Microsoft offers fix for Windows 11 gaming performance issues

Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is offering Windows 11 users a preview of an update that fixes some gaming performance problems. The software maker originally warned of issues with lower than expected performance in some games earlier this month, after some Windows 11 users that had upgraded to the latest 2022 Update (22H2) noticed problems.

“Some games and apps might experience lower than expected performance or stuttering on Windows 11, version 22H2,” said Microsoft at the time. “Affected games and apps are inadvertently enabling GPU performance debugging features not meant to be used by consumers.”

While Microsoft didn’t list the exact apps and games experiencing problems, the company did block the Windows 11 2022 Update for systems with affected games and recommended people not upgrade. That safeguard was removed around a week ago, and now Microsoft has issued a full fix. If you’re running the Windows 11 2022 Update you can check Windows Update and find a KB5020044 update preview that you can install.

Separately, Nvidia also had some initial driver issues with the latest Windows 11 2022 Update, which also caused stuttering and frame rate drops. Nvidia addressed problems in September.

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update also includes the typical bug fixes Microsoft rolls out in cumulative monthly releases, alongside new storage alerts for OneDrive, improvements to the Windows Spotlight feature, and more. You can find the full release notes here.

Microsoft also revealed last month that some Windows 11 virtualization features can impact gaming performance. Microsoft provided instructions for gamers to disable them, but it’s important to turn the features back on if you disable them temporarily to prioritize performance.