Microsoft has confirmed that the April 2024 Windows updates cause Serious failures in virtual private network connections (VPN). The error affects the client and server platforms and joins many other previous failures.
According to Explain the company in the Windows status panel, “Windows devices may face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update or the non-security preview update of the same date”. The list of affected versions and build numbers are as follows:
- Clients: Windows 11 22H2/23H2 (KB5036893); Windows 11 21H2 (KB5036894) and Windows 10 (KB5036892).
- Servers: Windows Server 2022 (KB5036909); Windows Server 2019 (KB5036896); Windows Server 2016 (KB5036899); Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB5036960); Windows Server 2012 (KB5036969); Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB5036967) and Windows Server 2008 (KB5036932).
Microsoft says it is investigating user reports and will provide more information in the coming days. There are no known mitigations to these failures except uninstall own updatesusing the command line option DISM/Remove-Package with the LCU package name as an argument. You can find the package name using this command DISM /online /get-packages, says Microsoft.
Windows Updates: High Risk Exercise
Every time Windows has to be updated, most of us start to tremble. And many of us delay the process as long as we can. Errors do not affect all users and machines equally, and Microsoft must be recognized for its efforts to improve and limit errors since it hit rock bottom in 2018 with the terrible versions of Windows 10. But an error-free delivery seems like an impossible mission in the face of the gigantic Windows hardware and software ecosystem.
The failures repeat uncontrollably and randomly and delay Windows updates until complete stability is verified It is still a mandatory technique for professional users or users who use their equipment for production tasks or students who cannot afford to do without their equipment.
The problem with the VPN failures (which were already repeated in Windows 11 a year ago) that concerns us in this entry is that they are also reproduced when installing the monthly security patches, so eliminating the cumulative updates eliminates the fixes for the security vulnerabilities patched.
At least, it is a timely solution for using VPNs, the network technology that allows you to safely extend a local network over a public network such as the Internet and which is widely used by both companies and consumers. Let’s hope that Microsoft can fix these bugs as soon as possible. With Windows you know, patience…
