Warning: Windows Update Breaking Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 VMs on VMware


Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Evening all!

Seeing reports of Windows Update pushing a bad driver for VMware PVSCSI to Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 VMs, it shows as “VMware, Inc. - SCSI Adapter - 1.3.18.0”.

 

Hopefully Microsoft will pull it, just be careful of any patching windows or you may be fishing for old drivers through your backups… or if you’re using SureBackup/SureReplica, if you’ve got a pending Windows Update reboot and it’s a ticking time bomb, you’ll soon know when those VMs fail to boot!

 

Good luck out there!


24 comments

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Thanks Michael, I will inform our patch team.

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Yikes.  Thanks for the heads up.

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Thanks for the information.

Do you have still many Windows Server 2012/2012R2 systems? We have some last systems left. And they will be replaced soon.

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Thanks for the information.

Do you have still many Windows Server 2012/2012R2 systems? We have some last systems left. And they will be replaced soon.

A mixed bag, as an MSP we end up taking on new clients that are in need of an IT refresh (recently took on one that was still running 2008 R2 so that’s been a priority for one of my colleagues!).

 

We have our majority on 2016/2019 but since the start of the year it’s been a lot of these migration projects wrapping up or waiting for Windows Server 2022 to become GA to then migrate. So I’ve got a couple of customers that are gonna jump straight from 2012 to 2022!

Userlevel 7
Badge +3

THANK YOU FOR THE HEADS UP ON THIS!

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

Michael has shared the info 😬😅

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

Michael has shared the info 😬😅

Yeah yeah I know!
I don’t know him but he has all my respect, I have already understood that he works well and he was not talking about himself.

@Mildur I apologize but I think my irony is lost by my brain when I write in English instead of Italian. :joy:

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

Michael has shared the info 😬😅

Yeah yeah I know!
I don’t know him but he has all my respect, I have already understood that he works well and he was not talking about himself.

@Mildur I apologize but I think my irony is lost by my brain when I write in English instead of Italian. :joy:

Michael is @MicoolPaul :)

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

Michael has shared the info 😬😅

Yeah yeah I know!
I don’t know him but he has all my respect, I have already understood that he works well and he was not talking about himself.

@Mildur I apologize but I think my irony is lost by my brain when I write in English instead of Italian. :joy:

Michael is @MicoolPaul :)

Ok, I’ll take another coffee…… :sweat_smile::sweat_smile::joy::joy:

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

Michael has shared the info 😬😅

Yeah yeah I know!
I don’t know him but he has all my respect, I have already understood that he works well and he was not talking about himself.

@Mildur I apologize but I think my irony is lost by my brain when I write in English instead of Italian. :joy:

Michael is @MicoolPaul :)

Ok, I’ll take another coffee…… :sweat_smile::sweat_smile::joy::joy:

Coffee is always the perfect solution for everything :D

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

It’s a me, Mario Michael! :joy:

 

@marcofabbri we have a similar policy, so every client we manage patching for we restrict the installation of anything “Preview” or “Driver”. We instead patch this stuff via scheduled VMware Tools upgrades, better to know when we’ve made a change vs Microsoft’s generic driver pushing.

 

Every month when my machine does updates it tries to install a HP printer driver from 2009… :disappointed: Windows Update has a fair share of problems!

Userlevel 1

Hi all,

 

If any of you have problems with this, here are a workaround that works.

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SCSI-adapter-1-3-18-0-update-in-2012R2-broke-it/td-p/2872083

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Hi all,

 

If any of you have problems with this, here are a workaround that works.

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SCSI-adapter-1-3-18-0-update-in-2012R2-broke-it/td-p/2872083

Thanks @Markusmaramo for sharing that link!

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Bible says: never update driver if all works.

Thanks @Chris.Childerhose for sharing:grin:

I will like to add this too, except tested in an isolated (test) environment.

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Hi all,

 

If any of you have problems with this, here are a workaround that works.

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SCSI-adapter-1-3-18-0-update-in-2012R2-broke-it/td-p/2872083

That’s gold.

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Hi all,

 

If any of you have problems with this, here are a workaround that works.

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SCSI-adapter-1-3-18-0-update-in-2012R2-broke-it/td-p/2872083

Nice to see a workaround until fixed.

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Now is as good as a time as ever to get into SureBackup to test updates to VMware drivers and testing changes. I like the ability to test changes in the Data Lab, including upgrading to newer versions of Windows!

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Now is as good as a time as ever to get into SureBackup to test updates to VMware drivers and testing changes. I like the ability to test changes in the Data Lab, including upgrading to newer versions of Windows!

Could not agree more with this one.  Love testing with SureBackup and Data Labs. 😁

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Evening all!

Seeing reports of Windows Update pushing a bad driver for VMware PVSCSI to Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 VMs, it shows as “VMware, Inc. - SCSI Adapter - 1.3.18.0”.

 

Hopefully Microsoft will pull it, just be careful of any patching windows or you may be fishing for old drivers through your backups… or if you’re using SureBackup/SureReplica, if you’ve got a pending Windows Update reboot and it’s a ticking time bomb, you’ll soon know when those VMs fail to boot!

 

Good luck out there!

Thx for sharing this @MicoolPaul , really nice to know. Again MS did something wrong...

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

It’s a me, Mario Michael! :joy:

 

@marcofabbri we have a similar policy, so every client we manage patching for we restrict the installation of anything “Preview” or “Driver”. We instead patch this stuff via scheduled VMware Tools upgrades, better to know when we’ve made a change vs Microsoft’s generic driver pushing.

 

Every month when my machine does updates it tries to install a HP printer driver from 2009… :disappointed: Windows Update has a fair share of problems!

That makes sense; there are some parts of software like drivers, which just shouldn't get automatically patched; at least not without testing.

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Evening all!

Seeing reports of Windows Update pushing a bad driver for VMware PVSCSI to Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 VMs, it shows as “VMware, Inc. - SCSI Adapter - 1.3.18.0”.

 

Hopefully Microsoft will pull it, just be careful of any patching windows or you may be fishing for old drivers through your backups… or if you’re using SureBackup/SureReplica, if you’ve got a pending Windows Update reboot and it’s a ticking time bomb, you’ll soon know when those VMs fail to boot!

 

Good luck out there!

Thx for sharing this @MicoolPaul , really nice to know. Again MS did something wrong...

Unfortunately in the last period it happens a little too often...

Badge

Thx for sharing, does someone have a specific KB number for that update ?

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Thx for sharing, does someone have a specific KB number for that update ?

Microsoft stats “VSCSI driver version 1.3.18.0 is removed from Windows Update site, no new Windows VMs would receive it anymore”.

 

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