Microsoft Offers Workaround for Windows 10 Cumulative Update KB4515384 OOBE Bug

KB4515384 is one of the buggiest Windows 10 cumulative updates in a long time, and this week, Microsoft mitigated another issue hitting devices where it’s installed.

The company acknowledged that the Out of Box Experience, also referred to as OOBE, might be hit by a bug preventing users to create local accounts when using certain languages. The software giant says the following:

“When setting up a new Windows device using the Out of Box Experience (OOBE), you might be unable to create a local user when using Input Method Editor (IME). This issue might affect you if you are using the IME for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages.”

Unsurprisingly, the issue does not affect users who create Microsoft Accounts or set up Windows 10 with one during OOBE.

Workaround already available

While on Windows 10 version 1903 cumulative update KB4515384 is the one to blame, the issue actually exists on several Windows 10 versions that received an update on September 10, including the following:

Windows 10 version 1903 Windows 10 version 1809 Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 Windows 10 version 1803 Windows 10 version 1709 Windows Server version 1903 Windows Server version 1809 Windows Server 2019 Windows Server version 1803 Windows Server version 1709

Microsoft says it’s currently working on a fix, and this should go live in late November, which means it won’t be published on November 12 when the company ships new cumulative updates as part of the monthly Patch Tuesday cycle.

Meanwhile, users can fix this by changing the language during OOBE, setting a local account, and then changing to whatever language they want. Microsoft says this is the only workaround that exists right now, and it should do the trick for everybody hitting this problem until the company comes up with a full fix.