by Martin Brinkmann on October 12, 2019 in Windows – Last Update: October 12, 2019 – 5 comments
Some Windows 10 users reported issues with the Windows 10 Start Menu after installing the KB4517389 on computer systems running the operating system. Microsoft released the cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1903 and Windows Server 1903 on October 8, 2019 as part of the company’s monthly Patch Tuesday.
The update fixed several security issues in Windows 10 version 1903 and was the only supported consumer version of Windows 10 without any listed known issues.
While Microsoft listed no known issues, reports on third-party sites suggested that issues were experienced on some devices after installing the most recent update. Woody Leonhard listed several reported issues including search issues, Edge and Outlook startup issues, VMWare issues, and a Start Menu issue. The Start Menu throws a critical error when it is used on affected machines.
Microsoft has not acknowledged these issues on the update’s support page or the Known Issues and notifications page on the company’s Docs website.
It may come as a surprise to Windows administrators and users — or not — that Microsoft did acknowledge the Start Menu issue recently. The company has not done so in official places that most administrators and users frequent, on the other hand.
The confirmation has been published on Microsoft’s Answers forum as a reply to a user who reported the Start Menu issue on October 8, 2019.
Microsoft employee PaulSey acknowledged the Start Menu issue on October 12, 2019. He stated that Microsoft was working on a fix and that users could expect the fix to be released later this month.
We are aware of this issue and estimate a resolution to be released in late October.
Late October could indicate that Microsoft hopes to have a patch ready when it releases the second batch of patches for supported versions of Windows 10 in October.
Closing Words
Acknowledgement of issues is welcome as it provides administrators and users with status information about these issues. In this case, Microsoft reveals that it is aware of the issue and that it plans to release a patch this month.
The problem with the acknowledgement is that Microsoft revealed it in the Answers forum only so that most administrators and users are not aware of the official acknowledgment of the issue. The company knows about the issue but does not list it as a known issue on the update’s support page or the general known issues page, and that is a problem.
It is certainly possible that Microsoft will update the support page to list the issue on that page but the timing would still be off as most customers would probably expect that the known issues on the official support page get updated before any other confirmation of issues.
Now you: what is your take on this?