Caution: KB4515384 is breaking audio on Windows 10

Microsoft released KB4515384 on September 10, 2019 and this update is problematic. It appears to be breaking audio for many users and Reddit already has several threads asking for help. If this update is queued to download or install on your system, it might be a good idea to hold off on installing it. If you’re already experiencing audio problems, check if the update has been installed and roll it back. If you’re unable to roll back, we have a solution to KB4515384 breaking audio that might work.

Fix: KB4515384 breaking audio

If you’ve already installed KB4515384, and you want to try and fix the audio problem before you attempt the uninstall it, there is really only solution that you can try. Open the Control Panel sound settings.

On the Playback tab, double-click your speakers to open their Properties. The properties window should have an ‘Enhancements’ tab though, it may be missing as in the case of the screenshot below. If the tab is there, go to it and enable all enhancements, and click Apply. Next, disable them all, and click Apply again.

Pause updates

If you haven’t installed the KB4515384 update, it’s best to pause updates for a while. To pause updates on Windows 10, open the Settings app and go to the Update & Security group of settings. Select the Windows Update tab, and click ‘Advanced Options’. Scroll down to the Pause updates section and select from the dropdown how long you want to pause them. We recommend at least two weeks but a month isn’t bad either.

Uninstall updates

If you’ve already installed the update, and the fix given above isn’t working for you, you can uninstall the update. To uninstall the update, open the Control Panel and go to Program>Uninstall a program.

Click ‘View installed updates’ in the column on the left. In the pane on the right, go through the list of updates until you find KB4515384. Select it, and click the Uninstall button at the top. Restart your system after the update has been uninstalled. After that, make sure you pause updates so that it isn’t installed again.

Other KB4515384 problems

Audio problems seem to be common after this update however, there are other problems such as network connectivity, and app crashes that some users are reporting. Basically, if you have this update, and nothing appears to be broken, you are beyond lucky. If you’ve suddenly started experiencing fresh problems with your OS, this update may be the reason.

It has not been a good month for Windows updates. There was an update just recently that broke Windows Search and caused high CPU usage.