Report: still printing issues after installation of out-of-bands patch for Windows 10
Reports suggest that some of the printing issues that users experienced on Windows 10 devices after installation of the March 2021 cumulative security updates are not resolved after all.
Here is a quick recount to bring you up to speed. Microsoft released the March 2021 Patch Tuesday updates on March 9, 2021 to the public. Reports of printing issues appeared on various sites shortly thereafter. Users stated that printing actions would result in a bluescreen on affected devices.
Microsoft released an out-of-band patch on March 16, 2021. The patch was designed to address the issue, and it appeared that it did just that at first.
Reports are coming in now that the out-of-band patch may not have resolved the issue on all affected devices, and that other printing issues are experienced by some users after patch installation.
Günter Born published an article on his site in which he sums up the issues that users may experience on devices after the installation of the patch.
According to him, bluescreens may still be experienced on some devices after installation of the patch. One administrator managed to resolve the issue by uninstalling the out-of-band update before installing it again.
Others reported to Born that they experienced issues when printing images after the installation of the patch. Some users noted that no images were printed, others that parts of the printout were missing.
Other image related issues have been reported, e.g. that Office documents with images embedded in them cannot be printed out fully anymore after patch installation.
Born suggests that the issues may be caused by a bug in GDI, the Graphics Device Interface.
The order in which updates are installed may be of importance. If the out-of-band patch was installed before the security updates of March, it is possible that this is causing the issue. At least one commenter suggested that the direct installation of the out-of-band patch was causing printing issues, while nothing of the sort was experienced when the cumulative update was installed prior to the installation of the out-of-band patch.
Administrators should make sure that they install the patches in the right order to avoid any issues that could be caused by the wrong patch order.
Microsoft has not released information regarding the reports yet.
Now You: did the out-of-band patch resolve the issue on your end?
They need to stop making useless changes to Windows 10. Who the hell asked for less dense File explorer? Everyone working at MS is blind?
So because YOU didn’t ask for it, that makes it useless and everyone at MS blind. Okay, got it. Message received loud and clear that you’re a curmudgeon with an oversized ego and equally undersized brain.
Man i dont like this new changes on this site! Its getting worser and worser like I already dont like its Mobile Version so I always change it to Desktop and now the Desktop Version is getting the ugly treatment.
new ghacks is realy sucks.
Time to patch the patch … just like they do with our roads here once the snow is gone and a week later when the frost goes.
‘…bluescreens may still be experienced on some devices after installation of the patch’
Thanks Martin.
Taking into account how many problems Microsoft regularly has with their update process, and what may be an over-reliance on simulated testing, let me ask a difficult question: How many of these updates have actually been tested by human users on a variety of system configurations?
Since humans are the actual end-users of most of the software Microsoft puts out, it would make logical sense to have human testing be one of the deciding factors in whether or not to issue an update. I am not faulting simulated testing. But when human testing is used as an augmentive to the simulated testing, the end result is a better product.
Perhaps CEO Nadella and his push for “Software As A Service” has forgotten about the human aspect?
@Debby Hanoka,
> How many of these updates have actually been tested by humans on a variety of system configurations?
As far as I can tell, “humans don’t exist. There are 0 people.”
Microsoft has restructured (abolished) “QA (Quality Assurance) teams” that cost a lot of money (property and labor costs for, various testing equipment, number of persons, work efficiency, securing the work environment, etc.) in all product and project departments, replaced with “AI”.
“AI” manages products (such as finding bugs) in a virtual environment. For this reason, there is a discrepancy between the actual situation used by the end user and the virtual simulation, and the problem cannot be found until the product (including KB) is actually released.
Therefore, instead of reorganizing that “QA team”, Microsoft is promoting “early detection of issues such as bugs” by making all user’s beta users.
In other words, “bug is fate” in Microsoft products.
https://www.ghacks.net/2021/03/13/microsoft-adopts-new-chromium-4-week-release-cycle/#comment-4488894
In any case, Microsoft and Google are thoroughly implementing “profit first†from the perspective of shareholder measures, and are aggressively moving “from people to AI” in order to reduce costs.
This management strategy (company’s lifeline is the explicit value of the corporate value in the “Shareholder Countermeasuresâ€) convinced, so they don’t care at all what anyone says about them.
Supplementary information:
Windows is now the dominant computer operating system. Therefore, for corporate users who place importance on stability, there are specifications such as “no additional bloatware, no new features added by updates, and a high degree of freedom in personalization through group policy settings”. The “HOME” version, which is commonly used for home user applications, is a “low-priced product” that has been mass-produced, so users have a limited degree of freedom in personalization, and it is difficult to avoid becoming a beta user.
Lifecycle FAQ: Windows 10 – Microsoft Lifecycle | Microsoft Docs
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/windows#windows-10
Windows 10 | Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10
By the way, the equipment I for business use is “Windows 10 Enterprise”, and the update management is managed by “the company’s own system management department”, so there is free from such problems.
“Windows is now the dominant computer operating system.”
What do you mean by “now”? Did you just wake up to this reality?
@Anonymous,
> What do you mean by “now�
Maybe some people are like you, let’s supplement:
“Now†is Operating System Market Realities.
What exactly do you think the Insider programme is, if not “human testing” by end users on their diverse systems? However the simple fact is that Windows runs on such a mind-boggling number of unique hardware setups that it is simply impossible to test every single patch/update on every single environment in existence. Let’s not even get started on the gazillion ways people customize and tweak their systems (including in unsupported ways), install all sorts of software, drivers etc. to create a unique software environment on top of the unique hardware environment, and so forth. Quite frankly, the fact that only a small percentage of users is affected most of the time is a veritable miracle! Of course, given Windows’ dominance and the sheer usage numbers, even a small percentage can amount to millions of users, so MS needs to be on its toes and do its level best to keep update-related problems and disruptions in check (and respond as quickly as possible whenever they occur).
P.S. Speaking of problematic updates, it’s Apple that ought to be ashamed far more of its buggy OS X and iOS releases, given the fact that it has absolute control over the OS and the underlying hardware, and in the case of iOS the avenue for obtaining all third-party software too.
1. Not many people print anymore so, does it affect you?
2. they have Insider’s program and preview of monthly updates, only because people usually join programs and stuff and never report any bugs, expecting others to do it, while just joining to get “new features” or “see what’s new” it is not Microsoft’s fault. It’s not like not rocket science, all beta or preview programs have a bunch of people who rarely report bugs, break NDA and stuff like that, happens in any software or videogame preview program I have joined in my life.
Sometimes some people think that only because they reported it once, it is enough, and they never report it again, when maybe it got missed it. Bumping threads is not a crime, even if some people complain about it.
Some people really think the developers will notice it when they probably don’t even test these stuff, like printing.
I really don’t understand people like you, what do you want Microsoft to do? like I said, they already have ‘preview’ labeled programs to get feedback and people don’t do it right. I mean, when was the last time you printed? now imagine how many people joined the program that will print anything at all? This sounds like a whatever bug, because only few people will be affected, so complaining about a feature not working right when it is just a tiny fraction using it is just silly.
They use free human beta testers … Windows 10 Home edition.
New Ghacks desing is confusing to browse, I prefer older one. Sorry for my opinion. :[
No point in apologizin’ for your opinion, ‘specially when you’re right.
bookmark this
https://www.ghacks.net/?s
Thank you; the previous layout was much better.
Thanks :-)
@Tom, @Yuliya thank you both! :]
Thanks for the link. Makes it much easier to see all of the days posts.
Yes, the older one was better.
https://www.ghacks.net/?s=