[UPDATE] Microsoft Provides Out-of-Band Updates for Broken Windows Server Patch Tuesday Builds

[UPDATE 21.01.22 – 13:50 CET] Microsoft’s out-of-band updates have fixed a number of issues faced by Windows Server users. The company also released an update for KB5009557 for Windows Server 2019. However, users report that ReFS issues persist even after this fix.

At this time, the only way to avoid ReFS issues is to uninstall the original Patch Tuesday patch (KB5010791) and its out-of-band version KB5009557.

[18.01.22 – 16:20 CET]

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Over the past few days, we’ve mapped out Microsoft’s Windows Server updates starting with Patch Tuesday January 2022. From Microsoft releasing the updates last Tuesday to then pulling them from certain channels before reverting them on Friday. Despite all this, users are still facing issues on Windows Server caused by Patch Tuesday updates.

In response, Microsoft is releasing an out-of-band update for Windows Server to hopefully put an end to the issues for good. Before we get to this out-of-band release, it’s worth looking back over the events of the past week:

tuesday january 12: Microsoft is releasing the January patch on Tuesday with 97 fixes in total, including for Windows Server.

Tuesday Friday: Users are starting to report issues with Windows Server after installing Patch Tuesday updates. Specifically, bugs causing domain controllers to reboot, ReFS to disappear, and functionality issues in Hyper-V.

friday january 14: Microsoft apparently pulls Windows Server updates from the Patch Tuesday package. However, it appeared that the updates remained on the catalog but were removed from Windows Update. It is not clear if this was a mistake.

Later on January 14 – as we reported yesterday – Microsoft rolled back Windows Server updates and also confirmed that they are investigating issues caused by the update.

Out-of-band version

It looks like Microsoft’s investigation is over and the company is now releasing an out-of-band version. This is an update that the company is releasing outside of its normal release schedule. Out of band updates are rare and usually indicate a problem that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.

Although the original updates are available, they now come with a warning and Microsoft is directing users to update out of band:

“Out of band update to fix issues after installing Windows January Update

Microsoft is releasing out-of-band (OOB) updates today, January 17, 2022, for certain versions of Windows.

This update resolves issues with VPN connectivity, restarting Windows Server domain controllers, virtual machine startup failures, and ReFS-formatted removable media failure to mount. All updates are available on the Microsoft Update Catalog, and some are also available on Windows Update as an optional update. Check the release notes for your version of Windows for more information.

Windows 11 gets KB5010795 to fix issues with VPN connections. Windows 10 21H2 has KB5010793 to deal with unwanted VPN connections and reboots on Windows Server domains. Windows 10 version 21H1, receives KB5010793 with same solutions

On Windows Server 2022, there is KB5010796 which addresses issues with Azure Active Directory, restarting servers, VPN connections, and issues related to Resilient File System formats.

Although out-of-band updates are rolling out, they may not cover all versions of Windows Server. Our readers, including Andrea, have confirmed (as of January 18) that there are still issues with KB5009557 for Windows Server 2019 and there is no out of band update available yet. We will update accordingly if an out of band update is released for KB5009557.

Other updates

Microsoft always offers optional updates for Windows versions on the Windows Update page:

• Windows 11, version 21H1 (original release): KB5010795
• Windows Server 2022: KB5010796
• Windows 10, version 21H2: KB5010793
• Windows 10, version 21H1: KB5010793
• Windows 10, version 20H2, Windows Server, version 20H2: KB5010793
• Windows 10, version 20H1, Windows Server, version 20H1: KB5010793
• Windows 10, version 1909, Windows Server, version 1909: KB5010792
• Windows 10, version 1607, Windows Server 2016: KB5010790
• Windows 10, version 1507: KB5010789
• Windows 7 SP1: KB5010798
• Windows Server 2008 SP2: KB5010799

On the Microsoft Update catalog, the following two updates are available:

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