Windows 11 update KB5008215 (build 22000.376) out with fixes

Microsoft pushes update KB5008215 for Windows 11 as build 22000.376.
Build 22000.376 brings new Fluent 2D emojis and Focus Assist improvements.
The December 14 update also fixes a slew of problems, including NVMe drive performance issues.

As part of the last cumulative update of 2021, Microsoft is rolling out the Windows 11 update KB5008215 as a massive update with a slew of fixes and improvements.

Update KB5008215 bumps the version number to build 22000.376, and according to the official company notes, Windows 11 updates the emojis to the Fluent 2D emoji style and brings support for version 13.1, which updates the dictionary, search in supported languages, and updates the panel to enable you to enter emojis in your applications. In addition, there is a new option to automatically turn on Focus Assist for the first hours after a feature update.

As part of the fixes, Windows 11 build 22000.376 fixed an issue that prevented Explorer and desktop menus from displaying shortcuts. Addressed a problem that caused Explorer to close unexpectedly after you close an Explorer window, and the Bluetooth volume control has been updated to resolve issues affecting certain devices.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, the update KB5008215 also fixes an issue that affects performance on NVMe, Solid-State Drives, and traditional hard drives by performing unnecessary actions each time a write operation occurs while the NTFS USN journal is enabled.

The update download and install automatically, but you can always force it from Settings > Windows Updates and click the Check for Updates button. Alternatively, you can download the update KB5008215 directly from the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Microsoft also said that there won’t be a “C” preview update in December as the company prepare to slow down work due to holidays. However, everything will return to normal in January 2022.

Windows 11 update KB5008215 fixes and improvements

Here are all the non-security changes for the December 14 rollout:

Addresses an issue that affects the Appx PowerShell cmdlet functionality on PowerShell 7.1 and later.

Fixed a problem that causes some users to see an unexpected “bad image” error message dialog at startup.

Addresses an issue that causes searchindexer.exe to stop responding during a dismount operation in the remote desktop environment.

Fixed a problem that affects the opening of the SearchFilterHost.exe process.

Adds support for the cancellation of daylight savings time for the Republic of Fiji for 2021.

Addresses an issue that causes devices that have certain processors to stop responding when waking from hibernation.

Addresses a COM initialization issue in wslapi.dll that might cause the calling process to stop working.

Fixed a problem in the Hyper-V virtual machine bus (VMBus) that causes the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) VM to occasionally time out when attaching disks. This issue also prevents the utility from starting.

Addresses an issue that affects the System Memory Management Unit’s (SMMU) fault handling after hibernation.

Fixed a problem that causes the system to stop working after you enable Hyper-V.

Addresses an issue that fails to apply machine Group Policy objects automatically at startup or in the background to devices on a domain that have certain processors.

Fixed a problem that causes the Server Manager cmdlet to return a failure. As a result, many Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) validations fail during the installation of optional features.

Adds the option to configure an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) maximum transmission unit (MTU) that is less than 576 bytes on an interface.

Addresses an issue that causes get-winevent to fail, and the error is an InvalidOperationException.

Fixed a problem that incorrectly renders some variable fonts.

Addresses an issue that displays glyphs at the wrong angle when you use the Meiryo UI font and other vertical fonts. These fonts are frequently used in Japan, China, or other countries in Asia.

Adds a feature to facilitate certain cross-browser data transfers.

Fixed a problem that occurs when a dialog opens within Internet Explorer.

Addresses an issue that affects Internet Explorer COM automation scenarios. For more information, see Internet Explorer 11 desktop app retirement FAQ.

Fixed a problem that causes Internet Explorer to stop working when you copy and paste text while using the Input Method Editor (IME).

Addresses an issue that causes certain apps to stop responding to input. This issue occurs on devices that have a touchpad.

Addresses a touch keyboard deployment issue that affects WebView2 controls in Windows UI Library 3.0 (WinUI 3) applications.

Addresses a memory leak in ctfmon.exe that occurs when you switch between different edit clients.

Updates the phone number for Windows Activation for locales that have the wrong phone number.

Addresses a known issue that causes error codes 0x000006e4, 0x0000007c, or 0x00000709 when connecting to a remote printer that is shared on a Windows print server.

Fixed a problem that affects USB Print devices that support Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Over USB. This issue prevents these USB Print devices from completing installation.

Addresses an issue that causes certain USB Print installers to report that they don’t detect the printer after you plug it in.

Fixed a problem that might improperly redirect OS functionality when you invoke microsoft-edge: links.

Addresses an issue in the Windows audio system that might cause the audiodg.exe process to stop working, which results in a temporary loss of audio.

Fixed a problem that prevents a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel from connecting. The error message is, “The Modem (or other connecting device) is already in use or not configured properly”.

Addresses an issue that prevents Software-Defined Networking (SDN) virtual machines from working when you configure the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) VPN bandwidth limitation.

Fixed a problem that might cause the return value of GetCommandLineA() to be lowercase in some developer scenarios.

Addresses a Primary Refresh Token (PRT) update issue that occurs when VPN users sign in using Windows Hello for Business when the VPN connection is offline. Users receive unexpected authentication prompts for online resources that are configured for user sign-in frequency (SIF) in Azure Active Directory-Conditional Access.

Adds the message that indicates that an organization’s policy manages the user’s location privacy settings. This message appears when the privacy settings are controlled by the Group Policy documented in Manage connections from Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating system components to Microsoft services.

Addresses an issue that affects the Fast Identity Online 2.0 (FIDO2) credential provider and prevents the display of the PIN entry box.

Fixed a problem that causes Windows Defender Application Control to incorrectly compare two file version numbers.

Enhances Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s ability to identify and intercept ransomware and advanced attacks.

Addresses an issue that might cause Windows Mixed Reality to start when you put on a headset. This issue occurs even when you’ve turned off the option “Start Mixed Reality Portal when my headset’s presence sensor detects that I’m wearing it”.

Addresses an audio distortion issue that affects Xbox One and Xbox Series Audio peripherals and occurs when you use them with spatial audio.

Fixed a problem that causes the AltGr key to stop working if a remote desktop client is running or if RemoteApp was disconnected.

Addresses an issue that causes the edit button and the battery icon in Quick Settings to intermittently disappear.

Fixed a problem that affects the Focus Assist button in the notification area, and this update provides an accessible name for screen readers.

Updates several aspects of Windows emoji. As part of ongoing work, Microsoft updated all emoji from the Segoe UI Emoji font to the Fluent 2D emoji style and ships support for Emoji 13.1.

Addresses an issue that affects the display of the number of unread notifications; some numbers don’t appear in the center of the circle in the notification area.

Fixed a problem that affects the Start menu when you install a large number of apps and change the screen resolution. The app names appear on the Start menu, but the app icons are missing. This update might also improve the reliability of the Start menu when you use secondary monitors in mixed resolution scenarios.

Addresses an issue that causes flickering when you hover over icons on the taskbar; this issue occurs if you’ve applied a high contrast theme.

Fixed a problem that, under certain conditions, prevents the keyboard focus rectangle from being visible when you use Task View, Alt-Tab, or Snap Assist.

Addresses an issue that affects apps that provide context (shortcut) menu items in File Explorer and desktop context menus. This issue occurs if these apps utilize Directory or Directory\Background registrations.

Fixed a problem that automatically removes the Serbian (Latin) Windows display language from a device.

Addresses an issue that displays the incorrect background for the iFLY Simplified Chinese IME icon in the notification area.

Fixed a problem that displays a blank space on the bottom of the Touch keyboard when you close the keyboard while the Suggestion UI is expanded.

Addresses reliability issues that prevent the display of File Explorer and desktop shortcut menus. This issue often occurs when you choose to use a single click to open an item.

Adds an option for you to choose whether to automatically turn on Focus Assist for the first hour after a Windows feature update.

Improves the animation performance of icons on the taskbar.

Addresses volume control issues that affect Bluetooth audio devices.

Addresses an issue that causes File Explorer to stop working after you close a File Explorer window.

Fixed a problem that displays incorrect closed-caption shadows for some videos.

Addresses an issue that occurs when you run a 32-bit application on a 64-bit version of Windows 11. If you call NetServerEnum(), it might return error 87 or error 1231.

Fixed a problem that prevents your device from starting up, and it becomes unresponsive because of licensing API calls.

Addresses an issue that prevents flash drives, such SD cards and certain USB drives, from appearing in the Defragment and Optimize Drives UI.

Fixed a problem that affects the performance of all disks (NVMe, SSD, hardisk) on Windows 11 by performing unnecessary actions each time a write operation occurs. This issue occurs only when the NTFS USN journal is enabled. Note, the USN journal is always enabled on the C: disk.

Enables onunload events to create pop-up windows in Microsoft Edge Internet Explorer mode.

Updates the Start menu’s Ease of Access folder name to “Accessibility” to match our naming standard across Windows 11 (original release).

Addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Narrator users when they select Braille options in Settings.

Changes the screen color to blue when a device stops working or a stop error occurs as in previous versions of Windows.

Fixed a problem that causes some app icons in the Start’s All apps list to be cut off on the bottom after you change the screen resolution.

Addresses a reliability issue on the lock screen that affects the rendering of the network status text.

Addresses an issue that causes the Windows Update History page in the Settings app to display a summary count of zero (0) updates per category when there are updates listed.

Fixed a problem in the Windows Network File System (NFS) client that might prevent you from renaming a file after mounting an NFS share. This issue occurs if you rename the file using File Explorer, but does not occur if you rename the file using commands.

Fixed a problem that might cause a stop error in volmgr.sys when you delete a volume.

Addresses a known issue that might prevent apps, such as Kaspersky apps, from opening after you attempt to repair or update the apps using the Microsoft Installer (MSI).

Uninstall update KB5008215

If the system update is causing issues, you can always uninstall it using these steps:

Open Start on Windows 11.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
Type the following command to view the update history and press Enter:
```
wmic qfe list brief /format:table
```
Check the Windows Update history of your device, and identify the update by its HotFixID and InstalledOn information.
Type the following command to uninstall the update from your computer and press Enter:
```
wusa /uninstall /kb:5008215
```
Quick note: In the command, replace “5008215” for the KB number corresponding to the update you are trying to uninstall.
Click the Yes button.
Continue with the on-screen directions (if applicable).

Once you complete the steps, the recently installed update will be removed from your installation, fixing any issues resulting from the release.

If your computer doesn’t boot after installing KB5008215, you can remove the update from the Advanced startup environment using these steps.