Windows 10: Out-of-band Update for graphics printing bug (March 18, 2021)

[German]Microsoft has just released an out-of-band update for Windows 10 (Windows 7/8.1 are still missing), which should fix the bugs triggered by the March security updates when printing content with graphics on different devices.

Brief review: The printing issue

With the March 9, 2021 security updates, yes, there are printer issues on Windows (specifically Windows 10, but also Windows 7/8.1 and Windows Server and Terminal Server). Depending on the Windows variant and environment, this ranges from no longer being able to print, to BlueScreens when printing or calling applications from LibeOffice or Microsoft Office, to the problem that graphics could no longer be printed. I had described these problems in the blog posts Windows 10 Updates KB5000802/KB5000808 causes BSOD when printing in win32kfull.sys – pulled?. The March 15, 2021 out-of-bank update had only fixed the BlueScreen issue with the APC_INDEX_MISMATCH stop error (Windows 10: Out-of-band Update for Blue Screen printing bug).

Next out-of-band update for Windows 10

As of March 18, 2021, Microsoft has delivered a new fix as an unscheduled update. The Windows 10 status page already lists the fix, and the English-language Windows 10 update page lists the following updates.

• KB5001649: Out-of-band-Update for Windows 10 Version 2004 and 20H2 and corresponding Windows Server versions
• KB5001648: Out-of-band-Update for Windows 10 Version 1909 and Server Version 1909
• KB5001638: Out-of-band-Update for Windows 10 Version 1809 and Server Version 1809 (Enterprise/Education/LTSC)
• KB5001634: Out-of-band-Update for Windows 10 Version 1803 and Server Version 1803 (Enterprise/Education)
• KB5001633: Out-of-band-Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 (Enterprise/Education) and Server Version
• KB5001631: Out-of-band-Update for Windows 10 Version 1507 (RTM)(Enterprise LTSC)

For all updates, the support articles state that the out-of-band update (that is, the unscheduled update) fixes an issue where the graphical content of a document cannot be printed after installing the March 9, 2021 update.

Addresses an issue that fails to print the graphical content in a document after installing the March 9, 2021 update.

Exactly the error described above. To install the update, users can go to the Update & Security -> Windows Update categories in the Settings app and click the Check for updates button. Then the update should be found and offered for installation. The unscheduled update is also manually downloadable from  Microsoft Update Catalog.

However, Microsoft does not provide the update in WSUS. If necessary, the update would have to be imported manually. I haven't found any updates for Windows 7/8.1 and its server counterparts either. To fix the problems with certain Dymo label printers (label print incomplete or blank) the manufacturer has provided an update (see this German comment). Question: are the print errors and bluescreens gone for you now? Are there any other problems?

Note the known issues with this update listed in the KB articles. In addition, there are reports, that installation via Windows Update fails with error 0x80070541. Therefore, manually download and install the update and the latest SSU from the Microsoft Update Catalog and install it manually. I've written a separate blog post Windows 10: Update KB5001649 fails with install error 0x80070541 (March 18, 2021)).

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