By now, you should be receiving the repair automatically.
Because of a severe fault in a recently released preview version, Windows 11 had some major issues with Safe Mode, but the good news is that this problem has already been rectified – and you should already have the repair.
In order to get early access to the slew of patches scheduled for release in May, Microsoft released a preview upgrade to Windows 11 (KB5012643) that introduced this problem.
After the upgrade, several Windows 11 users reported issues with Safe Mode, such as the screen flickering, on Microsoft’s Feedback Hub and elsewhere.
It’s no surprise that Microsoft prioritised this repair since the flickering impact was so unpleasant for those who were affected that Safe Mode was effectively made inoperable.
Apparently, customers who choose to boot into “Safe Mode without Networking” were experiencing this problem, and Microsoft informed us of the problem in a support post. The firm has already released an update that includes an automated remedy, so there is no need to do anything further.
Analysis: There is a good reason why preview updates are optional.
Expect to run across gremlins in the works while using beta software; that’s the nature of beta software itself. The goal is to find and fix small faults before a product goes into full production, although frankly, these issues tend to be more minor.
To avoid surprises, it’s best to wait for the next month’s completely completed version of Windows 11 (or Windows 10) rather than installing an optional update. That is, unless the patch fixes a very vexing fault they’ve previously encountered (which changes the risk-reward balance, of course).
Not only did we encounter this issue with KB5012643, but it also had a serious issue that caused very slow boot times for certain PCs.
Even though it takes some time for the “Known Issue Rollback” to trickle down to Windows 11 PCs, Microsoft was able to swiftly solve the Safe Mode flaw via a “Known Issue Rollback.”
Rebooting your device may help the resolution apply quicker, although you should have already had it fixed by now, according to Microsoft (plus further advice for business users is given in the aforementioned support document).