Your games were fine. An update installed itself, and now one of them closes without warning or throws an error you have never seen. So you go looking for how to uninstall the update.
Hold on. Microsoft investigated this exact thing three weeks ago and its answer is not what anyone expected.
I checked this PC against the details it published. The update everyone is blaming is installed here too, and this machine is fine, because the thing that actually causes it is not on it.
What Microsoft actually found
The short version, and it is worth reading twice.
Documented by Microsoft, on the Windows 11 release health page: "Our investigation confirms that this issue is not caused by Windows updates and is related to peripherals or internal device components which have RGB lighting features."
⛔ So the update was the trigger, not the cause. Rolling it back is not the fix. It also leaves you unpatched.
⚡ The culprit came with your lighting. Microsoft names files similar to inpoutx64, installed by RGB keyboards, mice, fans, coolers and motherboards.
⭐ If you have no RGB anything, this is not your problem. The rest of this page will not help you.
The symptoms, in Microsoft's own words
Match these before you go any further.
⚡ Microsoft lists four, and they are worth quoting exactly. "The game application becomes unresponsive." "The game application closes without notice."
⭐ The other two are louder. The error "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" is displayed, or "the device restarts without warning".
⭐ Three games are named in the reports: ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and THE FINALS.
⚠️ Other games can hit it too. Those three are simply the ones people reported. The mechanism is the driver, not the game.
⛔ A game that has always crashed on your PC is a different problem. This one started after 11 August 2026.
Ours: what this machine reports
Three readings, and they line up with Microsoft's finding exactly.
Ours, read here on 27 August 2026. This PC is on build 26200.9168, and KB5121003 is installed, dated 13 August 2026.
⚡ That is the exact update people are blaming. It has been on this machine for two weeks with no trouble.
⛔ The reason is the next reading. There is no inpoutx64 driver on this PC at all. No service entry, no file in the drivers folder.
⚠️ There are two RGB-related services running here. So it is not that the machine has no lighting software. It just never installed that particular driver.
⭐ Ours, and that is the useful part: that is Microsoft's explanation holding up on real hardware. Same update, no bad driver, no crashes.
Check your own in one line
Thirty seconds, and it tells you whether this page applies to you.
⚡ Open Terminal and run this:
Get-Item 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\inpoutx64'⭐ An error means the driver is not there and your crashes have a different cause.
⛔ A result means you have it, and everything below is for you.
The fix, and it may already have happened
Microsoft shipped it rather than asking you to do anything.
Microsoft states: "This issue is resolved by a block that prevents the inpoutx64 driver from loading."
⚡ It arrives on its own. It needs a restart. Microsoft said it might take up to 24 hours from 26 August 2026 to reach everyone.
⭐ You will see a message window telling you the driver was disabled. The game then starts normally.
⚠️ The block is also going into the September 2026 security updates, so anyone updating from here gets it automatically.
⛔ So the single best move is to install updates, not remove them. That is the opposite of what most advice for a crash says.
If you are still crashing and cannot wait
The workaround, straight from Microsoft, with its own warning attached.
⚠️ Microsoft's own caution first: back up the registry before changing it, and know how to restore it.
⚡ The change is one value. Go to the inpoutx64 key under Services, open the value named Start, set it to 4, and restart.
⭐ Documented by Microsoft: "Ongoing investigation does not indicate that disabling this registry key can result in unintended behavior."
⛔ You can put it back. Restoring the original value re-enables the driver. Write the old number down first.
What not to do
Three moves that make this worse.
⛔ Do not uninstall the update. Microsoft has said it is not the cause. Removing it costs you the security fixes it carried.
⚠️ Do not pause updates either. The fix arrives through the same channel you would be blocking.
⭐ And do not reinstall Windows over it. A reinstall is a big move for a driver problem, and the driver would come straight back with your lighting software.
⚡ Ours: if the crashes started on a specific date, write that date down. It is the single most useful fact when a fault turns out to be a known issue.
When it is not this at all
Three other reasons a game crashes after an update.
⚠️ A graphics driver that needs updating. Common after a feature update. Separate from anything here.
⭐ Repeated screen flickers before the crash. That is a graphics timeout, and five in a minute forces a blue screen.
⛔ And a full blue screen rather than a game closing is a different investigation. The stop code names the cause.
Status: read against Microsoft's release health page, 27 August 2026, on Windows 11 25H2 build 26200.9168. The update, the driver key and the RGB services were read here. ⛔ No crash occurred.
Is the August 2026 Windows update causing game crashes?
Not according to Microsoft, which investigated it. Its finding is that the issue is not caused by Windows updates and comes from drivers installed by peripherals with RGB lighting features. The update triggered it rather than causing it, so uninstalling the update is the wrong move.
Which games are affected?
The reports Microsoft names are ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls and THE FINALS. Others can be affected because the cause is the driver rather than the game. The signs are the game freezing, closing with no message, an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION error, or your PC restarting on its own.
How do I know if I have the inpoutx64 driver?
Paste that line into Terminal. If it returns an error, the driver is not on your PC and your crashes are something else. If it returns a result, you have it, and Microsoft's block or the registry workaround will sort you out.
Should I uninstall the update to stop the crashes?
No. Microsoft has said the update is not the cause, and removing it leaves you without that month's security fixes. The block that actually fixes this is delivered through Windows Update, so pausing updates would stop the fix reaching you.
The Short Version
- Microsoft investigated and says the Windows update is not the cause.
- The cause is a driver installed by RGB lighting hardware, named inpoutx64.
- Symptoms are freezing, closing with no message, an access violation, or a restart.
- The named games are ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon and THE FINALS.
- One command tells you whether that driver is even on your PC.
- Microsoft has shipped a block that disables the driver automatically.
- It needs a restart and it is also in the September 2026 updates.
- Do not uninstall the update, and do not pause updates.
Where to Next
Run that line and see whether the driver is on your machine. That single answer tells you whether any of this applies to you.
If it is there, restart your PC and check for updates rather than removing any. The fix arrives that way and it may already be waiting.
If you cannot wait, set that registry value to 4 and restart, after backing up the registry the way Microsoft asks.
If the crashes come with repeated flickers first, you are looking at a different fault. Those flickers are a graphics recovery and they have a limit.
If your game was crashing before 11 August, tell me which one in the comments. That is a separate story and it would be worth knowing.
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.