Run for the hills, folks! Microsoft has recently acknowledged a new bug in Windows 10, the only fix for which is to downgrade and go back to the previous version of the operating system.
To get down to specifics, the company has confirmed that certifications might not be present after updating to a new version of the OS. This newest hiccup has been caused by the latest cumulative updates that Redmond shipped.
You can blame the September 2020 batch and newer releases for this.
It just so happens that devices could end up without system and user certificates if they update the operating system with these cumulative updates.
As the software titan explains:
“System and user certificates might be lost when updating a device from Windows 10, version 1809 or later to a later version of Windows 10. Devices will only be impacted if they have already installed any Latest cumulative update (LCU) released September 16, 2020 or later and then proceed to update to a later version of Windows 10 from media or an installation source which does not have an LCU released October 13, 2020 or later integrated.”
Thankfully, not everybody is affected.
Devices that connect directly to Windows Update, or those that use Windows Update for Business have nothing to fear from this bug, simply because they are always getting the latest cumulative update that also includes the most recent fixes.
But managed devices that are updated using outdated bundles or media via an update management tool like Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager are definitely at risk.
This issue affects all versions of Windows 10 released after the October 2018 Update.
Microsoft says that it has already started the work on fixing this bug, and will push a patch once it is available. In the meantime, it can be mitigated by going back to your previous version of Windows, instructions of which are provided here.
