Microsoft Offers an Update on Windows 10 Anniversary Update Issues … No, Not That Kind of Update

Microsoft says it is still working on the freeze issues that are bedeviling some Windows 10 users who install the Anniversary Update. And it has provided a few more workarounds, plus a peek at other issues Windows 10 users are reporting.

Microsoft has been working to solve the mysterious freeze issue—which it says only a “small number” of users have experienced—since at least last week. And as I noted on over the weekend, customers lucky enough to find the right support thread on Microsoft.com have even received a few workarounds.

There’s still no cumulative update that will simply fix these and other problems facing Windows 10 users who install the Anniversary Update (and in doing so advance their OS to version 1607). But Microsoft hasprovided an update, so to speak, about where it is in solving the problem. And it has communicated a few other issues that customers are reporting.

“We are looking into why a small set of users with the two drive configuration (SSD as OS with a second data drive) are experiencing [the freeze issue] while the majority with the same configuration proceed as normal,” Microsoft explains in the support forum. “In addition to the workaround[s] mentioned [previously], the community has also reported a number of their own solutions.”

These include:

Sign-in to a second account. The act of simply signing in to a second account on the same PC—you may have to actually create that account first, of course—seems to “fix” the first one in some cases.

Install the latest version of your AV solution. If you’re using third-party AV, you can try uninstalling it and then installing the latest version.

In addition to the freeze issue, which does appear to impact a very specific configuration, Microsoft has also identified the following other Windows 10/Anniversary Update issues. The links will take you to the corresponding support thread on Microsoft.com. (I’ve edited the titles to be more easily understood.)

• Black screen after installing the Windows 10 Anniversary Update– Disabling Stardock Windows Blinds 10 fixed the problem.
• Surface Pro 4 CPU clock speed increased – I assume the fan noise tipped him off. But there’s a reg file fix in the thread that lets you change how the CPU works when it is plugged in or on battery power.
• Slow boot times after installing Windows 10 Anniversary Update – No solution yet.
• Windows 10 Anniversary Update freezes during install – A Microsoft support engineer recommends a number of different methods for fixing this in the support thread.

“Please know we are listening,” the Microsoft thread claims in perhaps the most futile gesture at civility I’ve seen this week. 🙂