14 DAY TRIAL // UPDATE, January 9: Microsoft confirmed the issue and pulled the update until a fix is ready. Original article below.
Microsoft was one of the first companies to ship Meltdown and Spectre patches for all Windows versions that are still getting support, yet it turns out that at least two of these updates are doing more harm than good.
After we reported last week that Windows 10 cumulative update KB4056892 fails to install on AMD Athlon 64 X2 systems, it appears that Windows 7 PCs with the same hardware configuration are affected as well, as their own Meltdown and Spectre fix fails to install and causes BSODs.
The error that Windows 7 quality rollup KB4056894 is causing is BSOD stop: 0x000000c4 and none of the common workarounds seem to do the trick, with posts online indicating that removing the patch and hiding it until a fix is release is the only way to go.
Removing the botched update
Windows 7 users discuss this issue on TechNet, with some believing that the BSOD is caused by compatibility issues with the installed antivirus software - Microsoft said that Meltdown and Spectre patches are only shipped to systems running compatible antivirus. However, this doesn’t appear to be the problem, as some Windows 7 users said they aren’t running any third-party security solution or used Microsoft’s special registry key to allow the update.
Posts on Reddit and on the Microsoft Community forums indicate this is a widespread issue and uninstalling the patch causing the BSOD is the only option, though this means systems would remain vulnerable to Meltdown and Spectre attacks.
To remove the update on a system that’s getting the BSOD, you need to enter the “Repair Your Computer” screen on startup (either by pressing F8 or the corresponding key depending on device manufacturer), open a command prompt window and enter the following two commands one by one (credits for this workaround go to reddit user zip369):
dir d:
dism /image:d:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_RollupFix~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~7601.24002.1.4 /norestart
As far as the botched Windows 10 update is concerned, we’re being told that Microsoft is investigating and a fix could land as soon as tomorrow on Patch Tuesday.
Thanks for the heads-up, Ulrich!