What just happened? Microsoft has rolled out a fix for last week's patch Tuesday release that caused Blue Screen of Death crashes on devices using certain printers. If you've been experiencing the problem, this new update should return printer functionality.
Last week brought reports that Windows 10 KB5000802 (March 2021), an automatic security update, introduced major issues for some users with certain printer brands. The problem is also present in the KB5000808 update for those using Windows 10 versions 2004 and 20H2.
The issue affected Ricoh, Zebra, Kyocera, and other printers. It appeared when hitting the print button in apps, including Notepad, Office, LibreOffice, and even some PDFs, bringing up a BSOD with an "APC_INDEX_MISMATCH for win32kfull.sys" error message.
Thankfully, Microsoft has been quick in rolling out a fix. Windows 10 KB5001567, an "optional quality update," is available for version 20H2 of the operating system. The company writes in the patch notes that the issue only affected a "subset of customers" and "certain printers using some apps," though it doesn't specify which ones.
The update is available now and can be manually downloaded from the "optional quality update available" section. You can also download it directly from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The fixes will be part of the April 2021 cumulative updates (Patch Tuesday), scheduled to launch on April 13, writes Windows Latest.
Let's hope that this update doesn't continue the cycle of introducing new problems to Windows 10, requiring another fix, then another, and so on.