Fix for the System Service Exception of KB4490481
Microsoft released the second cumulative update KB4490481 for Windows 10 version 1809 on April 3, 2019 to address a large number of issues and make some changes to the system.
I ran into a brick wall each time I tried to install the update on a Windows 10 Pro machine. Windows Update would install the update just fine but would throw a blue screen error System Service Exception on the first boot of the system after update installation.
I had to use System Restore to restore the system state, other troubleshooting options, e.g. startup repair, did not work at that time.
Microsoft has not acknowledged the issue officially, it is not listed as a known issue on the support page of KB4490481.
Fixing System Service Exception
A user on the My Digital Life forum published a solution for the issue yesterday. The user suggested to remove certain entries in the Windows Registry to fix the issue and get KB4490481 to install on machines that threw bluescreens before.
Note: The process requires editing the Registry. More precisely, removing entries from the Registry. I suggest you back up the Registry, or at least the keys that you are about to delete, before you proceed. Creation of a System Restore point is also an option.
The process
- Tap on the Windows-key, type regedit.exe, and load the Registry Editor.
- Confirm the UAC prompt that Windows displays.
- Go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontLink\SystemLink
- Locate the following entries there and delete them with a right-click and selecting "delete" from the context menu:
- MS PGothic MC
- Segoe Media Center
- Segoe Media Center Light
- Segoe Media Center Semibold
Install the KB4490481 update again afterward. The update should go through this time without Windows 10 throwing a blue screen on the first full start of the system after update installation.
Closing Words
It is unclear why these entries would be the cause for a blue screen error after update installation. The four fonts appear to be linked to Media Center which Microsoft removed from Windows 10 (see our list of Media Center alternatives).
It feels strange that something as mundane as font entries in the Registry would cause the entire system to throw a bluescreen error.
Anyway, if you ran into the same System Service Exception error while installing KB4490481 you may want to try removing the entries in the Registry to see if it fixed the issue on your end.
I installed Windows 10 on an older laptop and desktop over a year ago. Guess I’m lucky, cuz I have yet to experience ‘any’ issues with upgrading/updating. I got a new 2nd laptop recently that runs flawlessly also. All three are running build 17763.404. Just sayin’.
@Deo et Patriae and LTL:
Who, other than a Windows support tech focused on job security, wants to have to do a clean install every six months in order to maintain a stable, reasonably up-to-date operating environment? Is this not a problem because savvy, modern users all have reasonably priced unmetered high-speed symmetrical broadband service and keep all of their apps, configuration settings, and data in Microsoft’s secure, private, trustworthy cloud? When I consider that my most serious reservation about Linux Mint and Kubuntu is that their releases have “only” a three-year lifespan, I can only shake my head.
This registry fix worked for me – thank you!
Running Windows Media Center 8.8.2 developed by windowsmediacenter.fr
on Windows 10 Home 1809 17763.404
Many thanks to Martin Brinkmann and “max1” at forums.mydigitallife.net
Interesting workaround. I have 10 Windows 10 machines and only one received the blue screen, and it’s the one I have Windows Media Center installed. Thanks for this workaround.
I am not sure about this fix. I do not have these fonts in my system, but I still get BSOD. Here is my story:
1. I ignorantly installed KB4490481. Then upon each restart I got BSOD – my Surface Pro 4 happened to drop on a carpet before restart so I even thought it was broken.
2. Without system restore, I had to reset my SP4.
3. After reset in fact KB4490481 was already installed but there was no more BSOD.
4. Then I tried to install a Chinese keyboard (IME). In the middle of installation it BSODed. Luckily when it restarted the installation was not successful so I could still use it without that IME.
5. Now I read this post and checked in my SP4, there is no these fonts.
6. The IME is here: http://cdn2.ime.sogou.com/0769cf1632c60c261555d338c82e7ca5/5cab6ef5/dl/index/1553820076/sogou_pinyin_93e.exe
7. The official support of this IME says KB4490481 has compatible issues with the IME, and the workaround is removing the KB. I removed the KB but I haven’t try the IME yet.
8. The point is, those 4 fonts are not the only cause, or the root cause of this BSOD.
This fix only work, if you have had Windows Media Center installed, before installing kb4490481 update. Latest cumulative update has some problems with MS fonts, that will cause these sort of problems. I think you should keep your keyboard language in english, until Microsoft team have fixed this recent problem.
I see a lot of trouble with 1809, but that is not my experience. However, it is my very first version of Windows 10 – a clean install of Win10 Pro 1809 build 17763.253 from December 2018.
It seems that upgrading from a previous version triggers problems, especially in an enterprise setting.
Furthermore, 1809 is the first version where MS decided to let it run through a longer (better?) check by Windows Insider users first, before employing it widely like it did with previous versions. So it should be better and more stable now than previous versions. (I said ‘should’.)
I’ve yet to find a single problem updating 1809. I’m lucky I guess and the fact I did a clean installation of 1809 when it came out, helped, undoubtedly.
I had a serious problem with memory leak, though. The browsers with 8-9 tabs open, after a while 4 plus GBs of memory was being used. The last 2 updates corrected the issue. Currently I have 11 tabs open and only 700MB is being used. And I was wondering what the heck was going on. Could’t tell if it was indeed memory leak or simply browsers started using a lot of memory for convenient reasons.
I read it and it only confirms that windows 10 is a complete disaster.
How can it be that Mr. Fortin, say with all the impudence that in front of bugs and errors Microsoft will invest in more artificial AI, when precisely it is the biggest source of errors and drift.
Substitute a division of programmers for machines that rely on the collection of personal data and as a result create an immense database and give pretend invented situations or improbable innovations whose result is the fearsome KB.
The control of the updates, is to be seen for everything that they drag from behind, I doubt that they really reverse the situation.
If starting with fortin and nadella they do not recognize their error, and they limit enormously the power of the management of bugs by the tools of AI, and return to put in their place the programmers who dismissed years ago, it will be impossible to control the disaster that is Windows 10
Get a reliable alternative, linux with internet and privacy without data collection and it is not unreasonable for only that software that you use without internet and blocked a w7.
Windows 10 will not change is an ungovernable mastodon to continuous critical failures, do not sacrifice your faith in a system assisted by the AI ​​in the creation of bugs made by them
Your response to get linux is based on the assumption people computer needs similar to yours. Many of us have little alternative other than to use Windows (I program with a lot of calls to Microsoft dll files). My new laptop came with 1809 pre-installed.
Because of the flexibility it offers, Windows is incredibly complex. That is the reason for bugs. This topic is an example of that complexity. WMC was redacted in Windows 10. Some Windows users installed it via a hacked method. No longer offering WMC, Microsoft did not check whether their update broke it. users in the release channel probably did not have WMC installed. The update hits the very complex real world and fall over due to a WMC font issue.
Martin:
Hi there!
I think this: to use W10 version 1809 nowadays makes you a kamikaze. But, to also [try to] update W10 version 1809… makes you a sado. 🤠Seriously, do you really need more troubles of version 1809? We’re still talking of 1809, right? Well, I think it’s the worst Windows release EVER.
Microsoft should give you a diploma for danger loving user. 😉