[German]Currently there seem to be problems with HP business notebooks running Windows 10 again. HP Sure Click is causing trouble with the October 2020 updates for Windows 10, here is a short summary of what I recently noticed
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HP Sure Click, what is that?
HP includes HP Sure Click on some of its Windows machines for business users. This program is designed to protect a Windows machine from malware that lurks on malicious websites or in common files.
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Instead of trying to detect malware, untrusted websites and files are opened in their own isolated virtual containers called micro virtual machines (micro VMs). When malicious code is present, these micro VMs make the malware believe that it is running on your computer even though it is actually isolated inside the VM.
In 2018 I had reported in the GErman blog post Probleme mit HP Sure Click unter Windows 10 bout problems with older versions of HP Sure Click on Windows 10. There are also several HP business notebooks listed that are rolled out with HP Sure Click. In case of problems it is necessary to upgrade to the latest version of this protection solution.
Issues with Windows 10 2004 October 2020 Update
Yesterday German blog reader HP4Sure posted this comment and pointed out issues with HP Sure Click Enterprise and the Bromium Secure platform. HP has published the support documentInitialization failures caused by Windows Updates (October 2020) on October 14, 2020.
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As part of the Early Access Program membership, HP tests all Microsoft Windows Updates (KBs) prior to release by Microsoft. The testers have determined that a planned change in the next Windows 10 October 2020 update will cause initialization failures on devices running HP Sure Click Enterprise & Bromium Secure Platform. Here is the list of affected updates:
- KB4579311 – Windows 10 Version 2004 x64
- KB4577671 – Windows 10 Version 1903 x64
- KB4577671 – Windows 10 Version 1909 x64
- KB4577668 – Windows 10 Version 1809 x64
- KB4580330 – Windows 10 Version 1803 x64
- KB4580328 – Windows 10 Version 1709 x64
- KB4580346 – Windows 10 Version 1607 x64
- KB4580327 – Windows 10 RTM x64
Note: These October 2020 updates for Windows block older drivers that do not meet certain criteria (Signature). This change will therefore also affect other vendors that require signed drivers.
After installing the relevant Windows update, HP Sure Click Enterprise and Bromium Secure Platform cannot be successfully initialized. New initialization attempts will fail with the error UPDATEGUEST_NETWORK_SETUP_FAIL. However, the affected devices will continue to work until a new initialization is required, giving you additional time to roll back the Microsoft KBs. New initialization requests are generally caused by the following:
- Upgrade supported applications to a new major version, such as Chrome, Microsoft Office or Adobe Reader.
- Manually requesting a new initialization via the desktop console
- Installing a new version of HP Sure Click Enterprise
HP suggests to delay the installation of the above updates. It is planned to release a new version of HP Sure Click Enterprise shortly (1-3 weeks), which should contain a correction for the above mentioned problem as well as additional bug fixes and feature updates.
On machines where the update has already been installed, HP will provide a policy configuration for most versions of Windows 10 that can be imported into the HP Sure Controller to work around the problem. The policy prevents initialization errors caused by the installed Microsoft security updates. Affected customers should contact HP Customer Support to request the policy configuration. HP will then verify that the environment is compliant with the policy before granting access.
Alternatively, HP will provide patched versions of HP Sure Click Enterprise 4.2 Patch 1 and Bromium Secure Platform 4.1.8 Patch 5 that avoid the initialization error. Details can be found in this HP support article.
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