Microsoft Warns of New Printing Problems with Update

If you install the optional preview updates, you may have problems with printers again. The company says an update that Microsoft made last year to fix that has been rolled back in the new version.

The problem that Microsoft is now warning about is one in Windows Server. Users of various Windows Server versions noticed in July last year that certain printers stopped working after a security update to their Windows domain controller. This had to do with the security code in those devices, which was not (anymore) compatible with Windows Server. This involved printers on which you must first prove your identity via a smart card.

A patch was supposed to fix that problem last year. But that (seemingly temporary) code is rolled back in the current update. This is because Microsoft now requires using devices with the correct certifications and support. This can lead to problems with scanners and printers that are not compatible. The temporary Patch is currently being removed in an optional update, but users of just about all versions of Windows Server will get the same update in the next Patch Tuesday, on August 9, 2022.

The current code was an offshoot of last year’s problems when various crashes and vulnerabilities plagued users of multiple Windows versions. For example, an update to Windows 10 caused the operating system to crash when using a network printer.

In July, a zero-day vulnerability was revealed in the Windows Print Spooler, which made it possible to run code remotely on all kinds of Windows devices. It is probably the tightened security measures that Microsoft took in response that ensure that certain printers are no longer usable.