Microsoft has addressed two significant concerns affecting users of Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025, amidst a series of security updates released on Patch Tuesday. The update, identified as KB5046617, not only enhances security but also introduces a range of “quality improvements.” A notable fix included in this update addresses a Task Manager glitch that surfaced during the October 2024 non-security preview update.
Task Manager Troubles
According to Microsoft’s Windows Release Health dashboard, the issue pertained to a reporting error within the processes page when users selected the “Group by Type” option. This bug resulted in the Task Manager displaying a count of zero for Apps, Background Processes, and Windows Processes, despite the presence of active applications.
Dave Plummer, the original creator of the Task Manager, described this as a “fairly severe bug.” He remarked, “I can see how people might not have noticed it in test, as how often do you look at that count?” When questioned about the efficacy of Microsoft’s automated testing, Plummer expressed skepticism, stating, “I’d honestly bet that the chances that the automated tests actually OCR the status bar output are pretty low! But maybe they do these days, hard to know!” He reminisced about his time at Microsoft, noting, “Sure didn’t in my day, it was all manual testing…”
Addressing Installation Delays
The patch also tackles access issues related to Dev Drive for Windows Subsystem for Linux, alongside a perplexing installation delay that some users experienced, lasting up to 40 minutes on certain hardware configurations. Although not explicitly detailed in the release notes for KB5046617, the update also rectifies problems encountered by Windows Server 2025 on servers equipped with 256 or more logical processors. Users had reported failures during installations, extended restart times, and blue screens when launching applications.
A temporary workaround had required administrators to limit the number of logical processors per server, a solution far from ideal. Fortunately, the latest patch resolves these complications, according to sources from Redmond.
Progress on Known Issues
Microsoft has been diligently working through a growing list of known issues associated with Windows 11 24H2, some of which led to update blocks or safeguard holds to prevent users from encountering problematic code. For instance, an issue involving certain fingerprint sensors failing to unlock devices was resolved in October, although Microsoft opted to maintain the safeguard until November 8.
In contrast, the list of known issues for Windows Server is less extensive. Besides the logical processor count issue, it also highlights an unexpected upgrade problem where some administrators discovered that Windows Server 2019 and 2022 systems were automatically upgraded to Windows Server 2025. Microsoft has indicated that this issue has been “mitigated,” although a third-party vendor informed The Register that it appears the tech giant has “disabled the upgrade for now and will turn them [sic] back on at a later date.”
