XPS 8940, Windows 11, Windows Update crashes

Tried this on two Win 11 Pro installs and no problems, so not all affected.

@fireberd,

No, it doesn't seem to be everyone?

I'm on Home, Ver 21H2 OS Build 22000.318). On the link I posted, one person with the problem was on possibly an Insider build, 22000.500.

The work-around for searching for the page worked for me.

Possible not many will/have hit this as well. When I first discovered it 2 days ago I couldn't even find anyone else that had the problem.

As I mentioned, going back it seems I had this problem from Day One, so maybe it is specific to Home or what files are Optional?

@speedstep 

Yes, I tried using different ways to get to the Settings already.

Have it pinned to Start and the Search and used Win+I keys.

They all failed the same way, and searching in the Settings for Optional Updates works fine too.

I did also put this into an MS W11 forum, and another person replied that he has 2 PC's pre-loaded with W11 and one of them fails like this...

There is one other problem I've not seen and happens randomly. GAMEHOUSE games... have a license and it uses UID and P/W. At least 3 times it seems the P/W is corrupted and it fails. The screen comes back and shows a long line of *'s for the P/W, much longer than it is. I enter my P/W manually and it works, and works for a period of time when it happens gain. No errors though. Hasn't happened in a while though. Since I disabled all the Killer services, our LAN is more stable, so that might have played into it?

@ispalten 

Please press the blue Accept as Solution button below if this post answers your question.

You have some issues possibly malware.

Event ID 1000

0xC000041D

(NTSTATUS) 0xc000041d - An unhandled exception was encountered during a user callback. Cause. This issue is caused by a null pointer exception in MSHTML.  IE browser is Hijacked. Java script. The NullPointerException (NPE) occurs when you declare a variable but did not create an object and assign it to the variable before trying to use the contents of the variable (called dereferencing). So you are pointing to something that does not actually exist.

Java Script Null pointer crafted Malware on websites

C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.exe

I would pin the Settings to the taskbar.

Several ways to open the REAL settings then pin to taskbar.

Open Settings with Keyboard Shortcut

Press the Win + i keys

Open Settings from Action Center

Open the Action Center (Win+A).

Click/tap on the All settings quick action button.

Open Settings from Run

Open Run (Win+R).

Type ms-settings: into Run, and click/tap on OK or press Enter 

PINS are stored in specific folder.

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

Other useful things to PIN to the taskbar after making it normal again aka not centered and other 11 nonsense.

Task Manager
%windir%\system32\taskmgr.exe /7

Computer Management
%windir%\system32\compmgmt.msc /s

Performance Monitor
%windir%\system32\perfmon.exe /res

Disk Cleanup
%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe

@speedstep 

You know there is no IE in W11. I don't even use it either.

McAfee runs regularly and hasn't found a problem. SFC and DISM didn't either.

Don't think I have a virus. Will try some scanners though.

IE and the original Edge are Depricated have been for quite some time.  The new Edge is Chrome based.  And other Browsers can be hijacked aka Firefox and Google Chrome and Opera etc.

This kind of malware is rootkit and stores itself on the partition table and or the UEFI boot partition so it will not show up on a simple scan.   You may have to do nuke and pave to get rid of it because rootkits survive format because they are not deleted when the drive is formatted.

Taskbar Pins and the file explorer are still there.

So

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

The exploit allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted web site link stored in registry or shortcut. Any browser is affected not just windows explorer or IE11. Since the code does not reside on the infected machine a simple scanner will not find it.

Yes, I understand about Rootkits and how they hide.

I don't think this is the case.

Settings crashing has been going on for sometime in W11, Google "windows 11 settings crashes" for instance.

MS even acknowledged problems with Settings, see https://www.windowslatest.com/2021/11/03/windows-11-issues-microsoft-confirms-widespread-app-crashes/

It just doesn't hit everyone the same way.

I had Snipping tool problems too, fixed it though by reinstalling it.

Tried same with settings and it didn't fix it.

Odd that I can get to the page using search in Settings as well?

My 'corruption' of the password for Gamehouse, quite sure it was do to the Killer services running and my Wireless setup. I'm 'cheating' on wireless. Need to access my USB drive on my old Router. Deco's don't have USB support, so I'm running both now, in router mode no less (seems to work?). Use the Deco as it is AX speed, other wise using wireless and need to use the one on the Router when I want USB access. Always switching between the 2 wireless SSID's and Ethernet. I'm leaning towards just going with the router though.