Microsoft withdraws another buggy update

Summary: A non-patch security update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 was causing systems to reboot. It's been a rough few months for Microsoft's update quality control.

Microsoft has withdrawn an update released this past Tuesday due to user reports of system reboots after installation.

The update released as described in Microsoft Security Advisory 2949927 added SHA-2 hash algorithm signing and verification for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It was one of three proactive security feature updates released on Tuesday in addition to the eight patches of Windows and Office.

On Friday, October 17 Microsoft revised the 2949927 advisory with the following statement:

Removed Download Center links for Microsoft security update 2949927. Microsoft recommends that customers experiencing issues uninstall this update.

Microsoft is investigating behavior associated with this update, and will update the advisory when more information becomes available.

The second proactive update (2977292) enhanced the Microsoft Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) implementation in several versions of Windows by enabling the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.1 or 1.2. The third (2871997) adds a restricted admin mode for Remote Desktop Connection and Remote Desktop Protocol.

Stability problems with other October Microsoft updates were mentioned in a sardonic InfoWorld story. Microsoft hasn't commented publicly on problems in other updates.

It's been a rough few months for Microsoft's update quality control. September updates for Lync and OneDrive for Business were withdrawn because of bugs in the updates. The August patches were an even bigger mess with four updates withdrawn.

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-withd...te-7000034819/