KB5033375 keeps corrupting my system!!

My Win11Pro desktop, which I recently re-activated, keeps downloading and installing KB5033375 -- and that corrupts my system!!

It breaks search, causes LONG delays in opening settings, and when I then reboot, I get a black desktop with only a mouse cursor.

So, I restored from a two-week old image, and as I was sitting there, it was downloading this same update. When I reboot, this stuff will happen all over again.

OK, so on this next restore, I will disconnect the ethernet cable to prevent the WU download, but I need to use the Internet on this PC, so keeping that disconnected is not a long term solution.

I did some searching on how to disable Windows Update and found info on configuring automatic updates, but that must have been out of date because the registry entries on my PC don't match the ones in the suggestions. And, I don't see any options in Windows Update itself to disable these.

So, what can I do after the restore to prevent this WU from downloading again?

You could postpone updates during a certain maximum period, which you can extend using this tutorial:


Maybe in a few days the problem will have recognized by Microsoft and they will change the update that's bothering you.

Kees said:

You could postpone updates during a certain maximum period, which you can extend using this tutorial:

Change Maximum Days to Pause Windows Update in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to change the maximum days you can pause Windows Update for in Windows 11. Windows Update keeps Windows 11 updated by automatically downloading and installing the latest updates, drivers, and hotfixes released by Microsoft. If you have a Windows Insider build of...

www.elevenforum.com

Maybe in a few days the problem will have recognized by Microsoft and they will change the update that's bothering you.

Click to expand...

OK, thanks -- let me try that and see.'

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this no longer works. I did the regedit changes, even had to add the key because it was not there, and set it to 90 days. When I went back into Windows Update, the pause was only for 1 week. I opened it to change the pause to longer but regardless of what select, it still only says 1 week.

I use this PC as a file sever on the network every day, so I can not have it disconnected from the network over a long time.

Is there any way to block this update?

You can't do anything. The KB5033375 is the December security update. Download it directly from MS, run a clean boot and install the KB5033375.msu.

POLYSIUS said:

You can't do anything. The KB5033375 is the December security update. Download it directly from MS, run a clean boot and install the KB5033375.msu.

Click to expand...

OK did that -- but machine initially rendered USELESS by this update. Only get black screen with cursor upon reboot.

Before, I waited a few minutes the wallpaper and icons would return and after a few more minutes, the taskbar -- even though search would no longer work. Settings then took several MINUTES to open, but did, eventually.

NOW, I get only the black screen and despite waiting for some time, nothing else.

UPDATE: After waiting a LOT longer, the wallpaper and icons did return, as did the taskbar.

So, the PC is not completely useless -- but the search tool no longer works.

I will do so online searching to see if there is an alternative to that -- since I apparently can NOT block this update.

@Mark Phelps

Mark, if this update was defective, I suspect the web (and this forum) would be flooded with reports. What I suspect is either some sort of corruption in your current build or some tweak or setting you have made in your user account that conflicts with this new update that is causing the new update to cause issues. Here's what I would do.

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer

With the update installed , activate the hidden administrator account.
Open command prompt as administrator and type net user administrator /active:yes
Sign out of your account. You will see 2 logins on your signin screen. Sign in with the new administrator account & let it create its desktop. See if search works correctly in that account. If it does, it's not the update, but a problem with your user account.
Report back.

glasskuter said:

Mark, if this update was defective, I suspect the web (and this forum) would be flooded with reports. What I suspect is either some sort of corruption in your current build or some tweak or setting you have made in your user account that conflicts with this new update that is causing the new update to cause issues. Here's what I would do.

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer

With the update installed , activate the hidden administrator account.
Open command prompt as administrator and type net user administrator /active:yes
Sign out of your account. You will see 2 logins on your signin screen. Sign in with the new administrator account & let it create its desktop. See if search works correctly in that account. If it does, it's not the update, but a problem with your user account.
Report back.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions -- but I had already done both and neither found any issues.

I have since restored the PC to two weeks ago and used some third-party tools mentioned on the affiliated Windows 10 site to disable the Windows Update services. When and if MS comes out with a new update, I will try using that.

The pain of waiting 10 minutes or so to get a partly-working desktop and then several minutes more just to open Settings was too much to take -- so I did the restore to get a working system back.

I've done this update on three W11 systems and this Pro box is the only one with issues -- but it didn't have issues with any of the other updates since Windows 11 came out.

Mark Phelps said:

and used some third-party tools mentioned on the affiliated Windows 10 site to disable the Windows Update services. When and if MS comes out with a new update, I will try using that.

Click to expand...

Are you saying you did test using another account with the update installed and the problem remains?
IMO, if you are waiting for MS to "fix" this update, you are whistling Dixie. There is something going on specific to your system. When there are no reports on the web and no similar complaints in the feedback hub, MS won't be looking at it any further.
Are you using some 3rd party app that alters the GUI? If so, get rid of it.

If you’re 100% sure there’s nothing on the pc causing the problem after updating then you can use this MS tool to show & hide problematic drivers or updates:
You can also try the windows update minitool to block that particular update permanently:
Download Windows Update MiniTool - MajorGeeks. Please not this will not prevent further updates to Windows or Drivers - only the problematic update/driver will be blocked from downloading to prevent the problems you’re experiencing.

glasskuter said:

Are you saying you did test using another account with the update installed and the problem remains?
IMO, if you are waiting for MS to "fix" this update, you are whistling Dixie. There is something going on specific to your system. When there are no reports on the web and no similar complaints in the feedback hub, MS won't be looking at it any further.
Are you using some 3rd party app that alters the GUI? If so, get rid of it.

Click to expand...

No I did not test this using another account and I am not using some third-party app that alters the GUI.

So, I will have to learn how to live with this.

Bastet said:

If you’re 100% sure there’s nothing on the pc causing the problem after updating then you can use this MS tool to show & hide problematic drivers or updates:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/2/2/F22D5FDB-59CD-4275-8C95-1BE17BF70B21/wushowhide.diagcab

You can also try the windows update minitool to block that particular update permanently:
Download Windows Update MiniTool - MajorGeeks. Please not this will not prevent further updates to Windows or Drivers - only the problematic update/driver will be blocked from downloading to prevent the problems you’re experiencing.

Click to expand...

Thanks ,,, but I got a couple of tools from the affiliated Win10 Forums site and they appear to be working OK.

Mark Phelps said:

Thanks ,,, but I got a couple of tools from the affiliated Win10 Forums site and they appear to be working OK.

Click to expand...

Good to hear.

Mark Phelps said:

No I did not test this using another account

Click to expand...

For goodness sake, why not? If it proves to be an account issue, it's easy enough to resolve it and not have to "live with it".

glasskuter said:

For goodness sake, why not? If it proves to be an account issue, it's easy enough to resolve it and not have to "live with it".

Click to expand...

Sorry, don't know what you mean. Create a second account with admin rights, login to that account, and do the update there?

OH, by the way, should probably have mentioned this UP FRONT, but this PC is incompatible with w11 hardware requirements. So, maybe this update enforces or expects these requirements to be met and fails if that does not happen. I had another incompatible laptop, which I used to do testing of Win11 updates, but it died two weeks ago and this is the only old PC left.

Mark Phelps said:

Sorry, don't know what you mean. Create a second account with admin rights, login to that account, and do the update there?

Click to expand...

glasskuter said:

With the update installed , activate the hidden administrator account.
Open command prompt as administrator and type net user administrator /active:yes
Sign out of your account. You will see 2 logins on your signin screen. Sign in with the new administrator account & let it create its desktop. See if search works correctly in that account. If it does, it's not the update, but a problem with your user account.

Click to expand...

^This. If it proves it is not an account issue, but a system problem, all you have to do is disable the administrator account with command
net user administrator /active:no

Updates are cumulative! It means that the problem comes back each month if you don't solve it!
Next time you also check the "Reliability History" to get more infos

Mark Phelps said:

My Win11Pro desktop, which I recently re-activated, keeps downloading and installing KB5033375 -- and that corrupts my system!!

It breaks search, causes LONG delays in opening settings, and when I then reboot, I get a black desktop with only a mouse cursor.

So, I restored from a two-week old image, and as I was sitting there, it was downloading this same update. When I reboot, this stuff will happen all over again.

OK, so on this next restore, I will disconnect the ethernet cable to prevent the WU download, but I need to use the Internet on this PC, so keeping that disconnected is not a long term solution.

I did some searching on how to disable Windows Update and found info on configuring automatic updates, but that must have been out of date because the registry entries on my PC don't match the ones in the suggestions. And, I don't see any options in Windows Update itself to disable these.

So, what can I do after the restore to prevent this WU from downloading again?

Click to expand...

Hi Mark, et all,

seeing same issue. Tried blocking update boo cannot do. When it installs, takes forever to login, black screen black screen and eventually desktop is displayed. I've also noted that windows _+i to bring up settings takes ages to populate the box with settings.
The search function is borked, click on the search slot nothing, click on the search box in start progams, and it just dissapears. Uninstalled, but then my start programs menu messed up and wouldn;t come up. Then right click on taskbar pinned icons causing explorer to fail.
Watching with sysinternals process explorer and found shellexperience bugging out. Minidumps being generated at the same time. There is definitly some bad code in the last two updates.

fenixryan said:

Hi Mark, et all,

seeing same issue. Tried blocking update boo cannot do. When it installs, takes forever to login, black screen black screen and eventually desktop is displayed. I've also noted that windows _+i to bring up settings takes ages to populate the box with settings.
The search function is borked, click on the search slot nothing, click on the search box in start progams, and it just dissapears. Uninstalled, but then my start programs menu messed up and wouldn;t come up. Then right click on taskbar pinned icons causing explorer to fail.
Watching with sysinternals process explorer and found shellexperience bugging out. Minidumps being generated at the same time. There is definitly some bad code in the last two updates.

Click to expand...

That is EXACTLY what I am experiencing with this update -- so at least, I am not alone in this.

Look at the Windows Update tutorial on the affiliated Win10 forums and you will find tools you can download to disable Windows Update services. But if you do that, other stuff, like DISM, will no longer work.

What I did was restore the PC to two weeks ago -- and disconnected the ethernet cable. Then I downloaded the Win10 forum tools on an other PC, copied them to this one, and ran them. Now, with the services disabled. I reconnected the ethernet cable and now get Internet without Windows Updates. How long this will last, I have no idea, but for now, the PC is usable again.

Also, this same PC runs Win10 and with that, I have no issues at all. So, if Win11 gets borked and stays that way, I will probably revert to using Win10.

Hey Guys, thought you might like to know, I searched the feedback hub for issues relating to problems with KB5033375 in particular. The only reports I found thus far were a few relating to either the update not installing or it breaking wireless for some enterprise customers. The same results when searching the web. No result found relating to search for that particular KB except for you two. This morning, a friend of mine called me with the problem so that makes 3.

That update has been out 5 days now so more reports should have come in by now. It's going to take someone who atually has this problem to test all scenarios.
It would be muchly appreciated if one of you would do a quick test using the hidden administrator account with that update installed so we can understand more about how and why that particular KB might be affecting a few particular users.

Also, I was thinking on this. Widgets have made the GUI do strange things for some people. Disabling widgets might make a difference. Enable or Disable Widgets Feature in Windows 11 Tutorial