Windows Server DHCP Failures After June 2025 Patches: Causes, Fixes, and Mitigation

For IT administrators managing modern networks, few issues are more disruptive than a failed Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. This essential component assigns IP addresses to devices, enabling everything from basic connectivity to secure access to critical systems. In early June 2025, Microsoft released several security updates designed to address known vulnerabilities in Windows Server, but these patches—specifically KB5060526, KB5060531, KB5060842, and KB5061010—introduced an unexpected and highly disruptive side effect: DHCP service unavailability. As the IT community grappled with the fallout, Microsoft confirmed the issue and began working on a resolution. Here’s a comprehensive, critical look at what happened, what it means for Windows Server environments, and how admins should respond.

Understanding the Role of DHCP in Windows Server Environments​

Before diving into the specifics of this incident, it’s important to recap why DHCP is so vital. DHCP automates the network management task of assigning IP addresses to machines—workstations, laptops, printers, and more. Without a working DHCP server, devices can fail to join the network, lose access to shared resources, and, in the worst cases, grind business operations to a halt. Organizations ranging from small offices to massive enterprises and government agencies rely on the consistent performance of DHCP within their Active Directory-enabled Windows Server architectures.
The service’s ubiquity is a double-edged sword: while it enables efficiency, any outage impacts a wide segment of the IT ecosystem. Thus, any flaw triggered by a routine security patch—such as the one Microsoft delivered in June 2025—demands immediate, transparent attention.

June 2025 Patch Tuesday: Updates with Unexpected Ramifications​

Patch Tuesday, the industry’s shorthand for Microsoft’s scheduled release of security and quality updates each month, is usually a time when IT teams focus on defense against potential exploits. The June 2025 cycle delivered four notable server-side updates:

• Windows Server 2025 (KB5060842)
• Windows Server 2022 (KB5060526)
• Windows Server 2019 (KB5060531)
• Windows Server 2016 (KB5061010)

Shortly after deployment across test and production environments, administrators began to notice DHCP-related issues almost immediately. Reports surfaced on forums and support channels with a consistent narrative: upgrading to any of these patches rendered the DHCP server non-functional, often failing within seconds of startup.
One admin described the disruption this way: “Can confirm this is a very unpleasant irritant in our environment since patching last week. DHCP clients lose their leases. We are not running DHCP on our DCs, for what that’s worth. Server 2022.” Another user, anticipating trouble, proactively declined the update on all domain controllers providing DHCP services.
While initial reports could be dismissed as edge cases, the pattern rapidly escalated. Subsequently, Microsoft officially acknowledged the issue through both support tickets and public documentation updates.

What Exactly Breaks: The Observed Failure Pattern​

According to both user accounts and Microsoft’s own admission, servers running the problematic updates experience a near-immediate failure of the DHCP Server service. Specifically, the service either:

• Refuses to start, or
• Terminates within 20–50 seconds after boot.

Client devices attempting to request or renew leases will receive no response, leading to failures in network connectivity. Compounding concerns, these failures are not dependent on running DHCP alongside Domain Controller functions; even standalone DHCP servers are impacted.
Unlike complex interoperability bugs, the issue here is direct and easily reproducible—apply the patch, DHCP stops responding; remove the patch, DHCP resumes normal operation. This clarity has at least enabled administrators to quickly confirm the root cause and adopt temporary workarounds.

Microsoft’s Response: Acknowledgement and Interim Guidance​

Upon learning of the widespread issue, Microsoft promptly issued an advisory admitting to the DHCP server failures. The company noted: “The DHCP Server service might intermittently stop responding after installing this security update. This issue affects IP renewal for clients.”
This transparency is commendable—rapid acknowledgement helps prevent IT teams from wasting valuable time on diagnostics and helps mitigate unnecessary network downtime. Microsoft further clarified that the engineering team was actively investigating and working on a standalone update. According to support documents and direct communications, a fix would be provided “in the coming days” via the Microsoft Update Catalog as a .msu (Microsoft Update Standalone Installer) file. Additionally, the next month’s update is expected to contain a permanent resolution.
Microsoft’s structured and incremental approach—publishing both a temporary mitigation and a commitment to a hotfix—demonstrates a clear understanding of the gravity of the situation. However, some critics argue that a more robust pre-release validation process should have caught this failure, especially given DHCP’s criticality in nearly all networks.

Community Response: Workarounds, Risks, and Vulnerabilities​

Admins affected by the update face a difficult choice. Removing the problematic patch will restore DHCP functionality, but at the cost of leaving the server potentially vulnerable to the very exploits the June 2025 updates were meant to address. This classic IT tradeoff—security versus availability—is particularly contentious in environments where compliance and risk management are tightly regulated.

How to Roll Back the Update (With Caution)​

For those wishing to restore DHCP service immediately, the Windows Latest report and Microsoft’s support page provide a clear rollback procedure:

1. Navigate to Settings > Windows Update > Update History on the affected server.
2. Identify the relevant KB number (one of KB5060842, KB5060526, KB5060531, or KB5061010).
3. Select Uninstall updates, then click Uninstall next to the patch.
4. Reboot the server.

While simple, this method is not without consequence. Admins must weigh the risk of exposure to active vulnerabilities, particularly as exploit campaigns often spike after Patch Tuesday when attackers reverse-engineer disclosed fixes.

Temporary Mitigation vs. Long-Term Security​

As of mid-June, removing the update is the only verified workaround for restoring DHCP service. Several user tests—and reports from Windows Latest—confirmed that this approach is reliable. However, industry best practices recommend not leaving servers unpatched for long periods. Microsoft’s advice to apply the forthcoming standalone hotfix as soon as available is clear and should be followed to reduce exposure windows.

Navigating Complementary Issues: CJK Text Rendering Bug​

Curiously, DHCP outages were not the only notable issue from the June 2025 Windows Server updates. Many organizations running Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (CJK) locales noticed that text in browsers and applications would blur or fail to render correctly when displayed at 96 DPI or with a scaling factor set to 100%. The source of this issue was traced, at least in part, to recent changes upstream in Google’s Chromium project—the basis for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers.
For multilingual environments, this introduced a second layer of complexity, particularly for global businesses and educational institutions using non-Latin scripts. Here, the only current mitigation is to alter DPI/scaling settings or temporarily switch browsers, pending a coordinated fix from both Microsoft and Google Chromium contributors.

Critical Analysis: Strengths, Transparency, and Remaining Gaps​

Evaluating Microsoft’s handling of the DHCP disruption uncovers several strengths but also highlights areas needing improvement:

Proactive Communication and Documentation​

One of the positives in this situation is Microsoft’s quick admission of the bug and active public documentation. By confirming the DHCP issue via support channels, updating public advisories, and promising a hotfix, Microsoft avoided the tendency—sometimes seen in the industry—to downplay or obscure high-impact bugs.
This transparency directly benefited IT admins, who could focus immediately on mitigation rather than wasting time troubleshooting unrelated network or hardware causes.

Patch Testing and Release Engineering​

However, the very presence of such a critical disruption—especially one affecting DHCP—signals shortcomings in Microsoft’s patch validation pipeline. DHCP is not an obscure or infrequently used feature; it is foundational to every network. While it’s impossible for any software company to test every possible configuration, wide deployment of an update that interferes with a default and essential service suggests that additional integration or scenario-specific tests are warranted.
Several administrators on forums, including Reddit and Microsoft’s own Tech Community, expressed frustration over “testing this update in a lab before release could have caught this immediately”—a reminder that trust in Patch Tuesday updates is built on reliability as much as it is on security.

Security Tradeoffs for IT Administrators​

Perhaps the biggest risk—now temporarily borne by system administrators worldwide—is that reverting to a pre-patch state, even briefly, opens servers to vulnerabilities that attackers might exploit. Guidance from industry bodies such as the SANS Institute and CISA underscores the importance of rapid patching, especially in today’s quickly evolving threat landscape.
Admins forced to uninstall the patch are strongly advised to:

• Segment unpatched servers from the broader network where possible
• Monitor logs closely for suspicious activity or compromise attempts
• Immediately reapply the patch as soon as a fixed version is available

This episode should also encourage organizations to revisit their business continuity planning, including the feasibility of DHCP failover, redundancy, or third-party solutions as a buffer during future critical update failures.

Broader Impacts: How Patch Disruptions Affect the Windows Ecosystem​

This DHCP debacle is not occurring in isolation. Windows Server, as the backbone of many enterprise and public sector IT environments, is trusted for its reliability and security-first engineering. When a major feature like DHCP fails due to an official update, the ripple effects are significant:

• Operational Disruption: Schools, hospitals, and government offices relying on Windows Server for basic connectivity faced immediate and potentially wide-reaching outages.
• Stakeholder Confidence: Long-standing trust in Windows Patch Tuesday updates wavers after avoidable failures, potentially incentivizing organizations to delay future rollouts—ironically increasing risk due to unpatched vulnerabilities.
• Vendor Relationships: ISPs, MSPs, and VARs managing client servers may bear the brunt of reputational damage or SLA penalties when core Microsoft components falter due to upstream changes.
• Regulatory and Compliance Risks: For some industries, even short periods with unpatched servers may represent compliance violations, compounding the risk equation for IT and risk management professionals.

SEO-Focused Guidance for Windows Server DHCP Issues in June 2025​

In the wake of these disruptive updates, it’s essential for IT pros and system admins searching for help to find authoritative guidance. Key SEO phrases and search queries associated with this incident include:

• “Windows Server DHCP not working after June 2025 update”
• “Fix DHCP issues KB5060526 KB5060531 KB5060842 KB5061010”
• “How to uninstall June 2025 Microsoft Windows Server update”
• “DHCP service fails after Patch Tuesday”
• “Windows Server 2025 DHCP workaround”

Administrators seeking assistance should be aware that only rolling back to remove the update is currently effective, and that a hotfix is expected to be released both as a standalone package in the Microsoft Update Catalog and as part of next month’s Patch Tuesday cycle.

Recommendations and Future Prevention​

For Affected Organizations​

• Roll Back Judiciously: Remove the problematic patch only on affected DHCP servers and only if absolutely necessary for operational continuity. Apply the workaround in the most controlled environment possible.
• Monitor Microsoft Communications: Track the official Windows Release Health Dashboard and trusted IT news sources for confirmation of the hotfix’s release.
• Re-Patch Promptly: As soon as the standalone .msu hotfix is available, test and deploy it to re-secure your environment.
• Review Update Policies: Consider adjusting staggered patch deployment strategies, especially for critical infrastructure servers.

For Microsoft​

• Strengthen Pre-Release Testing: Expand test matrices to include DHCP workloads on both DC and non-DC server roles given their criticality.
• Enhance Failure Mode Documentation: Provide more detailed advisories and fault isolation guidance to empower IT admin troubleshooting.
• Increase Collaboration With the IT Community: Foster closer feedback loops with enterprise customers and partner networks to catch edge-case failures faster.

The Bigger Picture: Lessons for the IT Community​

Ultimately, the June 2025 Windows Server update incident is a powerful example of the challenges inherent to modern IT operations. Software vendors must balance delivering timely security fixes with minimizing disruption to foundational services. Users, meanwhile, are reminded of the need for redundancy, flexibility, and diligent testing—especially with automatically applied critical updates.
The episode underscores the broader reality: in hyper-connected infrastructures, even infrequently encountered bugs can have outsized effects. Namely, an unavailable DHCP service can halt productivity, erode trust, and force complex risk tradeoffs. Admins and vendors alike must treat such core capabilities as “sacred ground,” deserving of the highest standards in development, validation, and support.

Looking Ahead​

Microsoft’s promise of an expedited hotfix is reassuring and will be closely monitored by the Windows Server community. For now, organizations should balance their need for operational continuity with the imperative to remain protected from emerging threats. As cloud and hybrid infrastructure trends accelerate, the reliability and security of a platform’s foundational services—DHCP foremost among them—are more important than ever.
While the June 2025 Windows Server DHCP bug will be remembered as a cautionary tale, its real legacy will be determined by the speed of recovery and the improvements made to both testing and communication in its wake. IT administrators, for now, stand vigilant, waiting for the fix—and the lessons that come in its aftermath.

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Source: Windows Latest Microsoft: DHCP issue hits KB5060526, KB5060531 of Windows Server