Status of January 2022 security updates from Microsoft (2022/01/25)

[German]We are in the so-called D-Week, regarding updates by Microsoft for products like Windows or Office. Whether there are (preview) updates today that anticipate the patches for February 2022, I don't know. But after there were massive problems with the security updates of January 11, 2022, which should be fixed by correction updates, I put together the status as of Jan. 25, 2022.

Windows issues partially fixed

The security updates for Windows released on January 11, 2022, resulted in numerous problems. An overview of the problems caused by the Windows security updates of January 11, 2022 can be found in the blog post Microsoft Microsoft Januar 2022 Patchday Revisions (2022/01/14) – details can be found in the posts linked at the end of the article, if necessary. On 17./18. Jan. 2022, Microsoft then followed up with the following correction updates to fix the problems. 

• KB5010795: Windows 11
• KB5010796: Windows Server 2022
• KB5010793: Windows 10 Version 20H2 – 21H2 and Windows Server 20H2
• KB5010792: Windows 10 Version 1909
• KB5010791: Windows Server 2019
• KB5010790: Windows 10 Version 1607 and Windows Server 2016
• KB5010789: Windows 10 Version 1507
• KB5010794: Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2
• KB5010797: Windows Server 2012
• KB5010798: Windows 7 SP1
• KB5010799: Windows Server 2008 SP2

However, these did not correct all patchday problems that occurred. It was also stupid that some of the updates were not offered via Windows Update – on the other hand, they were installed automatically on Windows machines despite optional classification.

Administrators who distribute the updates via WSUS had to download and import them from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Some administrators had problems to import that updates – a discussion can be found in this German comment. There is also the blog post How-To: Import OOB Updates in WSUS without IE, but with Microsoft Edge, which outlines how to use the Edge browser for update import.  

IPSec VPN connection problems almost fixed

The connection problems with Windows IPSec VPN connections caused by the security updates of January 11, 2022 have been fixed by the special updates, according to my readers feedback. But some feedback to my German blog post Nachlese: Fix für Windows IPSec VPN-Verbindungproblem complaining about a reduced throughput – some detected a reduction in speed to below 70%. 

ReFS problems only partially fixed

The security updates of Jan. 11, 2022 caused a problem that ReFS formatted disks are only shown as RAW after installing the updates. I had addressed this in the blog post Microsoft patch day issues Jan. 2022: bugs confirmed, but updates not pulled. In a comment, a reader described his experience.

Microsoft then released fixes for Windows 10 and Windows 11, as well as their server counterparts, to address this issue. In the blog post Out-of-Band Updates for Windows (Jan. 17/18, 2022) doesn't fixes ReFS Issues complete, I had already explained in an overview that these fixes do not completely eliminate the bug. In a comment a user states that iSCSI drives with ReFS formatting work again, while external ReFS formatted disks show up as RAW.

ReFS support with VMware

The issue is interesting with virtualized servers running VMware ESXi or similar, where hotplug support probably causes guest ReFS drives to no longer be found. An blog reader wrote:

After updating 4 Exchange Servers all came up after reboot without access to three ReFS drives – with the databases and the logfiles…
We reached out to Microsoft Support. One day later we were contacted with a workaround: Disable the Hotplug capability in VMWare.

From VMware there is the support article KB1012225 (Disabling the HotAdd/HotPlug capability in virtual machines) hich contains the solution in form of the configuration entry:

devices.hotplug = false

Also confirmed in this comment:In a VMware virtual machine: adding the above configuration parameter brings the ReFS volumes back to life. Now there is this comment, states that ReFS version 1 disks on Windows Server 2012 R2 do not work with the hotfix. The solution is to disable hotplug.

Boot loop for domain controllers

Administrators of Domain Controllers (DC) seem to have been hit hard, as the security updates of January 11, 2022 led to reboots of these DCs in intervals of 15 minutes. I had reported this in the blog post Windows Server: January 2022 security updates are causing DC boot loop. However, strangely enough, not all instances were affected.  

According to the German comments within my blog, there doesn't seem to be any problems with the fix updates. But in the English-language blog I got this comment that the fix update KB5010796 did not fix the DC boot loop either. And this comment mentioned, that the AD-integrated applications, such as a Synology, can also indirectly trigger the reboots. Moreover, for those, scanning a file on an HP system seems to reboot a DC. But this can be isolated cases. 

LDAP error with ADFS farm server

In the out-of-band updates from 17/18 January 2022, Microsoft also states that there was an LDAP problem, which was then corrected in the updates. The support articles state:

Active Directory-Attribute werden während eines LDAP-Änderungsvorgangs (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) mit mehreren bestimmten Attributänderungen nicht ordnungsgemäß geschrieben.

Phil E. reported in a German comment (see my article Windows January 2022 updates bricks Active Directory Federation Services) issues with Active Directory Federation Services. He has an issue with the original update KB5009557 dated January 11, 2022 that LDAP queries to a DC in another forest (one-way trust) can no longer be made on an ADFS farm server.

Hyper-F startup issue fixed

On Windows Server 2012 / R2, the January 11, 2022 updates prevented the Hyper-V host from starting, causing numerous virtualized applications to stop running. I had reported about a fix in the blog post Review: Fix for Hyper-V Host Startup Problem in Windows (January 2022).

Outlook search still broken

It's been an issue that has been bothering administrators for months: The desktop search in Microsoft Outlook is constantly broken, no mails are found. It's still an issue in January 2022 – I addressed it in the blog post Windows 10: Outlook search broken again or fixed by Microsoft? (Jan. 2022). According to Microsoft, Outlook search should be fixed – but feedback from readers shows a different picture.

Access bug fixed?

Back in December 2021, an update caused problems with multi-user access to Access databases. The security updates rolled out for Microsoft Office in January 2022 are also likely to cause problems with Microsoft Access in certain cases. Only one user can still access the databases. I had given an overview in the article Access lock bug caused by Microsoft Office updates (January 11, 2022).

Similar articles:
Windows Server: Out-of-Band Update fixes Remote Desktop issues (2022/01/04)
Microsoft Office Updates (January 4, 2022)
Microsoft Security Update Summary (January 11, 2022)
Patchday: Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2 Updates (January 11, 2022), boot loop reported
Patchday: Windows 10 Updates (January 11, 2022)
Patchday: Windows 11 Updates (January 11, 2022)
Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 (January 11, 2022)

Windows Server: January 2022 security updates are causing DC boot loop
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Microsoft patch day issues Jan. 2022: bugs confirmed, but updates not pulled

Microsoft Microsoft Januar 2022 Patchday Revisions (2022/01/14)
Windows Out-of-band Updates fixes Jan. 2022 patch day issues (Jan. 17, 2022)
Windows 10/Server: Out-of-band Updates fixes Jan. 2022 patch day issues (Jan. 17, 2022)
Out-of-band Updates for Windows Server 2019 fixes Jan. 2022 Patch day issues (Jan. 18, 2022)
Windows 7/8.1; Server 2008R2/2012R2: Out-of-band Updates with Fixes for Jan. 2022 Patch day Issues (2022/01/17)

Review: Fix for Windows IPSec VPN Connection Issues
Out-of-Band Updates for Windows (Jan. 17/18, 2022) doesn't fixes ReFS Issues complete
Review: Fix for Hyper-V Host Startup Problem in Windows (January 2022)

Access lock bug caused by Microsoft Office updates (January 11, 2022)
Windows 10: Outlook search broken again or fixed by Microsoft? (Jan. 2022)