UK.gov pages no longer loading in IE and Edge

May 17, 2019 05:06 GMT  ·  By
All Windows 10 cumulative updates released this month said to be causing issues
   All Windows 10 cumulative updates released this month said to be causing issues

Microsoft has confirmed another issue in the latest round of cumulative updates for Windows 10 shipped as part of the May 2019 Update.

The company says these latest updates break down some government websites in the UK, as they no longer load in Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. All websites should work as expected in other browsers, like Google Chrome and the Chromium Microsoft Edge.

“After installing the May 14, 2019 update, some gov.uk websites that don’t support HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) may not be accessible through Internet Explorer 11 or Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft says.

The company claims it is already investigating the issue and working on a resolution, but a fix will be released at a later time. No other info has been provided on the ETA, but Microsoft says it wants to roll it out “as quickly as possible.”

Use a different browser

As for the cumulative updates breaking down these UK government websites, they are the following:  

Windows 10 version 1809: May 14, 2019—KB4494441 (OS Build 17763.503)
Windows 10 version 1803: May 14, 2019—KB4499167 (OS Build 17134.765)
Windows 10 version 1709: May 14, 2019—KB4499179 (OS Build 16299.1146)
Windows 10 version 1703: May 14, 2019—KB4499181 (OS Build 15063.1805)
Windows 10 version 1607: May 14, 2019—KB4494440 (OS Build 14393.2969)
Windows 10 original version: May 14, 2019—KB4499154 (OS Build 10240.18215)
Ironically, these cumulative updates were supposed to introduce improvements for gov.uk websites, as per the official change logs:

“Adds "gov.uk" to the HTTP Strict Transport Security Top Level Domains (HSTS TLD) for Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge.”

It remains to be seen when a fix lands for impacted devices, but in the meantime, the easiest workaround is either to uninstall the cumulative update completely or simply switch to a different browser if this is possible.