Audio in games previously broken down by update KB4515384

Sep 27, 2019 08:55 GMT  ·  By

The most recent cumulative update shipped by Microsoft for Windows 10 version 1903, or May 2019 Update, resolves an issue that breaks down audio when playing games.

Windows 10 cumulative update KB4517211 was released to Windows 10 version 1903 on September 26 as an optional update. The audio fix will, however, be shipped automatically to all devices as part of the October 8 Patch Tuesday cycle.

Microsoft acknowledged the bug earlier this month, explaining that some machines where cumulative update KB4515384 was installed might experience broken audio in games.

Fix now available

The company said it was all because of changes requested by audio partners.

“Microsoft has received reports that audio in certain games is quieter or different than expected. At the request of some of our audio partners, we implemented a compatibility change that enabled certain games to query support and render multi-channel audio. Due to customer feedback, we are reverting this change as some games and some devices are not rendering multi-channel audio as expected. This may result in games sounding different than customers are used to and may have missing channels,” Microsoft said.

Cumulative update KB4515384 was a security patch for Windows 10 version 1903 published on September 10 and addressing vulnerabilities in Windows 10.

The issue was only limited to Windows 10 version 1903 and no other feature updates are affected.

Windows 10 May 2019 Update is the latest stable release of Windows 10, and Microsoft is currently in the process of rolling it out to devices across the world. While some upgrade blocks are still in place, users can manually install the May update by checking for updates in Windows Update.

A new version of Windows 10 is projected to be finalized this month as 19H2, with the public rollout to kick off in October or November.