Resolved 3/22 | Black Boxes and Microsoft Dynamics GP Report Writer Reports

Update 3/22

All Windows Updates (including legacy OS's like Windows 8 and Server 2012) should now work, with the most recent update including a fix for this Black Box issue. If you are unable to use Windows Updates, or if the update still doesn't show, then the method from 3/19 is your best bet. Make sure you select your Windows version on the left after clicking on the link. Versions prior to 1507 are found in the "Previous Versions" section. 

We will keep a close eye on everything, but right now it looks like we are in the clear. Simply make sure all workstations are fully updated, and the printing issues should be resolved. 

If you continue to run into issues, please confirm if the issue is occurring within GP. If so, make sure it occurs without third parties. If the issue occurs without third parties, let us know! Otherwise, you will want to reach out to the third party ISV to get further support. 

Have a great week!

Update 3/19

There is a new Windows Update that has been released to resolve this issue. That said, this update is currently not installing through Windows Updates correctly. 

At this point we would recommend installing the update manually on any workstations where printing is critical. For any non-critical workstations, this update should be corrected and automatic again shortly.

To install, go to Resolved issues in Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 | Microsoft Docs and find the version of Windows you on the left and expand it. Then select Resolved issues:


Find the “Unexpected results when printing from some apps or to some printers” issue in the list of resolved issues, and click on the link to the Resolved KB:


This will take you to a page which outlines what Windows version was released to fix the black box issue (should all show March 18th as the release date):

This update is not installing through the automatic Windows Update installer correctly, so you will want to install using the Microsoft Update Catalog, which is linked at the bottom of the page:


This will take you to the final page in the process, with a list of various installs. Find the one that matches your environment (i.e., 32 or 64bit), and click the download button the right.

When the download completes, you can just run the file to install the update. After it completes, you will need to restart the workstation. 

I will be removing these steps when I am able to use the Automatic Functionality, along with changing the title. 

Have a great weekend everyone!
Justin

Update 3/18

This issue has been confirmed by the Windows team, with them working on a solution. More information will be shared at the following link as it is available:
Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 | Microsoft Docs

I will also update this article, so you only need to watch this location for updates. The link above is simply for more information on the various symptoms, some of which can occur in other programs.  

Thanks!
Justin

Hello Community, 

We are aware of an ongoing issue with the following Windows Updates (all from March 2021):

• "KB5000808"
• "KB5000809"
• "KB5000802"
• "KB5000803"
• "KB5000812"
• "KB5000822"
  
• "KB5000848"

There are further versions for older Windows versions (i.e. 8 and server 2012/8) that have this issue as well. For a more inclusive list, please look here:
CVE-2021-1640 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

After updating, users will start to see black boxes instead of any images in GP Report Writer reports that are printed. This includes print to PDFs or sent to other programs through the Print window (like OneNote). 

What should appear:

What appears:

It is important to note that this only effects Report Writer reports and items that directly use these reports. Anything that uses different functionality to print like Word Templates and many third parties should still function without issues. 

We are working with the Windows team to dig into what was changed with the update to get a solution out to users as soon as possible. This issue does not appear to be unique to Dynamics GP, but seems to be related to how the old GP print functionality (using Report Writer/Standard reports) calls the printer in Windows. 

In the meantime, users will need to determine if they can wait for a fix and stay on the update, or if they need to roll the update back. If you need to get checks printed, and they are not working due to this issue, then a rollback may be your best bet. You will need to roll back any workstations and servers involved in the printing process. For normal server/workstation setups, this means just the workstation needs rolled back. If you use terminal servers, for either RDP or RemoteApp, both the server and workstation will need rolled back. 

You will need to pause updates on any machines that are rolled back, as this is an automatic update

Some other items to note:

1. If you are not using plain Report Writer functionality with images anywhere in Microsoft Dynamics GP, then there is no need for you to do anything
2. If you are using a third party to print (i.e. MICR checks with Mekorma), then you may not run into the issue
   
   1. You will need to test printing with your third party and confirm if it works or not
3. Emailing appears to work without issues, so you can email yourself any reports as an HTML document and print the HTML document 

We are actively investigating this issue, and hope to have more information soon. 

Justin Sutton
Dynamics GP Support Team