The latest Windows 10 update causes serious printer problems, here's what you can do to fix them and get back to printing without crashing the system.
Last Tuesday was the second Tuesday of March and, as usual, Microsoft Windows 10 "Patch Tuesday" arrived with the latest security updates. But, as it often happens, this update has caused serious problems to some users: reports of operating system crashes flourish, right after the update, when launching a file printing.
The two problematic updates are KB5000802 and KB5000808, while the printers that crash Windows are those of Kyocera, Ricoh and Dymo and the error code shown on screen (blue) is: "APC_INDEX_MISMATCH for win32kfull.sys". Microsoft has not yet released the usual update to fix the problem caused by the first update. It will take some time and you may even have to wait for the next Patch Tuesday, that is, April 13. Those who can't wait, however, can try following these tips.
How to Fix Printer Problems
The first attempt to do is to remove the printer driver and reinstall it right after. To do this, simply search the search box for "Printers and Scanners" and open it, then search for the printer and click "Remove". Then you can reinstall the printer software, which also contains the drivers.
If this maneuver isn't enough, and you can't do without using the printer, then the lesser evil is to uninstall the problematic update. You have to open Windows Update and select "View update history".
A long list of updates will appear, with the update code in brackets. You have to search for KB5000802 or KB5000808 (depending on the Windows 10 version you have installed) so you know what to uninstall. Then you'll have to open the terminal, searching for "prompt" and clicking on the first entry that appears.
At this point we'll have to type the command wusa /uninstall /kb:5000802 or wusa /uninstall /kb:5000808 depending on which update package has been installed on our PC. After restarting everything should go back to normal, but until Microsoft corrects this error, it's a good idea to temporarily disable automatic updates.