Microsoft releases KB5014023 update to fix crashing apps and slow copying in Windows

Microsoft has once again released a preview of an update for Windows that is due to get a full launch next Patch Tuesday. The KB5014023 update is available for Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2, as well as Windows Server 20H2 and it fixes a number of issues.

Among the problems addressed by the optional update is an issue that caused file copying to be much slower than usual. Other notable changes include a fix for a GPU issue that caused apps to crash and a fix for a problem that prevented Excel and Outlook from launching.

As the update is a preview, it will not be installed by default, you need to manually check for optional updates if you want to install it via Windows Update. While KB5014023 is a non-security update, it is still of interest to anyone affected by the various issues that it addresses.

Microsoft draws attention to the following highlights in KB5014023:

1. Addresses a rare issue that prevents Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Outlook from opening.
2. Addresses an issue that affects the IE mode window frame.
3. Addresses an issue that prevents internet shortcuts from updating.
4. Addresses an issue that causes an Input Method Editor (IME) to discard a character if you enter the character while the IME is converting previous text.
5. Addresses an issue that causes file copying to be slower.
6. Addresses a known issue that affects certain GPUs and might cause apps to close unexpectedly or cause intermittent issues that affect some apps that use Direct3D 9.

The company also shares more detailed information about changes:

• New! Introduces new sorting version 6.4.3, which addresses the sorting issue that affects Japanese half-width katakana.
• Prevents users from bypassing forced enrollment by disconnecting from the internet when they sign in to Azure Active Directory (AAD).
• Addresses an issue that might run an AnyCPU application as a 32-bit process.
• Addresses an issue that prevents Azure Desired State Configuration (DSC) scenarios that have multiple partial configurations from working as expected.
• Addresses an issue that affects remote procedure calls (RPC) to the Win32_User or Win32_Group WMI class. The domain member that runs the RPC contacts the primary domain controller (PDC). When multiple RPCs occur simultaneously on many domain members, this might overwhelm the PDC.
• Addresses an issue that occurs when adding a trusted user, group, or computer that has a one-way trust in place. The error message, “The object selected doesn’t match the type of destination source” appears.
• Addresses an issue that fails to display the Application Counters section in the performance reports of the Performance Monitor tool.
• Addresses a rare issue that prevents Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Outlook from opening.
• Addresses a memory leak issue that affects Windows systems that are in use 24 hours each day of the week.
• Addresses an issue that affects the IE mode window frame.
• Addresses an issue that prevents internet shortcuts from updating.
• Addresses an issue that causes an Input Method Editor (IME) to discard a character if you enter the character while the IME is converting previous text.
• Addresses an issue that causes print failures when a low integrity level (LowIL) application prints to a null port.
• Addresses an issue that prevents BitLocker from encrypting when you use the silent encryption option.
• Addresses an issue that occurs when you apply multiple WDAC policies. Doing that might prevent scripts from running when the policies allow scripts to run.
• Addresses an issue that affects the behavior and shape orientation of a mouse cursor for Microsoft Defender Application Guard (MDAG), Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Edge. This issue occurs when you turn on a virtual graphics processing unit (GPU).
• Addresses an issue that might cause the Remote Desktop client application to stop working when you end a session.
• Addresses a reliability issue in the Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) service that randomly causes clients to disconnect.
• Deploys search highlights to devices that are domain-joined. For more information about the feature, see Group configuration: search highlights in Windows. You can configure search highlights at the enterprise scale using Group Policy settings defined in the Search.admx file and Policy CSP – Search.
• Addresses an issue that displays the wrong image for the Input Method Editor (IME) mode indicator icon when you turn on the Font Mitigation policy. For more information, see Block untrusted fonts in an enterprise.
• Addresses an issue that causes a yellow exclamation point to display in Device Manager. This occurs when a Bluetooth remote device advertises the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) source (SRC).
• Addresses an issue in which the Cluster Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provider (ClustWMI.dll) generates high CPU usage in WMIPRVSE.EXE.
• Addresses an issue that causes Microsoft’s deduplication driver to consume large amounts of nonpaged pool memory. As a result, this depletes all the physical memory on the machine, which causes the server to stop responding.
• Addresses an issue that causes file copying to be slower because of a wrong calculation of write buffers within cache manager.
• Addresses an issue that might cause a system to stop responding when a user signs out if Microsoft OneDrive is in use.
• Addresses a known issue that might prevent recovery discs (CD or DVD) from starting if you created them using the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) app in Control Panel. This issue occurs after installing Windows updates released January 11, 2022 or later.
• Addresses a known issue that affects certain GPUs and might cause apps to close unexpectedly or cause intermittent issues that affect some apps that use Direct3D 9. You might also receive an error in the Event Log in Windows Logs/Applications, and the faulting module is d3d9on12.dll and the exception code is 0xc0000094.
• Addresses an issue that prevents the file system control code (FSCTL_SET_INTEGRITY_INFORMATION_EX) from handling its input parameter correctly.

As well as downloading the optional KB5014023 update via Windows Update, it is also possible to obtain it from the Microsoft Update Catalog website.