Microsoft Addresses Windows Restart Issues

Some Windows users have reported restart issues installing the February security updates for their operating system. A recent blog post at the Microsoft Security Response Center suggests that the problems occurred for the users after installing the patch MS10-015.

Jerry Bryant, the Senior Security Communications Manager, states that Microsoft has not yet ” confirmed that the issue is specific to MS10-015″ as it could also be an “interoperability problem with another component or third-party software”.

Microsoft has pulled the security update from Windows Update after being notified about the restart issue. The company has created a workaround fix in form of a Fix It solution that should be applied by users who do have not yet installed the update

Users are encouraged to install the Fix It solution to protect their operating system from the security vulnerability.

As you may recall from previous blog posts, MS10-015 is an Elevation of Privilege that would require the attacker to have valid credentials in order to be able to leverage the vulnerability in an attack. Several other updates in this release were identified as having a high priority for deployment and we continue to encourage customers to thoroughly test the updates and deploy them immediately. At this time, we are not aware of any issues with the other updates that were released this month and we continue to encourage customers to install them as soon as possible in order to help ensure that they protected from the vulnerabilities they address.

Users who are experiencing the restart issue are asked to contact Microsoft support either by web or by phone. The contact information are provided in the blog post at the MSRC blog.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday February 12, 2010 -
Tags:microsoft update, Windows, windows restart, windows security, windows-update

Responses so far:

1. kalmly says:

   February 12, 2010 at 5:31 pm

   More like a dead computer issue than a restart issue – for XP users. In fact, I didn’t know it had affected the other Oses as well. Oh, I see, MS is calling it a restart issue because nothing happens until you try to reboot your computer. Of course, nothing happens then either, except blue screen. Once again I am glad for my decision to turn off automatic updates and install manually only after waiting several days to see what happens to folks more trusting than I.

   Thanks for the information in your blog.

   Reply
2. Bruno ReX says:

   February 16, 2010 at 7:23 pm

   I got a blue screen (and couldn’t boot in any way) in XP after updating and restarting my computer about a month ago. It was good in a way, I finally installed Windows 7.

   Reply