Windows 10’s cumulative update for August is causing serious issues for Lenovo ThinkPad machines, the laptop maker has confirmed.
In a knowledgebase article entitled ‘Problems caused by Enhanced Windows Biometric Security BIOS setting’ (spotted by Windows Latest), Lenovo observes that a number of Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) – and other critical errors – are caused by update KB4566782 for Windows 10 May 2020 Update users.
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This follows earlier reports of such issues with Lenovo ThinkPads and indeed other PCs for that matter (more on that later).
Lenovo lists the possible errors that users may encounter after installing Windows 10’s cumulative update for August as follows:
- Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) when booting
- Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) when starting Lenovo Vantage
- Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) when running Windows Defender Scan
- Can’t login by Face with Windows Hello
- Errors in Device Manager related to Intel Management Engine
- Errors in Device Manager related to IR Camera
Again, much of this marries with previous reports which indicated that for example the Lenovo Vantage app became problematic after installing the cumulative update.
Affected models include ThinkPad machines from 2019 and 2020, according to Lenovo, but the good news is that there’s a relatively simple fix for this issue: disabling the Enhanced Windows Biometric Security setting.
To do this, boot into BIOS settings, and head to the Security section, and then click through to the Virtualization menu, where you will find the Enhanced Windows Biometric Security setting – so turn this off, and then proceed to boot to the desktop as normal. Your BSoD woes (and indeed other gremlins) should now be a thing of the past.
Not just ThinkPads
As we’ve seen previously, these issues aren’t limited to Lenovo machines, and other PCs have reportedly been seriously disrupted by Microsoft’s round of August patching for the May 2020 Update (and indeed November 2019 Update users have been affected too).
Sadly, there’s no guaranteed cure for these folks, although one trick you could try is disabling Intel Virtualization Technology, as mentioned in our previous report. Otherwise, the safest course of action might be just to remove the cumulative update in question.
There have been some pretty nasty problems reported in relation to KB4566782, including it seriously slowing down the PC it’s installed on. With any luck, Microsoft will address these reports of problems outside of Lenovo machines sooner rather than later.
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