Windows 10 October 2019 Patchday (Start menu) issues

[German]As of October 8, 2019, Microsoft has released a couple of security updates for Windows 10. After the September 2019 patchday disaster, I now have collected a few minor issues, that I became aware.

In general, after the update hassle in September 2019 and October 3, 2019, there seems to be less hassle with the latest updates from October 8, 2019. Nevertheless, there are users who have Windows 10 issues after the update installation.

Is the printer issue fixed?

The exciting question was whether the printing problems caused by a crashing printer spooler process have been fixed. The problems occurred after installing an IE security update from September 2019 (see Windows: Printer issues after Sept. 2019 Update confirmed). The repair attempt with patches as of October 3, 2019 (Windows Updates fixes printer bug (Oct. 3, 2019)) then went down the drain. In the article Windows/IE: Issues and confusion with updates (10/03/2019) I wrote something about this.

Microsoft has explicitly stated in the support articles of the Windows 10 October 2019 updates that the printing issue in the jscript.dll has been fixed (see Patchday Windows 10-Updates (October 8, 2019)). Within my German blog are reports from reader, stating that affected system can print again after installing the new updates.

On reddit.com there are a few users where the update did not fix the printing issues. There, however, uninstalling the previous updates KB4524147 / KB452148 and then installing the October 8, 2019 update helped bring the printers back to life. Someone had to remove the v4 printer drivers and use an alternative driver to fix the problem. A German user commented within my blog:

In my company, the printer connections on three Windows 10 1903 machines were broken. Apparently it was the update "because yesterday it still worked". Printer and IP connections deleted, works again. Except that the printers do not have yet their own picture in the overview and and a time symbol is to be seen …. At the other identical machines no messages so far.

Blog reader Michael was able to fix the issue in printer port assignment by deleting the entries. I'm not sure if this is related to the printing issue in jscript.dll. For the update from October 3, 2019 there was a comment with hints about issues with the printer assignment. Currently I assume that the printing issue has been fixed.

Update install issues

There are isolated messages, like this German comment here in the blog, which do not get the update installed. The blog reader noticed an abort of the update installation with error code 0x800f0922. I wrote something about this in the article Windows 10: Update error 0x800F0922. These are however isolated cases – in the case sketched above, a virus scanner could have blocked – or the free space on the system disk has been low.

Addendum: I found this MS Answers forum post where a user (from HP) mentioned issues with printers, start menu and unknown network traffic.

Start menu and search broken

Various users are caught up again by a broken Start menu and desktop search or broken Action Center. This was a never ending gag in August/September 2019 (see Windows 10 V1903: Search and Cortana bug in Update KB4512941 confirmed (09/05/2019)) – but was fixed with the September 2019 patchday. Shortly after the updates were released on October 8, 2019, the first readers reported problems with the desktop search or the start menu. German blog reader Willi writes:

I now have rolled back to Windows 10 V1903 (build 18362.295), because since KB4512941 over KB4515384 and now KB4517389 the search box in the taskbar doesn't work anymore. Tried all possible registry hacks recommended (Cortana, Bing search, etc.). Only after uninstalling these KBs does the search work again. It is desperate.

And German blog reader Martin reported a broken start menu after installing the update in Windows 10 Version 1903.

This morning I tried KB4517389. Unfortunately the start menu is broken again. So far only deinstallation of the update helps.

Now I have to defer patches for W10 1903 in our patch management for almost a month now, because they cause errors again and again, which strongly limit the use of Windows.

If I am by far not the only one with these problems, MS doesn't even recognize the bugs and does update after update, which only causes more problems. You feel like you're getting screwed!

Within my German blog other readers confirmed start menu issues here, here and here. At Microsoft Answers forum there is this thread mentions a critical error in start menu caused from update KB4517389. Also at reddit.com is a mega thread with this comment(and confirmation from a 2nd user) dealing with a broken start menu. This reddit.com post also addresses the broken start menu.

Addendum: Startmenu issues are not fixed! German blog reader Janami25 left this comment for Windows 10 Version 1903 (I've translated it):

My original guess with the first problem update KB4524147 has been confirmed here [within the German blog post]. Once you have installed this first "problematic" update, you will notice that you have issues with the start menu. If you only uninstall this update, newer patches can't fix the issues.

In my opinion, it mandatory to restore a system backup made BEFORE installing KB4524147 for the first time. And then install the very latest patch [from October 8, 2019]. Only then the issues with the start menu was solved. At least with me. So, before installing the KB4517389 (18362.418) restore a much older Windows version.

Janami25 postet also a link to this Microsoft Answers forum post, where a user reported a broken start menu. User Al McNaught describes similar experiences as mentioned above:

I have also experienced this on multiple machines. Anything that had KB4524147 installed and removed gets broken by KB4517389.

The main symptom I'm seeing is that Outlook will no longer authenticate to Office 365.

User mirovb confirmed then, that you have to restore a system backup obtained before installing KB4524147 the first time. Some leftovers created by the broken update KB4524147 will damage the start menu in all other subsequent updates.

WindowsReport wrote here, that you can copy the old file ActivationStore.dat from another PC not affected to the Cortana folder – helped some people. But maybe only for search issues.

If you haven't a proper backup you have this options to fix this nasty startmenu and search issue:

• Try a repair install using an inplace upgrade (just re-install Windows 10 Version 1903 from a running, but broken Windows system via setup.exe). User mirovb reported within Microsoft answers, that it helped on 2 machines.
• Maybe resetting Windows 10 back to a factory image stored on a OEM partition using the Settings app will help.
• In all other cases you are forced to do a clean install using either a Windows DVD or an USB stick with an install image (boot your machine and install Windows 10 V1903).

Afterward  install the latest cumulative update from October 8, 2019 to raise the Windows build to 18362.418. I guess that this approach is als mandatory for older Windows 10 versions having this start menu issues.

Action Center with issues

I also got a feedback from a German blog reader, that the Action Center has issues (some items to direct a screen to another device doesn't work anymore). This has also been mentioned on other places like this Microsoft Answers forum post,

Edge won't launch anymore

And some users are reporting issues with Edge (no more useable) within my German blog – and also on other places like this Microsoft Answers forum post for instance. Uninstalling the update fixes these issues. Anyone else affected by such or other issues?

In the article WindowsReport also mentions problems with the mouse. But it also seems to be an isolated case.

Addendum: I've escalated these issues within this Microsoft Answers forum post to all Microsoft moderators and asked to forward it to the developers. Addendum 2: A Microsoft employee confirmed within the forum post, that they are aware of the issue. Microsoft is planning a fix for end of October 2019. In the meantime I've provides a blog post Windows 10: Fixes for October 2019 (start menu) issues outlining some workarounds for the shell issues.

Similar articles:
Microsoft Office Patchday (1. Oktober 2019)
Microsoft Security Update Summary (October 8, 2019)
Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/8.1/Server (Oct. 8, 2019)
Patchday Windows 10-Updates (October 8, 2019)
Patchday Microsoft Office Updates (October 8, 2019)

Windows: Printer issues after Sept. 2019 Update confirmed
Windows Updates fixes printer bug (Oct. 3, 2019)
Windows/IE: Issues and confusion with updates (10/03/2019)