Ahhhhh - the satisfaction!

I have just un-bricked two laptops that had been turned into paperweights by Microsoft update!

One was a brand new Win 11 laptop and after a brief struggle that is now running again, the other is a 2014 vintage machine that will obviously not be fit for Win 11 and bricked after the last update. I'm done fighting MS for that one and after Microsoft repeatedly tried to obstruct me from installing another operating system I finally managed to overwhelm its defenses and install a copy of Mint Linux.

It feels good to be free of Microsoft on at least one of my laptops!