Microsoft has stopped business users from downloading its Windows 8.1 update because of a bug.
The software giant confirmed the move on its Windows Server Update Services blog, and said it was because the update caused some PCs to stop scanning against Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 Service Pack 2.
Although Microsoft hasn't revealed how many companies were affected by the glitch, it said only PCs running WSUS 3.2 on Windows Server 2003 (SP2 and R2 SP2) and Windows Server 2008 (SP2 and R2 SP1) when HTTPS and SSL were enabled but TLS 1.2 wasn't turned on were experiencing problems.
Ben Herila wrote: "Microsoft plans to issue an update as soon as possible that will correct the issue and restore the proper behavior for Windows 8.1 Update KB 2919355 scanning against all supported WSUS configurations. Until that time, we are delaying the distribution of the Windows 8.1 Update KB 2919355 to WSUS servers."
As workarounds for companies that had already installed the update, Microsoft suggests enabling TLS 1.2 or disabling HTTPS on WSUS if you are using WSUS 3.2 on Windows Server 2008 R2 or if using WSUS 3.2 on an operating system other than Windows Server 2008 R2. HTTPS should be disabled on WSUS until the company releases an update, it added.
Although the patch is also available via the Windows Update Catalog or MSDN, the company advised organisations not to install it until a bug fix had been released.
It said: "We recommend that you suspend deployment of this update in your organisation until we release the update that resolves this issue. You may also find the workarounds discussed in this article to be useful for testing this Windows 8.1 Update for your organisation. Thank you for your patience during this time."
Windows 8.1 started rolling out in October last year and was the first big update to the Windows 8 operating system.
Earlier this week, Windows XP support was discontinued in the hope that Microsoft users would switch to Windows 7 or Windows 8.
