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Microsoft has recently addressed two long-standing issues plaguing Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025, including a fix for the Task Manager issue that was introduced in the October 2024 non-security preview update. The fixes were included in KB5046617 and are part of Microsoft's ongoing efforts to improve its quality control processes.
Microsoft has released KB5046617, addressing two long-standing issues in Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025. The update includes a fix for the Task Manager issue introduced in October 2024. A safeguard hold was lifted on November 8 after an issue with fingerprint sensors failing to unlock devices was resolved. Windows Server 2025 had issues with automatic upgrades, which Microsoft has since mitigated. The patch also resolves Dev Drive access issues for Windows Subsystem for Linux and long installation delays. A temporary workaround involved limiting logical processors per server to resolve the issue on servers with 256 or more processors.
Microsoft has recently addressed two long-standing issues plaguing Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025, including a fix for the Task Manager issue that was introduced in the October 2024 non-security preview update. The fixes were included in KB5046617, which is not only a security update but also contains several "quality improvements." In this article, we will delve into the world of automated testing and quality improvements as Microsoft resolves issues with its Windows operating systems.
In recent weeks, Microsoft has been gradually making its way through the growing list of known issues with Windows 11 24H2. Some of these issues resulted in update blocks or safeguard holds being put in place to stop affected users stumbling over broken code. One such issue involved some fingerprint sensors failing to unlock devices, which was resolved in October. However, Microsoft kept the safeguard in place until November 8.
The list of known issues with Windows Server is not as lengthy. In addition to the logical processor count issue, it also documents the unexpected upgrade problem where some administrators found Windows Server 2019 and 2022 systems automatically upgraded to Windows Server 2025. Microsoft noted that the problem had been "mitigated," although one third-party vendor told The Register that it appeared the tech giant had "disabled the upgrade for now and will turn them [sic] back on at a later date."
In the case of KB5046617, the patch also deals with Dev Drive access issues for Windows Subsystem for Linux and a mystery delay in installations of up to 40 minutes "for some hardware configurations." While Microsoft did not spell it out in the release notes for KB5046617, the patch also resolved difficulties Windows Server 2025 had on servers with 256 or more logical processors. Users reported installations failing, restart times measured in hours, or blue screens starting an application.
A temporary workaround was to limit the number of logical processors per server – less than ideal for administrators. The patch resolves the issue, according to Redmond.
The task manager bug that KB5046617 fixes is a fairly severe one. According to Dave Plummer, the author of the original Task Manager, who has long since retired from Microsoft, "I can see how people might not have noticed it in test, as how often do you look at that count?" However, Plummer also acknowledged that this issue could be considered a fairly severe bug.
Plummer explained that he doubted whether automated testing had caught the issue. He noted that automated tests for such issues are typically based on OCR (Optical Character Recognition) of status bar output, which might not have caught the problem. "Sure didn’t in my day, it was all manual testing…," Plummer said.
The resolution of this bug and several others like it marks an important step forward for Microsoft as it continues to improve its quality control processes. While automated testing can catch many issues, there will always be cases where manual testing is necessary.
In the future, we can expect more updates from Microsoft as they continue to address known issues with their Windows operating systems. With each update comes a new opportunity for improvement and growth.
Related Information:
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/11/13/microsoft_task_manager_patch_tuesday/
Published: Wed Nov 13 15:18:17 2024 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
