Microsoft released updates for both Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 but also 'promoted' more printer errors

Windows 8.1 is currently extended support until early 2023, while Windows 7 users participating in the Extended Security Update program will be able to update the operating system for a few more years.

Windows 8.1

With Windows 8.1, Microsoft fixed a bug that prevented the device from downloading and installing the printer driver when connecting to the printer network for the first time. According to Microsoft, the problem appears when the device accesses the printer network in the printer network using an HTTP connection.

Other fixes include a bug that caused the Internet print server to not properly encapsulate the print attribute before sending the packet to the client.

However, this update also brings Windows 8.1 the following two known bugs:

1. Some operations, such as renaming, that you perform on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error message: 'STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)'. To work around this you need to perform the operation from a process with Admin permissions or from a node that doesn't have CSV ownership.
2. After installing this update, Windows print clients may experience the following errors when connecting to a shared remote printer on a Windows print server:
   
   1. 0x000006e4 (RPC_S_CANNOT_SUPPORT)
   2. 0x0000007c (ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL)
   3. 0x00000709 (ERROR_INVALID_PRINTER_NAME)

Microsoft says the printer connection error in update KB5007186 affects print servers only and is not common with devices designed for home use. Usually this problem only affects businesses and organizations.

Windows 7

The new update for Windows 7 includes the improvements that were released in the KB5006743 update released on October 12. It also fixes the printer errors mentioned above in the notes for Windows 8.1.

In addition, Microsoft also fixed an issue that caused the Pen tool when choosing a width of 0 to still display a dot, without any change.

The new update for Windows 7 also promotes the following 3 known bugs:

1. After installing the new update and rebooting you may get the error message: "Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer". Besides, the status of the update will show as Failed in Update History.
2. The other two errors are the same as those listed in the Windows 8.1 section

Microsoft said it is actively investigating to soon release patches for the above known bugs. However, Microsoft advises users to upgrade their computers to the latest version as soon as possible to avoid being attacked by hackers.

Kareem Winters

Update 10 November 2021