A persistent bug in Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2 is causing in-place feature upgrades to wipe the contents of the Dot3Svc folder, which stores essential policies for IEEE 802.1X authentication on wired Ethernet connections. This results in affected systems losing the ability to connect to the internet or corporate networks via Ethernet, effectively "deleting" wired access post-upgrade.

The issue, first reported in earlier releases like 23H2 and still occurring in 2026 despite prior patches, primarily impacts enterprise and managed environments relying on secure wired authentication. Users can restore connectivity by temporarily connecting via Wi-Fi and running the command gpupdate /force in an elevated Command Prompt to reapply Group Policy settings.

Microsoft has not yet issued a permanent fix for this recurring problem in the latest builds.