Update woes that never end: Microsoft halts Patch of a Patch of a Patch rollout to fix printing issues
March 2021 has not been a particularly good month for some users of Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system. The company released the cumulative updates for March that fixed security issues on all supported versions of Windows. Shortly thereafter, reports emerged that printing would cause bluescreens on some devices. Users would get "APC_INDEX_MISMATCH for win32kfull.sys" bluescreen messages as printing caused Windows to crash.
Microsoft released a workaround, and then a first emergency out-of-band patch to address the issue. While the patch did do away with the bluescreen errors, users started to report other printing related issues such as incomplete printouts or blank sheet printouts, especially when printing content with graphics.
To address this issue, Microsoft released yet another patch. The update was released as an optional update via Windows Update and as a direct download on the Microsoft Update Catalog website. The update did replace the previously released emergency update.
Administrators who installed the new update reported that it did resolve the issues on their ends, but many could not install it but received the error message "We couldn't install this update , but you can try again (0x80070541)" instead when trying to do so.
Microsoft appears to have paused the rollout of the new update via Windows Update. The previous update is offered again (the one that introduces printing issues), and the new update is no longer available. Our colleagues over at Bleeping Computer and Born City came to the same conclusion.
The latest update is still listed on the Microsoft Update Catalog website as a direct download, e.g. KB5001649 for Windows 10 version 2004, 20H2 and Windows Server 2004 and 20H2.
Installation of the update will fail on affected systems, however, but it installs fine on others. A quick test on two Windows 10 version 20H2 systems resulted in the successful installation of the update on these machines.
Microsoft has not acknowledged the pulling of the new update yet; the support articles don't mention the fact, and that adds a high level of uncertainty to the whole ordeal. The most likely explanation is, that Microsoft did pause the rollout of the update to analyze the installation issues that users reported to the company. It seems likely that the issue will be addressed and that an updated version of the update will be released again via Windows Update to, once again, replace the previously released first update.
Günter Born published a handy overview of the patches that Microsoft released for Windows 10:
| Windows 10 Version | 9. March 2021 | 15. March 2021 | 18. March 2021 |
| 2004/20H2 | KB5000802 | KB5001567 | KB5001649 |
| 1909 | KB5000808 | KB5001566 | KB5001648 |
| 1809 | KB5000822 | KB5001568 | KB5001638 |
| 1803 | KB5000809 | KB5001565 | KB5001634 |
| 1703 | KB5000812 | ||
| 1607 | KB5000803 | KB5001633 | |
| 1507 | KB5000807 | KB5001631 |
The patches released on March 9 are the cumulative updates. The patches on March 15 and 18 are attempts to address the printing related issues that occurred after the installation of the cumulative updates.
Now You: did you experience printing related issues after the installation of the March 2021 updates?
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help