This year has not been a good one for Windows 10 updates installing with no problems, and it looks like upgrade woes are far from over with the new KB4586781 cumulative update.
Having been pushed out to Windows 10 users in November, the update brings in a suite of security improvements and fixes for Microsoft’s ever-evolving operating system. But for some uses it’s throwing up some odd error messages, failing to install, and freezing laptops.
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One such error encountered when applying the update, Windows Latest reported, reads: “Some update files are missing or have problems. We’ll try to download the update again later. Error code: (0x8007000d).”
People who've encountered the errors and crashes with the KB4586781 cumulative update have received variations of that message. And others have reported that the update simply takes a long time to install and then throws up an error message.
“Still stuck on 1909. One day an update will be available for me. It's crazy, Big Sur came out yesterday and my Mac already updated, but my Windows computer is still waiting on the second most recent update,” one Reddit user said.
But the update also seems to cause other problems such as messing with user settings, with another Reddit user noting: “Recent Windows update at work pissed me off today by obliterating all user settings, dozens of desktop shortcuts and replacing my user login account as though I started it from scratch. I decided to just go home and save the crappy day for Monday.”
We have the KB4586781 cumulative update installed on a 2018 HP Spectre x360 15, and it now seems to be running fine. However, before it appeared to be installed, the 2-in-1 laptop suddenly blue-screened. Once rebooted, it moved onto the standard screen for when Windows 10 installs an update before it fully boots into the desktop.
We can’t say for sure if the update did cause this BSOD, but it seems very likely that the crash wasn’t simply a coincidence. And such problems have popped up before on this machine when applying a new Windows 10 update. Luckily, the crash didn't cause any data loss, but it was still a nasty thing to deal with mid-way through a working day.
If you are worried about such updates, then you can turn off automatic updates or pause the installation of KB4586781 cumulative update, until a more stable version is released. Just bear in mind that the update does apply some important security features to Windows 10, so by not installing the update you could miss out on those.
The whole situation and the fact that other 2020 Windows 10 updates have caused problems, is somewhat of an indication that Microsoft might need to apply a little more quality control and testing to its future Windows 10 updates.
