Cumulative Updates - February 27, 2020 - KB4535996 Optional

Even if the update messed up your OS of windows your hardware should be fine. I've been working on computers for over a decade and have never encountered a corrupted installation of windows that damaged hardware.

First you should try to reset your CMOS jumper which will  mothtake youre BIOS to their default settings.

If that doesn't work you'll probably need to reinstall your OS but I would strongly recommend removing your hardrive and hooking it up to a different computer to back up any pertinent data first.

OP is talking about pre-post not getting past post.  Windows has zero files loaded during post.  Thats your bios (which windows doesnt touch) checking that your hardware is ok.

Microsoft never admitted anything about screwing up hardware during post, its not even possible.

If you are using an update manager from HP that is updating firmware then thats a different story and still not Microsoft's fault.

d0x360,

This post is about Windows Update KB4535996 that is breaking a lot of things on people's computers (on a variety of different HW).

It looks like this post deviated to talking about POST (Power On Self Test).

Jeff,

I just thought I would share something that happened this evening and most likely open yet another can of worms.

When I left for prison ministry this evening I neglected to shut my computer down.  When I returned home it was sleeping or hibernating, whatever it has been doing ever since I upgraded from 7 to 10.  I knew the only way to wake it was to shut it down with the power switch so I shut the computer down manually and restarted it.  I has always booted back to exactly the same place that I left it when I have done that.

This time however, I got a very limited desktop with no wallpaper and none of my usual icons.  I looked around and could not see anything that looked different except for the limited desktop until I looked at the app menu and most of my apps were gone.  More investigating revealed much of what I have done the last 2 weeks is gone and even some of the programming and documents that I migrated from Windows 7.

When I tried to do a recovery I got a message that said no recovery points had been created and I create recovery points almost everyday.

Just thought I would share another one of those things that is "sort of" unexplainable.

Clyde

You can try to Uninstall, or run Updates, to get the latest when in Safe Mode.

Follow the steps here:

Enter Safe Mode when you can’t boot normally

https://www.drivereasy(dot)com/knowledge/how-to-enter-safe-mode-in-windows-10/#w1

For some reason, this text box is changing the URL above.

Replace the (dot) with just a period.

For Step 9, select option 5 to have networking.

When it gets to the Desktop in Safe Mode, Press & Hold the Windows button & then Press R.

Enter in ms-settings:windowsupdate-action. (This will start checking for Updates & install them, if any.)

Currently, mine is installing KB4540673 (2020-03 Cumulative Update) & KB890830 (Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - March 2020).

I don’t know if these will fix the issues caused by the previous updates, but it’s worth it to try it first.

If it doesn’t, try to remove Updates that were installed just before your computer issues occurred (mainly KB4524244 & KB4532693):

1. Press & Hold the Windows button & then Press R.
2. Enter in ms-settings:windowsupdate & click OK.
3. Click on View update history.
4. Click on Uninstall updates. (Upper Left-Hand corner)
5. Right-Click on the Update you want to uninstall, then, click “Uninstall” (NOTE: Not all Updates have the "Uninstall" option).

ClydeReid,

2 Quotes below from this site (NOTE: These are for Windows 10. I don't if there are same issues in Upgrade scenarios like yours ~ Win7 --> Win10):

https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/02/17/microsoft-is-investigating-windows-10-kb4532693-issues/

“People who have it installed are reporting that Windows 10’s desktop, settings, and Start menu boots in a default state as if they’ve have created a new user account. Any apps and programs that were pinned to taskbar or desktop such as shortcuts have disappeared.”

“For some folks, Microsoft’s buggy patch has also reverted Windows 10 customization and other settings to default values.”

Another article:

Windows 10 KB4532693 & KB4524244 Update Causing Trouble [Easy Fixes]

https://www.techworm.net/2020/02/windows-10-kb4532693-kb4524244.html

There was another site that mentioned the same issues of 'disappearing' items, but I don't remember the link at the moment.

One of the things many sites mention to try first is:

"Before trying out any of the fixes, we would advise the readers to restart their PCs at least 3 to 4 times."

If this doesn't work, Microsoft is saying the Update switched to the default user.

All of your files/settings/etc. are still there, you just have to log on to your account (vs the Default account).