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Microsoft releases fix for Windows 10 cumulative update issues

Six days after delivering a failed Windows 10 update, Microsoft has offered a fix-it script and an explanation.
Written by Ed Bott, Senior Contributing Editor

Windows must die - again

Six days after it delivered a cumulative update that failed to install on some users' PCs, Microsoft has released a fix-it tool.

In an email statement, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the update, which tries to install and then rolls back repeatedly, affects PCs that previously ran a build delivered through the Windows Insider Program and were later switched to the public Current Branch release.

"We became aware of an issue with the recent Windows 10 cumulative update that impacted a small number of customers in the Windows Insider Program that were running a previous build of the OS. We have created a solution to resolve this issue, which is now live and can be accessed here."

That link goes to the Windows 10 1607 (RS1) Script fix to unblock update for Insider, a Microsoft Installer file that makes the same changes I described in my earlier post, without requiring any registry edits or permission changes.

The terse description of the file describes it simply: "Script to fix Xbox Scheduled Task leftover regkeys that blocks update for insider builds prior to 14388." There's no indication of how many systems were affected, but the number is probably in the hundreds of thousands, representing systems that were in the Windows Insider Program, receiving preview releases, during the first half of 2016 before switching to the public branch.

Although that number is small, it represents an unusually influential group of Windows 10 users, including a fair number of tech reporters who specialize in Microsoft topics.

A separate article, KB3197794, describes the issue. It's not currently available for viewing.

If you're among the affected users, you can safely run the script to unblock the update and resume normal Windows 10 operation.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the fix will also be available through Windows Update, although no date is scheduled for that release.

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