One of the latest updates released for all versions Windows supported causes the system to fail as a wireless access point. The problem itself is not serious given the number of users who use this feature, but for the few who use it, it is a pain.

It’s important to keep in mind that we’re not talking about supporting Wi-Fi network access, but about configuring Windows to act as a wireless access point. In other words, a Windows computer shares its Internet connection with other computers that may be using other operating systems. This feature is enabled by Microsoft documentation “Share Wi-Fi, Ethernet or mobile data connection”.

If we take a closer look at the bug that was introduced through update ‘KB5014697’, the cause is that when Windows is configured as a wireless access point, the host system (a physical computer that tries to act as a wireless access point) has several options it loses its Internet connection after a client device connects to it. Although this is not stated in the Redmond giant’s documentation, we assume that client devices are also losing access to the Internet.

A bit of a strange bug, but it neutralizes a feature of Windows that isn’t generally used much. Microsoft has said it is investigating and hopes to provide a new update soon that fixes the bug introduced with ‘KB5014697’, but so far it is proposed to ease the deactivation of the Wi-Fi hotspot settings function itself to restore Internet access.

Versions of Windows affected by the bug introduced by update ‘KB5014697’.

As we said, it’s not one of the most used features of Windows, but you can see that error affected a large number of operating system versionsnot only the latest desktop, but also many server, and even Windows 7 SP1, which is kept alive thanks to extended support aimed at businesses and institutions (so no, for home users has not been resurrected).

Microsoft is investigating the bug, so unless the problem is more likely to occur, the company should have it fixed as much as possible in the coming days or weeks. Of course, those few users who configure Windows as a wireless access point will have to handle this until a fix arrives.