On the “Program” screen, select the “This program path” option, and then type (or browse for) the path to the program you want to block. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to block a portable copy of the Maxthon web browser—mostly because it will be easy to demonstrate to you that the browser is blocked. Internet-based call-blocking services can block unwanted calls on phones that use the internet. Your phone provider might be able to recommend a specific service. But you also can search online for expert reviews. Some services are free and some charge you each month. Some internet-based services and phone apps require all calls to be routed. Click Authorize with ableton.com. This automatically opens your internet browser and takes you to ableton.com. Log in to your Ableton user account (if not already logged in). Then select the correct license to authorize (if you have more than one license available). Click on Authorize. This switches the focus back to Live.
When the late rapper and music producer Daniel Dumile (MF DOOM) was asked how he combats writer’s block, his answer was simple: “The way that creativity works for me, it comes like an energy stream. It comes in waves. You’ve just got to be ready for the wave, and when it subsides, wait for it to come back. That’s when you step back for a second. There’s no way to make it happen. You’ve just got to be ready.” It is a precept echoed through millennia and across cultures, from Tibetan Buddhist meditative practices, to the “Be Like Water”-minimalism of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, to the “flow states” popularized by twentieth-century positive psychologists. The secret to greatness, be it spiritual, physical, or creative, appears to lie in an individual’s capacity to relax their mind and trust in their ability to surf the pending waves of inspiration.
Kenneth Charles Blume III, better known as Kenny Beats, has taken this idea and done with it what any entrepreneurially-minded millennial would do: he branded it. Don’t Over Think Shit—“D.O.T.S” for G-rated brevity—adorns his merchandise, the neon sign above his studio entrance, and, apparently, nearly everything else in his possession. “The rug underneath my feet where I look down all day says Don't Over Think Shit on it. My lighter says Don't Over Think Shit on it. Every little thing I use says Don’t Over Think Shit,” he revealed over a video call from his recording studio in Los Angeles. For Blume, D.O.T.S is less a campaign slogan than a meditative mantra, the philosophical underpinning holding his work ethic and creativity in delicate harmony.
“It came from my manager telling me, don't overthink shit. I'm always overthinking. I'm always trying to draw some conclusion that isn't there, that's going to get me to a better way of working. I need to remind myself of that more than anybody. I remind myself all the time: let it go. It doesn't mean let the quality go. It doesn't mean let something out in the world go that you're not proud of. But it's just a reminder that sometimes you'll drive yourself crazy over one specific decision when there's a lot of decisions to be made, you know, and sometimes you just need a bird's eye view. And the D.O.T.S mantra has always just been kind of a slap in the head for me to kind of reset.”
“Roaring 20s” by Flo Milli
Perhaps D.O.T.S is the glue holding together Blume’s 11-year, genre-galloping career as a producer. In the early 2010s, Blume dealt his way into placements with blog-rap favorites Skeme, Smoke DZA, and a pre-Interscope ScHoolboy Q. In 2012, he formed LOUDPVCK with fellow Berklee College of Music student Ryan Marks, eventually touring the world on a festival-friendly EDM sound indebted to 808-driven Atlanta trap music. 2017 would mark the death of LOUDPVCK and a kind of homegoing for Blume’s music career. After holing up in a Los Angeles studio studying the vast soundscape of contemporary hip-hop, he emerged as Kenny Beats and embarked on a slew of collaborations with the likes of HoodRich Pablo Juan, Lil Wop, and Atlanta underground favorite KEY!
“Demolition 1+2” by Key!
It would be this last project, titled 777, which would catapult Blume to become one of hip-hop’s most in-demand bass-providers, crafting personalized bangers for a coterie of rappers at the forefront of hip-hop’s low-end heavy creative renaissance in the late 2010s: Greedo, Gibbs, Staples, Nasty. Blume had arrived as a go-to producer for making a trunk rattle and hasn’t looked back since.
“Ice Cream” by Rico Nasty
“The 808'—shorthand parlance in hip-hop production for a sampled and processed 808 kick drum with a decay extending to the moon—is the ultimate currency for many a rap producer. It is hip-hop’s great attention grabber; a sonic entryway into the soul of the genre’s young listeners; the key to a track’s bump in Feefo’s whip. Blume’s 808’s are voluminous affairs, enveloping the production while always leaving an appropriate amount of pocket for an emcee to carry the beat into oblivion. His secret? You guessed it—D.O.T.S:
“My approach is do less. My approach is pick samples that you really, really like and go through literally thousands and thousands and thousands of samples and only use, let’s say, the 20 to 30 that you love. You need to find something that is just sick to you instead of saying ‘this could be good if I sidechain it; this might sound right if I put the right EQ on; maybe it needs R-Bass.’ You shouldn’t be doing too much, in my opinion. I just learned from people whose 808s I thought sounded really good. They always had one kick and they always had one really sick 808 sample. And there was never any talk about sidechaining and there was never any discussion about what you needed to do to the 808. It was just like, oh, find an 808 that knocks.”
“Automatic” by Freddie Gibbs
As hip-hop’s influence continues to dominate the spectrum of pop music, its sonic signatures have become the lingua franca of the sound of youth culture across genres. Accordingly, Blume’s demand has expanded to collaborations with the likes of Joji, Deb Never, Ed Sheeran, and IDLES. His technical proficiency is now being challenged beyond the scope of the laptop and into more traditional studio recording environments. One through-line in his practice, be it in 808-selection, gear acquisition, or vocal production, is a devotion to well-preparedness that stems from a genuine love for the artists with whom he works. If Don’t Over Think Shit is Blume’s theory, his praxis lies at the intersection of meticulous organization, deep research, and sincere compassion and excitement for his favorite musicians.
“Stone Cold” by Deb Never and Kenny Beats
This is the process which Blume is most eager to reveal to us over the course of our interview. In doing so, he offers us a detailed insight into the creative and technical approach of one of contemporary music’s great orchestrators. As we learned, saying Don’t Over Think Shit is one thing; embedding it into your psyche so you can stay productive without losing your mind is another beast entirely.
You mentioned that you were recently working with two very different kinds of artists. Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?
I mean, one album is an album where I'm literally doing what everyone knows me to do: me making beats, flipping samples, and playing instruments. Just different types of rap stuff, hip-hop stuff with one of my favorite artists.
But another album I was working on is pretty much solely live recording with barely any use of my normal skill-set or my normal sample folder or my normal process where I just hop onto Ableton [Live] and do everything by myself. For the artist I was working with, you really just put a lot of mics in front of a lot of amps and put a lot of mics in front of a lot of instruments and people, and that's all you have to work with, that's all they want their music to sound like. And for me, it put me in a different perspective to find out my use in a room with an artist when it's not just 'What samples can I pull up? What plugins can I pull up? What can I do to make everything sound better? I'll make a guitar by myself. I'll make a drum-loop by myself. I'll do whatever it is alone.”
Now you're in a room where tone matters, recording matters, acoustics matter. It's a whole different thing, and to go from one project to another project having to use my brain in different ways, use my sense as a producer in different ways, it really informed me of what I'm good for. It's really just my taste in the creative process or my help with troubleshooting. There's a million decisions you answer no matter what kind of record you're working on. And it's kind of just making the best decisions and having the highest field goal percentage you can along the way.
How does your approach change when working with artists of different genres?
The way you get a performance out of anyone is different, regardless of the genre. It doesn't matter if two people make the same niche style of music from the same town in the same state. They might have completely different motivators, completely different personalities, completely different ways of looking at music or ways of getting in their zone or their flow state or whatever you want to call it. To me, every single artist is a case by case basis, whether I'm doing a hardcore album with Trash Talk, whether I'm working on a project like Ultra Mono with Idles, whether I'm doing a whole album with any artist - you've seen whether it's a Denzel (Curry) thing or it's someone like Vince (Staples) or Rico (Nasty) or Freddie (Gibbs) or KEY! or whatever. I take every session like a completely different scenario.
Let's just say you're working with JID. He can sing unbelievably, and he also has a very specific kind of cadence and kind of tone when he raps that actually varies all the time. Whenever you're engineering someone like that, treat the singing like a singer, treat the rapping like a rapper. I put them on different tracks. They have different EQs, they have different plugins, different reverbs, different Sends. I treat them like completely different people and that's how I get my best results. And whenever I'm with different people, I'm definitely going to treat every scenario completely independent of every other one. You can't really be informed by a genre or an interview you read or even a conversation you had in the past, 'cause creative people are always evolving. So, case-by-case basis. Always.
“Slick Talk” by JID
Do you have a baseline approach? Since we're on JID as an example, do you have a starting point for how you might set up a vocal chain for him rapping versus how you set up a vocal chain for singing?
At first I just stole something from Alex Tumay, and I ran with it for every person for months and months. But then I started to realize “Oh, they sound real bad on that mic,” or “Oh they sound really not-so-good in this song.” But the other day that person sounded amazing! And I started to realize it's not the mic; it's me leaving the same chain on everybody. I think that's one of the things that frustrates me the most whenever I get invited to some big, nice studio and I'm not working at my spot: the engineers at a lot of spots learn a template, learn one thing that works, and they don't have enough time to be with an artist. It's not their fault, but they don't have enough time to be with an artist to know what specifically works for their voice. So every day is the same template. Every person is the same template. Every session for every artist is the same template, and nothing evolves as kind of a rule at a lot of places I go.
So I think about that and I try to cover my blind spots. When someone comes in here, I'm not just going to say, “Okay, boom, that's a woman. Let me go to a female vocal preset. Okay, boom, this is a male. Let me go to ‘low male’ in Auto-Tune.” I would start to figure out “Oh wow, they have a weird resonance in their voice around 500 Hz every time they rap. Okay, every time there's a rap vocal, I'm going to drag that same EQ onto that track that covers that little bit of resonance or covers that little weird spot that I always notice every time they're rapping.” And then you start to get to know people. Every time they do an adlib, they get really loud. Okay, let me turn down the gain on the compressor a little bit. Let me go over here, let me push a notch down on my preamp. I slowly would learn by failing. And failing's amazing when you're by yourself, but failing with an artist? Failing on a recording, failing in a moment that you can't get back, when someone is super inspired? You can't have that.
It just takes a little bit of focus when you shift from that making-beats/producer mindset to the engineer mindset. A vocal take isn't like me laying down some MIDI. It's not always something you can get back. A performance is not always something you can just call for again. So you have to pay a little more attention when it comes to that learning curve and all the equipment and plug-ins or whatever that are involved when it comes to doing vocals, when it comes to engineering on top of the music you made.
That's big. It reminds me of a documentary I watched. Ice-T talked about how he would go into the studio and he would book two sessions. One session was to get the idea of the song out, and then the next session was to actually record the song. He knew that he would always need to book two sessions because he knew the first time was never going to be it.
Yeah, I mean, sometimes the first year is never it for me and people. Sometimes the first three, four years are never it for me and people. And I'm starting to really learn that. It's like sometimes it takes having that relationship or having that understanding of each other. You don't have to be best friends with everybody to start to get to know why it didn't work or what they're into or what you need to change in your approach. Or maybe it just ends up being the right time. You know, sometimes it's like that. I heard Prince used to do a whole album and then say, 'Okay, I'm ready to do the album.' He had to get one out of the system just to say, “I'm in my mode now, here we go.” Like, I don't mind that if it puts you in the zone, I don't mind doing something for one hour or taking four years. Whatever it takes.
How much goes into getting everything right the first time, in the production stage versus the post-production stage?
I'm always trying to get the best sound, whether it's the perfect snare, the perfect preset, the perfect EQ, cut or boost…. I'm never thinking, “Oh, I'll touch this later.” That's plan B, that's always secondary. If something can happen right there, why wait? Why does it need to necessarily go through a checklist of what we're supposed to do on the mix or what I'm supposed to add or how much time we're supposed to spend? A lot of people I'm working with are making five, six, two-minute songs a day. I have 80 songs that I made with 03 Greedo in a couple of months. You know, people's work rate is unreal these days. And it's not to say that people who take longer and write their music are better than people who punch-in and are right off the cuff…. It's just, people work differently, and I'm always trying to match the energy. If they can get a perfect vocal take, why can't I get a hole-in-one? I think a lot of people are good enough to where you're putting in the hours every single day, you've spent your ten thousand hours or whatever you want to call it, you might just have that perfect game.
A documentary on the making of “Netflix and Deal” by 03 Greedo + Kenny Beats
What goes into preparing for an artist?
It's not so much prep as it's just being a fan. Nine times out of ten, the reason I'm working with somebody is because somebody else who's either a person I work with, a person I'm close with, a friend of mine--they showed me their music and I loved it. I need to understand it enough to love it, to go do the research, to go find out every single thing, to go listen to every other thing that's going on, whether it's their influences or the people around them from where they're from or the producers they work with--what's a common thread between everything mix-wise? Production-wise?
Even if I'm not working with someone, there's a lot of people where I study, study, study their music. What they used, every single [Gearspace] forum I can find about every guitar pedal or every old rack-mounted piece of gear that I can go look up to try to emulate this one moment on a record I love. I'm doing it all the time. If I end up working with one of those people, you better believe I'm going to put 110% in because I'm such a fan. The research doesn't really feel like prep, it doesn't really feel like, “Today, I got to nail it.' It's more like, “Oh, I've been listening to nothing but this person anyway. Now they're here.”
Getting into the technical stuff, do you work off of a template when you use Live?
Yes, I do. I have a template that has everything in my studio basically ready to go. There's a guitar channel, there's a bass channel. There's a channel for my tape machine, a channel for a cassette deck. There's channels for my Distressor. There's channels for my dbx 560a's. There's channels for my API 512c’s. I have a couple of tape echoes that I can swap out and have one tape echo channel in my Ableton [Live] template, and then all the drum mics are kind of just staggered. So when I open the template, you see everything. And if you want to play guitar? You go there. You want to use a synth? You go there. If you want to play drums…. But a lot of times you'll see me on Twitch or something, make a beat, or an artist will ask me to make a beat in a session, and I'll just go in and I'll delete everything except Simpler and I'll just start a beat how I've always made beats.
Kenny Beats cooks up a beat with Mac Demarco
But because I'm using gear for the first time in these last few months, because I have so many different things that I might hop between for a different idea or a different artist on a different day, my template needs to be ready so I don't need to be, “Okay, new audio track. Okay, let me figure out which buss this is on. Alright, let me go back into my console and see….” No, I can't be doing that. I have everything saved and locked-in so the second someone wants to go, 'Oh, I'm going to the keyboard. Oh I'm just gonna step over here. Can we do our drums? Actually we don't want to do live drums. Can you program something?' I can't be having the technical part of that slow me down. So I have a vocal template I hop between whenever I'm engineering anything people are singing or rapping to or whatever. But, for the most part, this one long template for all my gear is the first thing I see. And now, in [Live] 11, it's so easy to just swap between them. I noticed the first second I was using it like, “Oh my God, this template thing is sick!”
How many tracks are in your main template?
I think it must be 18. Not too bad. I always have one Simpler at the end. And then I have one external audio effects thing I usually get rid of if I'm not doing the tape delays.
Do you put anything on the master track in your template?
Pretty much never when I'm making a quote-unquote beat. Usually, whenever I open my vocal template, I drop in a 2-track of whatever the person is going to sing over or rap over. And then I record them to the 2-track and then I master that. And my master chain's got some stock Ableton things that I have stolen from DJs over the years, along with an Oxford limiter. There's definitely some FabFilter Pro-2 in there, there's definitely an SSL EQ in there. And then I'm using the UAD stuff now a lot of the time. But I really don't ever send mastered beats to anyone. I don't ever put a master chain when I'm just making instrumentals because I feel like tracking over something that's real limited or compressed or saturated in any kind of way makes it harder for that vocal mix--even on the demo--to sound good. And then people aren't in love with what they're making and then it just goes downhill from there. So I try to send things that are really loud, still smacks, still hits, still have the presence that I want them to have, but there's never really a time where I'm throwing a Pro-L or even a simple limiter on my master. I leave it pretty clean.
But you send your beats loud?
As loud as I can get them without distorting. If I start seeing it going in the red on my master, I'm not pushing any harder than that. But at the same time, I know for a fact, especially if you're sending beats to either young artists or people who are listening to, like, stuff with big 808s, you're going to hear it on huge speakers, probably, or they're going to hear it on the iPhone speaker. So I account for those two things. If it knocks on the iPhone and if it knocks real loud, good to go. I'm never worried about, like, the loudness war when it comes to me playing somebody something. But also, I'm not someone who sends a lot of beats if it's not a worldwide pandemic. I normally play things for people or cook-up from scratch, so I control the volume a lot of the time.
How has the past year affected you, as far as the difficulties in physically getting in the room with people?
I still made a lot of music this year in a lot of different ways than I ever have before. It was kind of a lesson to me to not take it for granted, because the Zoom way of working, the screen-share way of working, it's really, really, really hard for me. I only have a couple of artists where I've been able to make songs virtually and I've felt like it was up to par compared to what we would have done had we had a normal chance to be in the studio. So, honestly, it affected things in an insane way. But it also made me start working on music completely differently because I had time where I couldn't be in the studio with people. I had started putting together this new spot besides The Cave that was going to be more of a production focused room for me, which is where I'm sitting right now. And I had this plan of, ”Maybe I'm going to get a drum set in there and start playing drums again,” or “Maybe I'll put one synth or maybe I'll get one keyboard.” Like, I've always just used my computer. The only keyboard I ever had is a small MIDI keyboard and I would plug guitars in the DI or basses in the DI if I had to record them. And it wasn't until I was doing the Trash Talk album that a full drum kit with 20 microphones was something I was ever responsible for; which mics on the amps you want to choose and what placement do you like and what balance do you feel they should have and how to get rid of the fades. These were not questions I ever had been asked before the end of 2019.
A snapshot of Kenny Beats’ routine during quarantine
And so, whatever, 2020 happened, and it kind of felt like I had this moment to study up. Let me figure out some of these things with live recording. Let me figure out some of these blind spots that I have when it comes to different styles of production that aren't just getting the best samples and programming the best I can. And, one-by-one, I went from having one synth, to tape echoes, to cassette machines, to all types of different things now, and I'm sitting here and I think I have 16 inputs and outputs and they're all full. And I'm always looking for more space at this point because I've found this new way of working that definitely slows me down, but creates a whole different kind of result. And also, when I'm in the room with artists, creates a whole different way of keeping people inspired or starting ideas. And it all comes down to just being able to touch it and actually turn a knob and actually play a Rhodes instead of just a MIDI keyboard.
I've never been someone who needed gear ever, but I've always been ashamed that I didn't know how to use it. I've always been ashamed that I didn't know how to record it. And I always felt like when I plugged guitars in they never sounded right. So after working with certain artists and after getting the opportunity to do certain things, it's made me turn around in 2020 and say, “Okay, let me get even sharper with skills that I barely have right now so next time I can be in that room, I have an opinion,” you know what I mean? Next time I'm around those people that I'm dying to work with, there's stuff I know from a baseline of knowledge I gave myself that can help me make their dream music and help me be useful to them. And that's really been the focus of my year. And my Twitchers watch me struggle through every bit of it, and it's hopefully helped a couple of people.
I hear that. It sounds like your approach to gear and gear selection is really informed more by a desire for things to spark your creativity. It's not that you're looking for the thing that has a specific feature, but more that you're looking for things that are going to inspire you.
Block Ableton From Internet Mac
The best way to explain my gear acquisition is: stealing the sauce. I see great people I look up to, videos or pictures of records getting made that I'm a giant fan of, and I see something in the corner. And I go, 'Oh my God, they used that. Oh my God, is that from that record? Oh, wait, he's standing next to that amp. Do you think that means...?' That's why I have everything I have. I found out that a record I listened to used this thing, that's why I have it. I don't have it because of any specific feature or because any gear review site said this is better than this. I have it because I know for a fact that something I'm in love with utilized this weird thing or this piece of gear in some way.
I don't ever want this interview to come off like, 'Oh, yeah, I got all this sick gear and use sick speakers.' It's not about any of that. It's just about knowing what you're using and knowing how to use it well. And for me--I made nothing but beats on a laptop for 10, 12, 13-something years. It started to be time for me to have one synth. And then that forced me to play piano better. And then me micing the drum kit forced me to do drums better. At the end of the day, if the gear starts slowing me down, I just go back to basics. I can do everything with one channel of Omnisphere and a couple of plugins, my sample library, I'm good. I don't really need anything else if I really need to get the job done. So everything's a bonus. Having nice speakers is a bonus. Being able to work in a studio that sounds good is a bonus. Having one piece of gear is a bonus. Having an interface is a bonus. If it's not getting used at least once a month, it's gotta go. I gotta give it to someone who is going to use it or I gotta sell it or get rid of it. Like I got to bring it back 'cause I don't want to have a bunch of shit just to have a bunch of shit. I just want to make better music, period.
Though Blume has vastly expanded his repertoire of tools and techniques since the beginning of his career, his commitment to working first as a listener and facilitator has never relented. Trying as it may seem, his work is a labor of love that reminds us of the fulfillment achieved from immersing oneself into a creative process and being attentive and responsive to a community from which your inspiration springs. Blume isn’t concerned with making it look easy, difficult, expensive, cheap, or stylish. He’s concerned with doing whatever it takes to achieve what we all want if we just step back and stop overthinking shit: better music, period.
Follow Kenny Beats on YouTube and Instagram
Text and interview by Daniel Krishnan. Daniel is the founder of Program Change, a media platform dedicated to inspiring music-makers around the world.
-->See a list of known issues that have been resolved for Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 over the last six months. Looking for a specific issue? Press CTRL + F (or Command + F if you are using a Mac) and enter your search term(s) to search the page.
Resolved issues
| Summary | Originating update | Status | Date resolved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printing and scanning might fail when these devices use smart-card authentication Non-compliant printers, scanners, and multifunction devices might fail to print when using smart-card authentication. | OS Build 19042.1110 KB5004237 2021-07-13 | Resolved | 2021-08-03 10:36 PT |
| Certain printers unable to print Most affected printers are receipt or label printers that connect via USB. | OS Build 19042.1081 KB5003690 2021-06-21 | Resolved KB5004237 | 2021-07-13 10:00 PT |
| Internet Explorer 11 and apps using the WebBrowser control might fail to open PDFs The 64-bit versions of IE11 and apps using the 64-bit version of the WebBrowser control might show PDFs as just gray. | OS Build 19042.1052 KB5003637 2021-06-08 | Resolved KB5004760 | 2021-06-29 10:00 PT |
| A high-pitched noise might be heard when using 5.1 audio with certain settings Certain combinations of apps, audio devices and Windows settings might produce a high-pitched noise when using 5.1 audio | OS Build 19042.906 KB5000842 2021-03-29 | Resolved KB5003690 | 2021-06-21 14:00 PT |
| News and interests button on the Windows taskbar might have blurry text Certain display configurations might cause blurry text on the news and interests button in the Windows taskbar. | OS Build 19042.964 KB5001391 2021-04-28 | Resolved KB5003690 | 2021-06-21 14:00 PT |
| Apps might have issues accessing event logs on remote devices Event logs might not be accessible from remote devices unless both devices have updates released June 8, 2021 or later. | OS Build 19042.10000 KB5003637 2021-06-08 | Resolved KB5003637 | 2021-06-08 10:00 PT |
| Security updates released May 11, 2021 might not offer in managed environments Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager and managed devices are affected. | OS Build 19042.985 KB5003173 2021-05-11 | Resolved | 2021-05-11 19:01 PT |
| Errors or issues during or after updating devices with certain Conexant audio drivers Devices with affected Conexant or Synaptics audio drivers might receive a stop error with a blue screen. | N/A | Resolved | 2021-05-07 13:29 PT |
| Errors or issues during or after updating devices with Conexant ISST audio drivers Devices with affected Conexant ISST audio drivers might receive an error or have issues with Windows 10, version 2004. | N/A | Resolved | 2021-05-07 13:29 PT |
| Lower than expected performance in games Some users have reported lower game performance in full screen or borderless windowed mode when using multiple monitors. | OS Build 19042.906 KB5000842 2021-03-29 | Resolved | 2021-04-27 15:48 PT |
| Microsoft Edge missing after using custom media/ISOs including March 29, 2021 updates Microsoft Edge missing when installing Windows from custom media/ISOs using updates released March 25, 2021 or later. | OS Build 19042.906 KB5000842 2021-03-29 | Resolved | 2021-03-29 17:01 PT |
| Unexpected results when printing from some apps or to some printers Issues might include missing or solid color graphics, misalignment/formatting issues, or printing of blank pages/labels. | OS Build 19042.867 KB5000802 2021-03-09 | Resolved KB5001649 | 2021-03-18 19:00 PT |
| Error when attempting to print to certain printers You might receive an APC_INDEX_MISMATCH error with a blue screen when attempting to print. | OS Build 19042.867 KB5000802 2021-03-09 | Resolved KB5001567 | 2021-03-15 14:00 PT |
| Memory or disk space error when opening documents in Microsoft Office apps You might receive an error when attempting to open files that trigger the Protected View feature. | OS Build 19042.844 KB4601382 2021-02-24 | Resolved | 2021-03-13 11:42 PT |
Block Ableton From Internet Connection
Issue details
July 2021
Printing and scanning might fail when these devices use smart-card authentication | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | OS Build 19042.1110 KB5004237 2021-07-13 | Resolved: 2021-08-03, 10:36 PT Opened: 2021-07-23, 14:36 PT |
After installing updates released July 13, 2021 on domain controllers (DCs) in your environment, printers, scanners, and multifunction devices which are not compliant with section 3.2.1 of RFC 4556 spec, might fail to print when using smart-card (PIV) authentication. Affected platforms:
Next steps: A temporary mitigation is now available. For more information, please see KB5005408 - Smart-card authentication might cause print and scan failures. | ||
Certain printers unable to print | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5004237 | OS Build 19042.1081 KB5003690 2021-06-21 | Resolved: 2021-07-13, 10:00 PT Opened: 2021-07-08, 16:40 PT |
After installing KB5003690 or later updates (including out of band updates, KB5004760 and KB5004945), you might have issues printing to certain printers. Various brands and models are affected, primarily receipt or label printers that connect via USB. Note This issue is not related to CVE-2021-34527 or CVE-2021-1675. Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue was resolved in KB5004237, released July 13, 2021. If you are using an update released before July 13, 2021, you can resolve this issue using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices. Restarting your Windows device might help the resolution apply to your device faster. For enterprise-managed devices that have installed an affected update and encountered this issue, it can be resolved by installing and configuring a special Group Policy. Note Devices need to be restarted after configuring the special Group Policy. For help, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback. For general information on using Group Policies, see Group Policy Overview. Important If you install an update released July 13, 2021 ( KB5004237) or later, you do not need to use a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) or a special Group Policy to resolve this issue. | ||
June 2021
Internet Explorer 11 and apps using the WebBrowser control might fail to open PDFs | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5004760 | OS Build 19042.1052 KB5003637 2021-06-08 | Resolved: 2021-06-29, 10:00 PT Opened: 2021-06-25, 12:53 PT |
After installing KB5003637 or later updates, Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) or apps using the 64-bit version of the WebBrowser control might fail to open PDFs or may render as just a gray background using the Adobe Acrobat plug-in. Note Internet Explorer is only affected if Enable 64-bit Processes for Enhanced Protected Mode is enabled in the Advanced tab in Internet Options. Workaround: To mitigate the issue, you can use one of the following:
Resolution: This issue was resolved in the out-of-band update KB5004760. It is a cumulative update, so you do not need to apply any previous update before installing it. KB5004760 is now available on the Microsoft Update Catalog and must be manually downloaded and installed. You can import this update into Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) manually. See the Microsoft Update Catalog for instructions. Affected platforms:
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News and interests button on the Windows taskbar might have blurry text | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5003690 | OS Build 19042.964 KB5001391 2021-04-28 | Resolved: 2021-06-21, 14:00 PT Opened: 2021-06-14, 17:43 PT |
After installing KB5001391 or later updates, the news and interests button in the Windows taskbar might have blurry text on certain display configurations. Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue was resolved in KB5003690. | ||
Apps might have issues accessing event logs on remote devices | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5003637 | OS Build 19042.10000 KB5003637 2021-06-08 | Resolved: 2021-06-08, 10:00 PT Opened: 2021-06-07, 16:10 PT |
After installing KB5003637 or later updates, apps accessing event logs on remote devices might be unable to connect. This issue might occur if the local or remote has not yet installed updates released June 8, 2021 or later. Affected apps are using certain legacy Event Logging APIs. You might receive an error when attempting to connect, for example:
Note Event Viewer and other apps using current non-legacy APIs to access event logs should not be affected. Affected platforms:
Resolution: This is expected due to security hardening changes relating to Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) for CVE-2021-31958. This issue is resolved if the local and remote devices both have KB5003637 installed. | ||
May 2021
A high-pitched noise might be heard when using 5.1 audio with certain settings | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5003690 | OS Build 19042.906 KB5000842 2021-03-29 | Resolved: 2021-06-21, 14:00 PT Opened: 2021-05-13, 19:35 PT |
After installing KB5000842 or later updates, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio may play containing a high-pitched noise or squeak in certain apps when using certain audio devices and Windows settings. Note This issue does not occur when stereo is used. Workaround: To mitigate this issue, you can try one or more of the following:
Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue was resolved in KB5003690. | ||
Security updates released May 11, 2021 might not offer in managed environments | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | OS Build 19042.985 KB5003173 2021-05-11 | Resolved: 2021-05-11, 19:01 PT Opened: 2021-05-11, 14:58 PT |
When checking for updates within Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager and managed devices that connect to these servers, KB5003173 might not be available or offered. Note: This might also affect Security Only and Internet Explorer Cumulative Rollups, on platforms that receive these types of updates. Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue is now resolved on the service-side and updates should be available. Note: If you initiate a synchronization cycle and are still not being offered the updates, please check again soon. There might be slight delay as it propagates to all servers in all regions. | ||
April 2021
Lower than expected performance in games | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | OS Build 19042.906 KB5000842 2021-03-29 | Resolved: 2021-04-27, 15:48 PT Opened: 2021-04-23, 18:04 PT |
A small subset of users have reported lower than expected performance in games after installing KB5000842 or later updates. Most users affected by this issue are running games full screen or borderless windowed modes and using two or more monitors. Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue is resolved using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices. Restarting your device might help the resolution apply to your device faster. For enterprise-managed devices that have installed an affected update and encountered this issue, it can be resolved by installing and configuring a special Group Policy. Note Devices need to be restarted after configuring the special Group Policy. For help, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback. For general information on using Group Policies, see Group Policy Overview. | ||
March 2021
Microsoft Edge missing after using custom media/ISOs including March 29, 2021 updates | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | OS Build 19042.906 KB5000842 2021-03-29 | Resolved: 2021-03-29, 17:01 PT Opened: 2021-03-29, 16:15 PT |
Devices with Windows installations created from custom offline media or custom ISO image might have Microsoft Edge Legacy removed by this update, but not automatically replaced by the new Microsoft Edge. This issue is only encountered when custom offline media or ISO images are created by slipstreaming this update into the image without having first installed the standalone Servicing Stack Update (SSU) released March 29, 2021 or later. Note Devices that connect directly to Windows Update to receive updates are not affected. This includes devices using Windows Update for Business. Any device connecting to Windows Update should always receive the latest versions of the Servicing Stack Update (SSU) and latest cumulative update (LCU) without any extra steps. Workaround: If you have already encountered this issue by installing the OS using affected custom media, you can mitigate it by directly installing the new Microsoft Edge from here. If you need to broadly deploy the new Microsoft Edge for business, see Download and deploy Microsoft Edge for business Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue is resolved. To avoid this issue, be sure to first slipstream the Servicing Stack Update (SSU) released March 29, 2021 or later into the custom offline media or ISO image before slipstreaming the latest cumulative update (LCU). To do this with the combined SSU and LCU packages now used for Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows 10, version 2004, you will need to extract the SSU from the combined package. Use the following steps to extract the using SSU:
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Unexpected results when printing from some apps or to some printers | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5001649 | OS Build 19042.867 KB5000802 2021-03-09 | Resolved: 2021-03-18, 19:00 PT Opened: 2021-03-18, 17:25 PT |
After installing updates released March 9, 2021 or March 15, 2021, you might get unexpected results when printing from some apps. Issues might include:
Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue was resolved in the out-of-band update KB5001649. It is a cumulative update, so you do not need to apply any previous update before installing it. You will need to Check for updates to install KB5001649 and might need to also select Download and Install. For instructions on how to Check for updates, please see Update Windows 10. You can import this update into Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) manually. See the Microsoft Update Catalog for instructions. Note KB5001649 is cumulative and addresses both the issue above and the issue addressed in the March 15, 2021 out-of-band release for the APC_INDEX_MISMATCH error with a blue screen. | ||
Error when attempting to print to certain printers | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved KB5001567 | OS Build 19042.867 KB5000802 2021-03-09 | Resolved: 2021-03-15, 14:00 PT Opened: 2021-03-10, 18:04 PT |
After installing KB5000802, you might receive an APC_INDEX_MISMATCH error with a blue screen when attempting to print to certain printers in some apps. This issue affects a subset of Type 3 printer drivers and does not affect printer drivers that are Type 4. If you are unsure which type your printer driver is, use the following steps:
Workaround: To mitigate the issue, follow the instructions in this video. The Command Prompt commands from the video are as follows (you will need to replace KX driver for Universal printing with the name of your printer, as explained in the video):
Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue was resolved in the out-of-band update KB5001567. It is a cumulative update, so you do not need to apply any previous update before installing it. You will need to Check for updates to install KB5001567 and might need to also select Download and Install. For instructions on how to Check for updates, please see Update Windows 10. You can import this update into Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) manually. See the Microsoft Update Catalog for instructions. | ||
Memory or disk space error when opening documents in Microsoft Office apps | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | OS Build 19042.844 KB4601382 2021-02-24 | Resolved: 2021-03-13, 11:42 PT Opened: 2021-03-13, 10:50 PT |
When opening a document in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or any Microsoft Office applications, you might receive the error, 'Microsoft Excel cannot open or save any more documents because there is not enough available memory or disk space'. This issue only affects devices that have installed Microsoft Office apps from the Microsoft Store and are attempting to open a document that has triggered the use of the Protected View feature. Affected platforms:
Resolution: This issue is resolved using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to non-managed devices. Restarting your device might help the resolution apply to your device faster. For enterprise-managed devices that have installed an affected update and encountered this issue, it can be resolved by installing and configuring a special Group Policy. Note Devices need to be restarted after configuring the special Group Policy. To find out more about using Group Policies, see Group Policy Overview. | ||
May 2020
Errors or issues during or after updating devices with certain Conexant audio drivers | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | N/A | Resolved: 2021-05-07, 13:29 PT Opened: 2020-05-27, 00:20 PT |
Synaptics and Microsoft have found incompatibility issues with certain versions of drivers for Conexant or Synaptics audio devices and Windows 10, version 2004 (the Windows 10 May 2020 Update). Windows 10 devices with affected Conexant or Synaptics audio drivers might receive a stop error with a blue screen during or after updating to Windows 10, version 2004. The affected driver will be named Conexant HDAudio Driver under Sound, video and game controllers in Device Manager and have versions 8.65.47.53, 8.65.56.51, or 8.66.0.0 through 8.66.89.00 for chdrt64.sys or chdrt32.sys. To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on Windows 10 devices with affected Conexant or Synaptics audio drivers installed from being offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows Server, version 2004 until the driver has been updated. If your organization is using Update Compliance, the safeguard IDs are 25702617, 25702660, 25702662, and 25702673. Affected platforms:
Resolution: The safeguard hold with safeguard IDs 25702617, 25702660, 25702662, and 25702673 has been removed for all devices as of May 7, 2021, including devices with affected drivers. If updated drivers are not available for your device and you are offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2, a small number of devices might roll back to the previous version of Windows 10 when attempting to update. If this occurs, you should attempt to update to Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2 again. Please note, if there are no other safeguards that affect your device, it can take up to 48 hours before the update to a later version of Windows 10 is offered. | ||
Errors or issues during or after updating devices with Conexant ISST audio drivers | ||
| Status | Originating update | History |
| Resolved | N/A | Resolved: 2021-05-07, 13:29 PT Opened: 2020-05-27, 00:22 PT |
Synaptics and Microsoft have found incompatibility issues with certain versions of drivers for Conexant ISST audio driver and Windows 10, version 2004 (the Windows 10 May 2020 Update). Windows 10 devices with affected Conexant ISST audio driver might receive an error or experience issues while installing the update or after the device has updated. The affected driver will be named Conexant ISST Audio or Conexant HDAudio Driver under Sound, video and game controllers in Device Manager and have file name uci64a96.dll through uci64a231.dll and a file version of 7.231.3.0 or lower. To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on Windows 10 devices with affected Conexant or Synaptics audio drivers installed from being offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows Server, version 2004 until the driver has been updated. If your organization is using Update Compliance, the safeguard ID is 25178825. Affected platforms:
Resolution: The safeguard hold with safeguard ID 25178825 has been removed for all devices as of May 7, 2021, including devices with affected drivers. If updated drivers are not available for your device and you are offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2, a small number of devices might roll back to the previous version of Windows 10 when attempting to update. If this occurs, you should attempt to update to Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2 again. Please note, if there are no other safeguards that affect your device, it can take up to 48 hours before the update to a later version of Windows 10 is offered. | ||