[German]The updates Microsoft released on January 8, 2019, are causing major issues with Windows and other applications. Here's a summary of what I've seen over the last few days.
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The issue with the lost Windows 7 KMS activation was not a patchday problem by the way. It was caused by changes to the KMS activation scheme in connection with another installed update (see Microsoft explains the Windows 7 KMS activation issue).
I can't judge it – but on German site heise.de I found this comment. There, a user complains that the eLicense client "eLicenser Control Center" from Steinberg suddenly no longer displays license keys on a Windows 7 computer.
Windows 7 network share issues
The two security updates KB4480970/KB4480960 for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 prevented users from accessing network shares. I had discussed this within my blog post Network issues with updates KB4480970 and KB4480960.
This post were called up more than 20,000 times within a few hours. This issue is a clear sign, that many user accounts on the share server machines running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 are in the group of administrator accounts.
This even affected normal users who use a all-in-one devices with scan feature. An error occurred as soon as the device tried to save scans or faxes via SMBv1 to a network share on a Windows 7 computer. The bug was not an SMB problem, as assumed, but was caused by the NTLM.
In the meantime, Microsoft has released a fix that must be manually downloaded and installed from the Microsoft Update Catalog. I have published details in the blog post Fix for the Windows 7 SMB network bug caused by Update KB4480970/KB4480960.
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RDP is broken in Windows?
Within the last few days I have seen several posts reporting problems with RDP connections. No matter if it's related to the update or not: Here's a post at German site administrator.de that refers to Windows 10 V1709.
Within this comment, a German blog reader describes his RDP problems that showed an LSA error when attempting to connect to a remote system. He also describes how he got on the system without having to be physically present. Further sources like the comments here, here, here, here and here deal also with the RDP topic. The workaround described in the section Network issues with updates KB4480970 and KB4480960 should solve this problem. The better approach is, to apply patch mentioned within my blog post Fix for the Windows 7 SMB network bug caused by Update KB4480970/KB4480960.
Jet Database Engine Access 97 bug
Another problem that runs through all versions of Windows and was caused by the security updates of January 8, 2019, is access to databases in Access 97 .mdb format. When opening such a database, an error may occur indicating that the database has an incorrect format.
I've described the problem within the blog post Windows January 2019 Updates breaks access to Access DBs and outlined workarounds there. Meanwhile Microsoft has confirmed the bug in the known-issues of all KB articles and provided it its own workaround. I have summarized some information and considerations within the blog post Microsoft confirms Access 97 MDB bug in Jet Database Engine caused by Windows January 2019 Updates.
Further issues (Office, Windows)
Within this comment at German site heise.de a user complains that his Office 365 no longer wants to work with SharePoint 2016 (OnPremise). Whether it is an update bug or a misconfiguration, I cannot judge.
Update KB4468742 (Update Rollup 25 For Exchange 2010 SP3) appears to cause collateral damage to Exchange 2010. Blog reader Lothar referred to this Spiceworks post (thank you). The update causes installation issues (extremely slow installation, rollbacks etc.).
Also Windows 10 users seem to be plagued by a number of bugs. MSPowerUser has an article here, in which a number of messages from Twitter and forums about problems have been collected.
If you have more bugs, you can leave a comment. Admins and service providers should be kissing Microsoft's feet, your job is secured – isn't it?
Similar articles:
Microsoft Office Patchday (January 2, 2019)
Office 2010 Updates for January 2019 has been pulled
Microsoft Security Update Summary (January 8, 2019)
Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/8.1/Server Jan. 8, 2019
Patchday Windows 10-Updates (January 8, 2019)
Patchday Microsoft Office Updates (January 8, 2019)
Microsoft Patchday: Other Updates January 8, 2019
Update KB971033/KB4480960/KB4480970 bricks Windows 7 Genuine (0xc004f200)
Microsoft explains the Windows 7 KMS activation issue
Network issues with updates KB4480970 and KB4480960
Fix for the Windows 7 SMB network bug caused by Update KB4480970/KB4480960
Windows January 2019 Updates breaks access to Access DBs
Microsoft confirms Access 97 MDB bug in Jet Database Engine caused by Windows January 2019 Updates
