Earlier this week, Microsoft rolled out its February 2020 Patch Tuesday updates. As we reported yesterday, the rollup included some important fixes, including patching a critical Internet Explorer zero-day. However, it seems some aspects of this months Patch Tuesday are causing problems.
Specifically, users of the May 2019 Update and November 2019 Update are facing some critical issues. Users have taken to Microsoft’s official Forums to discuss these problems.
The first issue involves desktop files randomly disappearing, while the Start Menu layout and desktop wallpapers are randomly reverting to default. On the forum, the first post describes how the problem is affecting users.
“Hello. Sorry to post a random question here, but a bit new at this. Just installed the latest Feb 2020 Windows 10 updates. Upon completion it appears to have reset the display to default windows system. That is, all custom icons missing, background returned to windows logo, would not recognise my logon, set a temp logon.”
The reason for Windows reverting some aspects to default seems to stem from the platform booting with a temporary profile. No workaround has been found yet so if you have the problem you may have to remove the updates.
Failing to Boot
As Windows Latest has found, this is because Windows 10 is booting with a temporary user profile which removes shortcuts and icons from the desktop and Start menu.
Another problem observed by users is arguable more problematic because it is locking them out of their PC. According to Wccftech, the problem appears to be affecting Windows 10 PCs running AMD CPUs. However, Windows is also not booting on HP machines, leaving millions without access to their PC.
Users report restarting the machine various times can solve the problem. Again, these issues are affecting users on the last two feature builds, the May 2019 and November 2019 updates.
