Microsoft releases October Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 10 versions 20H2 and older

Laurent Giret

Windows 10 Logo And Pc

Microsoft has just released new Patch Tuesday updates for all supported versions of Windows 10, including the soon to be released October 2020 Update (20H2). Microsoft has yet to announce when the next Windows 10 feature update will start rolling out to the public, but Windows Insiders in the Beta and Release Preview channel can now download the build 19042.572 (KB4579311) which includes the following fixes:

  • We fixed an issue with a possible elevation of privilege in win32k.
  • We fixed an issue with the Group Policy service that might recursively delete critical files in alphabetic order from %systemroot%systm32. This issue occurs when a policy has been configured to delete cached profiles. These file deletions might cause stop error “0x5A (CRITICAL_SERVICE_FAILED)” boot failures.
  • We fixed an issue with creating null ports using the user interface.
  • Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Microsoft Graphics Component, Windows Media, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Authentication, Windows Virtualization, and Windows Kernel.

The Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004) is also getting a new update today with the build 19041.572 (KB4579311), which brings the same list of fixes as the one for the build 19042.572 mentioned above. However, there is a known issue with this update where when installing a third-party driver, you might receive a “Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software” error message. Moreover, you might also see a “No signature was present in the subject” message when attempting to view the signature properties using Windows Explorer. If you encounter this issue, Microsoft recommends contacting the driver vendor or device manufacturer to ask them to provide updated drivers to correct the issue.

For users still running the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903) or November 2019 Update (version 1909), Microsoft has released the builds 18362.1139 and 18363.1139 (KB4577671), which include the same list of fixes as the one mentioned above. These two builds also share the same aforementioned known issues with some third-party drivers.

The build 17763.1518 (KB4577668) for the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) also shares the same list of fixes and known issues. If you’re still running this old version of Windows 10, it will no longer be supported for Home and Pro users after November, though Microsoft will continue to provide monthly updates for Education and Enterprise users.