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New Windows 10 1809 block: Microsoft halts update if you use flawed Intel drivers

Microsoft puts another block on the Windows 10 1809 rollout and says it's all part of its "controlled approach".
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

The latest group that Microsoft has blocked from receiving the Windows 10 October 2018 Update are users with a set of incompatible Intel display drivers.

Some users who update to Windows 10 version 1089 may find that external displays lose sound. Whether users are impacted depends on whether their PC OEM activated unsupported features in two versions of an Intel Audio Display Driver.

According to Microsoft, Intel "inadvertently" released two versions of a display driver to OEMs, which in turn "accidentally turned on unsupported features in Windows".

Affected users will notice that they're not getting any sound from a monitor or television connected to the Windows 10 PC via HDMI, USB-C, or DisplayPort.

The update is blocked for users with Intel display drivers versions 24.20.100.6344 and 24.20.100.6345. Microsoft has provided instructions on its answers forum to check if your PC is affected.

"Microsoft is working with Intel to expire these display drivers, including coordinating with OEMs, and will provide an update on the resolution in an upcoming release," the company said.

Microsoft emphasizes this issue is different from the one affecting the Intel Smart Sound Technology (ISST) Driver, which again was inadvertently released by Intel and caused problems with audio on Windows 10 1809 and 1803 PCs.

Before halting the Windows 10 1809 update due to the data-deletion bug, Microsoft was blocking the update for devices with certain versions of an Intel Audio Display device driver. That issue was over-utilizing the processor and draining the battery.

Last week Microsoft blocked the Windows 10 1809 update for PCs with iCloud for Windows due to an incompatibility issue. The company is also working on a fix for a known issue affecting mapped drives, which it expects to deliver by the end of November.

SEE: 50 time-saving tips to speed your work in Microsoft Office (free PDF)

The growing list of blocks on the 1809 update may seem like Microsoft hasn't got a grip of the testing and quality problems that led to it pulling the release for over a month.

But according to Microsoft, the blocks are all part of its "controlled rollout approach" to Window 10 1809.

"Blocking the availability of a Windows 10 feature update to devices we know will experience issues is a key aspect of our controlled rollout approach to provide users with a great update experience," Microsoft says on its support page.

On resuming the Windows 1809 rollout on November 13, Microsoft promised it was taking a more measured and controlled approach to the rollout compared with the April Update, version 1803, which is its fastest Windows 10 rollout on record.

It also drew attention to the complexity of the Windows driver ecosystem, which consists of "16 million unique hardware/driver combinations".

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