Microsoft addresses Windows 11 issue preventing Snipping Tool an other apps from opening

Laurent Giret

RESET WINDOWS 11

Microsoft has acknowledged a new Windows 11 issue causing some built-in applications such as Snipping Tool to not work as expected. The company explained on its Windows Health Dashboard yesterday (via Neowin) that the cause of the problem is the expiration of a Microsoft digital certificate on October 31, 2021.

“Starting on November 1, 2021, some users might be unable to open or use certain built-in Windows apps or parts of some built-in apps,” the company explained. In addition to Snipping Tool, the list of affected apps and experiences includes the Accounts page and landing page in the Settings app (S mode only), Touch Keyboard, Voice Typing, and Emoji Panel, and Getting started and Tips.

According to Microsoft, the optional KB5006746 patch for Windows 11 released on October 21 can mitigate the issues affecting all the aforementioned apps, except for those affecting the Snipping Tool and Windows 11 in S Mode users. “We are working on a resolution for Snipping tool and the S mode only issues and will provide an update when more information is available,” the company said on the Windows Health Dashboard.

Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 a month ago, and the company has already addressed various printing problems as well as an L3 cache latency issue that was impacting performance on PCs with AMD Ryzen processors. Windows 11 is currently being offered as an optional update on eligible Windows 10 PCs, but users who don’t want to wait can also install the OS manually. If you’re willing to upgrade right now, we highly recommend saving your files and keeping an eye on known issues on the Windows 11 Health Dashboard.