Microsoft rolls out fix for Windows 11 crashes, gaming issues

Microsoft has started rolling out a permanent fix for a known issue that causes system crashes and gaming issues on Windows 11 devices.

On affected PCs, users have also reported games failing to launch and freezing with "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" errors.

When it was first confirmed, Microsoft said that this issue affects games like ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2.

While it was initially believed that the August 2026 updates may be behind these problems, Microsoft later blamed them on peripherals with built-in RGB lighting.

"Ongoing investigation indicates that this issue is related to peripherals or internal device components which have RGB lighting features," Microsoft noted. "Such devices may install drivers or code components with file names similar to inpoutx64. In systems where these drivers are found, the issue is then triggered by launching certain games."

On Wednesday, the company confirmed that the inpoutx64.sys driver causes these issues and said that it has begun rolling out a fix that disables it on affected devices.

"This issue is resolved by a block that prevents the inpoutx64 driver from loading. The block targets devices with this specific driver enabled and the game ARC Raiders installed," it added in a Windows release health update. "This resolution disables the inpoutx64 driver and displays a message window with information about the disablement. Following this message, the game will launch as normal."

The fix is now propagating to Windows consumer and business devices that aren't managed by IT departments and requires a system restart to be applied.

The rollout began on August 26, 2026, at 6 PM PT, and it might take up to 24 hours to reach all affected devices. The driver block will also be included in the September 2026 Windows security updates and future releases.

Temporary workaround for enterprise systems

Microsoft has also shared a temporary fix for enterprise-managed devices where the fix will not propagate automatically.

This requires IT administrators to disable the inpoutx64 driver using the Windows Registry by going through the following steps (however, they should back up the registry first, because they may need to undo the changes if a problem occurs):

1. Open the Windows Registry by opening the Start menu and typing "regedit". Select the Registry Editor from the results.
2. ​Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\inpoutx64. You can do this using the folders on the left side of the window or by typing the path into the address bar at the top.
3. ​On the right side of the window, find the registry value named Start. Double-click this key and enter the number "4" under the field titled Value data.
4. ​Close the window and restart your computer.

"Ongoing investigation does not indicate that disabling this registry key can result in unintended behavior. If you want to re-enable the driver, you may do so by restoring the registry key to its previous value," Microsoft added.

Microsoft has addressed other gaming stability and performance issues caused by Windows updates in recent years.

For instance, it removed several upgrade blocks set up to prevent players of Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin's Creed, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Asphalt 8: Airborne from upgrading their devices to the latest Windows version.

Most recently, Microsoft lifted another compatibility hold in January 2025 after fixing a bug in the Auto HDR Windows feature that was breaking some games on Windows 11 24H2 devices.