Patch February 2023 - issues with 2012 R2 server patch deployment

Question

Hello guys. Newbie to these forums so forgive me if the location of the question is incorrect and feel free to move this thread to wherever is the correct location.

Patch Ferbruary 2023 has left our environment with issues on 2012 R2 server. We deploy the patches via WSUS. Unfortunately no pre-prod or test environment. During patch deployment we experience the following:
-some 2012 R2 servers enter a hung state during the installation (windows update -> install patches, before arranging the reboot)

-on other 2012 R2 servers patch KB5022899 fails to install after the reboot

The hung state occurs during the install, without even reaching the reboot part.

We assumed it was patch KB5022899 as it would fail install on some of the servers where there was no hung issue. We attempted to install only the rest of the updates without it, but still experienced a hung issue on the server being tested.

The hung state does not seem to differ whether the server is physical or a vmware virtual machine. The server just becomes unresponsive and in need of a reset, vmware/ilo console becomes black and unusable. Services cannot be reached, nor remote management tools, but a little bit of the file system can be accessed. Once the reset is done some of the patches revert. Only error Status: 0x80070643 is observed in setup log. System and Application log have a huge gap in them until the moment the server is reset. I am of the mind to raise the topic with technet forums, but I have no idea if anything would change.

What I am observing is that the servers that do end up hanging seem to be mostly file servers.

Full list of updates we are applying as part of the patching campaign:
KB5022835
KB5022733
KB5022899
KB5022894
KB5022785

Best regards:

Petar

Answer 1

Hello,

we had similar situation with few 2k12R2 servers but after installation of KB5022894.
The servers became unresponsive from VMware console, the only option was to restart it. After restart I could see the same screen as @AlexMilotin-VT pasted (undoing changes)
Only what I found is the error 0x80070643. I repatch one of the machine without repairing .NET, and it finished with success so I'm just wondering what happened during first phase of patching...

Found below logs:
Package KB5022894 failed to be changed to the Installed state. Status: 0x80070643.
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: Security Update for Windows (KB5022894).

Answer 2

Hello,

I installed new SSU KB5023790 (as it replaced KB5022922). And during new patch cycle we had the same issue but only on one 2k12 R2 machine, this machine was unresponsive and only thing was just to reboot it.

Currently I'm checking it - sfc /scannow and dism so we will if it will find anything.

Do you have this same issue after installing march updates ?

@AlexMilotin-VT

Answer 3

interested to know if you were patching vmware tools at the same time?

Answer 4

Still having the issue as OP.

We installed the 2023-08 Servicing Stack Update - KB5029368, and saw the issue on about 50 of our 2012R2 servers for the August, 2023 patching cycle. The hung state occurred during the install of the August patches, without even reaching the reboot part. The CBS.log moved, but then about 15-20 minutes in it just sat there with no activity until the server became hung. The server just became unresponsive and in need of a reset, vmware console becomes black and unusable and can't send a CTRL+ALT+DEL signal. Services cannot be reached, nor remote management tools, but a little bit of the file system can be accessed.

Anyone ever able to figure out the root cause of these servers becoming hung in the middle of the patch applying?