14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently rolled out a new update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2, this time as a hotfix for issues caused by patches KB4088875 and KB4088878.
The new update is KB4099950 and it corrects a bug that created a new Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) with default settings, thus replacing the existing adapter and breaking down network connections. Microsoft says that if this happens, static IP address settings are lost and the problem was experienced on both physical computers and virtual machines created with VMWare.
“A new Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) that has default settings may replace the previously existing NIC, causing network issues after you apply this update. Any custom settings on the previous NIC persist in the registry but are unused,” Microsoft says.
While this particular patch does solve the problem introduced by the two updates, it’s very important to know that KB4099950 must be installed before KB4088875 and KB4088878, and not after, as you’d normally expect in the case of a hotfix.
The new patch is shipped via Windows Update for supported systems, but it’s also available as a manual download from the Microsoft Update Catalog website here.
Botched updates
The March 2018 Patch Tuesday rollout has proved to be quite a roller coaster for Windows users across the world, as the updates that Microsoft released last month caused quite a plethora of issues on these systems.
Windows 10 cumulative updates failed to install, while the Windows 7 monthly rollup came from the very beginning with several known issues, with the list then expanded with other bugs as more users reported them.
The next Patch Tuesday kicks off in a week, and Microsoft will once again ship security updates to all supported Windows versions, hopefully with fewer bugs and a smoother install experience for everyone.