BSOD Windows 10 KB5023696 - SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED

[PeterVM100]

From my experiments (below), I have concluded that the BSOD ONLY HAPPENS when using VMware. Tested v16 & 17.

I have spent countless hours on this issue, does anyone have a solution? Do VMware employees, i.e technicians,  look at these discussion groups?

Installing KB5023696 and rebooting Windows I get BSOD, "EXCEPTION THREAD NOT HANDLED"System:
Host Windows 10 22H2 64bit
VM 16 (also tried 17)
Guest Windows 10 22H2 32bit

All experiments were done with a fresh/clean install of Windows 10 (host & guest) downloaded from M$ website
No Windows configuration of any kind in either the host or guest

This has been happening for about a year, started out with Win versions 20H... , 21H... now 22H... - all exactly the same result when trying to update to new Windows 10 versions.

Today, I have tried manually installing 1 update at a time. It is always KB5023696 that causes BSOD upon reboot

When I did a fresh installation of just Windows 10 (tried 32 and 64) with no VM, KB5023696 installed with out incident. Therefore the problem is definitely when trying to apply this update in a VM.

Some of my notes: (none of the suggestions I found on the internet worked)
SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
DCOM 1084, comsysApp {182c40f0-32E4-11D0-0DAOc9231C29}
DCOM 1084, ShellHWDetection {DD522ACC...
DCOM 1084, TokenBroker Windows.internal.security.authentication.web.TokenBroker Internal

Normal BootUp
warning Windows.SecurityCenter.SecurityAppBroker
warning Windows.SecurityCenter.SecurityAppID

Solutions Tried:
1. Delete Software Distribution, windows catalogue - no actionable results
2. Command - no actionable results
    a. sfc /scannow
    b. dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth | /scanhealth | restorehealth

3. DCOM services necessary - ensured running
    a. Dcom Service Process Launcher
    b. Background Task Infrastructure Service
    c. Local Session Manager
    d. Remote Call Procedure

4. Safe Mode - Troubleshooter (see additional troubleshooters) - no actionable results

[Technogeezer]

---

@PeterVM100 wrote:

Do VMware employees, i.e technicians,  look at these discussion groups?

---

Short answer: You can't rely on any VMware employees looking at these discussions and taking action.

There's no official presence of VMware techs or engineers. They do so on their own time and not as part of their day jobs.

Unfortunately the only way to ensure you get their attention is to open a support request. One of my big gripes with VMware is that they don't provide a way to officially report a problem other than the complementary email support right after license purchase/upgrade, a paid support incident, or a support contract. They should provide a mechanism to at least report a problem officially so that they know that people are having issues.

Of course having a mechanism to report a problem means nothing if no action is taken on it. (Ubuntu hasn't touched a kernel bug report I submitted to them almost 2 months ago, for example).

[TSL02]

@PeterVM100: Did you try this solution: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Player/Problem-with-guest-system-Win-10-32-Bit/... ?

That solved the problem for me and due to your description I think there is a good chance for you too.

[PeterVM100]

KB5023696 has morphed into KB 5025221

My problems started in Fall-2022. Updating Windows 10 in a Vmware guest would fail 100% of all attempts, and has been ever since. I ran some tests to try to narrow down the cause of the problem and am posting here for others.

Configurations Tested:
Host                               Guest
Win 10(x64)                 Win 10(x64)
Win 10(x64)                 Win 10(x86)
Win 10(x86)                 Win 10(x64)
Win 10(x86)                 Win 10(x86)
Linux Ubuntu (20.04) Win 10(x86)
Linux Ubuntu (20.04) Win 10(x64)

Results:
Every time Windows 10 (any version) is installed as Host, it will update fine
Every time Windows 10 (any version) is installed as a guest, the update will fail

When the VMware guest is created with a Nvme hard drive, the updates fail
When the VMware guest is created with a scsi or sata hard drive, the updates succeed

Investigation
After each Windows update failure, the errors I was getting in Windows event viewer all had to do with DCOM and insufficient rights - see preceeding post. I did some research and followed the procedure(s) for assigning rights to eliminate the errors. Alas, it did not solve the problem with Win 10 update.

I found this link where Microsoft rep is talking about DCOM “hardening” which I am guessing has to do with the mentioned KB's.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/kb5004442-manage-changes-for-windows-dcom-server-security-...

June 8, 2021 Phase 1 Release - Hardening changes disabled by default but with the ability to enable them using a registry key.
June 14, 2022 Phase 2 Release - Hardening changes enabled by default but with the ability to disable them using a registry key.
March 14, 2023 Phase 3 Release - Hardening changes enabled by default with no ability to disable them. By this point, you must resolve any compatibility issues with the hardening changes and applications in your environment.

Here are some links discussing how to deal with error 10016 which is the error I was experiencing with the DCOM events.

Kapil Arya, Microsoft MVP
https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-event-10016-error-the-application-specific-permission-settings-do-not-... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAJRGRpvuH8&t=15s 

WinTips.org - author unknown
https://www.wintips.org/fix-application-specific-permission-settings-do-not-grant-local-activation-p... 

What ended up working for me was the suggestion to convert the Nvme drive to scsi (or sata).

When I look at this situation, it seems to me that there is a disconnect between what Microsoft engineers are working on and Vmware being aware of the changes coming down the pipe so they can in turn prepare their product(s) for the upcoming changes.

I’ve really wanted to get a licensed copy of Vmware Workstation Pro (16) because I would like to run more than 1 VM at a time but when I see this problem (KB 5023696/ 5025221 lingering for almost a year it seems Vmware is uninterested in patching their software. If I had a licensed copy now, I would be furious.

So, what I would like to know is:
1) is there a performance hit for switching froma Nvme to a scsi/sata hard drive?
2) has anyone tried switching back to Nvme after installing 50230696/5025221?