Issues with Microsoft’s February 2018 updates

[German]In February 2018 Microsoft released a series of updates for Windows, Office,. NET Framework etc. Some users have encountered issues with these updates. Below I'll summarize the update issues.

.NET Updates KB4073701, KB4074808, KB4074805

Within my blog post Microsoft Updates February 21/22, 2018 I've addressed several .NET Framework updates:

• Update KB4074808: Preview of Quality Rollups  for NET Framework 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2, 4.5.2, and 4.6 for Windows Server 2008 SP2
• Update KB4074805: Preview of of Quality Rollups for NET Framework 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, and 4.7.1 for Windows 7 SP1 and Server 2008 R2 SP1
• Update KB4073701: February 2018 .NET Framework Preview of Quality Rollup update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Das Update für Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.1, Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 und Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2.

All updates mentioned above are causing a cryptography error in System.Security.Cryptography.Xml.Reference.LoadXml. Microsoft has released kb article 4091227 for instance.  The only fix is to uninstall these updates. The update was withdrawn from Windows Update, WSUS and Microsoft Update Catalog on February 23, 2018.

Intuit confirms Quicken issues with update KB4074805

Intuit, the developer of Quicken, also confirms that updating KB4074805 is causing problems with the Quicken software. The Quicken packages crash at startup under Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Updates KB4074598/KB4056894 for Windows 7

At askwoody a user posted a comment, that update KB4074598 (Monthly Rollup for Windows 7 SP1) is causing a strange error pattern when returning from sleep mode. On a Windows 7 Desktop PC (AMD-CPU) no input from the mouse / keyboard and the monitors will be displayed, when returning from idle state. The user must shut down and restart the system using the power switch.

The problem was fixed after uninstalling the update. Woody Leonhard has summarized it all here and refers to Ben1907's post in the Microsoft Answers forum, which describes a similar problem with update KB4056894 (Spectre/Meltdown Patch) for AMD systems. According to this forum post at Askwoody there are further forum posts with hints about problems for the update KB4056894.

Update KB4074598 (Monthly Rollup for Windows 7 SP1) is causing another error, that Microsoft has added recently within the kb article. LSM.exe process is causing an SCARD_E_NO_SERVICE error due to a memory leak. This has been fixed with update KB4075211, released March 1, 2017

Security Updates for Windows 7/8.1

Within my German blog post Sicherheits-Updates für Windows 7/8.1 (13. Februar 2018) I've received some comments on various problems. Within this comment, blog reader js1 points out that some systems do not start after updating KB4074598 (Monthly Rollup) for Windows 7. Blog reader techee points out here that the updates breaks the scanners and therefore the patches are not rolled out.

Update KB4074588 (Windows 10 Version 1709)

Cumulative update KB4074588 causes some USB devices such as notebook cameras etc. to be unrecognized under Windows 10 version 1709. The keyboard and mouse will no longer work either. This behavior may occur if the Windows Update Servicing Stack incorrectly skips the installation of the newer version of some critical drivers in the cumulative update and uninstalls the currently active drivers during maintenance. Woody Leonhard has summarized it in this ComputerWorld article.

The update also seems to be responsible for problems with context menus and leads to an inaccessible boot device error with BlueScreen. This may have to do with the cumulative update KB4058258 dated January 31,2018, as noted in this ComputerWorld article. Microsoft also blames skipped drivers in the KB article. Susan Bradley has published this article about known problems at AskWoody. Have you noticed any other issues?