Botched Microsoft update knocks Windows 8, 10 PCs offline – regardless of ISP

[Ole Shae]

 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/12/ongoing_windows_8_10_dhcp_problems_affecting_all_isps/

 

Quote

A broken software update for Windows 8 and 10 is knackering internet connectivity for users of several ISPs in the UK, Europe and quite likely beyond.

Virgin Media in Blighty is the latest provider to confirm the dodgy code is knocking a number of its customers offline. Proximus in Belgium also says a Windows 10 update is breaking network access.

The problem emerged last week, when BT and Plusnet in the UK admitted that computers running Microsoft's latest patches are losing network connectivity due to what appears to be a problem with their Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) clients.

Essentially, the PCs cannot automatically pick up their LAN-side IP address, router address and DNS settings from their broadband routers, causing them to drop off the internet and disappear from other devices on their network.

This happens regardless of ISP and broadband box, and is understood to be caused by a bad automatically installed Windows Update patch. If you configure your box to use static addresses, you should be OK, or you can run the following the commands to reset the operating system's networking components:       

netsh winsock reset catalog
netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

Quote

In a message to subscribers on Sunday, Virgin Media advised that some Windows 10 users were experiencing difficulty connecting to the internet after installing the latest update.

"Microsoft are aware and investigating," it said.

One reader, Adam Comben, got in touch with The Register to report: "We run a retail repair shop and have seen around 25 instances of this since Thursday. It doesn’t matter what ISP or router they’ve been using – we’ve had TalkTalk, BT, Plusnet, Sky, you name it. All with the same problem, they will not obtain an IP via DHCP."

He said the issue is definitely a DHCP problem caused by a broken Windows Update, "although we’ve not been able to identify the cause, it’s an extremely quick fix."

He added: "It’s caused a great deal of disruption for our business customers as it required a site visit for those we couldn’t talk through it on the phone."

The cause of the bug is so far unclear, although Plusnet has blamed an unspecified “third-party update”. The main issue appears to be a recent Windows Update release – but it is hard to tell which one is at fault because Redmond is so secretive about exactly what's inside each upgrade bundle.

The Register has repeatedly asked Microsoft for an explanation. The software giant has remained silent. ®

so far I have not ran into this problem however there is a fix for this now provided in the article

Edited December 14, 2016 by Blade of Grass
Fixed for night theme

[dragosudeki]

Had that problem recently, (might be because of Windows Update) and the first thing I did was the netsh winsock reset stuff. Guess it wasn't just me who had a similar problem.

[Ole Shae]

3 minutes ago, dragosudeki said:

Had that problem recently, (might be because of Windows Update) and the first thing I did was the netsh winsock reset stuff. Guess it wasn't just me who had a similar problem.

im just glad that i know about this before I have encountered this issue at work 

[SCHISCHKA]

Yep iv always been a static IP fanboy. There's going to be a lot of confused and angry people over the age of thirty from this.

[Bsmith]

might be update KB3200970, had the same problem, removed the update and everything was fine, when I tried to check microsoft's site about information they gave me a 404 page thou so I don't know.

[Ole Shae]

1 minute ago, Bsmith said:

might be update KB3200970, had the same problem, removed the update and everything was fine, when I tried to check microsoft's site about information they gave me a 404 page thou so I don't know.

 i assume that they are trying to do a quiet fix for it 

[Bsmith]

2 minutes ago, Ole Shae said:

 i assume that they are trying to do a quiet fix for it 

sounds like something microsoft would do these days yeah, fuck up a big amount of the userbase and then try to solve it silently.

[jagdtigger]

It seems i made the right call when i disabled windows update(along with intelligent background transfers service or whatever its called) on all of our machines...

[Ryujin2003]

I've had a bunch of clients come in with this. IPCONFIG has been totally useless, and the main fix has been to reset policies. This was obviously before we knew it was a Windows update. x5 PCs in one day was very weird.

 

Accidents happen. This isn't occurring on all PCs, so I doubt it's 100% OS software. It could be driver conflict or compatibility with hardware. I don't think Microsoft is going to "silently" fix this issue. They pulled the update. They will probably fix it and re-release something similar. I don't blame it on Microsoft. With a large enough client base, you're going to get issues occasionally. I have 3 PCs in my house, all got the update, and I've had 0 internet issues.

[NumLock21]

My desktop updated a few days ago, so far it still has internet. Don't know if it has installed that update or not.

 

[Misanthrope]

So tell me again: why is having a potential vulnerability worst than having actual downtime by being forced to constantly upgrade?

[Guest Kloaked]

Another day, another Microsoft bug.

 

In other news...

[vorticalbox]

what is funny is I was just joking today with my partner that Microsoft doesn't test its update, mint for example rates updates from 1-5, one being the most stable.

 

I am so glad I have ditched this train wreck of an OS.

[mynameisjuan]

As a tier 2 at an ISP I can confirm this. Since Thursday we have been receiving 15-20 calls per day of "my internet dont work"...release/renew fixes this. I knew this wasnt just all a coincidence. 

[AresKrieger]

Windows 7 wins again, thanks microsoft for continuing to validate my life choices though I'd have blocked the updates if I switched over.

[SilicateWielder]

53 minutes ago, Ole Shae said:

 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/12/ongoing_windows_8_10_dhcp_problems_affecting_all_isps/

 

so far I have not ran into this problem however there is a fix for this now provided in the article

This bug has been around for a LOOOOOONG time. I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent trying to figure out why my internet wasn't working when everyone else's was.

 

It's one of the reasons why I switched back to Linux.

[Energycore]

I have been doing well to keep my update service disabled then.

[Ole Shae]

17 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I have been doing well to keep my update service disabled then.

i know for a fact that i will have someone come in to my store with this problem its just a matter of time 

[Tam3n]

I had this on my laptop... Reinstalled the network adapter in device manager and it's fixed. I wonder how the affected will receive the automatic fix from Microsoft without internet 

[paddy-stone]

1 hour ago, SCHISCHKA said:

Yep iv always been a static IP fanboy. There's going to be a lot of confused and angry people over the age of thirty from this.

So apparently people under the age of 30 come out of the womb knowing how to set a static IP address? LOL

 

It's got nothing to do with age, it's about whether people are interested enough in computers, and networking in particular TBH... some people that work with computers still wouldn't know jack all about netwrok settings etc, they just know how to render images and use photoshop etc as that's what they're interested in and make a living from.

I personally was in college 22 years ago doing computing/IT, and still learnt all my limited knowledge of networking and hardware etc myself and with friends. We used to play Doom/2 and Command and Conquer in LAN parties at each others houses with one of the PCs acting as the server/Host. The internet was still being born at that stage, so most netoworking we knew was just about connecting to other PCs on the colleges network/home networks and sending brief messages etc. I was never interested in networking much back then as it was very rudimentary from my point of view and had limited uses. Now I am more interested, and have learnt a fair bit, but still only relating to my needs, as most people that don't do networking as a job will never need to know a lot of it.

But really setting a static IP address is very low level and can be taught within like 2 minutes, I taught most of my family and friends to do this years ago, just to stop stupid DHCP problems from cropping up on their network.

[paddy-stone]

1 hour ago, UnbrokenMotion said:

This bug has been around for a LOOOOOONG time. I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent trying to figure out why my internet wasn't working when everyone else's was.

 

It's one of the reasons why I switched back to Linux.

Just having a static IP address would stop this from happening in the first place, no need to switch to linux because of it. Although having linux as a secondary boot could be useful

[SilicateWielder]

49 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Just having a static IP address would stop this from happening in the first place, no need to switch to linux because of it. Although having linux as a secondary boot could be useful

Like I said, that wasn't my only reason for switching. Plus it's not like i'm losing anything in my use case, with Wine I'm still able to run the few programs I use that don't have a Linux port.

[C2dan88]

Appears this bug has not affected me. Using Win10 and use Virgin Media as my ISP.

[Yoinkerman]

If they only had a testing department

 

#Barnacules

[mynameisjuan]

10 minutes ago, Yoinkerman said:

If they only had a testing department

 

#Barnacules

Not everyone is experiencing it. Testing with a handful of people it might of never came up. Hell, it could only be affecting certain, network cards, mobos, driver versions... Its the draw back when developing for thousands of different hardware configurations.