Today is Patch Tuesday, the day that everyone gets to patch their PC. Microsoft is releasing new cumulative updates for al supported versions of Windows 10. For consumers, that includes versions 1903 and above. For businesses, there are different levels of support, but the only completely out-of-date versions of the OS are 1709 and 1511.
Also, notably, today marks the end of life for Windows 10 version 1903, and that applies to all SKUs of Windows 10. It will get its last update today, but you should really think about upgrading to something newer.
If you"re on version 20H2 or 2004, you"re going to get KB4592438, bringing the build number to 19042.685 or 19041.685, respectively. You can manually download it here, and these are the highlights:
- Updates to improve security when using Microsoft Edge Legacy.
- Updates to improve security when using Microsoft Office products.
Here"s the full list of fixes:
- Addresses a security vulnerability by preventing applications that run as a SYSTEM account from printing to "FILE:" ports. To address this issue in the future, make sure your applications or services run as a specific user or service account.
- Security updates to Microsoft Edge Legacy, the Microsoft Graphics Component, Windows Media, Windows Fundamentals, and Windows Virtualization.
There are also two known issues:
| Symptom | Workaround |
|---|---|
| System and user certificates might be lost when updating a device from Windows 10, version 1809 or later to a later version of Windows 10. Devices will only be impacted if they have already installed any Latest cumulative update (LCU) released September 16, 2020 or later and then proceed to update to a later version of Windows 10 from media or an installation source which does not have an LCU released October 13, 2020 or later integrated. This primarily happens when managed devices are updated using outdated bundles or media through an update management tool such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager. This might also happen when using outdated physical media or ISO images that do not have the latest updates integrated. Note Devices using Windows Update for Business or that connect directly to Windows Update are not impacted. Any device connecting to Windows Update should always receive the latest versions of the feature update, including the latest LCU, without any extra steps. | If you have already encountered this issue on your device, you can mitigate it within the uninstall window by going back to your previous version of Windows using the instructions here. The uninstall window might be 10 or 30 days depending on the configuration of your environment and the version you’re updating to. You will then need to update to the later version of Windows 10 after the issue is resolved in your environment. Note Within the uninstall window, you can increase the number of days you have to go back to your previous version of Windows 10 by using the DISM command /Set-OSUninstallWindow. You must make this change before the default uninstall window has lapsed. For more information, see DISM operating system uninstall command-line options. We are working on a resolution and will provide updated bundles and refreshed media in the coming weeks. |
| When using the Microsoft Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) to enter Kanji characters in an app that automatically allows the input of Furigana characters, you might not get the correct Furigana characters. You might need to enter the Furigana characters manually. Note The affected apps are using the ImmGetCompositionString() function. | We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. |
If you"re on version 1909 or 1903, you"ll get KB4592449, bringing the build number to 18363.1256 or 18362.1256. You can manually download it here, and it actually has the exact same changelog as the update for versions 2004 and 20H2. There"s only one known issue though:
| Symptom | Workaround |
|---|---|
| System and user certificates might be lost when updating a device from Windows 10, version 1809 or later to a later version of Windows 10. Devices will only be impacted if they have already installed any Latest cumulative update (LCU) released September 16, 2020 or later and then proceed to update to a later version of Windows 10 from media or an installation source which does not have an LCU released October 13, 2020 or later integrated. This primarily happens when managed devices are updated using outdated bundles or media through an update management tool such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager. This might also happen when using outdated physical media or ISO images that do not have the latest updates integrated. Note Devices using Windows Update for Business or that connect directly to Windows Update are not impacted. Any device connecting to Windows Update should always receive the latest versions of the feature update, including the latest LCU, without any extra steps. | If you have already encountered this issue on your device, you can mitigate it within the uninstall window by going back to your previous version of Windows using the instructions here. The uninstall window might be 10 or 30 days depending on the configuration of your environment and the version you’re updating to. You will then need to update to the later version of Windows 10 after the issue is resolved in your environment. Note Within the uninstall window, you can increase the number of days you have to go back to your previous version of Windows 10 by using the DISM command /Set-OSUninstallWindow. You must make this change before the default uninstall window has lapsed. For more information, see DISM operating system uninstall command-line options. We are working on a resolution and will provide updated bundles and refreshed media in the coming weeks. |
Here are the rest of the updates, which consumers are not eligible for:
| Version | KB | Build | Download | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1809 | 17763.1637 | Update Catalog | Enterprise and Education SKUs | |
| 1803 | 17134.1902 | Update Catalog | ||
| 1703 | 15063.2584 | Update Catalog | Surface Hub only | |
| 1607 | 14393.4104 | Update Catalog | Long-Term Servicing Branch | |
| 1507 | 10240.18782 | Update Catalog |
As always, Patch Tuesday updates are mandatory. That means that if you don"t go and install them now, they"ll install automatically at some point.