How to Fix App Issues Caused by Windows 10 Cumulative Update KB4565503

[tarekma7]

This update apparently removes some apps

Microsoft rolled out new Windows 10 cumulative updates earlier this week as part of the July 2020 patching cycle, and unfortunately, here we are talking about new issues that are experienced by users after installing them.

What’s more concerning is that the problems appear to happen on Windows 10 version 2004, or May 2020 Update, which is actually the most recent feature update released for the operating system.

The culprit appears to be cumulative update KB4565503, which increases the OS build number to 19041.388 and brings important security improvements to Windows 10 devices.

According to user reports, KB4565503 removes some Windows 10 apps after it’s installed, although we must mention from the very beginning that this isn’t happening on all devices.

For example, I installed this update on my laptop already running Windows 10 version 2004 and no app was removed. Users who turned to the WWW to complain about the problem most often claim that the following three apps are nowhere to be seen after installing this cumulative update:

WordPad
Notepad
Microsoft Paint (classic version)

While it’s not yet clear why cumulative update KB4565503 deletes these apps on Windows 10, the only way to resolve the whole thing is to just reinstall all apps manually.

As a matter of fact, removing the update does not bring back the apps – restoring the computer to a previous state using a restore point does, as the affected apps are also included in the backup.

So technically, the workaround comes down to a manual installation of the affected apps, something that shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. But of course, this isn’t something you should have to do after installing a Windows 10 update, so hopefully Microsoft is already looking into the whole thing and a fix is on its way.

Reinstalling the removed apps

Fortunately, reinstalling the apps that were removed by this cumulative update is something that’s pretty easy to do, as long as you are logged in with an administrator account.

All you have to do is follow this path:

Windows 10 > Settings > Apps > Optional features > Add a feature

In the list, just select the apps that you want to reinstall and you’re good to go. A reboot shouldn’t be necessary, but in some cases, it is recommended to make sure that the installation completes successfully.
At the time of writing, this appears to be the only workaround on devices where the apps went missing after installing this cumulative update.

Microsoft is yet to acknowledge this problem, and according to the official KB page, KB4565503 comes with just one known issue related to the Microsoft IME.

“When using some apps, such as Microsoft Excel, users of the Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) for Chinese and Japanese might receive an error, or the app might stop responding or close when attempting to drag using the mouse,” Microsoft says.

The app removal bug doesn’t seem to affect other Windows 10 versions, and this is actually pretty good news. Windows 10 May 2020 Update is still in its early days, as the update is rolled out to devices across the world in stages. The release kicked off in late May and is still underway, with Microsoft using this phased approach to spot bugs as fast as possible and prevent them from hitting more devices.

The company hasn’t announced an ETA as to when all devices should be able to install the May update, but general availability is typically reached some three months after the first wave of production devices gets a new feature update.

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