Windows 10 KB5004237 & KB5004245 cumulative updates released

As part of the July 2021 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has released new KB5004237 and KB5004245 cumulative updates for recent versions of Windows. Today's cumulative updates include security fixes for PCs with May 2021 Update, October 2020 Update and May 2020 Update. 

This month's KB5004237 and KB5004245 cumulative updates are part of the mandatory Patch Tuesday updates that contain numerous bug fixes and performance enhancements. Also included are security updates for 117 vulnerabilities in the OS, browsers, core components and other basic functions.

It is critical for Windows users to install these updates as soon as possible as they contain fixes for nine zero-day vulnerabilities, with four actively exploited by threat actors.

Like every Windows Update, you can open the Settings app and click on the Windows Update option to install the patches.

Installing KB5004237 cumulative update via Windows Update

If you own multiple PCs or if you would like to patch the PCs manually, you can learn more about it here.

What's new in Builds 19043.1110, 19042.1110 and 19041.1110

KB5004237 (Build 19043.1110, 19042.1110 and 19041.1110) comes with these bug fixes:

Addresses a remote code execution exploit in the Windows Print Spooler service, known as “PrintNightmare”, as documented in CVE-2021-34527. After installing this and later Windows updates, users who are not administrators can only install signed print drivers to a print server. By default, administrators can install signed and unsigned printer drivers to a print server. The installed root certificates in the system’s Trusted Root Certification Authorities trusts signed drivers. Microsoft recommends that you immediately install this update on all supported Windows client and server operating system, starting with devices that currently host the print server role. You also have the option to configure the RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators registry setting to prevent non-administrators from installing signed printer drivers on a print server. For more information, see KB5005010.

Updates an issue in a small subset of users that have lower than expected performance in games after installing KB5000842 or later.  

Updates an issue that causes the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) to suddenly stop working while you are typing. 

Updates an issue in which signing in using a PIN fails. The error message is "Something happened and your PIN isn’t available. Click to set up your PIN again."

Updates an issue that, in certain cases, takes you out of the exclusive virtual reality (VR) app and back to Windows Mixed Reality Home when you press the Windows button on the controller.

Updates an issue that causes blurry text on the news and interests button on the Windows taskbar for some screen resolutions.

Updates an issue with Search box graphics on the Windows taskbar that occurs if you right-click the taskbar and turn off News and interests. This graphics issue is especially visible when using dark mode.

Updates an issue that might prevent you from using your fingerprint to sign in after startup or waking up your device from sleep.

Updates an issue that might cause a high-pitched noise or squeak in certain apps when you play 5.1 Dolby Digital audio using certain audio devices and Windows settings.

Windows 10 version 1909 is getting KB5004245 and it includes the same set of bug fixes highlighted above.

News and Interests feed

This update also fixes the News and Interests issues for everyone.

The "News and Interests" is a news feed based on Microsoft News (MSN) and it will give news stories, sports scores, finance and weather information. However, bug resulted in blurry icons. This has been fixed with today's security updates.