Win10 1607 has a new cumulative update, KB 4051033, bringing the build up to 14393.1914

There’s a long list of fixes, but but none for the “CDPUserSvc_XXXX has stopped working” error.

Microsoft releases Epson dot matrix fix for Win10 1703, KB 4051033, and teases at a fix for 1709, KB 4051963

Win10 1703 has a new, lengthy, cumulative update, November 22, 2017—KB4055254 (OS Build 15063.729), which mentions fixing the Epson dot matrix printer clobbering part of the Patch Tuesday update.

Addressed issue that impacted some Epson SIDM (Dot Matrix) and TM (POS) printers, which were failing to print on x86 and x64-based systems. This issue affects KB4048953.

Just love the way MS says “we goofed and here’s the fix.” (Note: I talked about that fix in Computerworld yesterday.)

There’s a spot reserved for a Win10 1709 cumulative update,  KB 4051963 (OS Build 16299.96), but there’s no KB article as yet. Likely that it’ll include a fix for the Epson printing bug.

Still no word on Epson printer fixes for Win10 1511 Enterprise, or for Win10 1507 LTSC.

Thanks to eagle-eyed Günter Born.

Delivering amazing features at a quick pace

Just saw this tweet from @tfwboredom.

Well put.

A real turkey of a Thanksgiving weekend: Disappearing patches KB 4049016 and 9999786, new patches 4055038, 405524, and how it’s all tied up in knots

Wotta weekend.

Aren’t you glad you haven’t tried to install any patches this month?

A quick summary of the weekend’s shenanigans. Computerworld Woody on Windows.

UPDATE: From MrBrian:

Updates 4049016, 4049017, 4049018, and 4049019 are back in the catalog, and they don’t need to be reinstalled according to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/894199/software-update-services-and-windows-server-update-services-changes-in.

Brinkmann: Win10 1709 group policy setting incorrectly blocking cumulative updates?

Martin Brinkmann has uncovered a very strange group policy behavior in Win10 Fall Creators Update, version 1709, and written about it on ghacks.

It looks like the setting “After a Preview Build or Feature Update is released, defer receiving it for this many days” may, in fact, defer cumulative updates (which Microsoft insists on calling “quality updates”).

Switching the value back to 0, or disabling the policy altogether (which has the same effect), has Windows 10 pick up the missing cumulative updates immediately according to the user who reported the issue on Microsoft’s Technet forum.

That Technet post includes detailed step-by-step instructions for recreating the behavior. It also includes a note that poster Klaasklever has “seen reports that this issue is also caused by setting to defer Feature Updates in the Windows Update Settings within the normal Windows Settings App.”

Looks like it’s yet another bug in 1709.

Microsoft yanks buggy November rollup KB 4049016 for .NET Framework on Win7 and Server 2008 R2

Günter Born notes:

I received a comment, claiming that Update KB4049016 is no longer available. I’ve searched Microsoft Update Catalog, and indeed, the update is gone. Also in Windows Update it isn’t offered anymore. The KB article still doesn’t mention that the update has been withdrawn.

And that’s exactly what I’m seeing. It’s no longer in Windows Update, no longer in the Update Catalog, and the KB article doesn’t mention a thing.

FWIW, the listing on the Windows Update site says this is a non-security update. It, too, has not been pulled, and there’s no notification that the patch itself has been pulled.

Two odd Win10 cumulative updates, KB 4055254 and KB 9999786, appear to tackle the dot matrix printing problem

On Tuesday, Microsoft released KB 4055038, a set of patches designed to fix the bug in this month’s Patch Tuesday security patches that took out Epson dot matrix printers.

One big problem, as I mentioned on Wednesday: KB 4055038 only fixed the bug introduced in

• Win 8.1 2017-11 Monthly Rollup – KB4048958
• Win 8.1 2017-11 Security-only update – KB4048961
• Win 7/Server 2008 R2 2017-11 Monthly Rollup – KB4048957
• Win 7/Server 2008 R2 2017-11 Security-only update – KB4048960
• Server 2012 2017-11 Monthly Rollup – KB4048959
• Server 2012 2017-11 Security-only update – KB4048962

Which left unfixed the Epson dot matrix printer bugs in

• Win10 1709 KB 4048955 Build 16299.64
• Win10 1703 KB 4048954 Build 15063.726
• Win10 1607 KB 4048953 Build 14393.1884
• Win10 1511 Enterprise and Education only KB 4048952 Build 10586.1232
• Win10 1507 LTSC only KB 4048956 Build 10240.17673

Now we’re seeing news on this forum, and elsewhere, that Microsoft has released at least two patches to fix Windows 10.

Win10 1709 KB 9999786  appeared on the Windows Update servers and in the Catalog (thx, @PerthMike), but a moderator on the Windows Server Technet site says:

KB9999786 was accidently published as a test package to WSUS/Catalog. This package has been removed from WSUS/Catalog. Customers who downloaded KB9999786 should delete/remove this package.

Win10 1703 KB 4055254 brings 1703 up to Build 15063.729 (Thx, @abbodi86). That one has a proper KB entry (click on the link), but it hasn’t yet been integrated into the usual Windows Support list.

I would guess that there are fixes floating around for 1607, 1511 Enterprise and 1507 LTSC, but given Microsoft’s propensity for releasing patches before documenting them, I wouldn’t install any of them.

Whotta mess.

Happy American Turkey day

Heaven knows we have a lot of turkeys.

The AskWoody site’s scheduled to go down shortly, and may be down for two days or so. I’ll continue to tweet (@woodyleonhard) but my response to email will get even worse, as if such a thing were possible.

If you haven’t yet seen today’s Google doodle, head over to google.com

For those of you with family and friends, celebrating a traditional Thanksgiving, hope you enjoy it! We just found a great Vietnamese restaurant…

Microsoft confirms that Win10 1703 users are being upgraded without warning to 1709

Sometime in the past few hours, Microsoft fessed up to the forced upgrade I talked about last week.

The problem that I described on Wednesday continues apace: People all over the world who had set Win10 Creators Update to wait for “Current Branch for Business” before moving on to the next version are getting sandbagged. Windows Update is apparently turning a blind eye to the “CBB” setting. But, as explained on Wednesday, it does honor the “feature update deferral” setting.

No doubt somebody at Microsoft thinks that the setting can be ignored, now that the “CBB” terminology has been replaced with “Semi-Annual Channel.” Except, of course, the CBB terminology persists in Microsoft’s own documentation. Dirty pool.

There’s a new wrinkle. I have an unconfirmed report from Henk van Elburgthat some folks with Win10 1607 set to wait for CBB are also getting upgraded to 1709. Without permission, of course.

Now there’s a notification in the description of this month’s Patch Tuesday cumulative update for Win10 1703. It now reads:

Known issues in this update

Windows Pro devices on the Current Branch for Business (CBB) will upgrade unexpectedly.

Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

At least they’re owning up to it. Now would somebody please tell me how in the blue blazes are they going to fix the problem? The 10 day grace period for rolling back upgrades almost over.

Automatic Update strikes again.

Many thanks to SB.

Microsoft releases KB 4055038, a dot matrix printer fix for bugs introduced last week

Last week I talked about a bug in all of this month’s Windows security patches that caused Epson dot matrix printer drivers to fail. The bug appeared in:

• Win10 1709 KB 4048955 Build 16299.64
• Win10 1703 KB 4048954 Build 15063.726
• Win10 1607 KB 4048953 Build 14393.1884
• Win10 1511 Enterprise and Education only KB 4048952 Build 10586.1232
• Win10 1507 LTSC only KB 4048956 Build 10240.17673
• Win 8.1 KB 4048958 2017-11 Monthly Rollup
• Win 7 KB 4048957 2017-11 Monthly Rollup

Microsoft didn’t acknowledge that the bug also appeared in the three Security-only manual updates, but I reported at the time that the bug apparently applied to those patches as well.

Sometime in the past few hours, Microsoft released a fix for the bug in their security patch. The fix, called KB 4055038,  only applies to Win 7/Server 2008 R2, 8.1 and Server 2012, but at least Microsoft confirmed that the bug does appear in the manual Security-only patch for all three products. Here’s Microsoft’s list of the patched products:

• Win 8.1 2017-11 Monthly Rollup – KB4048958
• Win 8.1 2017-11 Security-only update – KB4048961
• Win 7/Server 2008 R2 2017-11 Monthly Rollup – KB4048957
• Win 7/Server 2008 R2 2017-11 Security-only update – KB4048960
• Server 2012 2017-11 Monthly Rollup – KB4048959
• Server 2012 2017-11 Security-only update – KB4048962

The Monthly Rollups are coming down the Windows Update chute. For those of you manually installing Security-only patches,you’ll have to head over to the Microsoft Update Catalog.

US-CERT Warns of ASLR Implementation Flaw in Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team is warning of a vulnerability in Microsoft’s implementation of Address Space Layout Randomization that affects Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system.

Microsoft said it is investigating the matter.

Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) is championed as a system hardening technology used in most major desktops and mobile operating systems. ASLR is used to thwart memory-based code-execution attacks. iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux each use ASLR to keep systems safer.

Read the complete warning here.

Catalin Cimpanu on bleepingcomputer.com offers a further explanation of the vulnerability and a workaround until Microsoft provides the fix.

@MrBrian first brought this to our attention on Novemver 17, 2017.
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A new battery replacement policy for the Surface Book 2?

If the Answers Forum post from Microsoft represents a change in policy, the Surface line may no longer be disposable.

It’s like a Festivus Miracle!

Computerworld Woody on Windows

UPDATE: Sorry to disappoint. Microsoft pulled the response. Oh well. Back to disposable Surfaces….