[German]Addendum from last week on a problem that affects administrators in the corporate environment who rely on Connected Cache in Windows 10. The preview update KB5034203 released in January 2024 causes a bug in Windows 10 21H2 – 22H2 Enterprise, which means that the Connected Cache can no longer be used. However, Microsoft has published workarounds for this problem.
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Windows 10 Update KB5034203
Cumulative Preview Update KB5034203 was published by Microsoft on January 23, 2024 (D-Week) for Windows 10 version 21H2 and 22H2. In the highlights, a printer installation problem was listed as fixed. In addition, the weather display on the lock screen should show more information and so on. I had mentioned the update, which was included in the regular security updates in February 2024, in the blog post Windows 10 22H2 Preview Update KB5034203 (January 23, 2024).
What is the Connected Cache?
Connected Cache Server is an application that is installed under Windows Server and is generally available for production from Configuration Manager version 2111. This cache server acts as a demand-driven transparent cache for content downloaded by the delivery optimization.
If clients have been configured to use the Connected Cache server, they no longer request Microsoft cloud-managed content from the Internet. Instead, the client requests this content from the cache server. The local server caches this content using the IIS application request routing (Arr) feature. The cache server can then respond quickly to future requests for the same content. If the Connected Cache Server is unavailable, clients download the content from the Internet. Details can be found in this support article.
Update KB5034203 breaks Connected Cache
As early as April 5, 2024, Microsoft posted the entry EEnterprise customers might be unable to use Microsoft Connected Cache in the Known Issues section of the Windows 10 Health Status Dashboard. It states that after installing update KB5034203 from January 23, 2024 (or later updates), some Windows devices that use DHCP option 235 to discover Microsoft Connected Cache (MCC) nodes in their network may not be able to use the MCC nodes
Instead, these Windows devices would download updates and applications from the public internet, and IT administrators would notice increased download traffic on their internet routes. So the Connected Cache, which is supposed to prevent exactly these downloads, has been broken by the preview update (or later updates).
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This problem is unlikely to occur for private Windows users, as the Microsoft Connected Cache configured via DHCP option 235 is more likely to be used in corporate environments, Microsoft writes. It is therefore more of a bug that will only occur in very specific environments in companies. Affected are Windows 10 version 21H2 and 22H2, probably usually in the enterprise version in companies.
Microsoft is working on a solution and intends to provide an update in one of the next versions. Redmond describes two workarounds on how administrators can configure the Connected Cache endpoint via group policies to mitigate the problem until then.
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