14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently acknowledged another issue in this month’s update, but fortunately for Windows 10 users, this version of the operating system isn’t affected.
The company says that both the Windows 7 monthly rollup KB4103718 and security-only update KB4103712 are causing issues on systems installing them, eventually leaving these computers without Internet connection.
“Microsoft is aware that some customers have reported that network drivers are intentionally uninstalled, then fail to reinstall after applying the May 8, 2018 update. This can result in the loss of network connectivity,” the software giant explains.
Without a doubt, this is a pretty big problem and users whose computers experience this behavior obviously need a workaround as soon as possible. But Microsoft says that it is still investigating the issue and will release more information when it is available.
Uninstall the patches
In the meantime, there’s no working solution for this problem and the only way to address the bug is to completely uninstall updates KB4103718 or KB4103712. Unfortunately, this also means that Windows 7 computers would be left without the most recent security fixes, which in its turn is quite an issue given that the May 2018 patches address vulnerabilities in the operating system.
Microsoft itself revealed in the release notes of KB4103718 fixes a memory leak on SMB servers after installing previous updates. “This leak may occur when the requested path traverses a symbolic link, a mount point, or a directory junction and the registry key is set to 1,” the firm says.
Users who remove the said updates are also recommended to hide them in Windows Update, to avoid being re-offered the same buggy patches and then eventually installed on system reboots.
The next Patch Tuesday will take place on June 12, so Windows 7 users have nearly 30 days to deal with this bug on their own.