Update a Windows machine whilst it has an SD card or USB stick in it and you could suffer what Microsoft is terming “inappropriate drive reassignment” owing to a flaw in in the May 2019 update, the company said today; the latest in a series of Windows update issues.
It is blocking the updates for customers until they’ve removed all devices, the company warned, saying the drive reassignment could impact internal drives and not just external ones that trigger the issue.
The issue has yet to be fixed and will be resolved in a future servicing update for Windows 10, Microsoft said.
The bug (which could result in drive G being reassigned as drive H, for example) is just the latest update issue to assail the company. It comes after Microsoft promised “significantly expanded” interaction with original equipment makers (OEMs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) ahead of major Windows updates in future.
Read this: Microsoft Promises Closer Coordination with OEMs, Software Vendors After Botched Update
The problem appears to only occur if the user has a SD card or a USB stick inserted into their PC. In order to get ahead of this potential problem Microsoft has decided to forcefully stop any computer with the 2018 April V1803 and October V1809 updates from downloading the latest patch.
Microsoft have warned that this issue may not be limited to removable devices as internal hard drives may also be affected.
For Windows Insiders the issue is resolved in build 18877.
Microsoft made it clear that it has heard user feedback over a range of recent update issues and recently rolled out a range of new features to address customer concerns.
Starting in May this year, for example, users will have more control over when their system initiates the latest Microsoft update. The comments came after Version 1809, which debuted in October last year, exhibited severe bugs and subsequently became the first major Windows update to face a recall for quality reasons.
