Windows: May updates cause problems

The Windows operating system updates distributed by Microsoft in May cause startup and authentication problems. Users should either uninstall the update or reactivate .Net 3.5 and the Windows Communication Foundation in the Control Panel.

Unfortunately, the Windows updates distributed by Microsoft in May 2022 not only fix security gaps, they also cause new problems at the same time. For example, certain applications may not start after installing the updates. Another problem in the course of the May updates affects maintainers of Active Directories, who could find authentication errors from services in the logs.

The problem with .Net 3.5 applications has actually been around since the end of April, since the Release preview of updates, announced. These have unspecific difficulties or don’t even start if they use optional .Net components such as the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) or Windows Workflow (WWF).

Only Windows 11 21H2 is affected by the startup and authentication issues. According to Microsoft, it is being worked on – one of the future updates should contain a corresponding update.

Temporary solution 

Anyone who has already made the updates should either uninstall the update again or reactivate .Net 3.5 and the Communication Foundation in the Control Panel. According to Microsoft, you can do this using the following administrative command prompt Commands:

[idea] dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx3 /all dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:WCF-HTTP-Activation dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:WCF-NonHTTP-Activation[/idea]

Alternatively, users can also carry out the necessary activations via the interface. To do this, simply search for “Features” in the start menu. Then click on “Turn features on or off”. In the dialog window that follows, affected users should reactivate all three options: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation HTTP activation and Windows Communication Foundation non-HTTP activation.