Microsoft released the security update KB4524244 as a part of February 2020 Patch Tuesday. This was a standalone security update that was not included in the actual cumulative update. The release date was 11th February 2020.
KB4524244 is a security update that fixes a single vulnerability in third-party UEFI boot managers which could make the system insecure. But unfortunately, this update caused a lot of chaos and some serious issues for users.
In this article, we will discuss the issues with this update, list of affected Windows versions and how to remove this update from your system.
Issues with KB4524244 update
I installed this update on my test as well as production systems but didn’t face any problem. But there is a lot list of users in Microsoft forums and Reddit reporting that this update was causing problems for them.
Upon further investigation, we can now say that some specific types of systems were affected by this update.
Some users were having install issues with this update. Whenever they ran Windows Update, they would encounter an error 0x800F0922 aborting the update installation.
For me, these are the luckiest users as Microsoft pulled this update from their catalog on 15th February 2020 and announced that they will not offer it again.
By the way, the issues with Windows Updates have increased considerably in the last few years and the monthly rollup or security updates from Microsoft are not at all reliable. That is why users are always advised to wait for a few days before installing the updates, even the security-only updates.
Most of the impacted users were using HP laptops with AMD processors. After installing this update, the AMD systems would prevent booting if the HP Sure Start Secure Boot Key Protection was enabled.
Even if this update is installed successfully, it creates problems for the users. For example, according to Microsoft:
“Reset this PC” feature might failUsing the “Reset this PC” feature, also called “Push Button Reset” or PBR, might fail. You might restart into recovery with “Choose an option” at the top of the screen with various options or you might restart to your desktop and receive the error “There was a problem resetting your PC”.
Microsoft Docs
So it is always advisable to uninstall this update to prevent further damage. You can see the uninstall instructions below.
List of affect Windows versions
Here is the list of Windows versions which are affected by this update issue including Windows 10 and Windows Server:
| Client | Server |
| Windows 10 Version 1909 | Windows Server Version 1909 |
| Windows 10 Version 1903 | Windows Server Version 1903 |
| Windows 10 Version 1809 | Windows Server 2019 |
| Windows 10 Version 1803 | Windows Server Version 1803 |
| Windows 10 Version 1709 | Windows Server Version 1709 |
| Windows 10 Version 1607 | Windows Server 2016 |
| Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 | |
| Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016 |
Uninstall KB4524244
Since Microsoft has already removed this update from the Microsoft update catalog and WSUS, it is wise to uninstall this update. Here is the announcement from Microsoft:
The standalone security update, KB4524244 has been removed and will not re-offered from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Update Catalog. Note This does not affect any other update, including Latest Cumulative Update (LCU), Monthly Rollup or Security Only update.
Microsoft Docs
Follow the steps below to uninstall KB4524244 update:
- Go to Windows Settings (Windows key + i) –> Update & Security.
- Under Windows Update, click on View update history.
- Make sure you see KB4524244 under Quality Updates.
- Once confirmed, click on Uninstall updates.
- Select Security Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4524244) and press Uninstall.
- Press Yes to confirm the uninstallation process.
It will take a few moments for the process to complete. You may restart your system to make sure all the remnants of the update are gone.
How is your experience with this Windows update? Have you uninstalled it even after installing it successfully?
