Ready for Thanksgiving updates?

Here we go again with the monthly updates for Windows.

Just a reminder that end of life for Server 2012 and 2012r2 is hitting. You can opt for 0Patch, or plan on upgrading and migration.  See resources at this page.

It’s the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which means I always decide if I’m going to do updates early DURING the holiday window if I don’t need my computer or AFTER the holiday if I do need my computer for online shopping.

Highlights for Windows 11, version 23H2 & 22H2:
– Adds a preview of centralized AI assistance, called Copilot in Windows
– Gives a richer preview when you hover over files under Recommended on the Start menu
– Adds an enhanced volume mixer to Quick Settings

I will be deciding later what to do, but in the meantime, Microsoft is already releasing some “known issues” that they indicate will be fixed in this week’s releases:

I’ll be adding more links and also updating the Master Patch listing by tonight.

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The October 2023 security update might fail to install
Status
Resolved

Affected platforms
Client VersionsMessage IDOriginating KBResolved KB
Windows 10, version 21H2 WI681181 KB5031356 –

Microsoft has received reports of an issue where Windows updates released October 10, 2023 (the Originating KBs listed above) fail to install. Devices might initially display progress, but then fail to complete installation.

Based on our reports, some of the most common errors being encountered is Error 8007000D (ERROR_INVALID_DATA). This error can be found from the Windows Update view under System settings, by selecting Update History.

For additional guidance on quality update install errors, see Troubleshoot problems updating Windows.

Resolution: This issue was resolved in updates released November 14, 2023 (the Resolved KBs listed above) and later. We recommend you install the latest security update for your device. It contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one. If you install an update released November 14, 2023 or later, you do not need to use a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) or a special Group Policy to resolve this issue.

If necessary, the following manual steps can be used to speed up the recovery:
Run command Prompt as Administrator. To do this, you can open the Start menu and type ‘cmd’. From the right-side panel of the search results, select the option ‘Run as administrator’In the window that opens, type the following to execute a restore command: Dism /online /cleanup-image /RestoreHealthWait for it to complete successfully, then close the windows. You can now search for updates again from the Windows Updates from the Settings view.

The Windows Updates settings view can always be found by opening the Start menu and typing ‘Windows Updates’. Then select ‘Check for updates’ from the search results.

If you are using an update released before November 14, 2023 (the Resolved KBs listed above), and have this issue, you can resolve it by installing and configuring the special Group Policy listed below. The special Group Policy can be found in Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> <Group Policy name listed below>. For information on deploying and configuring these special Group Policy, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback.

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Windows Server 2022 VMs running on VMware ESXi hosts might fail to start
Status
Resolved

Affected platforms
Server VersionsMessage IDOriginating KBResolved KB
Windows Server 2022 WI688460 KB5031364 KB5032198

After installing the Originating KBs listed above on virtual machines (VMs) running on VMware ESXi hosts, Windows 2022 might fail to start up. Affected VMs will receive an error with a blue screen and Stop code : PNP DETECTED FATAL ERROR. This issue only affects guest VMs with the following configuration on VMware ESXi hosts only:
AMD Epyc physical processor”Expose IOMMU to guest OS” enabled in VMware settings for the VM.“Enable Virtualization Based Security” enabled in Windows Server 2022.”System Guard Secure Launch” enabled in Windows Server 2022.

Workaround: To mitigate this issue, you can disable “Expose IOMMU to guest OS”. Important: This workaround should only be used in environments which do not require “Expose IOMMU to guest OS” to be enabled.

Resolution: This issue was resolved in the Resolved KBs listed above.