Windows 10’s October 2018 Update Breaks Mapped Network Drives

Microsoft’s October 2018 Update drama is largely over, but there are still a few lingering bugs. Microsoft has confirmed an issue where mapped network drives are broken after a PC restarts. This will not be fixed until 2019.

Liam Tung covers this issue over at ZDNet:

Within days of Microsoft’s first release of Windows 10 1809 at the beginning of October, IT pros noticed that Windows File Explorer indicated that mapped network drives appeared to be broken.

“Testing the new 1809 update, and everything seems to be fine except all mapped drives to Windows 2012 file servers show disconnected (red x) after reboots or logoff/on,” wrote one IT pro on October 5, with many others confirming the same issue on company networks.

“Everything is fine if user opens the mapped drive. This causes problems when user opens a file located in map drive A but links to another file in mapped drive B.”

Mapped network drives are primarily used on domain and other large networks, so this isn’t a problem the average home user will likely notice.

Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and provided some suggested workarounds. The Windows 10 version 1809 status page says “Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide updates in the 2019 timeframe.”

RELATED: Windows 10’s October Update Returns, Promises Not to Delete Your Files

Trend Micro and AMD Radeon Problems

The October 2018 Update has some additional issues Microsoft has now acknowledged, too.

This update has a “compatibility issue” with Trend Micro’s OfficeScan and Worry-Free Business Security software. This version of Windows requires antivirus software use a “protected process” for security, so it’s likely that Trend Micro didn’t get the work done in time. Operating system updates are blocked on devices running this software until Trend Micro issues as patch.

There’s also an issue on systems with AMD Radeon HD2000 and HD4000 GPUs. Microsoft Edge may stop working on systems with these graphics processors, the lock screen may not perform well, and you may see a “INVALID_POINTER_READ_c0000005_atidxx64.dll” error code. Microsoft has blocked updates on PCs with this hardware while it figures out a solution. AMD no longer supports these graphics processors, so Microsoft will have to solve the problem on its own.

The Trend Micro problem is Trend Micro’s fault, so Microsoft really can’t be blamed for it. The AMD Radeon issue sounds like AMD’s fault—but AMD is no longer supporting that hardware, so Microsoft will have to fix the problem on its own. Once again, this demonstrates the challenge of “Windows as a Service.”