Windows 10 issues are typically rare nowadays because the operating system is no longer being actively developed, but since the release of Windows 10 KB5053606, I’ve seen chatter in the community that it’s causing issues (weird ones). First, it’s failing to install. Second, it appears to install automatically, bypassing the “upgrade blocks” set by users.
Microsoft started rolling out Windows 10 KB5053606 on March 11 as a mandatory security update, which means it’s going to attempt automatic installation whether you want it or not, but it’s not supposed to break through the settings and force it on your PC when you’ve paused updates.
As first spotted by Windows Latest, a Reddit thread has users claiming that KB5053606 was automatically forced installed even when it was not supposed to. That’s odd, and it’s not supposed to happen, but it’s possible Microsoft might have tried to push the update because it patches important security fixes.
“We’ve had it not only update without permission but a critical machine decided to reboot on it’s own! At this point Microsoft’s broken update mechanism more dangerous than the bugs,” one of the users noted.
It’s hard to tell what is happening, but it looks like you need to pause updates again before a new update is released to make sure Microsoft does not install a future update automatically.
KB5053606 isn’t installing on Windows 10
In some cases, you might run into installation issues. Windows 10 KB5053606 could fail to install due to unhelpful error messages. One of them is 0x80070020.
March 2025 update takes longer than usual to apply, and PC could stay on the logo screen or show a spinning circle for hours before it’s applied to the system.
“Just restarted following the update and it’s hanging on the logo screen, no spinning circle or anything. Hoping it works itself out overnight or something,” one of the users noted in a Reddit thread.
In our tests, Windows Latest also observed that the KB5053606 takes several minutes before getting successfully installed. This is odd because it’s a minor update that does not add anything new.
Unfortunately, if you’re affected by installation issues, there’s not much you can do, but we recommend using Microsoft Update Catalog to look up the update, downloading .msu, and manually trying the installation. Alternatively, you can use Windows Media Creation Tool to perform an in-place upgrade (no data loss).
We’re also seeing isolated reports of taskbar icons disappearing and desktop personalization settings (such as backgrounds and icon placements) automatically resetting. In addition, Windows 10 feels laggy and slow, and keyboard responses now suddenly have latency problems.
This month’s update for Windows 10 is very odd because a lot of users have reported issues with it. We generally do not see even a single report of problems on Windows 10 after monthly updates, but that’s not the case with KB5053606.
Printer spooler issues
As spotted by Windows Latest in a Reddit thread on /r/sysadmin, some system admins and enterprise customers have flagged printer spooler issues after installing Windows 10 KB5053606.
One user noted “Our clients got KB5053606 yesterday and most could work just fine today, until the did a restart. after a restart, something in the user profile seems to be broken. print spooler has many issues, like slow loading, programms crashing and no passthrough into citrix.”
Other system admins have pointed out similar issues. Some even alleged that Microsoft is making Windows 10 unstable to lure users into trying Windows 11, but watch out before you give that operating system a try.
Windows 11 24H2 has its own share of issues, including March 2025 update BSODs, RDP issues, and more.
What about you? How is Windows 10 KB5053606 treating your system? Let us know in the comments below.
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