Microsoft releases KB5003173 cumulative update for Windows 10 20H2 and 2004

Anyone running Windows 10 version 2004 or 20H2 has a new cumulative update to install in the form of KB5003173. The update takes Windows build numbers up to 19041.985 and 19042.985.

Cumulative updatse like this are rarely über-exciting, and KB5003173 is no different. Although Microsoft has not introduced any major changes with the update, the release remains an important security update, and it's a good idea to get it installed.

See also:

• Time to upgrade Windows 10 as Microsoft ends support for older versions
• Microsoft launches new open-source project to bring Linux tool eBPF to Windows
• Microsoft removes all Windows 10 upgrade blocks including Conexant audio driver issues

Microsoft pulls out the following highlights for the update: "Updates to improve security when Windows performs basic operations; Updates to improve Windows OLE (compound documents) security; Updates security for Bluetooth drivers".

Additionally, the company highlights another important change introduced by KB5003173:

Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, the Windows Kernel, Windows Media, the Microsoft Scripting Engine, and the Windows Silicon Platform.

At the moment there are no known issues besides the perennial problems with the potential loss of user certificates, and an ongoing problem when using the Microsoft Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) to enter Kanji characters. A more recent potential issue was introduced by the removal of the legacy version of Edge from the operating system, as Microsoft explains: "Devices with Windows installations created from custom offline media or custom ISO image might have Microsoft Edge Legacy removed by this update, but not automatically replaced by the new Microsoft Edge. This issue is only encountered when custom offline media or ISO images are created by slipstreaming this update into the image without having first installed the standalone servicing stack update (SSU) released March 29, 2021 or later".

There is, however, a workaround:

To avoid this issue, be sure to first slipstream the SSU released March 29, 2021 or later into the custom offline media or ISO image before slipstreaming the LCU. To do this with the combined SSU and LCU packages now used for Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows 10, version 2004, you will need to extract the SSU from the combined package.

Full details are available here.

As this is a cumulative update, it is unlikely that more issues will be found after release, but this -- of course -- is not guaranteed.

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