When Microsoft first launched the May 2020 update at the end of last month, it only rolled it out to a handful of users. Everyone else had to manually download the update but at the risk of experiencing one of the several lingering bugs that Microsoft had failed to resolve before releasing the update.
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It’s because of these bugs that many users, especially those with Dell, Lenovo and even Microsoft’s own Surface laptops, saw a message informing them that the May 2020 update wasn’t ready for their system. “Today we are increasing the number of devices that will be offered the May Update,” Microsoft said on its update dashboard (opens in new tab). There are still several known bugs with the update that are either under investigation or are being actively patched. Among those is the inability to connect to multiple Bluetooth devices. Another problem causes a stop error when you connect and disconnect a Thunderbolt 3 cable. And older Nvidia graphics cards with outdated drivers are still having problems with the latest version of Windows. These are relatively minor problems that affect a small portion of laptops, so Microsoft is prepared to send the update to the next batch of devices. As for which laptops will receive the update, Microsoft didn’t specify. We do know that Microsoft fixed an issue in which laptops with the Always On, Always Connected capability were randomly restarting. And yet, Microsoft still won’t push the update out to devices even after they install the patch for this bug. The safeguard hold, which affected Microsoft’s own Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7, is expected to lift in the coming weeks. “You may not see the update because we are slowly throttling up availability, or your device may have a compatibility hold to safeguard your update experience,” the Windows Update team posted to Twitter. (opens in new tab) Several laptop vendors have taken matters into their own hands. Lenovo did a thorough sweep of bugs affecting its laptops and outlined available fixes for most (but not all) of them. The May 2020 update caused problems for a long list of Lenovo laptops, including some ThinkPad models. Dell similarly tested dozens of its laptops (opens in new tab), from Alienware to XPS models, to ensure that users have a smooth experience after installing the May 2020 update. Our advice is to fight the urge to manually install the May 2020 update, and wait until it gets pushed to your PC. By doing so, you’ll give yourself the best chance of avoiding any compatibility issues between your system and the update.
