Warning: Today’s Windows 10 security update has a known conflict with Office

Microsoft’s Gabe Ault tweeted a warning about one of the security updates due to come down the Automatic Update chute in a few hours. Unfortunately, he didn’t mention the update by name, and he didn’t describe the symptoms, but he gave a workaround.

If you are running Windows 10 Tech Preview build 9879 (almost all of you Windows10 testers are on build 9879) and have Office installed on your machine (not clear which version/s of Office), heed Aul’s advice.

Here’s what he tweeted:

Hey #WindowsInsiders, we just made a tough call after working through the night that I thought I should share with you. We have a security update going out today, and the installer fails on 9879 if Office is installed. Rather than rolling a new fix (losing several days in the process) we’re going to publish it as is. The workaround is painful: uninstall Office, install the hotfix, reinstall Office. Sorry. We’re working hard to fix.

First reaction: Wow. This is precisely the kind of timely information we need, delivered from a reliable source when there’s a known problem with a fix that’s about to go out through Automatic Update.

Second reaction: Only the people following @GabeAul intently on Twitter are going to know about the problem and its solution.

Third reaction: Can it be that difficult to have the security patch installer skip systems running Windows 10 build 9879?

Fourth, fifth, and sixth reactions (in no particular order): A) Which patch? B) How does it fail/what are the symptoms? and C) Why isn’t there some mechanism in Windows 10 Update for Microsoft to advise users about these kinds of problems?

If there ever were a reason for a Windows Security Notification, this is it. Something along the lines of: “Known conflict with Security Bulletin 300XXXXX. Click here to review conflict and proceed with installation.”

Stick that in yer toaster.