• MS-DEFCON 2: The crisis has passed, but stay locked down

    Posted on June 2, 2017 at 19:14 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    Microsoft has fessed up, to some extent, and it appears as if yesterday’s two separate bunged Win10 updates were pulled.

    To be clear:

    • Many Windows 10 phones in the “Insider” beta test program had their phones bricked by a bad patch released yesterday. The only way to fix those phones is to wipe them out completely.
    • Some Windows 10 phones – just regular, everyday Win10 phones – got the same treatment.
    • If you have a Win10 phone and you haven’t yet thrown it away, if it downloaded the bad patch, you have to reset it. Even if the patch wasn’t installed.
    • Some Win10 PCs in the “Insider” beta test program had a different bad patch delivered through Windows Update. If you got bit, your best choice is to roll it back, per Microsoft’s instructions. We’re promised a new, improved beta build next week.
    • Some Win10 PCs — just regular, everyday Win10 PCs — also received the “rogue” version, called “build 16212,” through Windows Update. According to all reports I’ve seen, any attempt to install that build will fail.

    You might think that only beta machines got bit. Not true. Even regular Windows 10 PCs got the bad build, delivered through Windows Update. Fortunately, the bad build wouldn’t install.

    Peter Bright at Ars Technica has a good overview. He emphasizes the effect on Insider machines. Don’t forget that the bad patch went out to normal, non-beta-test machines, too.

    Microsoft has apologized. They just haven’t explained how a completely inappropriate, sometimes destructive, patch got slung out through Windows Update.

    Looks like Microsoft put the kibosh on the bad patches, so I’m moving us down to MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

    To disable Automatic Update in Win7 and 8.1, see AKB 1000004. To disable it in Win10, see AKB 1000005.

    If you ever needed a reason to avoid Windows Update, you just saw it in spades.

    Windows Patches/Security
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