Windows 10 patch for SMBv3 vulnerability gives installation errors

Last week, Microsoft released a patch for a critical vulnerability in SMBv3, affecting only versions of Windows 10 1903 and 1906. Most users were able to install KB4551762 without problems, but some user again complain about issues.

Recall that KB4551762 is a separate patch released specifically to fix vulnerabilities in the Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3) protocol. Microsoft has published this update aside from the update schedule.

Judging by a number of messages on the Microsoft Feedback Hub, some users were unable to download and install the patch due to error messages with the following codes:

• 0x800f081f
• 0x80004005
• 0x80073701
• 0x800f0988
• 0x80071160
• 0x80240016.

By the way, the researcher Gunther Born wrote a day after the patch was released regarding the errors 0x800f0988 while installing KB4551762.

“I wanted to download this update right away, but again I get the errors 0x800f0988 and 0x800f0900 during installation. I already had these errors last month and had to do an in-place upgrade. So far it worked; the regular cumulative update from Tuesday ran without errors, nothing has changed on the system since then. Now the error occurs again and I would have to do another in-place upgrade to update to the current version. It’s so annoying what a lot of work you have to do to bring your system up to date”, — writes Gunter Born.

In addition, there are complaints that after installing the update, the processor load significantly increases, performance decreases, and loading the OS takes too much time, and the number of such complaints is growing.

“In the process of downloading this update, my computer suddenly began to slow down. The update itself is frozen at around 100% download. I rebooted the computer, after which the Windows update function stopped responding. As a result, I now have a problem patch that failed to install on the system”, – writes one of the users.

The Reddit forum also has complaints about a sudden reboot of the system, a blue screen of death, problems with sound and an Internet connection.

At least one user had a black screen with rotating circles and dots during installation of KB4551762. The computer was able to boot normally only after system recovery.

Users also complain that their systems are entering recovery mode and the process is looping. For some, the Task Manager and a number of applications do not work.

Similar oddities made other users to visit support forums.

Microsoft has not yet commented on the problem. Judging by the messages of users, it can be solved by uninstalling the patch. However, in this case, the system becomes vulnerable to attacks with the exploitation of CVE-2020-0796.