Microsoft’s Windows Server 2025 is currently facing significant challenges after the release of security updates in April 2025. Users have reported critical Kerberos authentication failures and issues with domain controllers that have resulted in network problems impacting multiple server versions.
The root of these issues can be traced back to a security update, specifically KB5055523, aimed at addressing the CVE-2025-26647 vulnerability. This flaw caused failures in Kerberos logins, particularly affecting setups that rely on Windows Hello for Business (WHfB) and Device Public Key Authentication. Microsoft confirmed that these issues arose after installing the April security updates.
In addition to Kerberos problems, there’s a unique problem affecting Windows Server 2025’s domain controllers regarding how they manage network traffic after a system restart. This misconfiguration could potentially lead to application or service interruptions.
Administrators facing these challenges have been encouraged to implement workarounds provided by Microsoft. For instance, setting the AllowNtAuthPolicyBypass registry key to “1” can mitigate some of the authentication issues. Moreover, to resolve the network management problem, a PowerShell command to restart the network adapter is suggested, although this must be repeated after every reboot until a permanent fix is released.
Microsoft has addressed other bugs in Windows Server 2025, including performance problems associated with systems with high core counts and issues with Remote Desktop sessions freezing. The company continues to work on providing updates and solutions for the current issues, and administrators are urged to stay informed using Microsoft’s guidance.
Organizations using Windows Server 2025 must weigh the operational benefits of minimizing reboots through Microsoft’s new hotpatching feature—a service that will transition to a paid subscription model beginning July 1, 2025—against the associated costs.
For further information on the issues and updates, users can refer to the following resources: