October 2018 should have been an excellent month for Windows 10 but has instead turned into a dire one. The company started this month triumphantly with the launch of Windows October 2018 Update. Since then, Windows 10 has been hit by several issues, one of them causing a halt to the October 2018 Update roll out.
Now, Microsoft is contending with another faulty Windows Update. Namely a buggy audio driver that was sent out by Intel. The issue with the driver is it is overriding existing compatible drivers. Microsoft says the update was unintentionally sent out by the processor giant.
Speaking on its Microsoft Answers forum, the company explains:
“Earlier this week, Intel unintentionally released version 9.21.00.3755 of the Intel Smart Sound Technology (ISST) Driver through Windows Update, and inadvertently offered it to a range of devices running Window 10 version 1803 or 1809.”
If your device contained a compatible audio driver, the new driver overrode it and caused audio to stop working.”
At least Microsoft can console itself with the fact this problem is Intel's fault. The pulled October 2018 Update (version 1809) was entirely Microsoft's fault, as the manual update was deleting user files.
Quick Fix
Intel's accidental driver update is affecting those early adopters who updated to version 1809 but is also hitting users running version 1803 (April 2018 Update). Users on those builds have described an error message reading a ‘No Audio Output Device is Installed'.
Over the weekend, Microsoft sent out update KB4468550 which fixes the Intel drivers.
“This update addresses an issue where after installing the Intel Smart Sound Technology driver (version 09.21.00.3755) via Windows Update or manually, computer audio may stop working,” Microsoft explains.
While this problem has been solved, Windows 10 version 1809 has yet to resume its roll out. Microsoft is currently testing a fix on the Inside before restating the update.
