14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft rolled out a total of 14 security updates on Patch Tuesday, but it turns out that at least one of them is causing trouble on a number of Windows 7 computers.
KB3033929, which is described as a patch that improves support for SHA-2 code signing on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, fails to install and causes computers running these two operating systems to enter an infinite reboot loop that needs to be manually interrupted by users.
Details are very scarce right now, but a number of posts on Microsoft's support forums seem to confirm that there's indeed an issue when trying to validate the integrity of the update, so installation fails, the computer is rebooted and installation is restarted.
Just hide the update for now
In case your computer is experiencing the same issue, hiding the update completely should temporarily address the problem until Microsoft comes up with a fix.
Here's what one of the affected users is saying on Microsoft's support forums:
“I'm having problems with the KB3033929 update from the latest run of Tuesday patches. After installation the PC reboots, but during the boot up configuration of the patch it fails and Windows starts reverting the configuration and reboots. And then it starts all over again a couple of times until it eventually boot into Windows.”
Microsoft is yet to provide more information on what exactly is causing the problem, but users who want to hide the update need to go over to Control Panel, click on Programs and Features, View installed updates, look for KB3033929, right-click it and hit the “Hide this update” option.
We've reached out to Microsoft for more details on this new botched bulletin, but expect the company to pull the bulletin in case it discovers that more computers are affected.