Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Anniversary Update Lock-Ups, Working On Viable Fix
We reported last week that users were having issues with the new Windows 10 Anniversary Update locking up their PCs. Some users have experienced freezing issues almost immediately after installing the major software update for Microsoft’s latest consumer operating system, which was released on August 2nd.
Reddit user SolowingX wrote, “After logging in everything works for like 20 seconds. After that if I only mouse over the Start area, Taskbar, the black part simply, it freezes and I get a message that Windows is not responding." The problems are affecting a broad swath of customers running varied hardware configurations, so it doesn’t appear to be an isolated incident.
Microsoft is now speaking up about issues surrounding the Anniversary Update and is acknowledging that it has received a “small number of reports of Windows 10 freezing” following the installation of the Anniversary Update. Microsoft seems to suggest that the problem is limited to customers that have Windows 10 installed on a solid-state drive (SSD) and apps/data stored on a separate hard disk drive (HDD). However, users in the aforementioned reddit thread who only have HDDs installed are still experiencing lockup issues.
And some users that only have an SSD (and no secondary HDD) are experiencing problems as well. Michael_A_P writes in the Microsoft community thread:
I've had two instances of freezing (one total freeze with completely static display, no response to touchscreen, pen, or keyboard/touchpad; one with touchpad still live but Windows unresponsive) albeit both these before the latest updates on 9 August. This is on a Surface 3 (128 GB LTE) so obviously SSD but no second drive.
EDIT (13 August): that's another total freeze on my S3 - display completely frozen, no response to anything apart from hard reset with power button (after waiting 10 minutes). Device up to date with all updates shown as "successful".
The discussion thread started by the Microsoft community moderator currently has over 260 replies that shed quite a lot of light on the problem at hand. Many users take issue with the comment that only a “small” number of users are affected, while others are offering some tips on possible solutions to the freezing.
Microsoft does offer the suggestion to roll back to a previous version of Windows 10 if you’re facing problems with the Anniversary Update. However, since Microsoft now only gives you 10 days to uninstall the Anniversary Update before you’re stuck with it, you’d better act fast as soon as you encounter the freezing issue.
