November 15, 2023 at 03:57PM
Microsoft has fixed a known issue causing blue screens and boot failures in Windows Server 2022 virtual machines (VMs) deployed on VMware ESXi hosts. The problem affected guest VMs on VMware ESXi hosts with an AMD Epyc physical processor. A Windows Server 2022 cumulative update, KB5032198, has now resolved the issue. Temporary workarounds are also available for those unable to install the update immediately.
Here are the key takeaways from the meeting notes:
– Microsoft has fixed a known issue that was causing blue screens and boot failures in Windows Server 2022 virtual machines (VMs) deployed on VMware ESXi hosts.
– The issue was reported by Windows administrators after deploying the KB5031364 cumulative update last month.
– The problem only affected guest VMs on VMware ESXi hosts with an AMD Epyc physical processor, the “Expose IOMMU to guest OS” VMware option toggled on, and Virtualization Based Security and System Guard Secure Launch enabled in Windows Server 2022.
– Microsoft has now addressed the root cause with the release of the KB5032198 Windows Server 2022 cumulative update.
– Temporary workarounds are available for Windows administrators who are unable to immediately install the November 2023 Patch Tuesday updates. One workaround involves toggling off “Expose IOMMU to guest OS” in the affected virtual machines’ settings, but this may not be viable for all systems. Another option is to uninstall the problematic KB5031364 update, but this will also remove all security patches deployed with the update.
– In the past, Microsoft has released out-of-band updates to resolve similar issues with Hyper-V VMs and VMware ESXi VMs with Secure Boot enabled.
– VMware also released emergency updates for vSphere ESXi to address the underlying cause behind the VMs’ inability to locate a bootable operating system.