- Some Lenovo ThinkPad -owners cannot install BIOS updates due to a security account Microsoft used in the latest Windows -patches
- This happens to those installed via the Lenovo Bios Update Tool or Vantage -APP
- A solution is already incoming and as a solution you can install via Windows update
Some Lenovo -Bearing computers see BIOS updates not working thanks to a change Microsoft has just made in Windows 11 (and Windows 10).
Windows latest discovered a Lenovo support post that addressed the problem affecting those trying to use an upgrade to BIOS with its ThinkPad notebooks.
Apparently, the problem is due to a fine -tuning Microsoft made to block a particular executable file (Winflash64.exe) in the latest Windows programs, a change made for security reasons.
When trying to use a BIOS update using either Lenovo’s BIOS update tool or the Lenovo Vantage app, some ThinkPad owners could see the process failure, accompanied by some kind of error message. There are a few errors that may appear, but everyone makes up the same thing – the update didn’t work.
What happens is that the update after Patchet and Microsoft updates its safety -blocking list therein is discovered the update as a ‘vulnerable driver’, which means it is a risk to the system – thus refusing Windows to run the process.
As mentioned, the changes in the Blocklist were made in the latest programs for Windows 11 24H2, 23H2 and 22H2 together with Windows 10 22H2 – all active versions of Microsoft’s Desktop OS, in other words.
A solution is already incoming – or you can use Windows update instead
As Windows latest points out, Lenovo usually recommends using his BIOS update tool to update your portable firmware as it is generally more reliable than other methods.
Given this new problem, this is not the case and therefore the easiest way to work around the glitch is using Windows update to use the BIOS update to your Lenovo Thinkpad. That is, assuming that Windows 11 (or 10) has found the appropriate patch and marked it during Windows Update. If not, all you can do is continue to check for updates and hope it will show up fast enough.
Meanwhile, Lenovo has been working on solving this problem, and according to Windows latest, there is a solution in place with the latest BIOS version (V1.61) that is being rolled out. So if you can pack the latest spin on BIOS, it should work okay to install via Lenovo’s BIOS update tool – fingers crossed.
In any case, this should be a temporary hiccup for Lenovo ThinkPad owners, but it is rather strange that a BIOS update would be marked as a risk like this one in the first place. That said, of course, there is always a small level of risk involved in any BIOS update – such is the nature of the animal – and if you want to read more about the right procedure for using these, to make sure you get it right, we have an article dedicated to just that.
