Microsoft releases KB5014668 update to fix game crashes and failed Windows 11 upgrades

It is the time of the month when Microsoft releases preview versions of the updates that will be released for Windows on the next Patch Tuesday. As such, the company has unleashed a non-security preview release (or "C" release) of the KB5014668 update for Windows 11.

The list of changes and fixes in this non-security update is pretty lengthy, but there are two major inclusions that are especially noteworthy. As well as addressing an issue that prevented some users from upgrading to Windows 11, there is also a fix for game crashes caused by the use of certain audio technology.

See also:

• Microsoft brings Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 distro support to Windows Server 2022 with KB5014678 update
• Sun Valley 2's tabbed Explorer could help to speed up Windows 11
• Microsoft to retire some facial recognition technology as it takes a more responsible approach to AI

Microsoft shares a number of highlights of the KB5014668 update. The company says: "[This update] addresses an issue that might prevent you from upgrading to Windows 11 (original release). Note that this is related to the timing of certain operations within the OS and is not related to device eligibility".

In addition to this fix, and the game crash fix, the update also addresses an issue that might prevent you from playing video clips in some games. Other problems that it fixes include issues with Bluetooth reconnections, and a problem that prevented the use of the Wi-Fi hotspot feature.

The company has also published a list of the changes includes in the preview version of this cumulative update:

• New! Adds IP address auditing for incoming Windows Remote Management (WinRM) connections in security event 4262 and WinRM event 91. This addresses an issue that fails to log the source IP address and machine name for a remote PowerShell connection.
• New! Adds Server Message Block (SMB) redirector (RDR) specific public File System Control (FSCTL) code FSCTL_LMR_QUERY_INFO.
• New! Makes the SMB client and SMB server cipher suite order configurable using PowerShell.
• New! Introducing search highlights

Search highlights will present notable and interesting moments of what’s special about each day—like holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments in time both globally and in your region. To see search highlights, click or tap on the search icon on your taskbar.

For enterprise customers, search highlights will also feature the latest updates from your organization and suggest people, files, and more.

Search highlights will roll out to Windows 11 customers over the next several weeks. We are taking a phased and measured approach. Broad availability will occur in the coming months. For group configuration information, see Group configuration: search highlights in Windows.

• New! Adds support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 in Windows client and server Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) implementations.
• Addresses a race condition issue that might cause an upgrade to Windows 11 (original release) to fail.
• Addresses an issue that displays Japanese characters incorrectly in PowerShell.
• Addresses an issue that affects the Cloud Clipboard service and prevents syncing between machines after a period of inactivity.
• Addresses an issue that fails to hide the Windows Sandbox startup screen after Sandbox starts to run .
• Addresses an issue that causes a device that has a Japanese system locale to stop working when you disable end-user-defined characters (EUDCs).
• Enables the InternetExplorerModeEnableSavePageAs Group Policy. For more information, see Microsoft Edge Browser Policy Documentation.
• Provides the ability to use a network proxy during Universal Print operations.
• Addresses an issue that might cause playback of consecutive video clips to fail in games that use DirectX 12 (DX12).
• Addresses an issue that causes certain games to stop working if they use the XAudio API to play sound effects.
• Addresses an issue that affects some certificates chains to Root Certification Authorities that are members of the Microsoft Root Certification Program. For these certificates, the certificate chain status can be, “This certificate was revoked by its certification authority”.
• Addresses an issue that prevents the use of Encrypted File System (EFS) files over a Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) connection.
• Addresses an issue that causes a domain controller to incorrectly write Key Distribution Center (KDC) event 21 in the System event log. This occurs when the KDC successfully processes a Kerberos Public Key Cryptography for Initial Authentication (PKINIT) authentication request with a self-signed certificate for key trust scenarios (Windows Hello for Business and Device Authentication).
• Addresses an issue that prevents Bluetooth from reconnecting to some audio devices after you restart the devices.
• Addresses an issue that occurs when the Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (AD LDS) resets the password for userProxy objects. When you try to reset someone else's password and you are authenticated using a simple bind, the password reset fails. The error is like, “00000005: SvcErr: DSID-03380C23, problem 5003 (WILL_NOT_PERFORM), data 0”.
• Addresses an issue that causes Microsoft NTLM authentication using an external trust to fail. This issue occurs when a domain controller that contains the January 11, 2022 or later Windows update services the authentication request, is not in a root domain, and does not hold the Global Catalog role. The affected operations might log the following errors:
  • The security database has not been started.
  • The domain was in the wrong state to perform the security operation.
  • 0xc00000dd (STATUS_INVALID_DOMAIN_STATE).
• Addresses an issue that causes the LocalUsersAndGroups configuration service provider (CSP) policy to fail when you modify the built-in Administrators group. This issue occurs if the local Administrator account isn't specified in the membership list when you perform a replace operation.
• Addresses an issue in which malformed XML inputs might cause an error in DeviceEnroller.exe. This prevents CSPs from being delivered to the device until you restart the device or correct the XML.
• Addresses an issue that might cause Windows 11 (original release) to stop working when you install an application and there is no network connectivity.
• Updates the Start menu to display Windows PowerShell when you right-click (Win + X) the Start button after you have uninstalled Windows Terminal.
• Changes the name of the Your Phone app to Phone Link on the Settings page.
• Addresses an issue that causes the Microsoft Surface Dial customization settings page to stop working.
• Addresses a known issue that might prevent you from using the Wi-Fi hotspot feature. When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might lose the connection to the internet after a client device connects.

As this is a preview update, it is not being automatically offered by Windows Update. However, you can obtain the KB5014668 update by manually searching for optional updates, or by downloading directly from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

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