Windows 7 second monitor issues fixed with KB4034664, but it brings bugs of its own

Microsoft rolled out the patch KB 4039884 to fix the dual-monitor problem. Unfortunately, the patch came with bugs, so Microsoft pulled it without offering any documentation or reason for doing so.

The dual-monitor issue

There were some solid reports that there was a bug in both Windows 7 security patches from August, KB 4034664 (the monthly rollup installed by Windows Automatic Update) and KB 4034679 (the manual security-only patch). Users who have a system running Windows 7 with two or more monitors and see something going wrong with the second monitor will be able to eliminate the problem by uninstalling the bad patch.

The problems included distorted graphics and controls that only appear on secondary monitors and not on the main one as well. The possibly depend on the position of the application window within the second monitor.

Analysis for the dual-monitor issue and potential workarounds

Christian “NineBerry” Schwarz wrote a detailed review on his blog about this matter and also offered a bunch of workarounds:

• Upgrade to Windows 10 / Server 2012
• Uninstall KB4034664 / KB4034679 patches from the system
• Log on with a user that is a full local administrator
• Only use the application on the primary monitor, not a secondary monitor
• Arrange the monitors such that no part of a monitor has negative screen coordinates.

Microsoft’s own solution for the dual-monitor problems

Microsoft released its own fix for the display issue, and it was KB 4039884 which was only available in the Microsoft Update Catalog. In case you dealt with the secondary monitor issue, you should have downloaded the patch to fix it. But surprise! The patch seemed to be filled with bugs, and once it became aware of this, Microsoft pulled it without offering any kind of information on the subject. Good job!

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