Microsoft said Thursday that gaming crashes and startup failures reported after its August Windows updates may stem from drivers installed by peripherals with RGB lighting features. The company is investigating reports affecting games such as ARC Raiders, MARVEL T kon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. Affected users have also seen freezes, EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors, and unexpected system restarts, according to Microsoft鈥檚 Windows release health dashboard.
The problems follow the August 11, 2026 cumulative update, identified as KB5121003, and later releases. Microsoft initially confirmed the investigation on Wednesday and provided an update the next day. The company said the issue appears linked to peripherals or internal components with RGB lighting, which may install drivers or code files with names similar to inpoutx64. On systems where those drivers are present, launching certain games triggers the problem, Microsoft said, adding that it is working to understand the connection between the RGB components and the games.
Embark Studios, the Swedish developer behind ARC Raiders and The Finals, also pointed to the inpoutx64.sys file as the cause. The studio said the crash stems from changes Microsoft made to the Windows kernel driver in the recent update. Embark shared a temporary workaround that requires users to delete the service tied to the file and remove inpoutx64 from the Windows drivers folder until Microsoft ships an official fix.
This is not the first time Microsoft has had to address gaming stability issues tied to Windows updates. In October 2024, the company blocked Windows 11 24H2 upgrades that triggered crashes in Asphalt 8 and blue screens linked to Easy Anti-Cheat. In January 2025, Microsoft lifted a compatibility hold after fixing an Auto HDR bug that broke some games on 24H2 devices.
Earlier that year, Microsoft also removed several upgrade blocks that had prevented players of Asphalt 8: Airborne, Assassin鈥檚 Creed, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora from moving to the latest Windows version. For U.S. consumers, the current issue adds another layer of frustration for PC gamers who rely on RGB-equipped keyboards, mice, and internal lighting systems, many of which are popular in the American gaming market.
Microsoft has not provided a timeline for a permanent fix, and the company said it will update the release health dashboard when more information is available. Meanwhile, affected users in the United States and elsewhere can follow Embark鈥檚 manual workaround, though Microsoft has not yet endorsed that approach. The company鈥檚 investigation remains ongoing.
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