Windows 10 KB4338819 bugs affect printers, VPN software, and more

Microsoft often releases security updates or patches for products on the second Tuesday of every month. Thus, since we are in July, the operating system maker launched Windows 10 Build 17134.165 with cumulative update KB4338819 on the tenth day. The stated upgrades were for users with devices running Windows 10 version 1803 (people who installed the April update).

The recent update does not contain any new feature we consider relevant enough for us to discuss. As it is a security update, there should be a good number of patches and bug fixes to reduce vulnerabilities and improve the stability of the Windows operating system.

We usually advise that users ensure that the System Restore utility on their devices is in an excellent working state before they even attempt downloading an update. Creation of a fresh restore point is also an excellent idea.

Our recommendation is in order when you consider potential problems affecting the Windows update that could come up on your PC. If you do the right thing and follow our advice, you will always have something to fall back to quickly.

Microsoft stated that it had released the latest Windows update with the official name being July 10, 2018—KB4338819 (OS Build 17134.165) to address the following issues:

• To provide improvements which would increase the abilities of the Universal CRT Ctype family of functions and finally help it handle EOF as a valid input correctly
• To make debugging operations involving the Webview content in UWP apps possible with help from the Microsoft Edge DevTools Preview app. In case you did not know already, this program is now available in the Microsoft store
• To fix a bug that could bring about the failure of the Mitigation Options Group Policy client-side extension when during GPO operations are ongoing. When such an event occurs, Windows usually returns an error message in these forms:

1. The most popular one: “Windows failed to apply the MitigationOptions settings. Mitigation Options settings might have its own log file”
2. You could also see something like this:  “ProcessGPOList: Extension MitigationOptions returned 0xea.”

The stated issue manifests when a manual operation has been carried out to define Migration options. Group Policy can also carry out the same action on a machine, using Windows Defender Security Center or the PowerShell Set-ProcessMitigation cmdlet.

• Evaluation of the Windows ecosystem or operating system environment to help ensure that applications and Windows updates are compatible with a device
• Security updates or bug patches to get rid of vulnerabilities in the following programs: Internet Explorer, Windows apps, Windows graphics, Windows datacenter networking, Windows wireless networking, Windows virtualization, Windows kernel, and Windows Server

Problems affecting the update

Now we will outline and examine a good number of issues or problems associated with the Windows 10 KB4338819 update:

1. Update failure:

Windows 10 update (KB433881) sometimes refuses to install for a significant group of users. The causes of this problem are far from visible. The failure could also occur in two different forms. Some users complained they had everything going smoothly, but all of a sudden, the update process got stuck. Others stated that the problem came up with a specific error code.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the event where the Windows update failed to install for you or in what form the problem appeared on your system, the fixes below are usually sufficient enough to get rid of the issue:

Reset the Windows update services and other components: The operations you are going to carry out here would force a reset of the Windows update components, and this action might be enough to get your system in order. Follow these instructions:

1. First, you must open an elevated Command Prompt window. It is usually one of the items on the power menu list. Right-click on the Windows Start icon always present on your desktop screen. You can also bring it up by pressing (and holding) the Windows button on your keyboard, then tapping the letter X key
2. Select Command Prompt (Admin) from the list of programs and options to launch it
3. After Windows launches the Command Prompt window, input the following lines of code (one at a time) and press the Enter key (each time):

• net stop bits
• net stop wuauserv
• net stop appidsvc
• net stop cryptsvc

If you do everything right (and barring the influence of external factors), Windows should terminate the following services: Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Windows Update service, and Cryptographic service.

Another thing you should do is force Windows to restart your network configurations or settings to ensure that they do not constitute a problem. Continue with the steps below

In the elevated Command Prompt window, type in these lines of code (one after the other) and press the Enter key (after you finish inputting each one of them):

• netsh winsock reset
• netsh winsock reset proxy

Now it is time you restarted those critical Windows services that you terminated earlier. Input the following lines of command (one after the other) and press the Enter key (at the end of each one)

• net start bits
• net start wuauserv
• net start appidsvc
• net start cryptsvc

Now you must exit all open windows and reboot your system. After your PC comes on and Windows settles down, try to download and install Windows updates and see what happens this time.

• Run the Windows update troubleshooter: This procedure is relatively easy and straightforward to carry out in comparison to the first one above. As we all know, there is a troubleshooter for almost every problem that could come up on the Windows operating system environment.

Microsoft has included these tools to help users diagnose and fix issues wherever possible. Nevertheless, here, the troubleshooting utility we want you to run is not one of those tools built into Windows. Microsoft specifically created this one for users to download and run if the need ever arises. Follow these instructions:

Open your web browser. After the program window comes, type in the following keywords in the address bar or text box present to perform a search for them on Google: Windows Update Troubleshooter tool for Windows 10

Click on the first item on the results page. We expect you to end up on a Microsoft support webpage. There, you will see this link: Download troubleshooter for Windows 10. Do the obvious (click on it)

Your browser should fetch you the file almost immediately. The download process should not take much time at all as the item involved is small in terms of size. Once your browser finishes downloading the file, go to the location on your drive where you saved the data (the folder for your downloads).

On Chrome, for example, you can arrive at the location in a File Explorer window by clicking on the Show in folder button. On other browsers, the procedure should be a bit similar.

Once you have located the saved item, right-click on it and select Run as administrator from the short of options that come up. Windows should open and run the tool now. The troubleshooter begins its work by checking to see if there are any problems with Windows update components and will move on to other operations in no time.

After the troubleshooter finishes its job, you might see a message stating that it has made some changes to your system. Windows will implore you to reattempt the task you struggled to complete earlier and see if things go well this time. You can always see details on the work the tool did by clicking on the View detailed information button.

There is always the chance that you could experience things differently though. In some rare cases, after the troubleshooter has carried out the necessary checks, it might ask users to perform a specific action or complete a task. Whatever happens, you must do as you are told to ensure the success of the procedure. Follow the instructions and let them guide you

At the end of it all, you must restart your PC to allow the changes made by the troubleshooter become effective. After your computer comes on, you should be able to download or install Windows updates without problems.

2. GPU drivers failing to work:

Windows updates broke a good number of graphics card drivers. Many gamers have been complaining bitterly about this on several online forums. Before you start troubleshooting problems not meant to be, you must ensure that your system is running or using the latest GPU drivers.

The vast majority of driver problems involve missing, corrupted or outdated driver software. The best way of resolving them requires you to upgrade the driver involved, and this operation is no easy task considering the number of procedures you will need to carry out to update a single driver.

In most cases, after you do the necessary research, you will end up having to update numerous drivers, so the manual way of getting the job done is incredibly frustrating and timewasting. We recommend that you download and run Auslogics Driver Updater to upgrade your GPU drivers (or even all the device drivers you have operating on your PC).

The stated app is an excellent one capable of scanning your PC to identify the problems with your drivers. You will see a report on the issues it detected. In the end, you will make use of the option (usually a button you can click on) to upgrade the drivers to their latest manufacturer-recommended versions quickly.

In simpler words, we can say that the recommended program will help you get the job done in the fastest, safest and the most efficient means possible. To be fair, most automatic methods are usually several levels above their manual counterparts in terms of the same or similar performance metrics and this one is no different.

Other problems associated with the new Windows updates include the following in fewer details:

3. Loss or disappearance of app tiles:

Many users reported that their app tiles had gone issing after they had installed the recent Windows updates. A good number of them had to reinstall the items involved to see them again.

4. Connection failures with printers:

The Windows update also broke the configurations or settings users employ to reach their printers. Printing operations became impossible.

5. VPN programs and related software no longer working:

It seems some changes that the new Windows updates bring affect programs users rely upon to protect their anonymity or privacy online like VPN apps. You might need to do some work on your VPN app to reverse the alterations, or you might end up having to contact the customer service for help if nothing works out for you.

6. Issues described by multiple error codes:

Select users saw an error code supposed to give them more information about the problem after Windows updates failed to work. Subsequently, those people suffer severe performance issues some of which have something to with their Office applications and similar programs. Windows recommends that users carry out repairs in the vast majority of cases we have seen.

In extreme scenarios, some users experience Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) when they try to connect external hardware devices (Xbox controllers, for example).