Newsletter Archives

• February 2024 patches for Windows

  Posted on February 13, 2024 at 12:13 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Ready or not, here comes the February updates for Windows.

  Will we see a fix for our  KB5034441 for Windows 10 22H2 and in KB5034440 for Windows 11 woes? (so far, the answer is no)

  What we will see is “Highlights for Windows 11, versions 22H2 & 23H2 (cont.) •The Copilot in Windows icon will appear on the right side of the system tray on the taskbar. Also, the display of Show desktop at the rightmost corner of the taskbar will be off by default.”

  Ugh. And double Ugh.

  I’ll be adding more links to this post as I digest the info.

  And of course it’s a “dribbled” change

  • Note Windows 11 devices will get this new functionality at different times. Some of these new features roll out gradually using controlled feature rollout (CFR) to consumers.

  Remember if you get Copilot and don’t want it, we’ve got your back here and here.

  Grrrrrrrrrr and double grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

  Zero day blog on the updates released today.

  Exchange getting patched again today. SQL client fixes released in the OS patches so check those line of business database connections.  Not seeing any automated patch for the Windows RE issues. Office and specifically Outlook is getting fixed for a preview pane security issue.  Defender for endpoint getting fixes for zero day that led to malware being installed.

  Windows Security KB5034440, KB5034441, Patch Lady Posts, Windows Recovery Environment, WinRE, Zero Day

• KB5034441 has led us astray, in a horrible way

  Posted on January 22, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.04 • 2024-01-22

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  What’s with this Windows recovery partition thing?

  If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve been discussing the update associated with a BitLocker vulnerability (described in KB5034441) that may require a resizing of the Windows recovery partition to resolve.

  Microsoft’s handling of this problem has been so terrible that I was driven to raise the MS-DEFCON level to 1, just the fifth time I’ve considered it necessary.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.04.0, 2024-01-22).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Patch Watch CVE-2024-20666, Disk Management, KB5034441, KB5034957, MiniTool Partition Wizard, MS-DEFCON 1, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, REAgentC, Recovery Partition, Windows Recovery Environment, WinRE

• BitLocker-related update triggers install problems

  Posted on January 15, 2024 at 02:41 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  January starts off the year with a bang, in the form of an install problem that may affect some of your Windows 10 PCs.

  Fortunately, this problematic update is a separate security patch, not part of the normal cumulative Windows update nor of the .NET security updates.

  The problem occurs as the result of a recovery partition whose size is smaller than the patch requires. The size may have been set by the OEM. It may have been fine at the time of release, but the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) now needs more.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.03.0, 2024-01-15).

  Patch Watch CVE-2024-21305, CVE-2024-21325, KB5002500, KB5033920, KB5034123, KB5034441, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Surface, Windows Recovery Environment, WinRE

• MS-DEFCON 1: Partition size blocks update

  Posted on January 10, 2024 at 14:28 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.02.1 • 2024-01-10

  

  By Susan Bradley

  KB5034441 fails to install with error code 0x80070643.

  This failure is very unusual, so much so that I feel compelled to raise the MS-DEFCON level to 1. Do not install the update for KB5034441 unless you have BitLocker and are vulnerable to the risk of direct physical attack. If you have a system that doesn’t have the enough space in the recovery partition, the update will fail.

  I don’t want you to attempt to install it until you are confident it will have no effect on your system or until you have addressed the underlying problem.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.02.1, 2024-01-10).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, CVE-2024-20666, KB5028997, KB5034441, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 1, Patch Lady Posts, Recovery Partition, Windows Recovery Environment

• MS-DEFCON 4: Patching weather is clearing

  Posted on January 24, 2023 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.04.1 • 2023-01-24

  

  By Susan Bradley

  In general, the January updates have been well behaved.

  So far, I’m not seeing any trending issues with them; accordingly, I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4. But that’s not to say we haven’t seen some other issues related to other types of updates. In addition to describing those, I’ll discuss a vulnerability in a part of your computer you may never think about.

  Two issues recently impacted Start menus and shortcuts but were unrelated to one another.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (20.04.1, 2023-01-24).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Hardware drivers, macOS Ventura, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 4, Printer Drivers, Windows Recovery Environment

• Registry backups: Yea or nay?

  Posted on March 28, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Windows has had the ability to separately back up and restore its Registry — the essential internal database of software settings — since Windows 98. But do Registry backups still make sense in the era of Windows 10/11?

  Plus: A subscriber seeks clarification of the difference between a Windows Recovery Disk and the Windows Recovery Environment.

  And: A subscriber asks for help tracking down a long-forgotten family photo that was unexpectedly displayed by the Windows lock screen slideshow!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.13.0, 2022-03-28).

  LangaList LangaList, Newsletters, Photos, Windows Recovery Environment, Windows registry

• Getting out of a no-boot situation after installing Windows updates

  Posted on February 11, 2018 at 05:54 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  @MrBrian has posted a very important addition to the AskWoody Knowledge Base

  AKB 2000009: Getting out of a no-boot situation after installing Windows updates

  It’s a step-by-step, real world guide to using the Windows Recovery Environment. Might just save your tail one day.

  Other Windows Recovery Environment, Windows Update, WinRE, WRE