KB4457144 - Windows 7 Rollup May Cause NIC Issues

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Windows 7 seems to have been suffering a lot recently with Microsoft releasing updates on an almost weekly basis that breaks something within the still popular Operating System.

You can see the number of Microsoft Updates that have been problematic for Windows 7 users that have been released over the last few months by looking through our articles here.

Well it seems that after another Patch Tuesday passes us by, yet another update could cause Windows 7 network cards to start not working.

A lot of the recent issues have been either network card or wireless related and it does seem very strange that this just seems to keep happening. Are Microsoft trying to push everyone onto Windows 10? Surely they wouldn’t do that, would they?

KB4457144 (Monthly Rollup)

So the update you should be looking out for now is KB4457144. This is a monthly rollup for Windows 7. Below is directly from the updates KB page explaining exactly what the problems are in relation to this latest release.

Note that Microsoft have very kindly included a “workaround” – would be nice if they didn’t screw it up in the first place though wouldn’t it?!

Symptom

Workaround

After you apply this update, the network interface controller may stop working on some client software configurations. This occurs because of an issue related to a missing file, oem<number>.inf. The exact problematic configurations are currently unknown.

To locate the network device, launch devmgmt.msc. It may appear under Other Devices.
To automatically rediscover the NIC and install drivers, select Scan for Hardware Changes from the Action menu.

a. Alternatively, install the drivers for the network device by right-clicking the device and choosing Update. Then choose Search automatically for updated driver software or Browse my computer for driver software.

If you are still experiencing any weird issues with your machines, take a stab at removing this dodgy update and see if it helps.

How to Remove Problem Updates

If you need some guidance on what to do to remove these or any other updates, be it on a single machine or mass corporation remove, take a look at this post as we have added some instructions towards the end of the post that you may find helpful.

Who knows, in the future far, far away, we may be able to go a week without Microsoft releasing a dodgy update!

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