[German]It seems that some users or Windows 10 Anniversary Update (Version 1607) are receiving Update KB4033637. The purpose of this update is unknown, there is no KB article yet. But I have my theory.
A reader pointed me to Update KB4033637
A couple of hours ago I blogged about Update KB4039396 (Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Update KB4039396), released on August 28, 2017. Then I received a comment (German) from a blog reader:
Gerade kam das Update KB 4033637 Windows 10 V1607 keine Ahnung was das wieder ist!
He received Update KB4039396, but there is no KB article about this update. That’s not new, Microsoft says ‘trust us …’
Searching the web, not enlightened
Searching the web, I found some mentions of this update in July and August.
- July 14, 2017: The MS-Answers forum entry Failed to install – over 20 times! What is going on? is the first mention I found. An MVP colleague mentioned, that Update KB4033637 isn’t distributed via Microsoft Update nor via Microsoft Update Catalog.
- July 25, 2017: In MS-Answers forum somebody started the thread Windows 10 Update KB4033637, asking for the purpose of this update. A MS employee asked, why he asked this question, without giving further details.
But it seems to mysterious, that the poster mentioned Windows 10 Version 1703 and says it updated the build to 15063.483. This build is available via Update KB4025342.
- Within the thread linked above, some other users reporting issues like freezes, missing USB, missing WiFi (OS Build is 14393.1593), slow machines, crashes and so on.
Reading the combination of issues given above created some doubt on my side about the expertise of the posters. Maybe they had a typo within the KB number. But I found other hits within the internet:
- July 27, 2017: The MS-Answers forum entry KB4033637 fails to update reported install issue. Another (French) user wrote, that KB4033637 for Windows 10 V1607 hangs at 45 % during download.
- August 28, 2017: At Bleeping Computer we have a forum entry, also asking, what this update do and why there is no KB article.
- August 29, 2017: A japanese article also mentions this update. And some people at reddit.com discussing about that update.
I have absolutely no details, what this update is for – but wait, there is more, because the update is for real.
Addendum: Searching within the fog
I booted a virtual machine with Windows 10 V1607 and after searching endless, the update was announced:
The update was successfully downloaded and then the installation went through. Then I received a restart notification.
After a restart, the VM was a bit slow (but that’s maybe, what I awaited, after reading the comments mentioned above – a kind of placebo). After login the machine suddenly showed me the following message:.
Windows 10 Anniversary Update (V1607) asked me to check the privacy settings. And suddenly Update KB4033637 makes sense and explains, why people has seen this update in July 2017.
My guess: Update KB4033637 contains code to show users of Windows 10 Anniversary Update (V1607) the dialog above to check the privacy settings, making the system ready to upgrade to Creators Update. I’ve covered that within my German blog post Windows 10: Datenschutz-Infosplitter … in July 2017. Do you have other/further insights? Feel free to left a comment.
But the update is listed in Windows 10 update history as a security update – so there is more in stack – unfortunately, as long as Microsoft refuse to document the details, there is room for conspiracy theories.