MS-DEFCON 3: Businesses must tread carefully

By Susan Bradley

The June updates are a mixed bag.

So far, I have not seen any side effects from this month’s updates. However, I am tracking some other issues that may impact businesses.

That’s a problem, because I’m not sure what the root causes or triggers are. I just know that some IT administrators have indicated that their DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) servers were impacted. This issue affects Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025. Therefore, I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level just one notch, to 3.

For consumers engaged in gaming, systems already received an out-of-band patch for Windows 11 24H2 to fix an issue where systems were spontaneously rebooting after the installation of the June 10, 2025, security update (KB5060842).

“Out-of-band” means that an update is deployed outside the normal update schedule in order to address an urgent matter, such as a security flaw under active attack. But in this unusual case, it’s about a patch that was released to fix an issue triggered by another update. This patch, KB5063060, was released the next day to fix the problem. According to Microsoft, if a system wasn’t impacted, the user wouldn’t see the second out-of-band update. But on my Windows 11 24H2 laptop, I received both the original and the replacement updates.

The June updates (KB5060533) had a detrimental impact on Surface Hub v1 (Hub 2S and Hub 3 are not affected). It failed to start, noting the error “Secure Boot Violation.” The Surface team developed a recovery solution that can be used in coordination with Microsoft Support, and it advised users not to deploy KB5060533 and instead use KB5063159.

Why do I mention something that obviously affects a relatively small number of users and almost no consumers? Because no matter what the problem is, you must have a recovery plan if your policy is to install updates; otherwise, you should follow my advice and not install updates immediately. Instead, defer them until any issues and side effects are identified and dealt with.

Consumers

As I stated above, I’m not seeing any issues on Windows 11 24H2 or 23H2 or on Windows 10 22H2 on my home computers — or even those at my office. Thus I recommend you install updates at this time. Of course, it goes without saying that you should ensure you have a backup before installing updates.

For Office, several users have reached out to me regarding a new Copilot icon that has shown up on the right-hand side of Outlook. Using a left or right mouse click on Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 gives you options to pin it, but not to remove it. One frustrating part of dealing with tech is having to navigate through the different versions of Office. From Home (personal) editions to Microsoft 365, there are nuances. So if I provide guidance for one version, it may not work for another.

Regardless of how you obtain Copilot (e.g., Copilot Pro or the built-in features in Office, Windows, or Edge), you may or may not be able to disable it. But for certain consumer versions of Office, the only way not to get Copilot is to change to a classic subscription plan. In a small roundtable discussion with a few of our contributors, I learned that confusion is rampant among even these experts.

Businesses

For businesses, the impact of updates is rockier and thus triggers my middling recommendations this month. After the June updates for Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025, are installed, the DHCP service might intermittently stop responding. This issue affects IP renewal for clients. However, the key word in the description of the known issue is “might.” For example, on my Server 2019 that handles both DHCP and DNS services, I do not see this side effect. However, I know of situations in which the server is providing only DHCP, and it does not stop responding.

It would be grand if Microsoft were a bit more specific about the exact circumstances involved, so we could determine whether we are likely to experience the problem.

DHCP is a network-management protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks to automatically assign IP addresses and other communication parameters to devices connected to the network. If you set up a network with static IP addresses, you won’t see this side effect. Microsoft is working on an update, and I will send out a special notification when it releases yet another out-of-band update.

I’m hearing from several sources that ESU licenses will be sold via the CSP (Cloud Service Provider) channel, closer to the October end of life for Windows 10. This is not the same offering as the consumer single-year option that has also been discussed. So far, every vendor I’ve contacted regarding Windows 10 ESUs via volume licensing sales is unable to find the SKU in their price listing. Stay tuned — I am going to track these down, no matter how long it takes.

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