windows 10 systems crashing while printing

[Galdorf]

Lol this Tuesday patches had an unfortunate side effect of causing machines to crash while printing documents i had to un-install them this is really annoying Microsoft uses us as beta testers although it does keep me in business having to fix all these problems.

 

[britechguy]

Re: March 2021 cumulative update: KB5000802/build 19042.867

win10.groups.io

"The following known issue was reported on some tech presses and could affect some folks here:

After installing this update, you might receive an APC_INDEX_MISMATCH error with a blue screen when attempting to print to certain printers in some apps.

Microsoft says they are looking into it."

These things do happen, as it's well-nigh impossible for Microsoft, or any company, to test on all possible hardware configurations now active "in the wild." No matter how often the assertion about "making us beta testers" gets made, it's really not accurate.

This sort of issue has been, and will remain, a fact of life for a very long time to come.

 

[Porthos]

Some of the printer brands known to be impacted by this known issue include Kyocera, Ricoh, and Dymo.+

Microsoft confirms Windows 10 crash issue due to March updates

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 devices might crash with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) when printing under certain conditions after applying the March cumulative updates.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[Sky-Knight]

Microsoft confirms Windows 10 crash issue due to March updates

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 devices might crash with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) when printing under certain conditions after applying the March cumulative updates.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Otherwise known as the unholy trio of printer manufacturers that have never once in their lives produced a decent driver.

 

[HCHTech]

Re: March 2021 cumulative update: KB5000802/build 19042.867

win10.groups.io

Oh, great - MS also released this one as "critical", so I didn't catch this before it went out. Welp, I guess most of my clients don't have unholy trio printers, then! I have a larger client with 3 Kyoceras, but no one has called, so maybe I dodged that bullet.

 

[SAFCasper]

I have a larger client with 3 Kyoceras, but no one has called, so maybe I dodged that bullet.

The universal print driver seems to be unaffected by this update so perhaps they are using that? Works as temporary fix if you have one of the effected models.

 

[britechguy]

MS also released this one as "critical", so I didn't catch this before it went out.

I don't think anyone caught this before it went out.

That's kinda my point. I don't care if it's Microsoft or another OS developer, there is no way in hell that it is possible to test for every possible hardware configuration, and that includes peripherals, that exist in the world, and it hasn't been for a very long time.

If it wasn't caught during in-house testing, nor on the legion of machines being run by Windows Insiders before going out, it's deemed to most likely be just fine. I don't know why anyone who's been in IT for decades would believe that any update being sent out to the entire Windows user base will be completely without any issues on any machines anywhere. It's the norm that a tiny minority of the embedded user base will have issues with virtually any update that goes out. Perfection is an unrealistic expectation.

I won't even get in to the fact that in most cases the issues are the result of something idiosyncratic to a given system, or almost everyone would have the issue and the screaming would be heard very quickly everywhere around the world. That kind of "bad update" almost never happens now since updates of all sorts are released in waves (though the pace of those waves is much faster for security updates) and Microsoft is monitoring telemetry after each wave is released. Really problematic updates end up being stopped dead in their tracks if issues are detected in the wild that were not identified during testing.

 

[Porthos]

Oh, great - MS also released this one as "critical", so I didn't catch this before it went out.

This was the normal CU patch Tuesday update.

 

[HCHTech]

This was the normal CU patch Tuesday update.

It's on the SW Patch management list as critical. I don't think they assign that status, it comes from the original MS release.

 

[phaZed]

I'm inclined to place less blame on MS and more on sh***y drivers and cheap hardware.
APC_Index_Mismatch is an Asynchronous Procedure Call. The Index Mismatch is the parent trying to call/address something it doesn't own(in memory) or never spawned in the first place(maybe it failed?), or it has interrupted a critical process. Almost guaranteed to be shoddy or lacking programming, on the driver side.

Since it's bluescreening, they likely have a kernel-mode APC that is "rudely" interrupting some other critical system process.. since kernel mode APCs work as an interrupt and can occur between almost any two CPU instructions(Ouch). Wonder if they (printer manufacturers) are skimping on some "check code" to make sure they're not stepping all over everything else.

My bet is that MS is tightening up some of their code/security as it pertains to procedure calls, as "Kernel-mode APCs" are basically how you hack with "Process Injection" and perform privilege escalation.

Also, on a side note, a lot of the printer manufacturers will opt for the cheapest or least expensive microprocessors in their printers as they can. That matters because if the mantra is, "we'll do it in software", well, then they start relying on software to do live, time-critical software interrupts for comms and control of the printer... and if it's not timing right, well, problems. Otherwise, they could have got the 32 or 16-bit micro instead of the 8-bit that would do the hardware interrupts, on the micro, in hardware.. not in Windows. (I'm looking at you Dymo!)

 

[Porthos]

It's on the SW Patch management list as critical. I don't think they assign that status, it comes from the original MS release.

Are not all monthly patch Tuesday cumulative updates considered critical by MS.

 

[HCHTech]

Are not all monthly patch Tuesday cumulative updates considered critical by MS.

I'm not sure, to be honest. With patch management, it's a balancing act between holding and releasing updates. We switched late last year to "auto approving" anything marked critical, which saves us time & effort, but adds some risk, of course. In this case, had this update been held, I probably would have held it back from the commercial customers until I knew more about how widespread the printing issue was. Because it was marked critical, though, our current setting just approved it for install on our entire estate (over 600 endpoints). No phone calls yet, so as I said, it looks like I dodged the bullet so far, although some of my install windows are on the weekend. I will take a look at that list today and then decide whether to let it go or not.

 

[Diggs]

I got two calls yesterday from municipalities I support. Both running Ricoh copiers for their printer duties. Uninstalled the update (and set Updates to hold for 3 weeks) and they were good to go.

 

[HCHTech]

Uninstalled the update (and set Updates to hold for 3 weeks)

Was this on a server sharing the printer, or did you have to do this on all of the workstations?

 

[Diggs]

Was this on a server sharing the printer, or did you have to do this on all of the workstations?

Small one-woman offices with a single workstation. I'm not sure if they were network or USB connections.

 

[computertechguy]

Can anyone attest to if their rmm tool applied the patch, or not? This is where they should shine in comparison.

 

[Porthos]

Can anyone attest to if their rmm tool applied the patch, or not? This is where they should shine in comparison.

If the tool is set to install critical updates then yes it will.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I'd rather deal with a few systems BSOD'ing than having all systems forego the security updates present in the roll up.

 

[Porthos]

I'd rather deal with a few systems BSOD'ing than having all systems forego the security updates present in the roll up.

Exactly, this one only affected a few brands, mostly expensive equipment. A few rollbacks, when called, is not too big except in extreme cases of mass deployment of those affected printers.

 

[britechguy]

Not to mention that you know a fix to the issue will be forthcoming.

These things happen, and will always happen. The interactions between not only Windows and the drivers but other factors as well pretty much guarantee it.