14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released an update designed to help customers running Windows 7 deal with an issue in which driver refreshes served to the operating system fail to install.
The Redmond company confirmed the problem impacts both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, including the platform version with the latest upgrade deployed, namely Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
According to Microsoft, users might come across this issue when attempting to install an update containing drivers delivered through Windows Update.
“Consider the following scenario: you try to install a Windows Update package that is marked as Important on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
“The package contains a driver. For example, the package contains the USBport.sys driver. The computer is configured to install updates automatically or during the shutdown process.
“In this scenario, the installation process stops at zero percent for five minutes and then fails with a time-out error,” the company explained.
Microsoft noted that customers are more likely to experience this glitch in two scenarios. It appears that slower computers are affected to a larger degree compared to faster machines, and also that PCs with many devices attached at the time of the update are also impacted more.
The source of the problem has already been identified, with the software giant explaining that:
“This issue occurs because of a race condition in the Plug and Play service during the driver update process.”
An update designed to resolve the glitch is already available from the Redmond company.
Windows 7 customers, including those that have already upgraded to SP1 can wait for the update to be delivered through Windows Update or can grab it from the Microsoft Download Center and install it manually themselves.
Here are the download links for KB 2552343: