On January 30, 2020, Microsoft released the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19555.1001 (20H2 development branch) for insiders in the Fast Ring. In the Windows Blog, Microsoft lists the bug fixes and known issues of this build.

[German]Microsoft has released another batch of microcode updates for Intel CPUs on 30 January 2020 with the update KB4497165 for Windows 10.

I received this comment with a note about the microcode update KB4497165. But Microsoft has also released such updates for older Windows versions – the colleagues from deskmodder.de have published the list of all updates here. Here is the list of KBs:

• KB4497165: Windows Windows Server, Version 1903, Windows 10 Version 1903. Windows Server Version 1909, Windows 10 Version 1909
• KB4494174: Windows Server Version 1809, Windows 10 Version 1809
• KB4494451: Windows Server Version 1803, Windows 10 Version 1803
• KB4494452: Windows 10 Version 1709
• KB4494453: Windows 10 Version 1703
• KB4494175: Windows Server 2016, Windows 10 Version 1607
• KB4494454: Windows 10 Version 1507

The microcode updates have been revised and now include support for the following Intel CPUs:

• Denverton
• Sandy Bridge
• Sandy Bridge E, EP
• Valley View
• Whiskey Lake U

Please note that the updates may only be installed for the CPUs listed in the KB articles. It is up to each user to decide if he wants to install the microcode updates.

[German]Brief information for users who intend to build a Windows 10 installation media with integrated dynamic updates. I came across an article that discusses this approach.

Dynamic Updates for Windows Upgrade Installs

Windows occasionally offers updates that are marked as ‘Dynamic Updates’. Microsoft has introduced Dynamic Updates to dynamically integrate them when you upgrade from one version of the operating system to a higher version. According to this document, critical drivers and improvements that help with upgrades are provided through Dynamic Updates.

For example, if you call the Media Creation Tool to create an installation disc, you will be asked whether you want to download and integrate updates. Also, when you upgrade to a new Windows build, the setup asks if you want to download updates. This technet article provides some information about ‘Dynamic Updates’ for Windows 8.x.

Integrate dynamic updates into Windows 10

People who create installation media for Windows 10 deployment face the problem of integrating these dynamic updates. That would be Microsoft’s job, but Redmond doesn’t get to grips with it. How to integrate monthly updates into an installation media?

Here’s the blog on adding Dynamic Updates with offline servicing. https://t.co/Hzwg9fRs1M

There were a few other posts before then that are linked in that one. They should give you some background. Ping me if you need more help.

— Adam Gross [MVP] (ASquareDozen.com) (@AdamGrossTX) January 31, 2020

MVP Adam Gross has taken up the topic of offline servicing and integration of Dynamic Updates in Windows 10 media and created the blog post linked in the above tweet. There the problem with dynamic updates and offline maintenance is addressed. Then Gross shows how to proceed when integrating dynamic updates into the installation package. Maybe somebody can use this.

[German]Today a topic for Windows administrators, which can cause trouble. It’s about updating group policies in the background, a problem that a blog reader brought to my attention.

A reader information

In mid-January 2020 blog reader Florian R. contacted me by mail (thanks for that). In a short text he wrote the following:

I have a topic for you which has plagued me for months with many customers.

Since one of the last Windows 10 releases a background update is active on group policies, about every 2h. Not under Windows 7.

This information was new to me personally. According to this forum post, foreground processing of Group Policy only occurs when the device boots up or the user logs in. Background processing is the thing that happens about every 90 minutes on Windows workstations, with GP updating itself regularly.

I’m not sure that ‘only in the last Windows 10 releases’, is really true. In this post someone describes how to disable this refresh using Group Policy. It states that the background refresh is available since Windows 2000. But I got a Feedback from a German reader confirming, that the behavior has changed since Windows 10.

Hints on how to adjust the refresh interval can be found for example in this technet wiki article.

There may be problems

Blog reader Florian R. pointed out in his e-mail that this different behaviour can lead to problems. He writes about it.

This is what happens when you are clumsy like me, for example:

• The Windows Explorer crashes on the PCs about every 2 hours
• Programs started on network drives crash approx. every 2h

The change with my customers became active in October 2019.

Reason: In the GPOs for drive mapping, I added “replace” instead of “update

This means that Windows 10 now interrupts the network drives with every refresh of the GPO

Florian R. writes in his mail: ‘A setting that never caused problems under Windows XP/7’ and comments: Maybe this will help others.

After publishing the German edition of this blog post yesterday, German blog reader Karl commented on twitter (here and here). Below is the translation of his German tweets.

This has happened in the past sometimes, but is not by design. So the described problems for various reasons we always set CSE GPOs to replace + remove if no longer used. And these problems have not been solved so far. Newest build is still 1809 /1903.

If this problem occurs again it is a bug that he should report to Microsoft. https://msft.it/6015TZjMf

Nothing has changed in background processing, and I would see little need for optimization there.

So affected admins man grab that chance and report ist to Microsoft.

[German]Microsoft released the KB4528760 and KB4532695 updates for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 in January 2020. In the blog post I give a short summary of issues users have encountered during the last days.

Update KB4528760 for Windows 10 Version 1903/1909

Update KB4528760 was released on January 14, 2020 for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 (see Patchday Windows 10-Updates (January 14, 2020)). However, some users ran into installation problems, as I have pointed out in the following blog posts.

Windows 10 V1909: Update KB4528760 drops error 0x800F081F
Windows 10 V1809: Install error with Update KB4534273
Windows 10: Installation issues with Update KB4528760 due to missing Connect-App?

On reddit.com you can find this post from January 2020, which reports installation problems and various errors (assigning network drives via GPO does not work anymore, system does not start anymore), caused by the update KB4528760 for Windows 10 version 1903/1909. Forbes mentions boot problems with the error 0xc000000e here and links to this MS Answers forum thread. Windows Report has published this article which mentions a broken Nightlight mode.

Update KB4532695 for Windows 10 Version 1903/1909

Update KB4532695 for Windows 10 Version 1903/1909 was released on January 28, 2020 (see Windows 10 V190x Update KB4532695 (January 28, 2020)). This update is primarily intended to correct numerous bugs that have existed in search and Explorer since Windows 10 version 1903 (see the blog post Windows 10 V1909: More issues and Explorer Bugs). This is also confirmed.

German blog reader Steffen points out in this comment that there are issues with KB4532695. Users who have KB4532695 installed on their PCs report a number of problems they encounter. In the Microsoft Answers Forum there is this thread where people with various problems report immediately.

• One user complains about a missing sound, is confirmed by other users.
• Another user has lost the recognition of the TPM chip and thus bitlocker due to the update. The Bitlocker problem is confirmed by other users.
• The user with the TPM problem also receives BlueScreens. BlueScreens are reported by other users.
• Another user complains about a slow boot process and green screen hangs on an Intel NUC8i3BEH.
• Furthermore I have seen several messages about remote desktop connection problems after installing the update.

Some messages could be due to faulty drivers that came with the update. The user with the missing sound found out that the update had disabled the audio driver.

Similar articles:
Patchday Windows 10-Updates (January 14, 2020)
Windows 10 V1909: Update KB4528760 drops error 0x800F081F
Windows 10 V1809: Install error with Update KB4534273
Windows 10 V190x Update KB4532695 (January 28, 2020)

[German]A brief hint for people who still need the old Edge Browser. Microsoft has just released virtual machines with Windows 10 and old Edge Browser for testing purposes.

I came across this information at Bleeping Computer. This is for all users who don’t have the old Edge Legacy and IE 11 or want to test from another operating system. For these people Microsoft has released a free Windows 10 virtual machine with these browsers installed.

Windows 10 with Legacy Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 VMs can be downloaded from this web site for Parallels (MAC), Hyper-V, Vagrant, Virtualbox and VMware as virtualization platforms. Microsoft advertises:

Try IE11 and Microsoft Edge Legacy with free Windows 10 virtual machines that you download and manage locally

However, you should know that these VMs expire after 90 days and are then no longer activated. At Bleeping Computer you will find some hints on what to look out for with Virtualbox.

[German]The transfer of telemetry data to Microsoft can be completely disabled in Windows 10 Enterprise November 2019 Update (Version 1909). This is the result of an analysis by the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision.

Review: Windows 10 telemetry

Windows 10 and telemetry data acquisition is a controversy in many debates. European Data Protection Supervisors (like BSI) has classified Windows 10 as a ‘data protection accident’ (see my German article BSI-Einstufung: Windows 10 ist ein ‘Datenschutz-Unfall’). Data protectionists demanded that Microsoft should be able to disable data transfer in Windows 10.

In November 2019, there was then the decision of the data protection conference on Windows 10 data protection. There, the data protection conference also approved a test scheme ‘Datenschutz bei Windows 10’. This scheme is intended to enable those responsible who already use Windows 10 or intend to do so to independently check and document compliance with the legal requirements of the GDPR in their specific case. However, the tenor was also:

The data protection commissioners of the federal and state governments see little scope for using Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system in a legally compliant manner.

But the BSI had tested Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 1607 for telemetry data transfer. The result was that the telemetry data transfer could not be switched off completely.

In view of the fact that data protection authorities have been dealing with the transfer of telemetry data from Windows 10 computers to Microsoft for some time, the Data Protection Conference established a sub-working group of the Working Party on Technology “Windows 10”. This was to prepare an assessment of the data flows to Microsoft in terms of data protection law.

New classification by Bavaria

The colleagues from deskmodder came across the activity report 2019 of the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision. Page 22 of the PDF report deals with ‘Windows 10 and telemetry data’.

In December 2019 this working group met for a laboratory analysis of Windows 10, under the leadership of the Bavarian State Commissioner for Data Protection. Microsoft employees were also invited (of whom more than 10 people, mainly from the technical area, came from Microsoft in the USA) to answer any technical questions that might arise during the laboratory analysis.

In the lab, a test scenario using a Windows 10 Enterprise version 1909 was examined for data flows to Microsoft. All data flows from this computer were recorded within the laboratory network using a man-in-the-middle analysis. During the test, the Windows 10 system was configured with information and tools officially provided by Microsoft so that the telemetry level “Security” was set. The aim was to prevent all telemetry data flows if possible.

In the course of this laboratory analysis it was determined that the telemetry data of the Windows 10 Enterprise V1909 test system can be completely deactivated. Only calls to (Microsoft) servers that provide current cryptographic certificates could not be deactivated by this configuration, as these are required for the day-to-day operation of a Windows 10 system (e.g. if an invalid SSL root certificate is recalled), the data protectionists write. But even these calls can be prevented by specific system configurations (not recommended for security reasons).

From the result, the data protectionists say, it could be determined at this meeting in the technical laboratory that the telemetry data, which is controversially discussed in terms of data protection law, can be deactivated when using the Enterprise Version (and thus also the Education Version) in the scenario examined.

The conclusion of the data protectionists: If this result is confirmed in the real use of Windows 10 in companies, at least the handling of telemetry data with Windows 10 Enterprise (even in managed environments) does not represent a data protection obstacle to the use of this operating system.

In Windows 10 Pro, as is well known, Telemetry cannot be switched off completely. So an additional analysis could possibly become another work order of the Data Protection Conference (DSK).

[German]In the Microsoft Intune (Azure) is a new setting option ‘Remove built-in Windows app’. With this option administrators are able to remove built-in apps from a Windows 10 install.

I’m not in using Intune and Azure to manage Windows 10 client fleets. But I just came about the following tweet and tought it might be of interest for administrators using Intune.

The mysterious “remove built-in Windows app” setting explained.. https://t.co/wdrLye51mU #MEM #msintune

— Micro-Scott (@Scottduf) February 3, 2020

The option allows a new setting to remove specific Windows built-in apps on a new Windows 10 device using configuration policy settings. You can remove the Windows built-in apps:

• Mixed Reality Viewer
• MSN Weather
• App Installer
• Microsoft Tips
• My Office
• Microsoft Solitaire Collection
• Mobile Plans
• Feedback Hub
• Xbox
• Groove Music
• Mail
• Calendar

Further details may be read within this Microsoft document.

[German]Currently there seems to be a serious issue for Windows 10 users (only version 1909): The search via start menu is down and works worldwide no longer. It’s a know issue, Microsoft is rolling out a sever side fix – here is a workaround so far.

A user comment: My start menu search is broken

The first hint I got from German blog reader Dietmar Haimann within this comment in the German blog:

Das nicht, dafür geht scheinbar weltweit die Suche in Windows 10 1909 nicht.

It says, that the search in Windows 10 Version 1909 doesn’t work worldwide. A short Internet search didn’t reveal any hit a few hours ago. I run a test within my Windows 10 test machine, but the search worked flawless.

Note: I know now why – after the start menu issues in Sept. 2019 I’ve deativated the Bing start menu search.

A user mail: Start menu search broken

Then I received two hours later an email from German blog reader Mark S. with the title ‘Win10 Start menu search’. Mark wrote:

Hello, Mr. Born,

we have no more start menu search today under Win 10. The field remains black.

Both domain machines and standalone machines are affected.

The search usually works for a short time and then not at all.

Anything known in that direction?

The search indexing troubleshooter reports “Incorrect permissions in the Windows search directory”.

I just pointed him to the first comment, which Mark responded with a second mail, making the whole thing even more cryptic.

…. Interestingly, the computers that are disconnected from the internet are not affected yet, at least what I can find out so far.

All PCs have the same update status (domain and standalone). Uninstalling from last week’s updates hasn’t brought any changes.

After another seach I found some mentions within the Internet, saying that it’s a know issue. Bing search has to be blamed, and Microsoft is working on a server side fix.

Broken Bing search – a workaround

The colleagues from German deskmodder.de and also Lawrence Abrams from Bleeping Computer have also taken up the topic. You should disable the Bing search a workaround using the following .reg file deactivates this search:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search]
„BingSearchEnabled“=dword:00000000
„CortanaConsent“=dword:00000000

This is also consistent with the observation of blog reader Mark, who explicitly mentions that machines without Internet access are not affected. Mark just informed me by 3rd mail that this fix was worked. After he deactivated the Bing search via registry, the search works again. Shows again how broken this Windows 10 is basically.

Similar articles:
Microsoft Teams down due to certificate failure (Feb. 3, 2020)
Windows 10 V1903: MS investigating the Search/Cortana issue (09/03/2019)

On March 5, 2020, Microsoft released the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19559.1000 (20H2 development branch) for insiders in the Fast Ring. In the Windows Blog, Microsoft lists the bug fixes and known issues of this build.

[German]The team around Brandon LeBlanc, who feeds Windows Insider with Windows 10 builds, is now trying something new. They want to give the Windows insiders information about Build Update, Edge, Bing and whatever else is coming for insiders.

I became aware of this topic during the night through the following tweet by Brandon LeBlanc.

Doesn’t seem appropriate for the Insider blog to have any of this. I vote no. Isn’t that the job of the top level https://t.co/imustP1AQD?

— Rafael Rivera (@WithinRafael) February 8, 2020

The first post Windows Insider Newsbits for the Week of February 7 is available on the Windows Blog. But I didn’t find it so exciting – I post such stuff within my own blog when I’m too lazy to write something exciting or run out of topics.

Rafael Rivera is therefore not so keen on this, which is why he asks the ‘crucial question’ … (see lower part of the tweet). I understand him and I agree – there is the risk, that the Windows Blog becomes wasted with trash, advanced Insider will withdraw. As a blogger, I need to continue to keep an eye on that channel, but the irrelevant noise becomes stronger. 

The Windows team might have enough stuff (in terms of relevant material), which could really be published. For example, it would have been interesting to know why the Windows 10 search failed worldwide this week – keyword: JScript code (probably from the Bing team) is migrating to Windows to implement the search. What are the further plans, the developers intend to implement? There are other topics that Brandon LeBlanc’s team could prepare for technically interested people (from the group of Windows Insiders).

[German]If the search on the desktop fails you can reset it. Microsoft has released a script to fix a broken search in 2019. Within this blog post I will show, what Microsoft provides on solutions to fix a broken search.

In early February 2020, the search using the search box in the Start menu of Windows 10 November 2029 Update (version 1909) suddenly failed worldwide and no longer worked. I discussed this incident, including a fix (Bing search) in the blog post Windows 10: Search is broken – how to fix it (Feb. 5, 2020).

After a few hours, Microsoft had its failed Bing search service up and running again, and the search should actually work again. However, I found it odd that the blog post continued to receive comments that the fix would work – long after Microsoft fixed the issues. So there are still people whose searches for this incident do not work at all. 

Reset Windows search by script

About this post from Woody Leonhard came across a tweet from Tero Alhonen. A user complained on February 6, 2020 that his search box still showed a

Reset Windows Search PowerShell script https://t.co/rbRnFaZIjw

— Tero Alhonen (@teroalhonen) February 6, 2020

Alhonen referred the user to a PowerShell script (ResetWindowsSearchBox.ps1), which can be used to reset the Windows search. The script was already published on September 13, 2019. Microsoft writes about this:

Resolve Windows Search problems by running the PowerShell script ResetWindowsSearchBox.ps1 . You must have administrator privileges to run this script.

It is sufficient to run the script under an administrator account by right-clicking and using the Powershell context menu command. If there is an error because PS modules are blocked, the web page for the PowerShell script provides hints to set the -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted policy.

On the download page, the PS script is listed for Windows 10 version 1903, but the script also refers to version 1909. 

KB article 4520146 to fix the search

Microsoft has published also a support article 4520146 (Fix problems in Windows Search), which Microsoft last updated on 3 January 2020. This article contains various tips for resetting the search, which should apply to the following Windows 10 versions:

• Windows 10 Version 1909
• Windows 10 Version 1903
• Windows 10 Version 1809
• Windows 10 Version 1803
• Windows 10 Version 1709
• Windows 10 Version 1703
• Windows 10 Version 1607
• Windows 10 Version 1511
• Windows 10 (RTM)

The kb article gives recurring instructions for repairing Windows Search as may be found within the following list.

• Check for updates (in the hope, that Microsoft has patched the search again).
• Run the troubleshooting for search and indexing.
• Restart Windows Search (kill SearchUI.exe in Task Manager).
• Reset the search, using the above script for Windows 10 version 1903 and later. For older versions up to version 1809 Cortana should be reset.

Somehow the search in Windows 10 seems to be a rather shaky affair. In the following article I will discuss an observation of a blog reader from the corporate environment about problems with the search.

Series of articles
Resetting a broken Windows 10 Search by Script – Part 1
Windows 10: Addendum to the broken search and fixes – Part 2

[German]In Windows 10, the search in the Start menu repeatedly fails (as on February 5, 2020). This seems to be a recurring problem for which a blog reader sent me another observation and a solution that he uses in his corporate environment.

In Resetting a broken Windows 10 Search by Script – Part 1 I had mentioned Microsoft’s solutions for fixing a broken search. But German blog reader Thomas M. contacted me after I’ve published the article Windows 10: Search is broken – how to fix it (Feb. 5, 2020)and reported his experiences and observations. I will post the information here in the blog, maybe it will help someone.

Windows 10: Search broken – a cause and solution

German blog reader Thomas M. wrote within an email, that ee had already been affected by this problem on Windows 10 systems in an enterprise environment.

As it seems, this is a recurring theme. I seem to have found a very simple solution to the problem some time ago, which I haven’t read about anywhere yet.

However, so far I have only been able to successfully apply this to a few devices in the company, but these are only 2 different types of devices, which are all installed identically (more or less).

From this point of view I don’t know if this would be applicable to other devices and Windows versions. But since I had the problem with a user this week again and the solution helped immediately…

He wrote, because my German blog post Windows 10 V1909: Startmenü-Suche ausgefallen (5.2.2020) was flooded with comments, it would be a pity if this solution were to be overlooked. So he sent me a description of his observation. Here is a brief description of his situation:

Our company has started relatively late to switch to Windows 10 – my task :), among others – in early December last year. We use Windows 10 Pro Workstation x64 1903.

Therefore all devices are as good as new installed. Directly after installation I had the problem with the start menu and search for some users.

An external company pointed this possible problem out to me before the installation and recommended to uninstall various updates in case of such a problem. Understandably, this solution did not really suit me.

Thomas then points out a rights problem, which he found out in a domain environment.

I quickly noticed that the problem occurred with users with limited rights (completely newly created profiles in the company domain), but not with the administrator.

From this I concluded that the problem probably had to do with lack of rights, and in my case, because a completely new user profile, the start menu plus search cannot be created at all.

At this point Thomas tried a radical approach to solving the problem, which he describes as follows:

So I simply moved the affected user into the domain administrators group and logged on again with this user.

• Immediately after the login, the start menu was available for this user.
• For another user it took a while until the search was available.

The user in question in this week – about a month in use – did not want the search even after 5 minutes. Here, logging out and logging in again with admin rights brought the search back to life.

Then log out again, take the user out of the domain admin group and log in again. So far the start menu and the search works again for all affected users.

On one client, another user had an even more exotic problem with the start menu. Thomas wrote:

On one device, I even noticed that another user on the same device, who also had the problem, only by logging on the other user with admin rights, had no problems either. However, I did not pursue this further. So I can’t say if this was just an isolated case.

Thomas also wrote that he finds it strange that only a few devices / users were affected, although all user profiles and devices were created and installed completely new and are almost identical. At the same time he asks if someone else can confirm this solution (or observation). On the Windows 10 PC at home, Thomas states that he has no problems with the Start menu and search (although, thanks to the default Windows 10 defaults, he works as an administrator there during setup anyway – writing that he knows you shouldn’t).

The only thing I can think of is that I received fragments of information via Facebook that there are always problems with profiles on servers, which is why they don’t do that anymore (but it was reminiscent of Outlook, I forgot the details). Maybe one of you still has some hints.

Warning: Also his step to move the affected user into the domain administrators group isn’t a good idea, as this German comment indicates. It would be better to move the affected user for tests into the local administrator group and check, if the issue is fixed.

Series of articles
Resetting a broken Windows 10 Search by Script – Part 1
Windows 10: Addendum to the broken search and fixes – Part 2

[German]News from the broken Windows 10 search feature in start menu. Microsoft believes it will soon be able to fix the bug for all users. This bug caused a worldwide failure of the Windows 10 startmenu search on February 5, 2020.

This is what the bug is about

On 5 February 2020, users of Windows 10 (preferably version 1909) discovered that the search no longer worked. Only a black area was displayed in the Start menu, no search results were displayed.

The reason for this behavior was that the Bing search was broken or the corresponding Microsoft service went on strike. I had reported in detail in the blog post Windows 10: Search is broken – how to fix it (Feb. 5, 2020) and outlined a workaround there.

A few hours after the search function failed, the bug has resolved itself for some users. Because Microsoft had fixed the server error of the failed Bing search internally. The only thing I noticed were that there were still reader comments in the blogs, that the search was still not working and that the workaround I suggested in the article fixed the problem.

Microsoft explains …

In a Techcommunity post, dated February 10, 2020  a Microsoft employee points out that the problem with the Windows 10 search in the start menu is now solved.   

We were made aware recently of a temporary server-side issue causing Windows search to show a blank box. This issue has been resolved for most users and in some cases, you might need to restart your device. We are working diligently to fully resolve the issue and will provide an update once resolved.

Meanwhile, the status of this fault has been set to resolved in the Windows Message-Center.

Similar articles:
Windows 10: Search is broken – how to fix it (Feb. 5, 2020) 
Resetting a broken Windows 10 Search by Script – Part 1
Windows 10: Addendum to the broken search and fixes – Part 2

[German]On February 11, 2020 (second Tuesday of the month, Patchday at Microsoft) several cumulative updates for the supported Windows 10 builds were released. Here are some details about the respective updates.

A list of the updates can be found on this Microsoft website. I have extracted the details below. The update installation requires an existing current Servicing Stack Updates (SSUs). Microsoft now publishes an overview of current Servicing Stack Updates (SSUs) under ADV990001 (if it is not up to date, please check the Microsoft Update Catalog for Servicing Stack Updates).

Updates for Windows 10 Version 190x

Microsoft provides the same update packages for the Windows 10 builds 1903 and 1909 that were released in 2019. The following updates are available for the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (Version 1903) and the Windows 10 November 2019 Update (Version 1909).

Update KB4532693 for Windows 10 Version 190x

Cumulative Update KB4532693 raises the OS build to 18362.657 (Windows 10 V1903) or 18363.657 (Windows 10 V1909). The update is available for Windows 10 version 1903, for Windows 10 version 1909, and for Windows Server version 1903 and Windows Server version 1909. It contains quality improvements but no new operating system features. Here is the list of improvements, referred to by Microsoft as highlights:

• Improves the installation experience when updating to Windows 10, version 1903.
• Updates to improve security when using Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge.
• Updates to improve security when using Microsoft Office products.
• Updates to improve security when using input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, or stylus.

The following fixes and improvements to Windows 10 version 1909 are added:

• Addresses an issue that occurs when migrating cloud printers during an upgrade.
• Improves the installation experience when updating to Windows 10, version 1903.
• Security updates to Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Cryptography, Windows Virtualization, Windows Network Security and Containers, Windows Server, Windows Management, Microsoft Graphics Component, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Media, the Microsoft Scripting Engine, and Windows Shell.

This update is automatically downloaded and installed by Windows Update. This update is also available in the Microsoft Update Catalog and via WSUS. Microsoft strongly recommends that you install the latest service stack update (SSU) for your operating system before you install the latest cumulative update (LCU). Microsoft does not report any known issues with this update.

In addition, Microsoft has released an update directly to the Windows Update client to improve its reliability. This is rolled out outside of Windows Update if the machine is compatible and is not an LTSC variant and updates are not blocked by GPO.

Servicing Stack Update KB4538674

On February 11, Microsoft also released the SSU KB453867 for Windows 10 Version 1903 and 1909 freigegeben. Microsoft says:

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) makes sure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

Before installing further cumulative updates, the SSU should have been installed

Updates for Windows 10 Version 1809

The following updates are available for Windows 10 October 2018 Update (Version 1809) and Windows Server 2019.

Update KB4532691 for Windows 10 Version 1809

Cumulative Update KB4532691 the OS build (according to MS) to 17763.1039 and includes quality improvements but no new operating system features. Here is the list of improvements, called highlights by Microsoft:

• Updates to improve security when using Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge.
• Updates for storing and managing files.
• Updates to improve security when using external devices (such as game controllers, printers, and web cameras) and input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, or stylus.
• Updates to improve security when using Microsoft Office products.

Added the following fixes and improvements to the Windows version:

Security updates to Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Graphics Component, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Media, Windows Shell, the Microsoft Scripting Engine, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Management, Windows Cryptography, Windows Virtualization, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Core Networking, Windows Peripherals, Windows Network Security and Containers, Windows Storage and Filesystems, and Windows Server.

This update is automatically downloaded and installed by Windows Update. This update is also available in the Microsoft Update Catalog. Microsoft strongly recommends that you install the latest service stack update (SSU) for your operating system before you install the latest cumulative update (LCU). Microsoft lists several known issues that this update causes. For details, see the KB article.

Microsoft has also released an update directly to the Windows Update Client to improve its reliability. This is rolled out outside of Windows Update if the machine is compatible and not an LTSC variant and updates have not been blocked by GPO.

Updates for Windows 10 Version 1507 till 1803

For Windows 10 RTM up to version 1803, various updates are available for the LTSC versions and, if necessary, the Enterprise versions. The Home and Pro versions, however, have been dropped from support. Here is a short overview.

• Windows 10 Version 1803: Update KB4537762  is only available for Enterprise and Education. The update raises the OS build to 17134.1304. The fixes mentioned in the KB article are included. This update is automatically downloaded and installed by Windows Update, but is available for download from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Before manual installation, the latest Servicing Stack Update (SSU) must be installed. Details, including known issues, can be found in the KB article. .
• Windows 10 Version 1709: Update KB4537789 is only available for Enterprise and Education. The update raises the OS build to 16299.1686. The fixes mentioned in the KB article are included. This update is automatically downloaded and installed by Windows Update, but is available for download from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Before manual installation, the latest Servicing Stack Update (SSU) must be installed. Details, including known issues, can be found in the KB article.
• Windows 10 Version 1607: Update KB4537764 is only available for Enterprise and Education. The update raises the OS build to 14393.3504. The fixes mentioned in the KB article are included. This update is automatically downloaded and installed by Windows Update, but is available for download from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Before manual installation, the latest Servicing Stack Update (SSU) must be installed. Details, including known issues, can be found in the KB article.
• Windows 10 Version 1507: Update KB4537776 is only available for Enterprise LTSC. The update raises the OS build to 14393.3504. The fixes mentioned in the KB article are included. This update is automatically downloaded and installed by Windows Update, but is available for download from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Before manual installation, the latest Servicing Stack Update (SSU) must be installed. Details, including known issues, can be found in the KB article.

Windows 10 version 1703 has reached the end of support in November 2019. Updates are only available for Surface Hub devices. There was no update for Windows 10 V1511 because this version has dropped out of support. Details about the above updates can be found in the respective Microsoft KB articles in case of doubt.

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[German]As of February 11, 2020, Microsoft has released a cumulative update (KB4539080) for Windows 10 Version 2004 for insiders in the slow ring. The update KB4539080 raises the build to 19041.84. The changes and known issues are described in the Windows Blog. A download may be found at German site deskmodder.de.

On February 12, 2020, Microsoft released the cumulative update KB4541095 for the Windows 10 (20H2) Insider Preview for insiders in the Fast Ring. The update raises Windows 10 to build 19564.1000. An article within the Windows Blog ists the changes, bug fixes, and known issues of this build.

[German]There are reports that cumulative update KB4532693 for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 dated February 11, 2020, is causing significant issues for some users. Desktop gone, files gone, icons gone and more.

Update KB4532693 for Windows 10 Version 190x

Cumulative Update KB4532693 is available for Windows 10 version 1903, for Windows 10 version 1909, and for Windows Server version 1903 and Windows Server version 1909. It contains quality improvements but no new operating system features. I mentioned the update in the blog post Patchday Windows 10-Updates (February 11, 2020).

Reports about issues

Shortly after the article was published, there was a first comment reporting about a freezing update installation. Then German blog reader Andre came with this user comment, reporting further issues.

After today’s update KB 4532693, PC started up normally again then came the horror, almost all programs and data gone, email, tax homepage everything gone, no folder left, to vomit […].
System recovery currently without success.

In a 2nd comment Andre reports that there are different problems on different systems. Other users report problems here and here. The last comment refers to this MS Answers forum thread, where a user complains about lost files in his profile.

why has the latest windows update moved all my files into another user folder ending in .000?

When I closed doen my PC last night it started doing updates and was taking a long time so I left it and went to bed. This morning I logged on – no problems but I then realised (can’t remember how) that my files had all moved on to another folder in the c drive ending in .000. After doing some seearching for advise on line I restarted the PC several times but its not changed. I have even closed down completely to see if this made a difference – it didnt. I am now worried that I will close down again and from what I have read this may be a temporary file.

I am not a computer whizz and reading some of the things I have has worred me that I could mess up trying to correct it. One suggestion I have seen is to remove the latest updates  – there were 6 in total – KB4532693, 4537759, 4534132, 4528759, 4538674 and 1909.

Please can anyone help. My work is stored on Dropbox so I assume that will be safe but its everything else I’m worried about – documents, photos etc.

Then I saw over the following tweet that Woody Leonhard has picked it up on his page in the meantime.

Had a family members machine after the late Jan patch that loaded at temp profile. After going into the registry and deleting the entry for the temp profile and removing the bak from the original profile entry and rebooting, it returned to normal.

— Russ Gee (@russgee) February 12, 2020

Woody refers to the 2nd post in this MS Answers forum post, post where someone complains about lost desktop icons, wrong desktop background etc. People are logged in under a temporary user profile after installing the update. After uninstalling the update everything is back to normal.

A second user notes in the above tweet that he was able to fix this via the registry entries of the profile service. I once had the German article Anmeldung scheitert wegen defektem Benutzerprofil 10 years ago here in the blog, which shows these approaches.

If you run into these problems, my recommendation is, that you should uninstall the update and then set the update delay to one week. If you have antivirus software installed from 3rd party vendors, give it a try and uninstall this AV software and install the update again.

Addendum: Currently I’m collecting information about the root cause. One user reported, that a bunch of 50 machines was affected, all using AVIRA antivirus, while the other machines without issues didn’t have AVIRA installed. But this is only a single voice. If you are affected, left a comment with the information, which AV software is used.

[German]A short patchday addendum: Microsoft has released several UEFI security updates after the patchday. Among others there is the security update KB4524244, which causes serious trouble on AMD devices and some notebooks.

In the blog post Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/8.1/Server (Feb. 11, 2020) I pointed out that an UEFI update KB4502496 for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 has been released. But there is more.

Update KB4524244 for Windows 10

Security update KB4524244 is also an UEFI update. According to Microsoft, this security update will result in quality improvements in the supported versions of Windows 10. It is intended to fix a UEFI problem:

Resolves an issue where a third-party Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) start manager might expose UEFI-enabled computers to a security risk..

Microsoft does refer to the security page for more information. However, I did not find an entry for the update there. The patch is available for the following Windows 10 versions according to the KB article.

• Windows 10 Version 1903
• Windows 10 Version 1809
• Windows 10 Version 1803
• Windows 10 Version 1709
• Windows 10Version 1703
• Windows 10 Version 1607

What is noticeable in the above list: Windows 10 version 1909 is missing. Forgotten, because the update was listed in the Microsoft Update Catalog also for this Windows 10 build, and also the WSUS gets the package, as Woody Leonhard notes here. But within the Microsoft Update Catalog for KB4524244 the KB article KB4504418 has been linked for details (I doubt if this makes sense). The update is distributed via Windows Update, via Microsoft Update Catalog and via WSUS. A reboot is not necessary after installing the update.

Trouble on AMD machines?

Shortly after the update was released, a user reported on reddit.com serious issues with his hardware. 

Anyone having trouble with KB4524244? It hangs and then when I force reboot, HP BIOS says it detected an unauthorized change to the secure boot keys and had to restore.

The user claims to have installed the update on an HP Elitedesk 705 G4 micro. In the corresponding thread other users report a ‘boot hanging’ of the machine after installing the update.

BIOS recognized an unauthorized secure boot key change

After the HP BIOS complained about an unauthorized change to the secure boot key and refused to start, it helped some people to disable secure boot. In the meantime more users have confirmed that issue on reddit.com. One of them recommends that affected people postpone the update installation for 30 days – in the hope that there is a fix.

Installation error 0x800f0922

Within this reddit.com thread a user with nick name LordDeath86 claims that the update install ends with error 0x800f0922:

After installing the update for 1909 I got a new pending security update KB4524244 and it always fails with error 0x800f0922.

And again Google and Bing are failing me here because that error code can mean anything from bad VPN software (don’t have any) to a too small system partition (also not the case here) to a bad star constellation that sends cosmic rays into my PC and let the update fail.

System freezes

On Microsoft Answers there is this forum post from February 12, 2020 in which a user also reports serious issues:

2020-02 Updates KB4524244 Locks Up My Computer and Fails Install

I received the Patch Tuesday releases today.  KB4532693, KB4537759 and KB4538674 dropped in the first wave and all installed successfully.  On a subsequent “Check for Updates”  KB4524244 downloaded and installed but on the reboot, it rebooted the first time but froze hard on the second re-boot with Step 2 information and a frozen spinner on my screen, no keyboard or any access.  After about 15 mins I finally forced the system down.  On the reboot, my Secure Boot flagged me that the keys were corrupted.  I was able to get those repaired and reboot into the system.  I rebooted a couple more times but no updates attempted to install.  On a third “Check for updates, the same (KB4524244) update attempted to download but freezes the system at 94% on the download.  Again freezes hard requiring a hard re-set.  I tried flushing the Software Distribution cache but get the same results.

FYI:  I am running Windows defender with VBS (Credential Guard and Hypervisor enforced Code Integrity on an HP EliteDesk 705 G4 MT with a AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2400G with Radeon Vega Graphics.  I also have a similar set up running on an HP laptop (Intel i5), but the update installed fine on it.

A second user in the thread mentions HP Sure Start Recovery, which prevents booting on several machines with AMD Ryzen CPUs (see picture above). Also Dell servers seem to be affected according to another post in this thread. Apple machines with Bootcamp are also affected.

AMD Threadripper Processor Kernel Limiting

Within this post a user states that the patch limits the use of the AMD Threadripper processor to 20 cores:

If you are running a 3970x threadripper, it limits you to only using 20 cores, I uninstalled it and went back to using all 32 cores.

In this blog post somebody summarized that. Anyone affected?

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[German]At February 2020 patchday Microsoft released a standalone UEFI security update KB4524244 für Windows 10, that caused serious issues. Microsoft has withdrawn the UEFI security update KB4524244 on Feb. 15, 2020.

Issues with Update KB4524244

I had discussed the ‘Standalone Update’ KB4524244 in the blog post Windows 10: UEFI Update KB4524244 is causing issues. There I also addressed the fact, that this update causes many issues and leads to boot problems on AMD devices. I received  also feedback from German blog readers, confirming the issues raised within the blog post (although my test machine didn’t show issues with this update installed).

The most lucky users were still those who where facing an error 0x800f0922 with an install abort. On HP systems, HP Sure Start Recovery on AMD machines prevented booting if Secure Boot was enabled and the update was installed.

Microsoft pulled Update KB4524244

In the meantime, Microsoft has acknowledged issues with UEFI security update KB4524244 and has withdrawn it. German blog reader Gerold (see his comment, thanks for that) and other people like Barb Bowman pointed this out to me.

Microsoft has pulled buggy @windowsupdate KB4524244 https://t.co/1pifZgKGDL pic.twitter.com/64lp0cl06G

— Barb Bowman (@barbbowman) February 15, 2020

The German KB article Support article didn’t mention it yet – but the English KB article was extended by the following statements:

• Using the “Reset this PC” feature, also called “Push Button Reset” or PBR, might fail. You might restart into recovery with “Choose an option” at the top of the screen with various options or you might restart to desktop and receive the error “There was a problem resetting your PC”.
• You might encounter issues trying to install or after installing KB4524244.

So the update has serious collateral damage over what I mentioned in the blog post mentioned above. Especially the broken ‘PC reset’ function is blatant. Microsoft has therefore withdrawn the update:

This standalone security update has been removed due to an issue affecting a sub-set of devices. It will not be re-offered from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Update Catalog.

Barb Bowman refers in the above tweet to the Windows 10 version 1909 status page, where the following entry was added on February 15, 2020.

“Reset this PC” feature might fail

Using the “Reset this PC” feature, also called “Push Button Reset” or PBR, might fail. You might restart into recovery with “Choose an option” at the top of the screen with various options or you might restart to your desktop and receive the error “There was a problem resetting your PC”.

There is also the information that the update has been withdrawn – Microsoft will also no longer offer it, but will release it under a new KB number in an updated version.

Uninstall the update in any case!

In the KB article Microsoft gives hints what to do in case of issues: Uninstall the update. Some people (e.g. here) interpret it as: ‘if the update doesn’t cause any issues, leave it on the system”. In this special case I recommend uninstalling the update in any case, because of the potentially broken Windows 10 reset feature.

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