Windows 11 24H2 is now available for more PCs as Microsoft has lifted two upgrade blocks. One block affected PCs with a certain type of fingerprint sensor, and another affected PCs with Voicemeeter app, which caused Blue Screen of Death errors when installing Windows 11 2024 Update.
Windows 11 24H2 has been under development for about a year and began rolling out to some PCs on October 1. Microsoft also made the update available via the Media Creation Tool and Update Assistant. Later, Microsoft published the ISO images of Windows 11 24H2 and promised files for ARM PCs in the coming weeks.
At the same time, Microsoft told us that it won’t let everyone go to Windows Update Settings, check for updates and grab Windows 11 24H2. The upgrade blocks were applied on some PCs due to potential issues with Windows 11 24H2 on specific configurations, such as older models from Asus.
Windows 11 24H2 has as many as nine officially listed “upgrade blocks,” and two have been quietly lifted in early November.
Upgrade block lifted for devices with fingerprint senors
As spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft says it has fixed an issue where certain devices might experience problems with fingerprint sensors.
Fingerprint sensors are quite common in modern 2-in-1s, and it’s likely that a bug affected a particular manufacturer or vendor, but Microsoft won’t tell us how many devices were affected.
While we don’t know how many devices with fingerprint sensors were affected due to Windows 11 24H2 upgrade blocks, we think it was one of the widely applied upgrade blocks compared to other issues.
Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft updated its support document to lift the upgrade block on November 8, 2024. According to the company, a bug in Windows 11 24H2 was causing the sensors to become unresponsive after the PC was locked. As a result, the Windows Hello fingerprint did not work, and authentication failed.
“Only a limited set of devices are affected by this issue,” Microsoft originally stated in the support document, and warned people against manually updating “to version 24H2 using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant or the media creation tool until this issue has been resolved.”
With Windows 11 KB5044284 (released on October 8), Microsoft said it fixed the fingerprint issue.
After briefly testing the patch for another month, Microsoft confirmed that the Windows 11 24H2 upgrade block has been lifted on PCs with a fingerprint sensor. You’ll see this on Windows Update when you check for updates.
Voicemeeter BSOD safeguard lifted to allow Windows 11 24H2
While going through the documentation, Windows Latest also noticed that Microsoft has lifted the update block on devices running the audio software Voicemeeter.
After releasing Windows 11, version 24H2, some users flagged a sudden blue screen errors when using Voicemeeter, displaying a “MEMORY MANAGEMENT” error.
As soon as it received the reports from early testers, Microsoft applied a temporary “safeguard hold,” blocking Windows 11 24H2 for people with Voicemeeter app.
A new update for Voicemeeter (1.1.1.8, 2.1.1.8, or 3.1.1.8) is now available and it allows Windows 11 24H2 to go through smoothly.
This upgrade block was lifted on November 5, 2024.
However, Windows 11 24H2 is still not available for some configurations due to the following safeguard holds:
- ASUS devices (models X415KA and X515KA) are still blocked due to blue screen errors.
- Camera issues on devices using object or face recognition can cause apps to become unresponsive.
- Safe Exam Browser versions 3.7 and below are incompatible with Windows 11, version 24H2, leading to launch failures.
- Easy Anti-Cheat with outdated drivers is causing blue screen errors during gameplay.
- Wallpaper customization apps may not work as expected, leading to crashes or incomplete functionality.
- Intel Smart Sound Technology drivers are causing blue screens due to compatibility issues.
- Asphalt 8 may periodically freeze, leading to game crashes on affected systems.
We’re only talking about the upgrade blocks here, not the issues.
Windows 11 24H2 issues are longer than the above list as they cause the mouse cursor to disappear, Windows Update 8.63GB cache, Task Manager zero processes count, BSODs for certain SSDs, network (Wi-Fi) failure, and even a bug where the File Explorer menu appears outside the screen.