Windows Server March 2024 Update Crashes Domain Controller

The Windows Server update in March 2024 caused the domain controller to crash, and many users encountered this problem after the latest update was released. Read this article to learn more about MiniTool's "Windows Server Update Causes Domain Controllers to Crash."

Update: Microsoft has fixed this issue. Out-of-band updates have been released to fix memory leaks and domain controller crashes. You can download and install these updates from Microsoft Update Catalog: Windows Server 2022 (KB5037422), Windows Server 2016 (KB5037423), and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB5037426).

Windows Server is a powerful and flexible server operating system developed by Microsoft to manage and control computers and devices in a network environment. It is widely used in enterprise environments due to its centralized management, low resource utilization, and multiple functional and performance advantages.

Depending on version and configuration, Windows Server regularly releases updates to maintain the system to ensure your server remains up to date, secure, efficient and delivers the best performance.

However, many IT administrators have encountered problems with domain controller crashes or restarts after completing the latest update. Details are as follows:

Windows Server update causes domain controller to crash

"KB5035849 caused a memory leak in the 2019 domain controller. We have confirmed that the March 2024 update of KB5035849 caused a memory leak in the lSASS service. Eventually, the server will crash and restart. We have confirmed the memory leak in our environment. Waiting for Microsoft to release a fix. This issue exists in Windows Server 2016 and 2022."

Most IT administrators report high LSASS memory usage for many domain controllers (DCs) after installing the March 2024 update. Both physical and virtual memory are exhausted, eventually causing the device to crash or restart. According to user experience and Microsoft reports, affected platforms include Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

A domain controller crash will cause service outages, which may affect user login and access to shared folders, printers, or other network resources, and may even lead to data loss and security vulnerabilities.

Fortunately, Microsoft already knows the root cause of this problem: Local Security Agency Subsystem Services (LSASS) may experience a memory leak on the domain controller after installing the security update released on March 12, 2024. A severe memory leak can cause LSASS to crash, triggering an unexpected restart of the underlying domain controller.

For this issue, Microsoft has also added it to the list of known issues and is developing and deploying patches. The corresponding fix will be released soon.

Temporary solution: Restart the domain controller after installing a new Windows Server update

Before releasing a new fix, to ensure the server is running properly, Microsoft recommends that you temporarily uninstall the March 2024 update.

To delete the March 2024 update, you can refer to the following steps.

Step 1. Type cmd in the Windows search box, then right-click the command prompt and select Run as administrator .

Step 2. In the new window, type the corresponding command line according to the installed updated version, and press Enter .

• For Windows Server 2016: wusa /uninstall /kb:5035855
• For Windows Server 2019: wusa /uninstall /kb:5035849
• For Windows Server 2022: wusa /uninstall /kb:5035857

After uninstalling the problematic update, you can go to Windows settings and pause the update for a few weeks to stop the automatic installation of KB. Alternatively, you can use the Show or Hide Update tool to hide the corresponding updates so that it will no longer appear in the available update list.

Further reading:

If files on your Windows Server are lost without a backup, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover them. This is an easy-to-use data recovery program for Windows 11/10/8/7 and Server users, which can recover documents, photos, videos, audio and other types of files.

This file recovery tool helps to deeply scan lost files in various data loss scenarios such as accidental deletion, disk formatting, operating system crashes, virus attacks, etc.

For Windows 11/10/8/7 users, the free version of this software supports free disk scanning, file preview and 1 GB of free data recovery. For Windows Server users, you need to upgrade from the free version to the commercial version to enjoy file recovery. This page shows a detailed license comparison.

Summarize

Microsoft has realized that the March 2024 Windows Server update will cause the domain controller to crash and will release a fix in the coming days. If you do not want to be troubled by the problem of "Windows Server update causes domain controller crash", consider uninstalling the corresponding update to restore the normal state of the domain controller.

If you need to recover lost files from Windows Server, consider using MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

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