June Windows Preview Updates Fix VPN, RDP, RRAS, and Wi-Fi Issues

The optional Windows update previews released by Microsoft this week come with more than the regular performance improvements and bug fixes.

Redmond published three cumulative updates as part of its scheduled June 2022 monthly “C” updates to allow customers to test upcoming fixes: KB5014668 (Windows 11), KB5014665 (Windows Server 2022), and KB5014669 (Windows 10, version 1809).

However, as the company revealed on Thursday in the Windows health dashboard [1, 2, 3], the updates also address connectivity issues when using Wi-Fi hotspots after installing Windows updates released as part of the June 2022 Patch Tuesday.

“When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might lose the connection to the internet after a client device connects,” Microsoft said a week ago when it acknowledged the now-resolved Wi-Fi issues.

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While this should fix the issues according to Microsoft’s claims, the updates don’t cover all affected Windows versions. 

Customers using newer Windows 10 releases, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 SP1, and several Windows Server versions will likely have to wait for more updates to be released during next month’s Patch Tuesday or (less likely) as out-of-band updates.

Fix for VPN, RDP, and RRAS connectivity problems

Microsoft has also yet to officially acknowledge VPN and RDP connection issues affecting RRAS servers after installing the June Windows Server updates on the Windows health dashboard and provide a list of affected Windows platforms.

Following this month’s Patch Tuesday, admins have also reported issues with LLTP/SSTP VPN clients and RDP failing to connect after deploying these updates.

One of the more severe issues reported so far is the servers freezing for several minutes after a client connects to the RRAS server with SSTP.

Microsoft told BleepingComputer after we reported the ongoing problems that admins can also temporarily disable the NAT feature on RRAS servers to fix these problems until a fix is released.

“We are aware of the issue and working to provide a resolution. Customers experiencing this issue can temporarily disable the NAT feature on their RRAS server,” a Microsoft spokesperson told BleepingComputer.

Since Microsoft is yet to provide an official fix, until now, the only way to resolve all these connectivity issues on RRAS servers was to remove the updates from affected systems.

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However, even though Microsoft hasn’t publicly acknowledged this yet, Windows admins have discovered that Thursday’s preview updates also provide a fix for these problems.

“Microsoft released a fix for the RRAS/VPN problems today in the form of the 2022-06 Cumulative Update Preview. I’ve tested it and it appears to fix the issues that were happening,” one admin said.

Unfortunately, just as in the case of the Wi-Fi hotspot issues, the fix is only available for a limited number of Windows versions that received a preview update yesterday (i.e., Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows 10 1809/Windows Server 2019).