protonscr

Windows 10 security update KB5073724 somehow breaks dxvk in any game, causing system to freeze completely

dxvkclosed not our bugwindows
doitsujin/dxvk#5475 · opened 2026-01-27 by Marsi4eg · updated 2026-03-11 · 3 comments · github
MMarsi4eg 2026-01-27 github

Software information

Any d3d9 game (haven't tested other)

System information

  • GPU: Geforce GTX 970
  • Driver: 577.00
  • Windows: 10 22H2
  • DXVK version: 2.7.1

Log files

gta-vc_d3d9-kb-installed.log
gta-vc_d3d9-kb-not-installed.log

Description

For some weird reason the recent Jan 2026 security update for Windows 10 22H2 KB5073724 breaks dxvk completely on my system. Games that use dxvk dll just doesn't launch and the whole system freezes when the game window should appear. Need to power cycle (reset) the PC to use it again.

Manually removing the KB5073724 update immidiately fixes the problem, games begin to launch again without any problem. Maybe there's something related to secure boot improvements that are provided in this KB, despite I never had Secure boot option enabled in BIOS, and actually my system is pretty old and doesn't support Secure Boot.

In the case when the system freezes - log file ends just before setting VK_FORMAT...
There are 2 log files stored with and without KB5073724. Logs saved from only one game but it happens on every game (I have dxvk only with dx9 ones). And no matter what DXVK version is used, I've tried very old ones such as 1.0.3 but the system freezes the same way.

BBlisto91 2026-01-27 github

Think the issues with this update maybe is one we should let Microsoft look in to ihttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5741263/security-update-kb-5073724-causes-random-freezes

KK0bin maintainer 2026-01-27 github

We haven't had any issues like that with DXVK on Linux so it does indeed sound more like a Windows bug. Nothing we can do about that.

MMarsi4eg 2026-03-11 github

Just in case anyone faces the same problem.
It was a problem affecting mostly GTX970 cards and it's fixed today by Microsoft in KB5078885.

Nothing extracted yet.