Microsoft's Spectre Fix For AMD CPUs Is Now On Windows Update

By Leon Chan
published

The AMD-compatible Spectre fix for Windows 10 is now live and being distributed through Windows Update.

When the Meltdown/Spectre vulnerabilities first surfaced, Microsoft was quick to respond by rolling out software mitigations in its operating systems. Unfortunately, the fixes in Windows 10 had an unintended consequence for some older AMD CPUs, making them unbootable. Microsoft stopped issuing the update to affected AMD systems, but already affected users (opens in new tab) either had to use System Restore or reinstall their OS.

The issue was technically officially fixed on January 19 (opens in new tab) and Windows patches with the fix were manually downloadable on Microsoft Update Catalog (opens in new tab), but manually updating is only recommended if you have an urgent need and know your current Windows build. For everyone else, Microsoft has just made the fix live on Windows Update with Windows 10 Build 16299.214 (opens in new tab). Like all patches delivered through Windows Update, users will get them automatically or by clicking “Check for updates” in Windows Update.

Users should note that this update only applies to older AMD CPUs. Ryzen and Threadripper-based systems weren’t gated from receiving the original patch. Also, this patch has no relation to the recently announced optional Windows patch that disables Spectre Variant 2 fixes for Intel CPUs. If you’re on an AMD system, then you should be glad that you’re, at least, not stuck with a randomly rebooting system.

Leon Chan
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • 237841209
    No more, "Spectre and Meltdown never affected our AMD chips". Thanks for the irony, Microsoft
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    Nobody said that 237841209. AMD chips were only affected by spectre, NOT meltdown.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    20658162 said:
    No more, "Spectre and Meltdown never affected our AMD chips". Thanks for the irony, Microsoft

    Meltdown was the only one that affected Intel and not AMD. Everyone knew that after the first 2-3 days the exploit was announced. It was a big deal because meltdown was really easy to implement, whereas Spectre was much harder.

    Reply
  • hannibal
    Actually amd was wulnerable one spectre variant of two...
    interesting to see if this has any effect on the speed of older amd CPUs...
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    20658162 said:
    No more, "Spectre and Meltdown never affected our AMD chips". Thanks for the irony, Microsoft
    They aren't vulnerable to Meltdown. When talking about Spectre things get fuzzier. They were vulnerable to variant 1 of Spectre, and less vulnerable to Spectre variant 2. They never said they were immune to it, but rather that it was low risk on their architecture. The truth is they're still vulnerable to some extent so they're fixing it regardless. Again, they don't have to worry about Meltdown, and the overall performance impact of these patches should be lower than Intel's hit.

    Of course we won't be able to test that until Intel can put together some patches and microcode that don't make Intel systems unstable.
    Reply
  • berezini.2013
    Isn't there a lawsuit out for AMD for stating it was "immune"? I am pretty sure I saw a headline about that earlier last month
    Reply
  • tazmo8448
    My biggest question is the ramifications of the newest patch. Like does it cause issues like the previous one? What are the, if any, drawbacks and that sort of thing.

    As far as things go these days concerning people that take it upon themselves to divulge information about things better left unsaid..you see it everyday all across the board...sad really.
    Reply
  • mihen
    The lawsuit against AMD is just lawyers trying to make a quick buck. AMD stated that architecture differences makes them immune to Meltdown and makes it difficult to implement Spectre on AMD machines. The lawsuit would also need some type of claim of damages. I don't think the lawyers can make that leap.
    Reply
  • bentremblay
    On W10 only? I use that PITA on my office-grade PC but stayed with Win7 on my game box.
    And just bought new CPU ... first time Intel ... i5 8400 ... so kinda sweatingg the details.
    Reply
  • lonepasserby
    Glad that the editors never fail to mention that it causes issues on old AMD chips and has not once mentioned that the patches have caused frequent reboots in Haswell and Broadwell chips. Gave me quite the headache until Microsoft gave an update that allows me to disable it.
    Reply