Microsoft fixes audio issues caused by September security updates

Microsoft says the November 2026 cumulative updates resolve USB audio issues plaguing Windows users who have installed security updates released since September.

The company explained, when it acknowledged this known issue days after the September 2026 Patch Tuesday, that USB Audio Class 1.0 devices failed to start or produce audio on some systems after installing recent updates.

Some affected users reported seeing no audio output, unresponsive volume controls and sound settings, and "This device cannot start (Code 10)." errors in Device Manager, while others said the impacted USB audio speakers fail only when using multichannel audio features, including 3D audio or 8-channel modes.

These audio issues affect both server (Windows Server 2012 and later) and client (Windows 10 and Windows 11) systems.