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Microsoft seems to have fixed Windows 11’s horrible SSD slowdown bug – kind of
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Windows 11’s latest update has fixed a persistent bug with SSD slowdown for many users, according to a new report – though sadly, the gremlin is still hampering the drives of some folks.

Windows Latest has the story on this one, claiming to have heard from multiple readers that the August cumulative update for Windows 11 has done the trick, and that it believes the SSD bug has been ‘largely resolved.’

As we’ve seen, this bug has been hanging around for some time. It first made its presence known back in March 2023 (courtesy of the cumulative update for that month), and in every update for Windows 11 since then, we’ve seen further reports of the problem (or complaints that it still hasn’t been cured).

As Windows Latest notes, they observed that SSD performance improved with the optional (preview) update for Windows 11 in July, and that this has now been released as the full cumulative update for August.

And now, readers of the tech site have been saying that the SSD bug is resolved for them.

One reader wrote: “In the world of DevOps, I/O performance is king. After the March update, it was like driving a sports car with a clogged fuel filter. This recent August update has fixed NVMe SSD problems for us, but it has also shed light on the need for Microsoft to improve its quality assurance processes.”

Another commented: “I manage a fleet of systems, and the sluggish SSD issue from the March update was a glaring anomaly. Had to provisionally look for third-party solutions just to keep things moving. With the August update now deployed across the board, I see consistent disk performance across our devices. Grateful for the fix, but it’s a reminder of how crucial thorough testing is before rolling out any software updates.”

However, as mentioned, not every user has the cure provided with the August update, and some are still lamenting slower than normal SSD speeds.

For example, this Redditor tells us: “For me it isn’t fixed yet, but the most frustrating thing is that Microsoft never [acknowledged] if this issue even exists or not. So we never know if they fixed it or not. But if it doesn’t exist then many of us wouldn’t have the issue right? What I am noticing is that less people are complaining about it in the recent updates so maybe it’s fixed for some.”

Analysis: Microsoft must do better

This bug has been a seriously annoying one, and as we’ve seen recently, there’s been an outpouring of complaints about the fact that it has persisted since March, and Microsoft – while acknowledging bug reports relating to the issue – has not said anything publicly about a solution.

That latter part has definitely compounded frustrations here, as if it wasn’t bad enough that even the best SSDs have been reduced to something more akin to a snail’s pace with this glitch, Microsoft’s lack of communication has been inexcusable, really.

So, the good news here is that the bug is apparently mostly fixed. The bad news, on the other hand, is that some folks are still affected, and Microsoft still hasn’t filled us in with any comment regarding what’s going on here.

We can but hope that the remaining users still suffering at the hands of this bug find their SSDs are once again up to speed with September’s update, but who knows. It’d definitely be nice to hear from Microsoft about why this bug has been such a problem (evidently), and that it’ll finally be put to bed in the immediate future.

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Windows 11 SSD slowdown bug has been hanging around for months – and people are fed up
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Windows 11 continues to have a problem for some users whereby their SSD speeds are being seriously slowed down, and it’s still not clear what Microsoft might be doing about this issue.

Windows Latest highlights the ongoing stream of reports about SSD slowdowns which first began back in March 2023 (with update KB5023778).

Since then, after every cumulative update for Windows 11, including the update for June, there have been folks complaining about performance being hampered with even the best SSDs.

That also includes the June preview (optional) update, which will become the July update a week tomorrow (July 11), and so is very likely to carry the problem.

Windows Latest points to a whole string of complaints on Reddit and Microsoft’s Feedback Hub for Windows 11 (as well as the tech site’s own forums).

Here’s one example of an affected user on Reddit: “Yes, I only encountered this issue after I installed the Moment 2 update [March update] before Moment 2 everything was fast and responsive. To this day none of the patches fixed the bug for me. Microsoft should really fix game-breaking bugs before working on releasing new features.”

With the latest preview update for June (that’ll become July’s update, as mentioned), another complaint runs like this: “Oh, so there actually is a storage bug going on? My NVME SSD has around 1200 MB/s sequential write speed right now, it should be up to 4400 MB/S. Read speeds are normal.”

Analysis: Let’s have some communication here, Microsoft

We have to agree with the Windows Latest report, as we’ve definitely noticed that with the notes for every patch release on Reddit, there’s an SSD complaint in there somewhere. Either someone new hit by the issue, or people asking if the slowdown gremlin has been fixed for other folks, as it hasn’t for them. Invariably, the answer is no, it hasn’t.

So, what’s Microsoft doing about this? We’ve not seen any official replies on those mentioned threads, and according to Windows Latest, Microsoft has confirmed it has received these bug reports, but hasn’t said anything further. That’s far from ideal, of course, even if this isn’t a hugely widespread problem (we’re not entirely sure of the scale of the numbers of those affected, but there are certainly a fair few folks out there complaining).

Needless to say, those in that particular boat are none too pleased, and are bemoaning Microsoft working on new features – and lauding the likes of DirectStorage for speeding up PC games and SSD loading speeds – while leaving a flaw like this apparently unaddressed over a period of months now.

Microsoft can surely do better, if not in delivering a fix for what seems to be a pretty clear problem at this point, then at least in letting us all know what’s going on. As of right now we don’t even know if this is on any priority lists for being investigated, let alone resolved.

If we had to guess, the drive slowdown problem may be tied to multiple issues – which is perhaps why new folks seemingly keep finding themselves affected down the line – and this is a messy one for Microsoft to untangle. It’d be nice to get an update on exactly what’s going on to tackle this, though, and hopefully we’ll see that soon enough.

Meanwhile, your only recourse if affected is to uninstall the update that caused the SSD to hit performance issues. But of course, that leaves you without the latest security fixes, which could be an even bigger problem ultimately, if you get unlucky.

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Windows 11 drive slowdown bug is finally fixed (but apparently not for everyone)
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Windows 11 has received a new cumulative update which applies some important fixes, including patching up some File Explorer problems, and tackling the big SSD and hard drive slowdown bugbear which has been looming over the OS for a long time now (at least, in theory the patch deals with it – more on that later).

Update KB5008215 has been released for Patch Tuesday and brings with it the new emoji previously seen in testing (including Clippy replacing the paperclip), along with a whole bunch of bug fixes, most of which were already present in November’s preview update.

That includes solutions for Bluetooth audio volume problems, and various glitches with File Explorer such as it crashing after closing a window, and problems with displaying shortcut menus.

The big fix, though, is the cure for the gremlin causing sluggish drive speeds for some users. As Microsoft notes, the patch “addresses an issue that affects the performance of all disks (NVMe, SSD, hard disk) on Windows 11 by performing unnecessary actions each time a write operation occurs”.

Those write slowdowns can cut drive speeds in half, or worse, going by previous reports, so this is a major spanner in the storage works, and it’s good to see the fix go live.

Windows Latest reports that the cumulative update fixes these drive-related problems in its experience, but on a cautionary note, we have seen a few reports on the likes of Reddit from users who say their drive is still slower than it should be under Windows 11, even after applying KB5008215. There are also satisfied users commenting on those threads, too, saying their performance has been improved after the update.

Analysis: New patch is a positive step forward, but there are still concerns here

The fix for the driver issue is obviously an important one, as the performance reduction is huge in some reported cases, which hardly puts the new operating system in a good light. While this patch seems to fix things for a good number of Windows 11 users affected by sluggish drive performance, there are folks out there reporting that it didn’t do them any good; and that must remain a concern.

The drive slowdown bug is an issue which has been around for a good while now, indeed it surfaced a few months ago before Windows 11 was even released, and this – plus some scattered reports of it still not being cured now, with the fix applied – clearly point to it being a seriously thorny problem.

Hopefully Microsoft will be able to finalize any fresh tweaks that need to be done soon enough, but given that the holidays are almost here, the software giant won’t be putting out a preview update late in December. In other words, it won’t be until January that we see any further movement on this issue.

Obviously it’s also useful to see some File Explorer issues cleared up as well, but it’s another point of concern exactly how much has gone wrong with these fundamental building blocks of the desktop on Windows 11, all adding to the perception of the OS having been released a bit too early.

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Windows 11 drive slowdown bug affects more users than thought – but a fix is coming
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Windows 11 continues to run into trouble with drive speeds being seriously hampered, as more users are being affected by a previously flagged issue than was first thought – this isn’t just about NVMe SSDs it seems – but the better news is that Microsoft has a (hopefully imminent) fix in the pipeline.

Earlier this week, we reported on the problem with NVMe SSDs running over 50% slower in some cases with write speeds, but as noted, it turns out that this nasty storage flaw affects all disks, as Microsoft has recently admitted (as spotted by Windows Latest, which points out the problem has been observed across all sorts of online forums).

On November 22, Microsoft pushed out a cumulative update in preview, KB5007262, and under the listed fixes, a cure for this issue is present noting that it affects all types of storage medium.

Microsoft said that KB5007262 “addresses an issue that affects the performance of all disks (NVMe, SSD, hard disk) on Windows 11 by performing unnecessary actions each time a write operation occurs. This issue occurs only when the NTFS USN journal is enabled. Note, the USN journal is always enabled on the C: disk.”

As this is an optional (preview) update, you have to manually install it, and as with anything which is still officially in testing, it may also cause problems as well as solve them.

The best course of action at this point is likely to wait, because this preview update arrived a few weeks back now, and the full (finalized) cumulative update will be available for Windows 11 users on Patch Tuesday for this month, which is this coming Tuesday, December 14.

Analysis: A chance to turn over a new leaf squandered

This is another of those alarming bugs which have blighted Windows 11, and made it an unpleasant experience performance-wise for a number of users. It’s worrying to learn that it affects all types of SSDs and even hard disks as well, considering how much of a speed reduction can be caused by the problem, but at least we know that the resolution is (theoretically) just around the corner now.

Windows 11 has also witnessed a number of serious issues around performance on the desktop with File Explorer, and this is such a fundamental piece of the interface that it’s another very concerning facet of what seems to be misfiring QA (quality assurance) at Microsoft.

That isn’t a new thing, and we’ve got used to this state of affairs with Windows 10, sadly. But it’s something we hoped might be rectified, given that Windows 11 could have been a new leaf for the software giant – but Microsoft certainly hasn’t got off on the right foot here, bug-wise. Indeed, these performance problems with drives and the UI were in evidence before Windows 11 was even released, so it’s not like Microsoft hasn’t had some time to get things right.

Clearly, the drive issue was a thorny problem, and it’s better late than never with the fix – but we won’t stop banging the drum that Microsoft needs to do better when it comes to keeping its desktop operating systems in more bug-free shape than this.

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