Last month, Microsoft officially rolled out the Windows 10 May 2020 Update via Windows Update. Nevertheless, the update was seeded to a limited number of users as the company blocked it on a vast number of devices due to the numerous known issues. While Microsoft has maintained a known issues page for version 2004, the company missed out on multiple issues. Now, Google Chrome users are reporting problems after installing the Windows 10 May 2020 Update.
First spotted by Windows Latest, Windows 10 May 2020 Update is conflicting with Google Chrome"s authentication or sign-in feature. The sign-in feature allow users to access their accounts without signing in every time they open Google Chrome. However, multiple users are reporting issues with the sign-in feature, forcing them to sign in to all their accounts every time they restart their computer. One user noted:
When I restart my computer, I’m not signed into my Google account when I start Chrome. All my website passwords are also forgotten. I also get the welcome page for one of my extensions (Adobe Acrobat extension for Google Chrome). This doesn’t happen when I restart just Chrome, but Windows + Chrome restart.
Furthermore, it looks like the version 2004 update is affecting all apps that rely on cookies or user credentials to work. A Reddit user has complained about getting signed out of apps like OneDrive, Mail and Battle.net after restarting the computer.
Upon checking the Feedback Hub, we found some complaints from users dating back to early 2020. It looks like Microsoft did not take the feedback from Windows Insiders into consideration and pushed the Windows 10 May 2020 Update without fixing the issue.
Just yesterday, we reported that Windows Insiders complained to Microsoft about the broken Fresh start feature last year but it was not fixed in the final update. It seems like Microsoft has been receiving feedback about issues related to the version 2004 update but the company did not take any action.
Microsoft has maintained a known issues page but the company has not added multiple issues like this one that have been reported by the users. Currently, ThinkPad laptop and Intel Optane users have reported issues after installing May 2020 Update. Microsoft has also blocked the Windows 10 May 2020 Update for users with Memory Integrity enabled. Meanwhile, Lenovo is currently working on fixing the ThinkPad issues and Intel has posted a support article to help users troubleshoot Optane memory issues. Windows 10 users have also reported issues with Cortana but it can be fixed with a simple workaround.
If you have not yet received the Windows 10 May 2020 Update and want to avoid installing it for now, you can follow the steps below to defer the update:
- Open Start Menu and navigate to Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update > Advanced options
- Under "Choose when updates are installed" select the number of days you would like to defer a feature update.
Microsoft currently allows Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 10 Education, and Windows 10 S users to defer feature updates. Do note that deferring feature updates will not stop Windows from downloading and installing security updates.
Update: It looks like Google has been aware of the problem since April and is working on a fix. In the meantime, Google"s Tavis Ormandy has offered the following workaround:
- Please verify this is only affecting Windows 10 2004? If you don"t know, press Win+R and type "winver", and report the version number.
- If you look in Event Viewer, under Windows Logs > Applications and Services > Microsoft > Windows > Crypto-DPAPI > Operational, do you see any errors?
- If the answer is yes, try this:
- Close all Chrome Windows
- Lock (Press Win+L) your Workstation
- Unlock, then start Chrome, does it work then?
I think locking flushes the dpapisrv master key cache, so if that workaround works that narrows down the problem.
Google and Microsoft are currently working on a fix but it is hard to say when the fix will be available. In the meantime, you can follow the aforementioned steps to fix the problem.