Microsoft has addressed a known issue breaking provisioning on Windows 11 22H2 systems and leaving enterprise endpoints partially configured and failing to finish installing.
The issue was first acknowledged in October 2022 when Redmond said using provisioning packages (.PPKG files that help configure endpoints on enterprise or school networks without imaging) after installing the Windows 11 2022 Update might not work as expected, failing with 0x800700b7 errors.
“Windows might only be partially configured, and the Out Of Box Experience might not finish or might restart unexpectedly,” the company said.
“Provisioning packages which are applied during initial setup are most likely to be impacted by this issue.”
Windows systems used in home or small office networks and devices provisioned using Windows Autopilot are not impacted by this known issue.
Over the weekend, Microsoft updated the known issue’s entry on the Windows release health dashboard to confirm that it was addressed with the November 2022 KB5020044 preview update.
Right now, the KB5020044 support document still shows the status of the known issue as under investigation.
Workaround also available
A temporary fix is also available for Windows admins who cannot immediately or choose not to install the preview update. Redmond suggests provisioning end-user devices before the Windows 11 22H2 upgrade to get around the provisioning issues.
“If you can provision the Windows device before upgrading to Windows 11, version 22H2, this will prevent the issue,” Microsoft said.
Microsoft is also working on addressing a related known issue causing applications requiring administrative privilege not to install when using .PPKG files.
On Thursday, Redmond also provided temporary mitigation for a separate issue affecting Windows apps using ODBC database connections after installing the November Patch Tuesday updates.
In November, an emergency out-of-band (OOB) update was issued to fix domain controller sign-in failures and other authentication problems, and one month later, Microsoft fixed an LSASS memory leak issue leading to freezes and restarts on some domain controllers after installing the November Windows Server updates.