD and HDD Write Speed Bug in Windows 11

Windows 11 screen
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Microsoft is finally addressing major performance issues with SSDs and hard drives in a new Windows Preview Update KB5007262 for Windows 11. The update fixes severe write speed issues caused only on the C drive due to the enabling of the NTFS USN journal.

According to MSPowerUser, the C drive write speed issues have been a Windows 11 problem for months, with Windows Insiders complaining about the issues well before the operating system's release.

The issue is quite severe, where write speeds on the C drive are cut in half from this bug alone. However, read speeds are unaffected for unknown reasons. For instance, on a Samsung 980 Pro SSD, a user from MSPowerUser reported that random write speeds went from 1601 MBps on Windows 10 down to 911 MBps with Windows 11.

Samsung 980 Pro Write Speed Bug in Windows 11

(Image credit: MSPowerUser)

So thankfully, Microsoft has finally addressed the write speed glitch in update KB5007262, but that's not all this update has to offer. This new update also provides an eye-watering amount of bug fixes and improvements to Windows 11. Here are the most prominent ones to name:

  • Updates an issue that causes Internet Explorer to stop working when you copy and paste text while using the Input Method Editor (IME).
  • Updates an issue that prevents the display of File Explorer and desktop shortcut menus. This issue often occurs when you choose to use a single click to open an item.
  • Improves the animation performance of icons on the taskbar.
  • Updates an issue that causes File Explorer to stop working after you close a File Explorer window.
  • Updates an issue that causes flickering when you hover over icons on the taskbar; this issue occurs if you’ve applied a high contrast theme.
  • Updates an issue that, under certain conditions, prevents the keyboard focus rectangle from being visible when you use Task View, Alt-Tab, or Snap Assist.
  • Updates an issue that might cause a temporary loss of audio on your device.
  • Updates all emoji from the Segoe UI Emoji font to the Fluent 2D emoji style

For more details, be sure to check out Microsoft's blog post here.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • King_V
    Updates an issue that causes Internet Explorer to stop working when you copy and paste text while using the Input Method Editor (IME).

    Wait . . Windows 11 comes with IE? Or even still supports it?
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    King_V said:
    Wait . . Windows 11 comes with IE? Or even still supports it?
    In my base model install of 11, I see no existence of IE.
    Reply
  • zipspyder
    That new KB fixed my SSD read speeds in Crystal diskmark but didn't do much for writes, which were pretty good to begin with. Nice!
    Reply
  • dan_L
    This article is pretty disingenuous when it says Microsoft "finally" fixed these issues. The update that fixed these issues was released before Nov 26 - more than two weeks ago which wasn't much more than a month since Windows 11 was released to the public. Frankly, that's pretty quick.

    The way this article was written, it sounds like Microsoft just released this fix a few hours ago. More than a little bit misleading.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    King_V said:
    Wait . . Windows 11 comes with IE? Or even still supports it?
    No, MS has blocked the use of IE in Windows 11. There is an IE mode in MS edge which is probably what the fix is referring to.
    Reply