Like any operating system, Windows 11 can run into issues occasionally. Sometimes, these issues may be as simple as something that affects your internet connection, causing sites to load slowly. Other problems may persist for longer, slowing down your entire computer’s performance. Here are some of the most common issues you may experience with Windows 11 and how to fix them.

Windows 11 can run into any number of issues causing it to work incorrectly. Sometimes, the issues can be tied to glitches or corruption within your computer’s files. Other cases might require you to update drivers or fix compatibility issues within the software itself. Many common issues with Windows 11 can include:

Despite undergoing extensive testing, every computer offers a different configuration for Windows 11 to work across, and sometimes Microsoft hasn't solved all the issues before releasing a new update. Thankfully, fixing many of these issues is straightforward. Here’s what you need to know to fix some of the most common Windows 11 issues.

Restart your PC. Restarting a computer is an easyway to solve many temporary glitches or issues with the system. If you start experiencing problems, be sure to restart your Windows 11 PC to see if that resolves the issue.

Fix Windows 11 slow performance. If you’ve recently made thejump to Windows 11, or even if you’ve been running it for a while and have now started to experience performance problems, you can try cleaning out your storage devices to clear up space. This can often solve performance issues. One easy way to clear up space is to remove junk files from Windows 11.

Alternatively, if you’ve just recently installed Windows 11,allow a few days for the system to get all the files situated.Sometimes it can take Windows a few days to set everything up smoothly. If everything fails, you can try downgrading from Windows 11 to fix performance problems.

If Wi-Fi isn't working like it should, you can troubleshoot Wi-Fi problems in Windows 11 to figure out where things are going wrong.

If your Ethernet connection isn’t working, then you canalways try switching to Wi-Fi, or troubleshooting Ethernet connection problems in Windows 11.

Update Windows and your software applications.

As new operating systems are released, software and app developers continually update their apps to provide smoother experiences with the changes offered in the updated OS. If you experience issues with your favorite apps or software, check if the app has updates available.

You can update the Windows OS itself through Windows Update. For other software, learn how to update Windows 11 apps.

Sound isn't playing on Windows 11. Fixing this issue may be as simple as unmuting the volume mixer on your Windows 11 PC. If that isn’t the problem, you can always troubleshoot sound issues in Windows 11 to find a solution.

Windows 11 won't shut down. If you find your PC hitting a snag when you try to shut down, an app or other software may be stuck (which stops the shutdown from happening).

One fix for when Windows 11 won't shut down is to use a different power button, like the one accessible through Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Open the Start menu, and then go to Settings > Apps > Default apps > choose which browser to set as the default. Close Settings app. We go into more detail in our How to Change the Default Browser in Windows 11 article.

Open the Start menu, and then select Settings > System (left pane) > Storage > Advanced Storage Options > Where New Content Is Saved. From this screen, you can choose different download folders for apps, music, photos, and other items.