Microsoft has plans to retire Windows 10 later this year, but it probably wasn’t planning on the famous blue screen of death rearing its head this week after customers had installed a simple routine software update. Yet that’s exactly what is reportedly happening after some Windows 10 users opted to update to the May 2025 Windows security update.
The issue has been acknowledged by Microsoft and is seen as so disruptive that the tech giant has released an urgent, unplanned software update to fix the issue that is causing Windows 10 PCs to boot up in the obscure BitLocker recovery mode.
BitLocker is a software security tool used in Windows to encrypt and protect user data, but is usually not customer facing, happening in the background. It’s not normal for your PC to turn on with a blue screen in BitLocker mode, so if this has happened to you, there are steps you can take to fix it.
Microsoft said the bug affects any computer running Windows 10 22H2, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 or Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 with Intel vPro processors (10th-gen and later), with Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) enabled.
If this doesn’t make sense to you, it probably means you are not affected.
Bleeping Computer said users running Home or Pro versions of Windows 10 probably won’t be affected, “because home users don’t typically use Intel vPro processors”, but if you know that your machine does, then keep an eye out.
The fix seems a little complicated, with Microsoft publishing full instructions on its website.
This seems like a bug that won’t affect too many Windows users globally, but hopefully it is not a sign of things to come. Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, after which point users won’t receive any more software or security updates for the operating system.
But in recent weeks, Microsoft has shown signs of hesitance over this decision. It recently said it would continue to provide software updates for Microsoft 365 apps, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, for three years until October 2028.
If you only really use these apps on your PC, you may be able to continue to use Windows 10 without much risk of security issues.
Microsoft is hoping the shuttering of the decade-old Windows 10 will push people to install Windows 11 via a free software update, provided their computers meet minimum system requirements, or purchase a new PC that can run it.
Current figures from Statcounter show 53 percent of Windows users globally are on Windows 10, with Windows 11 behind on 44 percent. That gap is slowly closing as Microsoft pushes people to Windows 11, which is launched in 2021.