Windows 10 21H2 Insider build 19044.1319 boosts ransomware defence, fixes memory leaks, more

Microsoft today released Windows 10 build 19044.1319 (KB5006738) to Insiders running version 21H2 in the Release Preview ring. It brings a ton of improvements that include improved security against ransomware attacks and other such cyber attacks, fixes memory leak issues.

While Insiders that have originally been running Release Preview builds of versions 21H2 will receive this update automatically, those that were moved from the Beta channel to the Release Preview channel recently will be able to receive it via the “seeker” experience, meaning that they will be served the update only if they check for updates manually.

The update (KB5006738) is also rolling out insiders on Windows 10 21H1with build version 19043.1319 and features the same changes. The reason for which the update packages for Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2 are identical is that version 21H2 is just an enablement package, the way 21H1 was for versions 20H2.

Moving on, the long list of improvements Build 19044.1319 (KB5006738) brings is given below:

• We fixed an issue that prevents you from accessing the pre-provisioning page during the out-of-box experience (OOBE). This issue occurs when the credentials page for signing in to Azure Active Directory appears, and you press the Windows key five times.
• We added a feature that facilitates certain cross-browser data transfers.
• We fixed an issue with Assigned Access kiosks that are configured with Microsoft Edge as a kiosk application. These kiosks might sometimes fail to restart Microsoft Edge if users close the browser window.
• We fixed an issue in which the use of App-V intermittently causes black screens to appear when signing in on the credentials page.
• We fixed an issue that might prevent subtitles from displaying for certain video apps and streaming video sites.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Windows 10 virtual private network (VPN) users from connecting to Windows Server 2019 Routing and Remote Access service (RRAS) servers.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Software-Defined Networking (SDN) virtual machines from working when you configure the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) VPN bandwidth limitation.
• We fixed a Primary Refresh Token (PRT) update issue that occurs when VPN users sign in using Windows Hello for Business when the VPN connection is offline. Users receive unexpected authentication prompts for online resources that are configured for user sign-in frequency (SIF) in Azure Active Directory-Conditional Access.
• We fixed an issue that causes Windows to go into BitLocker recovery after a servicing update.
• We fixed an issue that might cause Kerberos.dll to stop working within the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). This occurs when LSASS processes simultaneous Service for User (S4U) user-to-user (U2U) requests for the same client user.
• We fixed an issue in Code Integrity that might cause a memory leak.
• We enhanced Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s ability to identify and intercept ransomware and advanced attacks.
• We fixed an issue in the OOBE that might cause Windows AutoPilot provisioning to fail.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Kana input mode users from inserting a question mark (?) using the Shift-0 key combination.
• We fixed an issue that sometimes causes the lock screen to appear black if you enable slideshow.
• We fixed a reliability issue with LogonUI.exe, which affects the rendering of the network status text on the credentials screen.
• We fixed an issue that causes Server Message Block (SMB) Query Directory Requests to fail when the buffer size is large.
• We fixed a memory leak issue in lsass.exe on domain controllers in the forest root domain that occurs when you have multiple forests and multiple domains in each forest. The SID-Name mapping functions leak memory when a request comes from another domain in the forest and crosses forest boundaries.
• We fixed an issue with the virtual machine (VM) Load Balancing feature, which ignores a site’s fault domain.

You can find the original announcement post for builds 19044.1319 (21H2) here and 19043.1319 (21H1) here.

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