Windows 10 Update Makes Windows Media Player Almost Unusable

Windows 10's October update, a.k.a. version 1809, is turning out to be, by far, the worst Windows 10 update in its three-year history as a rolling release. While Windows as a Service definitely has many benefits on paper, Microsoft's execution is souring users' perception of what should have been a very positive change. The latest in a growing litany of errors is an update that fixes a few security issues but also breaks Microsoft's own Media Player and Windows 10 OS features in the process.

This new one comes from Build 17763.134, an update that was released November 13 on top of the re-released but still buggy October 2018 update. According to KB4467708, the knowledge base entry for the update, it fixes some reported security issues and also rolls out security updates to a few Windows programs, including Edge and Explorer web browsers.

Right after that list, however, is a short list of known problems, including the aforementioned bug. While you will still be able to play videos in Windows Media Player after the update, you won't be able to move forward or backward because the Seek Bar is broken for "specific files" that Microsoft doesn't mention.

Of course, you could just choose a different default program for video files but, surprise, that's partially broken too. The update prevents "some users" from setting default apps to use Win32 programs, like VLC for video files. Perhaps it's Microsoft's way to "encourage" users to stick to using UWP apps even for alternatives.

In both cases, Microsoft says it is working on a fix but it doesn't put a date on the Windows Media Player bug. On the upside, Microsoft's Windows as a Service means the fix would come sooner rather than waiting for a year or so. That might also mean, however, that those updates would bring their own system-breaking bugs sooner.