Microsoft has suspended the rollout of Windows 10 cumulative update KB5001649, possibly due to installation issues and reported crashes. Microsoft now offers the previously released emergency update KB5001567 instead.
The March 2021 updates were a complete mess when printing, with the update after the update causing new issues to appear.
After the release of Windows 10 cumulative updates KB5000802 and KB5000808 of March 2021, users started experiencing “APC_INDEX_MISMATCH for win32kfull.sys” BSOD crashes when printing. Other users have experienced various issues, such as blank pages, black bars in prints, and background graphics not printing.
To resolve these issues, Microsoft released the Out of Band Emergency Update KB5001567 on March 15. While this update fixes the bug causing Windows 10 to crash when printing, it does not fix other issues that users experience.
The updates caused a lack of text and graphics when printing jobs on local Zebra industrial label printers (usb) – various models. Once KB was uninstalled, all prints were normalized . Pay attention to KB5000802, KB5000808, KB5000809 and KB5000822 depending on the version of Windows 10, “one user reported these printing issues in one of our articles.
To resolve the remaining issues, Microsoft released a second Emergency OOB update on March 18, called KB5001649. This update was supposed to fix formatting issues, missing graphics, blank pages, or black bars on printed pages.
Microsoft released this update through Windows Update as an optional update and replaced the previously offered update KB5001567 as shown below.
Microsoft Suspends Deployment of KB5001649 Print Patch
As of today, Microsoft appears to have discontinued the rollout of KB5001649 because it is no longer available on one of our devices that were previously offered the update.
Instead, when checking for Windows Update, update KB5001567 released earlier this week is now offered to the same devices. As KB5001649 replaced KB5001567, the only explanation is that KB5001649 is no longer offered through Windows Update.
Windows Latest and BornCity have also confirmed this break from update KB5001649.
Microsoft has not provided any official reason for the hiatus, and support bulletin KB5001649 has not been updated with any information. Additionally, the update is still available through the Microsoft Update Catalog, but no longer through Windows Update.
Deployment was probably halted due to the many reports [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Users receiving a “We could not install this update, but you can try again (0x80070541)” error when trying to install the update.
Another possible reason is that users still get stuck while printing with this update installed.
“It didn’t work for the instance I had today. I ran KB5001649, but when I tried to print (Kyocera TaskAlfa) the system crashed. I go back to disabling the updates for the time being by manually removing, ”one reader reported in our articles.
Unless you are having trouble printing, it may make more sense to suspend these optional non-security updates until Microsoft can provide additional information.
BleepingComputer has contacted Microsoft to inquire as to why the update rollout has been paused but has not yet received a response.
