Windows patch causes more pain: Start Menu, boot and printer problems surface

It's groundhog day for some Windows users. The required October 3 security update to plug an Internet Explorer flaw and a printing bug turns out to be causing more problems. And Microsoft has quietly reissued the updates for KB4524147 as October 4 updates. 

Reports of issues with the latest update from Microsoft have been reported on numerous Windows-focused sites and tech-help blogs, including Microsoft's Answers forum, Reddit, Neowin, BornCity, AskWoody, BleepingComputer, Techdows, and Windows Latest.  

It's not clear how widespread the problems are as reports on Reddit and Microsoft Answers each have fewer than a dozen comments.

SEE: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF)    

Microsoft said last week's cumulative update addressed a print-spooling problem that was introduced by the out-of-band security update from September 23. The new update, KB4524147, was released automatically via Windows Update. 

However, as per Born City, some users report that the print problem is not fixed while others who didn't have problems before the update are now experiencing them.

The September 23 update was only distributed via Windows Update Catalog, so there is a chance Microsoft failed to resolve the print glitches caused by the patch and has distributed the glitch more widely.

Even more confusingly is that some Windows 10 users are now also seeing a 'critical error' message explaining that the Start menu isn't working. Microsoft's message requests that users sign out of Windows and sign in again. That's reminiscent of a recent CPU fix that also broke the Start menu on Windows 10 version 1903.

An affected user on Microsoft's Answers forum says the only way to resolve the Start menu issue is by uninstalling KB4524147. Of course doing so means that machine is now exposed to the critical security flaw that has probably been used in highly-targeted attacks and which could at some point be discovered by criminal attackers and used indiscriminately.

SEE: Microsoft's Android shock: What this new phone means for the future of Windows

On top of all this, Microsoft's optional cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1903 from September 26, KB45172211, broke Windows search, VMware workstations, as well as printers, as MSPoweruser reported on Saturday. 

And one final complication that might not be a huge issue is that Microsoft reportedly reissued all the updates dated October 3 and has labeled them as from October 4. AskWoody also notes that some of the patches from the so-called required update on October 3 have now been removed from Windows Update.

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