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While Patch Tuesdays bring important security updates for the Windows OS, they can often introduce major bugs. The one this month on Windows 10, KB5058379, that introduced a BitLocker recovery reboot bug, has now been resolved with KB5061768 OOB update. Alongside that, Microsoft also resolved a Windows 11 24H2 upgrade bug related to VBS with a Recovery update KB5059442. Speaking of Windows 11, users are reporting installation failures with the Windows 11 May 2025 Patch Tuesday update KB5058411 as well. Affected users say that these are failing with various error codes like 0x800f0991, 0x800f0991, 0x800f0838, 0x800736b3, and 0x800f081f. User Shukang Liang on the Microsoft support forums writes: "Problem with windows update KB5058411 Installation fails and error code 0x800f0991 comes up." The query has been upvoted by 33 other users at the time of writing. Another user PaulK671 notes 0x800736b3 and 0x800f081f errors as they write: The thread has been upvoted by 19 people at the time of writing. Meanwhile, user Jenny-XS says they came across the 0x800f081f error code when trying to install the May '25 Patch Tuesday. Microsoft recently published a support article with a long list of Windows 11 and 10 hex error codes that lead to installation failures. Unfortunately, though, none of the codes reported by users match with the ones Microsoft has provided workarounds for. Thus, it looks like Microsoft will have to update its list sooner rather than later as clearly many hex error codes are still pending and are due for addition to its support documentation. Interestingly, one of the commenters on the 0x800f0991 error thread, ScotBirch, added that they were able to resolve the issue using the "Fix problems using Windows Update" option. Microsoft had detailed what that is and how it works back in December 2024. You can read the linked article to find out more and see if perhaps it fixes your issues too. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of April): 1,811 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Windows 11 version 24H2 is nearly eight months old, and despite that, Microsoft is still blocking the feature update on systems owing to compatibility issues. The latest such incident was announced last month under the safeguard hold ID 56318982. And sometimes it can take a long while before these compatibility blocks are removed, as it happened, for example, in the case of ID 52754008. However, updates can be blocked as a result of bugs in the Windows Update service itself. As it turns out, Microsoft's Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is currently bugged out such that it is unable to receive the 24H2 feature update on Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2 devices. When an attempt is made to download version 24H2, the error code "0x80240069" is displayed. Microsoft says that the problem started with the April Patch Tuesday update KB5055528. The company has explained the issue in some detail below: The tech giant has not provided any workaround in this case and has only mentioned that it is " presently investigating and will provide an update when more information is available." You can view the issue here on Microsoft's official Windows health dashboard site. Looking around the internet, it appears that SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) is also affected by this problem, and it is not exclusive to WSUS. Microsoft has dedicated documentation for Windows Update-related error codes. However, the page does not provide any information about the 0x80240069 error, unfortunately. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Modern Windows versions receive plenty of updates to keep your PC safe and stable, and with such a complex product, occasional errors and missteps are hardly surprising. Microsoft has plenty of tools to deal with such issues—from Known Issues Rollback to the recently launched Quick Machine Recovery for unbootable devices. Still, sometimes, dealing with Windows Update issues is much simpler. As simple as just ignoring the error. In recently updated documentation, Microsoft notified users that Windows PCs might experience error 0x80070643 with an "ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" message (similar issues occurred in January 2025) when attempting to install an update for the Windows Recovery Environment or WinRE. The bug occurs when installing the April 2025 KB5057589 WinRE update. Microsoft says affected users should simply dismiss the notification, which will disappear on its own. Here is the full message posted in the documentation: The bug affects PCs with Windows 10 version 21H2 and 22H2. The company is working on a fix, which will be available in a future update. Interestingly, this is the second time Microsoft has said that users should ignore a certain issue. In January, the company said an error code in the Windows Event Log was nothing to worry about. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft and Veeam are investigating a known issue that triggers connection errors on Windows 11 24H2 systems when restoring from Veeam Recovery Media. These recovery problems affect users trying to restore data from media created on devices running Windows 11 24H2 (build 26100.3194) or higher. While the root cause behind the issue is unknown, Veeam says that the most likely cause is a change within the KB5051987 Windows 11 24H2 February update. On impacted systems, the Veeam Agent for Windows will display network connection failures when attempting to restore files from a Veeam Backup & Replication backup server or an SMB network share. "Connection problems. Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. Failed to establish connection: no valid IP addresses were found. Unable to establish authenticated dient-server connection. A call to SSPI failed, see inner exception. The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted," the error says when trying to recover data from a server. When restoring from a folder shared over SMB, the users will see a "The remote procedure call failed and did not execute" error. Veeam Agent error on Windows 11 (Veeam) As a temporary workaround, while Microsoft and Veeam are currently investigating this known issue and looking for a fix, users impacted by this issue are advised to recover their computer or data using Veeam Recovery Media generated from a device running older builds of Windows 11, build 26100.3037 or lower. "The Veeam Recovery Media is based on the Microsoft Windows RE and contains proprietary components of the Windows operating system. As such, Veeam cannot provide a pre-generated Veeam Recovery Media image," Veeam said in an advisory published on Tuesday. "Generally speaking, the Veeam Recovery Media from one machine can be used to perform bare metal restores of another. However, the proprietary drivers that may be needed to initialize hardware (network, wireless, RAID controller, etc.) may be missing if the original machine used to generate the recovery media has different drivers." According to Veeam, its products are used by over 550,000 customers worldwide, including 82% of Fortune 500 and 74% of all Global 2,000 companies. In February, Microsoft fixed another known issue linked to the KB5051987 security update that broke Outlook email and calendar drag-and-drop on Windows 24H2 systems. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of February): 874 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

It's hard to say why Google is doing this instead of a recall. What exactly is wrong with the batteries in some of Google's Pixel 4a phones still out there? Google has not really said. Now that many Pixel 4a owners are experiencing drastically reduced battery life after an uncommon update for an end-of-life phone, they are facing a strange array of options with no path back to the phone they had. Google's "Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program," announced in early January, told owners that an automatic update would, for some "Impacted Devices," reduce their battery's runtime and charging performance. "Impacted" customers could choose, within one year's time, between three "appeasement" options: sending in the phone for a battery replacement, getting $50 or the equivalent in their location, or receiving $100 in credit in the Google Store toward a new Pixel phone. No safety or hazard issue was mentioned in the support document. Ars has reached out to Google about the Pixel 4a battery updates and appeasement options provided and will update this post with any response. The curious kernel Google did not explain why only certain devices were affected, but Hector Martin—of Asahi Linux, open source Kinect drivers, and other fame—took apart the update's binary kernel and has some guesses. Martin points out that the updated Pixel 4a kernel has these interesting characteristics: It seems to have been built by a Google engineer "on their personal machine, not the proper buildsystem." There is no source provided, as would normally be required of a Linux kernel build, though it may only need to be provided on request under the GNU General Public License. The maximum charge voltage of certain battery profiles changes from 4.44 volts to 3.95, which would mean batteries cannot charge to anywhere near their former potential. There are two main battery profiles, with distinct "ATL" and "LSN" markers; Martin suggests they relate to Amperex Technology Limited and Lishen, manufacturers of battery cells. LSN-tagged batteries assigned the "debug" profile can see capacity reduced from 3,080 milliamp hours (mAh) to 1,539 mAh. Two hours on a charge or less Credit: Ron Amadeo One Ars staffer who had a Pixel 4a still in use received the update. They saw their battery life drop from "Still working" to "Two hours on a charge," in their estimation. They had chosen the Google Store credit option before the update arrived and before the battery life drop became apparent. Once chosen, a different appeasement option could not be selected. Others have noted all but unusable battery life on their phones, as seen on subreddit threads and blog summaries. Even technically savvy Pixel owners will have a hard time avoiding the update. Google last week removed all of the Pixel 4a's factory images from its website, preventing owners from rolling back their firmware without having to go hunting for an image (or convert to a third-party offering, like LineageOS). With no source and debug code posted for the tweaked kernel, third-party firmware providers cannot easily incorporate the battery fixes. Some Pixel 4a owners have reported that, even after a battery swap, their devices have the same limited battery capacity. This would affirm Martin's suggestion of a faulty battery cell type and that batteries with those same cells are still being used in replacements. (Martin's post provides serial numbers one can look for on the battery part to indicate the cell manufacturer.) $30 per year to receive $50 As seen on a wiki page on the Pixel 4a battery program hosted by repair advocate and YouTube creator Louis Rossman, and noted by Pixel 4a owners on Reddit (and the Ars staffer), the $50 credit offered by Google is paid out through vendor Payoneer. Signing up to be paid through Payoneer requires providing a Social Security number or other identification, birth date, and checking account details to a financial services firm most non-business owners would not recognize. Payoneer notes on its site that it charges a $30 annual account fee for accounts that receive less than $2,000 in 12 months. It is seemingly left up to Pixel 4a owners to close out their Payoneer accounts after receiving their credits. Choosing the $100 Google Store credit might seem the better option, but there is a caveat there, too. The discount applies only to Pixel phones and only to devices that are not otherwise on sale. Credit: Ron Amadeo The big question: Why? As we noted when Google first announced the update, a lot of Pixel 4a batteries are now four to five years old. Some have been kept as secondary (or "junk drawer") phones, and many are already at diminished capacity, especially when at low charge levels and in cold conditions. If every Pixel phone this old received a battery-minded final update, intended to prevent sudden shutdowns (akin to Apple's originally unannounced iPhone slow-down fixes), there wouldn't be quite the amount of outcry and confusion there is now. But Google has not said why certain Pixel 4a phones are "Impacted Devices" and others are not. It has not clarified what issue is so notable or severe as to push an automatic update to a phone from 2020, such that its battery life is all but decimated. No news or community reports have surfaced yet of Pixel 4a devices causing fires, or even simply failing to function, after four years. It's an automatic update with a strong fix, but for what? Google's support page only states that the update will "improve the stability of their battery's performance." This is true in the sense that, if you stop using a severely capped Pixel 4a entirely, its battery can provide a stable amount of output (none) into the future. Google support staff have suggested to more than one 4a owner that yet another future update could force a factory reset and automatic update. That hasn't come to pass, at least in the timelines suggested by support staff. But all of this raises the question as to how this confusing process is better than a traditional recall, if there really is some kind of danger, to device or human, with a certain set of batteries. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Recent Windows 10 Patch Tuesday updates, which were released on January 14, 2025, have a few known issues, some of which are pretty harmless. However, Microsoft now acknowledged a new bug that affects customers with USB DACs (Digital to Analog converters), causing audio devices to stop working. The now-updated support document details the newly discovered issue. According to Microsoft, it affects customers with USB 1.0 audio driver-based DACs. In addition to non-working audio, Windows Device Manager displays the "This device cannot start" error code. As of right now, there are no apparent ways to mitigate or bypass the problem. Microsoft says the only solution is not to use USB DACs. Instead, you should connect your audio devices directly to your motherboards. A future update should resolve this problem. This is not the only audio-related issue in the recent Windows updates. A few weeks ago, Microsoft confirmed a Windows bug causing the audio to blast at 100% volume out of your speakers in certain scenarios on systems running Windows 11 version 24H2. You can learn more about it here. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

On January 14, 2025, Microsoft released the latest security updates for Windows 10 and 11. As usual, all updates come with a short list of known bugs, which sometimes gets new entries as users report their discoveries or Microsoft makes its own. This time, Microsoft acknowledged a bug in Windows 10, but the company says you should not worry about it. In the now-updated support document, Microsoft says those keeping an eye on the Windows Event Viewer might notice an error related to SgrmBroker.exe with the following code: "The System Guard Runtime Monitor Broker service terminated with the following error: %%3489660935." While it might look serious at first glance, there is indeed nothing to worry about. For one, Microsoft says the only way to detect the bug is to "monitor" the Event Viewer closely. Otherwise, you will not see any traces or signs of the problem, plus there should be no signs of performance, functionality, or security issues. Microsoft also provided some additional insights into the problem with SgrmBroker.exe (System Guard Runtime Monitor Broker Service): If the error in the Event Viewer still bugs you, you can fix it by turning off the System Guard Monitor Broker Service. Here is how to do it: Microsoft says a future update will fix the problem for good. More important bugs in the January 2025 security updates for Windows 10 and 11 include compatibility issues with certain Citrix software, which causes errors when attempting to install the latest Patch Tuesday update. You can learn more about it here. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

On January 14, 2025, Microsoft released the first Patch Tuesday updates for supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions. Your computer should apply the latest patches without any issues; however, if you have certain software installed, you will encounter problems at the offline stage. In the official support document, Microsoft warned users that Citrix software is not going along well with the January updates. According to Microsoft, users with "certain Citrix components" might have a problem completing the installation process of the January 2025 Windows security updates. In particular, the bug affects PCs with Citrix Session Recording Agent version 2411, which was released last month. Here is what will happen if your system is on the list of affected devices: The good news is that the issue does not affect regular home users since Citrix Session Recording Agent (it is a component of a software suite for capturing, monitoring, and analyzing user sessions within a Citrix environment) is not common on personal devices. However, if you have a work device with SRA, you might want to apply a temporary workaround to mitigate the issue while Citrix and Microsoft are working on a permanent resolution. Citrix published a support document describing how to stop the Session Recording Monitor Service and launch it again once the update process is complete. You can do that manually or with the help of PowerShell/Command Prompt commands. All the details are available on the official Citrix Support website here. The bug affects all supported systems: Windows Server 2019/2022/2025, Windows 11 24H2/23H2/22H2, and Windows 10 22H2. Other issues with the latest Windows updates include problems with launching OpenSSH. You can check out the workaround here. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Almost all mainstream browsers these days use Chromium, with Firefox and Safari being the only exception. On the upside, this gives universal compatibility across all browsers. On the downside, one unfortunate change in Chromium affects all browsers at once, and that is exactly what is currently happening to Chrome, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers. Chromium 131 implemented a change to how text selection behavior works, which resulted in many websites that use Tailwind, a CSS framework, experiencing issues with highlighting and copying text. Technically speaking, it is still possible to copy something; you will just not see what exactly you are copying. Google detailed inheritance changes for CSS selection styling over a month ago, but many websites were still caught off-guard by the Chromium 131 release. Customers report problems with text selection on websites like The Verge, Bloomberg, X, and more. Tailwind CSS creator Adam Wathan recently posted on his X a workaround that web devs should implement to fix broken text highlights. Fixing involves enabling one flag in the tailwind.config.js file or updating Tailwind to version 3.4.15: Adam also said in a comment under a GitHub issue that enabling the flag in the config file is the easiest and immediate solution to the problem since updating Tailwind might require more time to test everything. You can read a more detailed explanation of the issue here. If you are not a web developer and just a frustrated user trying to copy something from a website, the best thing to do is to wait or temporarily switch to Firefox or Safari. Hold tight while developers fix their websites! Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Yesterday, Microsoft released its Patch Tuesday update. On the Windows 10 side we have KB5046613, KB5046615, KB5046612, KB5046665, and the Windows 11 side we have KB5046617, KB5046633. The Windows 11 update resolves an annoying Task Manager bug that would incorrectly show the number of background processes and Windows processes count as zero. Meanwhile, the Windows 10 update fixes a bug wherein non-admin users couldn't launch certain apps like Teams, Quick Assist, and more. However, the new update on Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2 also introduces a potential undocumented bug that displays the message "Get the newer version of Windows to stay up to date. Your version of Windows has reached the end of service" on the Windows Update page. As you can see in the image above, there is a "Learn more" link there, which directs to a Windows 10 support article on Microsoft's site. It says: Hence, Windows, for some reason, thinks it is not an updated system even though KB5046633 is the latest available C.U. (cumulative update) on version 23H2. Interestingly, Microsoft recently quietly pushed out its KB5001716 update to several Windows 10 and 11 versions, and the update is meant to notify and nag users about the upcoming end of support of their OS version. Hence, we wonder if this may have anything to do with it. The tech giant also seems to discourage users now from wanting to download Windows 10 even if they are using an official source like the MCT citing the version's impending end of support. Via: Reddit Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Since updating Microsoft's latest Windows 11 feature update, version 24H2, several users are reporting that they are unable to perform a Windows Update Cleanup that allows users to free up space. As such, seemingly every user updating to Windows 11 24H2 is finding that they are not able to proceed with deleting 8.63GB of past cumulative updates, a thing that was possible on previous versions of the OS. Image via Acrobatic_Face_7404(Reddit) For example, an Eleven Forum member thecaretaker who started a thread on the issue, says: When someone suggested that they run a Disk Cleanup, another user confirmed that it was not working either, as they wrote: The user and several others believe this may be a bug in Windows 11 24H2, but that is unlikely since almost every system exhibits this 'symptom.' A user on My Digital Life forum suggests this may not be a bug after all and is how Microsoft intended it to be. They write: The user is referring to the new Windows cumulative update delivery method that Microsoft introduced with Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025. Called "Checkpoint Cumulative updates" (CCU), the company has essentially delivered these as checkpoints instead of the entire update since RTM, thus reducing the size of each update. As a consequence of that, it is certainly plausible why deleting this "8.63 GB" of unwanted data is not working. However, this is simply speculation, and it is possible that the issue is indeed a bug that needs to be fixed. After all, the company had already confirmed a CCU-related problem that leads to the "Operation is not supported” error message. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts

Earlier this week Microsoft released KB5043145 non-security preview update (C-release) for Windows 11 23H2 and 24H2. The hype about this release surrounded the possible landfall of the 2024 feature update as a preview with this one. However, that evidently did not happen and users should be glad Microsoft chose not to irrespective of whether it actually wanted to release Windows 11 24H2 as the September C-release or not. That is because the company has confirmed that KB5043145 is causing major issues on several systems, ranging from devices that keep rebooting to blue screens or green screens of death (BSOD / GSOD) or booting into BitLocker Recovery via the Windows Automatic Repair Tool. Microsoft writes: If you recall, similar issues related to repeated restarts and BitLocker recovery-booting had popped up earlier this year in June and July respectively, and now it looks like this latest issue has combined the two into one causing double trouble for affected users. Microsoft has urged such users to raise an issue on Feedback Hub. The company is clearly trying to still understand the problem and thus looking to collect more details as it says: You can also visit Feedback Hub and search for "KB5043145" to upvote some of the posts that reflect your issue. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts

Microsoft released the first Windows 10 and 11 Patch Tuesday updates of 2024 earlier yesterday with the January updates KB5034122 and KB5034123 respectively. The updates are meant to address security issues within Windows. The one for 11 also fixes the recent Wi-Fi troubles that led to networks not connecting or the Wi-Fi icon not showing. In a separate article, the company has also detailed a fix for a WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) security vulnerability that can lead to BitLocker encryption bypass. The issue is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666". Microsoft said that the security flaw could allow attackers to bypass BitLocker encryption if they are able to get physical access to an unpatched PC. However, this is not one of those WinRE updates that is seamlessly installing on PCs. Users report that the update is failing to install with the error message "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" which indicates insufficient WinRE partition size. The solution is to resize the partition manually. You can do so by following this dedicated guide here. Neowin forum supervisor / mod and ESET's Distinguished Researcher Aryeh Goretsky (X account) also experienced the issue which they were able to fix by increasing the recovery partition. Goretsky writes: Microsoft of course has been aware of this problem almost from the start which is why it has been recommending the manual resize workaround as soon as it published the WinRE updates. Yesterday, on its Windows health dashboard, the company has added the issue and notes that a fix is coming via a future update. Microsoft says: Aside from this BitLocker encryption vulnerability, Microsoft has recently updated its Microsoft Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool to patch against a Remote Code Execution (RCE) security flaw. Source

Microsoft released the first Windows 10 and 11 Patch Tuesday updates of 2024 on the 9th with January's KB5034122 and KB5034123 respectively. Aside from security patches, the one for Windows 11 also fixed some Wi-Fi troubles that led to networks not connecting or the Wi-Fi icon not showing. In a separate article, the company also detailed another security fix for a BitLocker Secure Boot bypass vulnerability that is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666." Microsoft said that the security flaw could allow threat actors to bypass BitLocker encryption if they manage to get physical access to an unpatched PC. The vulnerability was patched by KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11) which were WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) updates. The company also published a PowerShell script that automates the process for managed devices, and recently, it tweaked that script slightly. Microsoft, however, also cautioned that inadequate space on the recovery partition could lead to a "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" error message when trying to install the WinRE WIM (Windows Imaging Format) update. The issue could be resolved by allocating an additional 250 MB of storage space to the recovery partition. Details on how to do that can be found in this dedicated article. Microsoft wrote: A few days later, the tech giant promised a fix. Although it does not seem to have delivered on that promise yet, Microsoft has made an update on KB5034440 and KB5034441. On the support page for these 9th January updates, Microsoft has attached a "note" which now adds that users who do not have a WinRE recovery partition on their system are not required to install these updates. The company has added: If you are wondering whether your PC has a recovery partition(s), you can find that information by running the Disk Management console (run "diskmgmt") to check disk details. As you can see in the image above (click to zoom in), my Disk 2 has two Recovery Partitions where one of them is 545MB and the other is 669MB. Source

Microsoft, a few days ago, acknowledged that the Windows 11 February 2024 Patch Tuesday update (KB5034765) was having installation issues, and affected systems would find that the update installation process getting stuck at around 96%. It would say: Upon digging through the Windows Event Viewer, users may find the "0x800F0922" error code along with the issue. At that time, the tech giant did not go into much detail about the workaround, stating that the issue could be "prevented by deleting the hidden folder C:\$WinREAgent." Since then though, the company has gone into more detail regarding the workaround. While the previous workaround section of the issue only mentioned deleting the said hidden folder, now the same section has been updated to include two ways to proceed with it, including an elevated command as well. On its Windows health dashboard website, the company writes: For now, Microsoft says that it is investigating the bug and a resolution will be deployed in a future update. Source

Microsoft has updated its official documentation with a confirmation that some users might have problems installing the latest security updates for Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2. According to the company, KB5034765 fails to install with the following message: Other users report a similar message in Windows Update: In addition to the not-so-helpful error message and its cryptic code (you can also find it in the Windows Event Viewer), the update hangs and stops responding at 96% for some users. Fortunately, there is a workaround for those affected. Microsoft says uninstalling the hidden folder C:\$WinREAgent should fix the issue and force the update to install. Delete the folder, restart your system, and try downloading KB5034765 again. Microsoft is already working on resolving the bug in an upcoming update. Although the 0x800f0922 error does not affect Windows 10 users, they recently had a fair share of WinRE-related issues as well. In January 2024, Microsoft issued a notification that extending the WinRE partition is necessary to install the latest security update. Otherwise, Windows 10 would throw the "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" at you. You can check out this article to learn more about mitigating the problem. Microsoft does not say what causes the 0x800f0922 error on Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2, so we can only guess whether it is related to the recent Windows 10 WinRE issues. In case you missed it, a few days ago, Microsoft resolved another bug in Windows 11 that was preventing apps from recording, playing, or capturing videos with the WVC1 codec. Fixing that bug requires installing KB5034204 (January 2024 non-security update) or KB5034765 (February 2024 security update). Source

Earlier this month, Microsoft released cumulative updates for all supported Windows versions. Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 got KB5034765 with security fixes and other quality-of-life improvements. However, for some users, KB5034765 introduced nothing but problems, particularly with the taskbar. According to various reports on Reddit and Microsoft's Feedback Hub, KB5034765 breaks Windows 11 by leaving blank space where its taskbar usually resides. As a result, affected customers cannot launch pinned apps, switch between running applications, access the Quick Setting menu, check the notification area, and more. In Windows, the taskbar is a cornerstone of the user interface, so losing access to it is a big problem. Microsoft has not acknowledged the problem yet. Therefore, affected users need to figure out the problem and fix their computers without specific guides or workarounds from the Windows maker. Fortunately, it seems that you do not need deep knowledge of Windows to mend your system. Uninstalling KB5034765 helped some users resolve the problem. Here is how to do that. Naturally, if your system is affected, you cannot right-click the Start menu to open the Settings app. Therefore, press Win + I to launch it without the Start menu. Go to the Windows Update section and click Update history. Press Uninstall updates. Find KB5034765 and click Uninstall. Windows will ask you to confirm the action, so click Uninstall again. Restart your computer. There is no information on what exactly triggers the problem and if the KB5034765 is the culprit. You can try uninstalling it as a quick and easy fix. As a reminder, Windows is a very diverse ecosystem with thousands of hardware configurations and even more software configurations. Therefore, multiple factors may affect your experience and cause a random bug or two. Taskbar malfunction sounds like a serious one, so hopefully, Microsoft will address it soon. Is your system doing okay after installing the latest cumulative updates? Source

Oracle warned Apple customers to delay installing the latest macOS 14.4 Sonoma update because it will break Java on Apple silicon CPUs. This issue frequently and intermittently causes the Jave process to terminate without warning on impacted Macs with M1, M2, and M3 processors. It affects all Java versions, from Java 8 to the latest early access builds of JDK 22, and there are no workarounds available at the moment. "There is no workaround available, and since there is no easy way to revert a macOS update, affected users might be unable to return to a stable configuration unless they have a complete backup of their systems prior to the OS update," warned Aurelio Garcia-Ribeyro, Senior Director of Product Management at Oracle. This is caused by how macOS running on Apple silicon responds when a JAVA process attempts to access memory in protected memory regions. In previous versions of macOS, the operating system would send a SIGBUS or SIGSEGV signal to the process and let it decide how to continue. However, in macOS 14.4, the operating system now responds with a SIGKILL signal that terminates the process attempting to access protected memory. According to Garcia-Ribeyro, since the Java Virtual Machine uses dynamic code generation and accesses memory in protected memory regions to ensure correctness and performance, its process will be terminated after deploying the macOS 14.4 update. Oracle has already alerted customers, Apple, and their OpenJDK partners and advises Apple users to delay updating until the issue is fixed. "We recommend that users of Java on ARM-based Apple devices running macOS 14 delay applying the update until this issue is resolved," Garcia-Ribeyro said. More issues caused by macOS 14.4 Mac users who already installed macOS 14.4 Sonoma have also reported experiencing other problems besides Java getting killed unexpectedly, as MacRumors reported. Other issues that users who want to update to macOS 14.4 should be aware of: Printer drivers, especially for HP printers, might get removed or corrupted. Those who utilize "Optimize Mac Storage" may lose all previously saved file versions if it is removed from iCloud Drive's local storage. Some users have reported connectivity problems with USB hubs and monitors with USB ports. Apple silicon Macs running macOS 14.4 may have compatibility issues with PACE products, including the iLok License Manager. An Apple spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by BleepingComputer today. Source

Earlier today, Microsoft released Patch Tuesday updates on Windows 10 and Windows 11 for March 2024. The updates for the latest versions of Windows were delivered via KB5035845 and KB5035853, respectively. With the latter, aside from security patches, Microsoft has fixed an issue which was causing installation problems with the previous Windows 11 Patch Tuesday release (KB5034765). On affected systems, it would display a "0x800F0922" error message and fail at around 96%. At the time, Microsoft could not quite get to the bottom of the issue but did provide a detailed workaround. On the patch notes, the company says: And in case you miss that, the company has also updated its Windows health dashboard website that tracks known bugs and issues. In case you have not installed the February Patch yet, Microsoft has added that you can still use the workaround until you are ready to install KB5035853. Source

A few days ago, Microsoft released May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates for all supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions and editions. As it happens sometimes, shortly after the release, Microsoft confirmed a new bug. Fortunately for home users (unfortunately for IT Admins), it only affects Windows Server 2019. Consumer-focused editions, such as Home or Professional, should get the latest updates without problems. According to a post on the official Microsoft Learn website, the May 2024 security update might fail to install with a 0x800f0982 error: Microsoft is working on a resolution for the problem. Although there are no official workarounds from Microsoft as of right now, the clue is right there in the description. As reported by Borncity, some IT Admins managed to fix the 0x800f0982 error on Windows Server 2019 by installing the EN-US language pack: Other users on Reddit confirmed that adding the EN-US language pack fixes the problem. On the bright side, the May 2024 Patch Tuesday update resolved a problem with broken VPN connections after the April 2024 Patch Tuesday update. However, the problem with broken profile pictures remains ongoing. Source

Earlier this week, Microsoft released June 2023 Patch Tuesday update for Windows 10 users. Distributed under KB5027215, the update addressed security issues with no specific details about the changes or improvements. It looks like the update may have brought over a bug causing systems to install the patch slower than usual. According to user reports on Reddit (the subreddit is currently restricted), KB5027215 is taking more than half an hour to install for some users, with clean-up process post-update taking most of the time. The issue has been reported by multiple users and is happening when trying to install the cumulative update along with Microsoft .NET updates. Only unusual thing that I noticed which others might have experienced is the long “cleaning up” process post-update/pre-login on the reboot. That happens if you reboot for the cumulative update and the NET update at the same time. Microsoft is yet to acknowledge the issue or share any information about the bug. Currently, there is no workaround to fix the problem and you should be prepared for a long wait time if you plan to go ahead and install the update. It should further be noted that turning off your system during the update is not a wise option and can harm your device. You should let the update install completely, even if it takes much longer than usual. If you are facing issues with the latest Windows 10 update then you can follow the steps below to rollback: Open the Settings app and navigate to Windows Update under Update and Security Select Update History and click on Uninstall Updates Select KB5027215 from the list and click on 'Uninstall' Reboot your system to complete the rollback Along with longer installation times, users have also reported issues installing the update, with some saying that the update did not install after the PC rebooted. On Feedback Hub, users have reported getting 0x80073701 error when trying to install the latest cumulative update. If you are still using Windows 10 and do not want to install the new update then it might be a good idea to pause updates on the system. You can do so from the Windows Update section in the Update and Security category in the Settings app. Windows 10 KB5027215 update is causing installation issues for some users

The latest Windows 11 21H2 Patch Tuesday update (build 22000.675) under KB5013943 for the month of May was released last night and it's causing issues for a lot of people. The updates seem to be buggy and the cause of it may be related to the removal of .NET 3.5 framework. As a result, some users are reporting that reinstalling .NET 3.5 components resolves the issues that they were having, including one of our own readers Neonix1, who says they got the following error message when trying to start applications like Discord, Capture One Pro, Garmin Express, MusicBee, Motu USB soundcard control panel, and Fanatec Control Panel, after installing the Patch Tuesday: Application Error: The application was unable to start correctly (0x0000135). Click OK to close the application. And, on the suggestion of another reader illogik, Neonix1 found that their problems were resolved when .NET 3.5 was reinstalled manually. However, this workaround may not work for everyone and in that case, rolling back the update may be the only other option. For example here is Twitter user and Windows leakster who noticed that the update broke Event Viewer but the workaround didn't fix the issue: Reports on Feedback Hub are also coming in with various users reporting different kinds of problems including those with Phone Link, black screen issues, BSODs, and more, as seen in the image below (click to enlarge): Redditors on the build 22000.675 (KB5013943) thread are also reporting several issues including some of those described above. Windows 11 Patch Tuesday KB5013943 causing BSODs, black screen, buggy Teams, Discord

Microsoft has announced that its recent Windows 11 update KB5012643, which was already plagued with known issues related to Safe Mode and .NET 3.5, is now causing problems in games and applications that run on the DirectX 9 (Direct3D9) API. The Redmond firm says that the issues are happening on "certain GPUs" and no specific vendor has been mentioned, likely indicating that it is vendor-agnostic. The bug is also causing Windows Event log errors pertaining to D3D9On12 mapping layer. Here is how Microsoft describes the issue: After installing KB5012643, Windows devices using certain GPUs might have apps close unexpectedly or intermittent issues with some apps which use Direct3D 9. You might also receive an error in Event Log in Windows Logs/Applications with faulting module d3d9on12.dll and exception code 0xc0000094. This problem also affects Windows 10 platforms, versions 21H2, 21H1, 20H2 (update KB5011831). Microsoft is rolling back the updates on systems that are experiencing these issues using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). KIR is an important Windows servicing improvement to support non-security bug fixes, that enables reverting of buggy updates. Resolution: This issue is resolved using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices. Restarting your Windows device might help the resolution apply to your device faster. For enterprise-managed, devices that have installed an affected update and encountered this issue can resolve it by installing and configuring the special Group Policy listed below. For information on deploying and configuring these special Group Policies, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback. Group Policy downloads with Group Policy name: Download for Windows 11, version 21H2 - Group Policy name: KB5012643 220509_20053 Known Issue Rollback Download for Windows 10, version 2004, Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows 10, version 21H1 - Group Policy name: KB5011831 220509_20051 Known Issue Rollback Source: Microsoft (1 , 2) Windows 11 update KB5012643 also broke ancient DirectX 9 on "certain GPUs"

Windows 10 KB5003637 update may block remote access to event logs Microsoft says that apps may encounter issues accessing event logs on remote Windows 10 devices unless KB5003637 or later updates are installed on both systems. "Event logs might not be accessible from remote devices unless both devices have updates released June 8, 2021 or later," Microsoft states on the Windows 10 health dashboard. "This issue is resolved if the local and remote devices both have KB5003637 installed." This Windows 10 known issue impacts only applications using specific legacy Event Logging APIs. Event Viewer and other apps using current non-legacy APIs to access Windows event logs remotely are not affected. When trying to connect to or from a Windows 10 device on which the KB5003637 cumulative update was not yet installed, you might see one of the following errors: error 5: access is denied error 1764: The requested operation is not supported. System.InvalidOperationException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetEventLogCommand Windows has not provided an error code. Impacted platforms include both client and server Windows 10 version: Client: Windows 10 21H1; Windows 10 20H2; Windows 10 2004; Windows 10 1909; Windows 10 1809; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016; Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB; Windows 8.1; Windows 7 SP1 Server: Windows Server 20H2; Windows Server 2004; Windows Server 1909; Windows Server 1809; Windows Server 2019; Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows Server 2012; Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1; Windows Server 2008 SP2 Known issue caused by security hardening changes According to Microsoft, this is an expected result after Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) security hardening changes addressing the CVE-2021-31958 Windows NTLM Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Microsoft released CVE-2021-31958 security updates during the June Patch Tuesday to address the flaw discovered by Gal Levy and Yuval Sarel from Armis Security. KB5003637 comes with security updates to the Microsoft Scripting Engine, Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Management, Windows Cloud Infrastructure, Windows Authentication, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Virtualization, Windows Kernel, Windows HTML Platform, and Windows Storage and Filesystems. This Windows 10 cumulative update also improves Windows OLE (compound documents) security and when Windows performs basic operations. "This vulnerability requires that a user with an affected version of Windows access a malicious server. An attacker would have to host a specially crafted server share or website," Redmond explains in the security advisory. "An attacker would have no way to force users to visit this specially crafted server share or website, but would have to convince them to visit the server share or website, typically by way of an enticement in an email or chat message." Windows 10 KB5003637 update may block remote access to event logs

Windows July update breaks printing and scanning when using smart-cards Microsoft seems to be having to deal with issues related to printers for a while now. This year alone, starting with the March update that caused the blue screen of death (BSOD) when trying to print, and more recently with the PrintNightmare print spooler service vulnerability. And Microsoft's troubles aren't stopping there. Today, the firm has confirmed that its recent July security update version KB5004237, which was released on July 13, is causing problems when printing on certain systems when trying to utilize smart cards for user authentication. This time, alongside printing problems, scanning on such systems may also not work. According to the Redmond firm, the KB5004237 July 13 cumulative update fixed printing problems on such printers that were connected via USB. However, it seems the update has also introduced a new bug as a result of the changes made for dealing with the CVE-2021-33764 vulnerability. This is causing the new issue on Domain Controller servers which act as gatekeepers responsible for dealing with such authentication requests. It has been noted however that while working with smart cards may fail, username and password authentication should work without issue. Here's how Microsoft has described the problem: After installing updates released July 13, 2021 on domain controllers (DCs) in your environment, printers, scanners, and multifunction devices which are not compliant with section 3.2.1 of RFC 4556 spec, might fail to print when using smart-card (PIV) authentication. The problem has been detailed a bit more under KB5005408 which explains that client printers and scanners must be compliant with either of the following: Use Diffie-Hellman for key-exchange during PKINIT Kerberos authentication (preferred). Both support and notify the KDC of their support for des-ede3-cbc ("triple DES”). Here, KDC refers to a Key Distribution Center. The Windows platforms affected by this issue are: Client: Windows 10, version 21H1; Windows 10, version 20H2; Windows 10, version 2004; Windows 10, version 1909; Windows 10, version 1809; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016; Windows 10, version 1607; Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB; Windows 8.1; Windows 7 SP1 Server: Windows Server, version 20H2; Windows Server, version 2004; Windows Server, version 1909; Windows Server, version 1809; Windows Server 2019; Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows Server 2012; Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1; Windows Server 2008 SP2 Microsoft has said that it's investigating the issue and will provide a temporary workaround. For people having problems, the company has asked to update the necessary drivers and firmware and to consult with the device manufacturers when needed. You may find more details about the problem here on the company's official page. Windows July update breaks printing and scanning when using smart-cards