Microsoft has been blocking on upgrades to the latest release of Windows for configurations using certain Conexant audio drivers and Conexant ISST audio drivers to prevent issues during or after the installation of the updates. This would eventually prevent users from successfully upgrading to newer versions of Windows 10 using Windows Update until the issue is fixed by Microsoft. Although the issues were opened a year ago in May 2020, the issues were not fixed until this month. “The safeguard hold with safeguard IDs 25702617, 25702660, 25702662, and 25702673 has been removed for all devices as of May 7, 2021, including devices with affected drivers. If updated drivers are not available for your device and you are offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2, a small number of devices might roll back to the previous version of Windows 10 when attempting to update. If this occurs, you should attempt to update to Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2 again,” Microsoft said its documentation for Windows 10 20H2 for Conexant audio drivers. “The safeguard hold with safeguard ID 25178825 has been removed for all devices as of May 7, 2021, including devices with affected drivers. If updated drivers are not available for your device and you are offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2, a small number of devices might roll back to the previous version of Windows 10 when attempting to update. If this occurs, you should attempt to update to Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2 again,” the Redmond giant said in its documentation for Windows 10 20H2 for Conexant ISST audio drivers. The above two upgrade safeguard holds were the last two listed by Microsoft on the known issues pages of Windows 10 version 2004 and 20H2. If there are no other safeguards that affect your device, it can take up to 48 hours before the update to a later version of Windows 10 is offered. The removal of safeguard holds is a welcome move, as it will now allow users using older releases such as Windows 10 version 2004 and Windows 10 version 1909 to update to the current latest version of Windows 10. Further, the upcoming Windows 10 May 2021 Update (21H1) is expected to arrive later this month.
