Microsoft has released a separate emergency update to fix a critical Wi-Fi glitch that causes Windows 10 computers to crash.
Microsoft fixes bugs and causes new ones with every Windows 10 update it releases. It seems to be something inherent to the development of the operating system and we actually have become used to this situation. Bugs do not affect all consumers or machines equally and the company must be credited for the effort to improve the process and limit bugs.
Microsoft fixes Wi-Fi glitch on Windows 10 with an emergency update
Specifically, this bug has been seen in the recent update for version 1909, KB4598298 released on January 21, 2021 and KB4601315 on February 9. The bug is critical and ends in a blue screen. It occurs when using Wi-Fi networks on Windows 10, specifically networks using WPA3, the recommended wireless encryption protocol as it has the strongest security in the industry.
The 0x7E error is produced by the nwifi.sys driver when the user accesses a Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) connection and is most likely to happen when the computer comes out of sleep. Most Wi-Fi networks using WPA2 or earlier encryption protocols are not affected.
Microsoft pointed to mitigation actions such as upgrading Windows 10 to the latest versions using WPA2 encryption or using wired Ethernet networks. Finally, Microsoft has released an emergency patch that resolves the issue and is recommended to be deployed.
The update is called KB5001028 and it is available in Windows Update. It has also been published in the Microsoft Catalog for Windows 10 and Windows Server version 1903 and above on x86 and ARM platforms. Simply download the corresponding version and install the .msu file if you are having this kind of a problem.
