News

Microsoft Fixes Windows 10 Internet Connection Problems in Latest Patch

• By Kurt Mackie
• 12/14/2016

This month's security patch from Microsoft included a fix for a widespread Windows 10 Internet connection issue.

The problems connecting to the Internet or Wi-Fi started late last week. Microsoft acknowledged the problems in a discussion forum on Dec. 8, which indicated that "some customers are experiencing difficulty connecting to the Internet." Microsoft's advice, in a Dec. 9 support article, was for users to reboot, but not shutdown their PCs. Users also were directed to look for other possible problem sources, such as a cable modem issues or Internet service provider connection problems.

Today, Microsoft indicated that patch KB3206632, which was released today and included in this month's security bulletin release, is designed to fix the problem. This patch replaces update KB3201845, which reportedly was blamed for the Internet connection problems, although InfoWorld author Woody Leonhard observed that those problems happened two days before the release of KB3201845.

The Internet connection issue only affected devices running "Windows 10 1607 (RS1)," according to Nathan Mercer, a Microsoft technical evangelist, in a Patchmanagement.org list-serve post. But, so far, that's just about all the information Microsoft has provided on the issue.

Microsoft's KB3206632 bulletin isn't too descriptive, although it does indicate a December fix for "a service crash in CDPSVC that in some situations could lead to the machine not being able to acquire an IP address." A description of the problem by The Register had suggested that a Microsoft software update had somehow broken the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol used to issue IP addresses.

Possibly, then, Microsoft has fixed a problem that it never fully described. Description seems to be a past practice abandoned with the new agile Windows 10 software delivery approach.

Microsoft today also released 12 security bulletins in its December patch, with six "Critical" flaws being addressed. The top items on the Microsoft's "exploitability index" this month include a scripting engine memory corruption vulnerability, a browser memory corruption vulnerability and an Office security feature bypass flaw, among others, as described in the December bulletin.