In addition to fixing things on its end, Microsoft has outlined some workarounds for specific scenarios in which systems administrators have encountered the issue (via Neowin).
According to Microsoft, a "publishing issue" is what caused machines to encounter boot errors with the release of the latest Windows 10 Patch Tuesday updates on October 10. Fortunately, the issue was only affected WSUS-managed devices on Windows 10 version 1703, version 1607, and Windows Server 2016, so home and consumer devices remained unaffected. Microsoft is mum on specific details of the problem, but the company says that it was corrected and validated as of October 10.
Still, Microsoft outlined three specific scenarios in which machines may still be affected, along with workarounds:
- WSUS/SCCM Administrators that synced the October 10th update (KB4041676 or KB4041691) before 4pm PDT October 10 may still have these KBs cached.
- WSUS/SCCM managed devices that downloaded the October 10 KB4041676 or KB4041691 update with publishing issues and have devices in a pending reboot state.
- WSUS/SCCM managed devices that installed the October 10 KB4041676 or KB4041691 update and are unable to boot and/or may land on a recovery screen.
The first scenario can be corrected by simply rescanning for updates. The second and third scenarios, however are a bit more complex. Scenario two requires systems administrators to remove pending updates by running a long string of commands. Similarly, scenario three requires a system restore or a specific set of commands to work around the issue. If you're encountering either scenario one or two, you can find Microsoft's full instructions on its support site.
