Microsoft pulled the standalone KB4524244 security update today, February 15, 2020, from Windows Update after confirming user reports about freezes, boot problems, and installation issues since it was released on February 11.

KB4524244 was designed to address "an issue in which a third-party Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot manager might expose UEFI-enabled computers to a security vulnerability."

Redmond also says that KB4524244 can cause the 'Reset this PC' feature (aka 'Push Button Reset' or PBR) to fail on Windows 10 and Windows Server devices where it was installed.

"You might restart into recovery with 'Choose an option' at the top of the screen with various options or you might restart to your desktop and receive the error 'There was a problem resetting your PC'," Microsoft explains.

The KB4524244 issues affect both home and server installations, a list of all impacted platforms is available in the table embedded below.

Affected platforms Client Server Windows 10, version 1909 Windows Server, version 1909 Windows 10, version 1903 Windows Server, version 1903 Windows 10, version 1809 Windows Server, version 1809/Windows Server 2019 Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 Windows 10, version 1803 Windows Server, version 1803 Windows 10, version 1709 Windows Server, version 1709 Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016 Windows Server 2012 Windows 10, version 1607 Windows Server 2016

KB4524244 pulled, workaround available

To help users of affected devices, "the standalone security update, KB4524244 has been removed and will not re-offered from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Update Catalog," Microsoft says on the Windows 10 Health Dashboard.

"This does not affect any other update, including Latest Cumulative Update (LCU), Monthly Rollup or Security Only update."

Users who have installed the update and are experiencing issues can follow this procedure to uninstall the update and get rid of the problems:

Select the start button or Windows Desktop Search and type update history and select View your Update history. On the Settings/View update history dialog window, Select Uninstall Updates. On the Installed Updates dialog window, find and select KB4524244 and select the Uninstall button. Restart your device.

We also have a detailed tutorial on how to uninstall Windows updates from the command prompt or at boot using the Advanced Options feature.

Microsoft says that an improved version of the problematic KB4524244 update is in the works and will be released in the future.