Bug that broke Linux in Windows 10 update is finally fixed

Windows 10 Start menu redesign
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has finally released a fix for a Windows 10 bug which broke Linux support, with the resolution arriving in the latest preview build of the OS – along with a whole host of other fixes.

You may recall that Windows Subsystem for Linux has been suffering at the hands of an ‘element not found’ error which prevents it from functioning, a gremlin seemingly introduced by September’s cumulative update for Windows 10.

Microsoft subsequently confirmed this issue, and then said that a fix was in the pipeline imminently, and indeed the software giant remained true to its word, delivering the solution in the newest preview build for Windows 10, version 19042.541 (for the soon to release October 2020 Update).

As we mentioned at the outset, there are a whole load of fixes implemented with this new preview build, and they include a solution for an issue which caused crashes with games that use spatial audio, plus some useful tweaks for Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Enterprising solutions

There are a stack of enterprise-related fixes here too, such as cures for problems with Windows Defender Application Control and Microsoft Intune.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that no fresh problems are introduced here, and the October 2020 Update proceeds smoothly. 

If you recall, the cumulative update which cured an SSD issue with Drive Optimize in Windows 10 was the one which accidentally broke Linux support in the first place, so obviously we don’t want to see anything else going awry in a similar manner.

For the full and rather exhaustive list of issues which are resolved, read Microsoft’s blog post.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).