Microsoft has quietly announced that it has updated the Windows 11 version 23H2 installation media to fix a Narrator bug that previously only affected clean installs. This bug was initially reported in November and affected users who clean installed Windows 11 version 23H2. Those who upgraded to 23H2 with Windows Update were not impacted by this bug, and Narrator would function correctly once the Windows Setup was complete.

As of December 19, 2023, Microsoft has released a new file to create an installation media to update to Windows 11, version 23H2. This new media does not encounter the Narrator bug and includes the December 2023 security update. It is available for download on the Software Download page for Windows 11 under the section ‘Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices’.

It is recommended to download the new Windows 11 version 23H2 ISO file and/or use Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool (MCT) to create updated Windows 11 installation media, even for those who do not use Narrator. Both the ISO file and MCT have been updated to include the December 2023 security update. Although Microsoft has addressed other recently resolved issues related to Wi-Fi and printing, it does not appear that it will update the ISO/MCT to address these issues.