Microsoft has acknowledged a new known issue in the recently released Windows 11 version 24H2 and the latest non-security rollup update. However, this is not as serious as some previously confirmed problems.

According to a new notice published on the official Windows Health dashboard, Task Manager in Windows 11 version 24H2 incorrectly displays the number of running programs and background processes in the Processes tab after applying KB5044384. It actually shows exactly zero running apps and background processes. Microsoft says the error only occurs when the process list is grouped by type, but we were able to reproduce the error even with the default sorting.

After installing the previous October 2024 non-security update (KB5044384), users will experience an issue that causes the number of programs, background processes, and Windows processes in the Task Manager to appear as zero even if active programs are running. This issue appears specifically on the Transactions page when the Group by Type view is enabled.

Typically, Task Manager gives users a quick overview of active processes by displaying the number of processes (e.g. applications, background processes) next to the name of each group. However, due to this issue, Task Manager shows (0) for each group regardless of the actual number of running processes.

There is currently no workaround for this error. Fortunately, this doesn’t prevent you from viewing or interacting with all running applications and processes; You can still check all the details, close apps, start new processes, and more. Microsoft says it’s working on a fix that should be available in future cumulative updates.

If you are currently using the 24H2 version of Windows 11 with its latest updates, you will have to face this minor inconvenience. As for older versions of Windows, Microsoft says that the problem does not affect them – only Windows 11 version 24H2 has a bug in which the task manager shows zero programs and processes.