Microsoft: June Windows updates may break Wi-Fi hotspots

Microsoft is investigating a newly acknowledged issue causing connectivity issues when using Wi-Fi hotspots after deploying Windows updates released during the June 2022 Patch Tuesday.

The Wi-Fi hotspot feature allows users to share their Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or cellular data Internet connection with other devices on their network.

According to a new entry on the Windows release health dashboard, Windows devices where one of the June updates has been installed might be unable to use the Wi-Fi hotspot feature.

"When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might lose the connection to the internet after a client device connects," Microsoft explains.

The complete list of Windows versions affected by this known issue includes both client and server platforms:

• Client: Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H1; Windows 10, version 20H2; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016; Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB; Windows 8.1; Windows 7 SP1
• Server: Windows Server 2022; Windows Server, version 20H2; Windows Server 2019; Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows Server 2012; Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1; Windows Server 2008 SP2

Redmond is currently investigating these Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity problems and will provide a fix to address them with an upcoming Windows update.

Workaround: turn it off

Microsoft has also shared a workaround for affected customers using their Windows PC as a mobile hotspot until a solution to this issue is available.

Unfortunately, although it will restore Internet connectivity on your Windows device, this requires finding another way to connect to the Internet using your other devices.

"To mitigate the issue and restore internet access on the host device, you can disable the Wi-Fi hotspot feature," Microsoft recommends.

This month's Windows updates may also cause backup issues on systems running multiple Windows Server versions, with some apps failing to backup data using Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

This known issue is due to security enforcement introduced to address a privilege escalation security flaw (CVE-2022-30154) in the Microsoft File Server Shadow Copy Agent Service (RVSS).