WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

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WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-01-10, 19:15

Finding out the hard way that Microsoft is SNAFU in jan 2019.

I installed the rollup KB4480970 on my build machine (which runs headless) and after a reboot I could no longer RDP in (!). "The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted" was the rather unhelpful message on the RDP client machine.
Apparently this update also breaks mapped drives and shares on the network from "updated" systems, making shares inaccessible.
Great going, Microsoft!

Solution on the system that needs remote access:
  1. Curse loudly at Microsoft (IMPORTANT! Do not skip this step!)
  2. Connect a monitor and input devices so you can access the PC again :P
  3. Open a command prompt "as administrator"
  4. Add a registry key with the following command:

    Code: Select all

    reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system /v LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  5. Reboot the system.
  6. Verify RDP access.
  7. Disconnect your monitor and input devices again so you can resume normal operations.
Doing this before you let Windows Update install this SNAFU update, you can skip steps 2, 5, 6 and 7.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Moonraker » 2019-01-10, 20:27

Off-topic:
This is one of the reasons i dumped windows and jumped on the linux boat. :D
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by yami_ » 2019-01-10, 20:28

Looks like I have dodged this bullet - the same registry key is used to enable usage of administrative SMB shares and since I need those I had this key already set.

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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Isengrim » 2019-01-10, 20:47

I assume you've found the gHacks article on this issue, then. :P
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by badnick » 2019-01-10, 20:57

Stop the updates and you will be happy!
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Moonraker » 2019-01-10, 21:00

badnick wrote:Stop the updates and you will be happy!
Better still use vista or xp and receive nil updates lol.!
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by badnick » 2019-01-10, 21:05

Moonraker wrote:Better still use vista or xp and receive nil updates lol.!
I stopped updates for my windows 10 for over 2 years ago and it works great.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Night Wing » 2019-01-10, 21:14

On my experimental laptop which has two hard drives, one of them being 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, I haven't installed any Microsoft updates, security or otherwise, on that hard drive since August of 2016.

As soon as I saw all those "Cumulative and Quality Rollups, I knew that was the time to bail on Microsoft Updates. Especially when I found out CEO Nadella fired all of his QA people who were responsible for Window Updates back in 2016. I don't trust Cumulative, Security updates or those Quality Rollups Microsoft keeps touting. In my opinion, these updates are just garbage and definitely not quality.

I have two desktop tower computers also. One of them has three hard drives installed in it which is named Desktop Tower #1 and two hard drives are installed in Desktop Tower #2. Each tower desktop has a 64 bit Windows 7, SP1 hard drive in them. Since I had to replace both windows hard drives (bad blocks) in each of those two desktop towers; when I re-installed a new 64 bit Windows 7 SP1 operating system in each hard drive for their respective tower computer, I just installed the operating system, but I did "not" install any Windows Updates for these two Windows 7 hard drives.

I wanted to put to the test just how insecure these two desktop towers would be without any Microsoft updates for Windows 7. And I haven't had any malware or anything bad happen to these two tower computers with a new installation of 64 bit Windows 7 SP1 hard drives.

I just keep my Avast AV updated, my Comodo Firewall updated along with Adobe Flash and Java and this is what I use on my 64 bit Windows 7 SP1 hard drives to keep me safe when I'm on the internet running Windows 7. I don't share files with anyone either. Although I must admit, 99% of the time, I'm running 64 bit Linux Mint 19.1 (Tessa) Xfce. When Microsoft went with the Cumulative and Quality Rollups for Windows 7, I consider these updates to be "nothing more than a crap shoot aligned with Murphy's Law".

As far as I'm concerned, the most dangerous thing on the Internet..........is Microsoft's Windows Updates for Windows 7 and Windows 10 and no one will convince me otherwise.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-01-10, 23:58

Night Wing wrote:As far as I'm concerned, the most dangerous thing on the Internet..........is Microsoft's Windows Updates for Windows 7 and Windows 10 and no one will convince me otherwise.
I hope you never get infected with ransomware then. IMO that is the most dangerous thing spread through the internet right now because of its insidious nature, fast destruction of valuable data, and no guarantee for recovery even if you pay.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Night Wing » 2019-01-11, 00:56

Moonchild wrote:
Night Wing wrote:As far as I'm concerned, the most dangerous thing on the Internet..........is Microsoft's Windows Updates for Windows 7 and Windows 10 and no one will convince me otherwise.
I hope you never get infected with ransomware then. IMO that is the most dangerous thing spread through the internet right now because of its insidious nature, fast destruction of valuable data, and no guarantee for recovery even if you pay.
I think ahead and plan well for Murphy's Law if I ever run into Murphy.

All of my valuable data (files) are on external hard drives and a few thumb/flash drives where an internet connection is not needed. I don't keep my valuable data on the hard drives which are installed in my computers. Once the data has been made, I transfer that data to my external hard drives and a few flash/thumb drives. Then I delete the data on the hard drive containing the data which is installed in that computer. So ransomware never enters into the equation.

But for arguments sake, lets say I run into some ransomware. All I would have to do is wipe the infected hard clean and re-install 64 bit Windows 7 SP1. Then re-install all of my drivers from the copy of my DriverStore for that hard drive from one of my thumb/flash drives. The ransomware developers, they get nothing of value. In other words, they get "diddly squat". And I would be "back in business" in about 2.5 hours of time on the hard drive in question.

Like I said before, 99% of the time, I'm using 64 bit linux Mint and any valuable info on my Mint hard drive which I'm working on at that time, once I'm done, that data goes immediately on a external hard drive and a few flash/thumb drives. Then the data on the installed hard drive gets deleted. When I installed Mint 19.1, I formatted the hard drive installed Mint 19.1, installed all of the Mint updates, installed and configured three browsers, re-installed all of my bookmarks for each browser, etc and put back everything I normally work with (customizations, extensions, etc; excluding any valuable data, takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes of time per hard drive since I've got 5 linux Mint hard drives.

The Microsoft Windows Update bug which caught you, it came out on January 8th (where I live) and the headaches from it came out on January 9th which the link below will corroborate.

https://www.ghacks.net/2019/01/09/windo ... rk-issues/

The prudent and wise decision for Windows 7 users, would have been to wait a few days (like I used to do and I waited three days after windows updates came out before I installed them on on my Windows 7 hard drives) and see what problems might arise. But you didn't wait and this is the reason why you got burned from one of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates.

I've never got burned from any Mint updates. But old Microsoft update habits are tough to break since I still wait a few days before I install my Mint updates...........just in case.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-01-11, 01:14

So, aside from stating the obvious and showing us your preparedness for a calamity, wouldn't you agree that ransomware is a lot nastier than a Windows update which is aggravating but otherwise not destructive in any way?

Also, my intention of this topic was to warn the community, not to be the "first" or to talk about general practices -- even if I'd waited a few days there's likely a good chance I would NOT have seen the issues involved in this update before it got installed on the build machine, unless someone else would have posted on the forum here similar to what I did (since I tend not to follow the various tech blogs with verve).

If it's not appreciated, then I'll refrain from doing so in the future.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by loxodont » 2019-01-11, 02:38

It is appreciated, please don't. Even though I share Nightwings strategy on W7, I'm connected to W10 users and in a way concerned about this, so forwarding these warnings is helpful to workaround MS update confusions (but not many of the warned ones will post their thanks here:)

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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by NotFunny » 2019-01-11, 02:59

Thanks MC tis appreciated.

FWIW since the new 'rollup system' began I've installed monthly Security Only updates with zero problems.

I always do a little research for problems first, in this case I'll wait a while and see what happens....

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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by NotFunny » 2019-01-11, 03:02

Oops .. On Win 7 Pro.

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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Night Wing » 2019-01-11, 05:55

Moonchild wrote:wouldn't you agree that ransomware is a lot nastier than a Windows update which is aggravating but otherwise not destructive in any way?

Also, my intention of this topic was to warn the community, not to be the "first" or to talk about general practices -- even if I'd waited a few days there's likely a good chance I would NOT have seen the issues involved in this update before it got installed on the build machine, unless someone else would have posted on the forum here similar to what I did (since I tend not to follow the various tech blogs with verve).

If it's not appreciated, then I'll refrain from doing so in the future.
I'll give you my answer, but you won't like it.

If a person who stores valuable info on their computer and never backs it up, gets ransomware on their computer, then yes, it is a nasty situation. Nasty in the sense, if they pay and don't get their code to release the computer, their valuable data is lost to the ransomware people. That is called a "double whammy" where I come from.

Then the computer will be brought to a repair shop (like the one I volunteer at) and the computer's hard drive is reformatted, Windows 7 SP1 is re-installed, activated, loaded with the correct drivers. Then the customer can take his computer home and then install all the updates for Windows 7 which means they have to wait so the computer can for "check for the updates" which can take a long time. Then spend more time waiting for the computer to "download the updates". Then spend more time waiting for the computer to "install the updates". Then spend some more time waiting while the computer reboots a few times until, if nothing goes wrong, the computer boots to the Desktop. Or the shop will go and install all the updates which results in a higher price.

Now, lets take a very bad Windows Update. Lets say after installing the Windows Updates, the computer won't boot. Lets also say the valuable info on the hard drive can't be retrieved. The result, lost data and Windows 7 SP1 has to be re-installed just like when the computer got hit with ransomware.

You don't read tech blogs. But I do and I read them everyday for Linux and Windows 7. Since you didn't read any of the tech blogs for these updates which were affecting Windows 7 (and I think Windows 10), I have a feeling you'll start reading a few tech blogs from now on when Microsoft starts sending out Windows Updates. As they say, "Pain is an excellent teacher". But since you're a power user, you might not have had much pain. Since you could fix the problem with your computer relatively quickly, it was more like an irritation for you. At least I'm guessing it was an irritation.

Now, if you give a heads up about bad Microsoft updates or you don't give a heads up, that is totally your decision. When it comes to bad Microsoft's Windows updates, if you don't give a warning, it will affect some of your users on here, but not me. I read those tech blogs daily, especially when it comes to Microsoft's Windows Updates because I take care of my sister-in-laws computer since she runs Windows 7 everyday. She'll install Windows Updates, but not when they are released or if she finds them on her computer since I have "check for updates but let me decide to download and install them". She calls me and since I already know about some "suspect" KB updates from Microsoft before hand from reading the tech blogs like gHacks, I do her Windows Updates via Teamviewer since she lives 221 miles from me.

Yesterday I took control of her computer and when I saw "suspect child" KB4480970 in her updates, I unchecked the box to the left of the update, then right clicked on the update to highlight it which also brings up a context menu and left clicked on the word, "Hide" in the context menu to keep this update from installing on her computer. She didn't have KB4480960 in her updates, but if she had, I would have hid that update too. If I recall, I only installed 3 KB updates on her computer. All of the "Optional" updates which were not checked, I hid all of them also.

I've been taking care of her computer for the last 4 years (now heading for 5 years) and she has never had a problem with her Windows Updates mainly because, as they say, "I do my homework".
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-01-11, 10:16

Night Wing wrote:You don't read tech blogs. But I do and I read them everyday for Linux and Windows 7. Since you didn't read any of the tech blogs for these updates which were affecting Windows 7 (and I think Windows 10), I have a feeling you'll start reading a few tech blogs from now on when Microsoft starts sending out Windows Updates.
You assume wrong. I don't have time to sink into reading tech blogs because I do have work to do in my regular days.
Night Wing wrote:Yesterday I took control of her computer and when I saw "suspect child" KB4480970 in her updates,[...] "Hide" in the context menu to keep this update from installing on her computer.
Congratulations, you have prevented an important security update that fixes critical vulnerabilities from being installed. Now if you would have read my OP properly and understood it, you would have known that this KB only breaks networking if the updated machine requires hosting network shares or needs RDP remote access, and that it can be fixed with a simple registry setting prior to or after the update. Ignoring the solution I posted there and instead not installing the update has prevented known security issues from being fixed.
maybe you should re-evaluate how you respond to these kinds of things.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by Night Wing » 2019-01-11, 14:02

Moonchild wrote:You assume wrong. I don't have time to sink into reading tech blogs because I do have work to do in my regular days.

There is an old adage and it goes like this; "If you don't have the time, then you find a way to make the time" because February's Patch Tuesday Windows Updates will arrive on February 12th and I'm sure you don't want to have a repeat with what happened on January's updates on your production machine. And if you want to tell me Windows has a huge user base compared to Mint's user base, I will agree with that. But with such a huge Windows user base, CEO Nadella should never have gotten rid of his QA people who tested those updates.
Night Wing wrote:Yesterday I took control of her computer and when I saw "suspect child" KB4480970 in her updates,[...] "Hide" in the context menu to keep this update from installing on her computer.
Congratulations, you have prevented an important security update that fixes critical vulnerabilities from being installed. Now if you would have read my OP properly and understood it, you would have known that this KB only breaks networking if the updated machine requires hosting network shares or needs RDP remote access, and that it can be fixed with a simple registry setting prior to or after the update. Ignoring the solution I posted there and instead not installing the update has prevented known security issues from being fixed.
maybe you should re-evaluate how you respond to these kinds of things.
And a security window update which can cause a headache as it did for you, is as "useless as a teat on a wild boar". As for the the simple registry fix, this is the realm of a power user and not everyone, which includes me, are power users. Computer illiterate and non technical people shouldn't have to go into the registry to fix a security update from Microsoft, which is checked by default and then find out there is a problem with said security update upon the computer's reboot. Udates which are checked by default should have been tested at Microsoft "first" instead of releasing the bad update to meet a calendar deadline. Micorsoft updates now are a "release the updates and HOPE the updates don't cause a lot of damage".

When it comes to me, just keep in mind I don't run Windows 7 as my daily driver operating system on any of my four computers. Windows 7 is my backup operating system. My daily driver operating system wise is the linux Mint distro. The Mint updates are more reliable than Windows updates. Windows updates have been flaky for a few years, but ever since Windows 10 came along, those updates with the Cumulative and Quality Rollups combining many updates into one update both Windows 10 (and for Windows 7 which I think happened in October of 2016), the "all or none" approach, have been sorry from the get go.

As for my sister-in-law computer, she hasn't had any problems with her computer since I've been helping her. So you keep doing what you're doing and I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. These will be my last comments in this thread. As far as I'm concerned, since neither of us is going to change our ways of doing things, this is "end of discussion" time between you and me.
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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by yami_ » 2019-01-11, 14:46

Night Wing wrote:As for the the simple registry fix, this is the realm of a power user and not everyone, which includes me, are power users. Computer illiterate and non technical people shouldn't have to go into the registry to fix a security update from Microsoft
Two points:
  1. Both SMBv2 and RDP are not intended to be used by non-power users
  2. AFAIK both SMBv2 server and RDP server are not included in non-power user versions of Windows (and even if your Windows edition supports those they are disabled by default)
Do not get me wrong, those two features should not be broken by this update. However there is no reason to refuse to install this update if you do not use those features.

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Re: WARNING: Jan 2019 Windows 7 update breaks networking

Unread post by hitokage » 2019-01-14, 12:42

Microsoft posted a fix on Friday, but it is only available from the Microsoft Update Catalog and not through Windows Update - KB 4487345. I found out about this from Woody Leonhard's website AskWoody which I follow to watch for problems (and fixes) with Microsoft's updates.

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