Do you groan every time your computer requires an update?
Sometimes updates can cause problems—but most of the time they don’t, and they often include important security patches that are necessary to keep your systems and data safe. Always keep your software and operating systems up to date!
Having said that, it is true that sometimes an update will cause a problem with your office equipment, like your Xerox MFP. When uptime is critical, these issues can be a massive headache. Fortunately, Xerox has an extremely good track record of avoiding these issues, and on the rare occasions they do happen, fixes are released quickly.
In this post on the Professional Document Solutions blog, we’ll take a look at why OS updates sometimes cause issues and what to do if you run into one of these common issues.
Why Do Operating System Updates Sometimes Cause Printer Problems?
When Microsoft or Apple push an update, it sometimes causes issues with your other office equipment. This is usually due to the following:
- The update reset a setting you had previously configured (see below).
- New settings such as security options were added and need to be configured
- There was a genuine error with the update and a patch will likely be available soon
The last one on the list there can certainly happen, but it’s not all that common—the first two are much more likely to be encountered. For instance, let’s look at a recent problem (and its subsequent solution) that caused Windows users to be unable to scan using their Xerox machines:
An Example of a Recent Windows Update Causing Xerox Users to Have Trouble Scanning (And How it Was Fixed)
Last month, a Windows update caused not only Xerox office equipment to have trouble scanning documents, but nearly all brands. Users were met with error messages on their computers and may have seen fault codes starting with “018” on their devices.
In this instance, the Windows update reverted folder sharing settings to their default—there was nothing “wrong” per se, but users were caught off-guard after having already set these configuration options.
To solve the problem, Xerox owners simply had to re-configure their Windows machines to the correct folder sharing options again. (If you happen to be encountering this issue, Xerox published a guide to resetting these configuration options). Subsequent Windows updates shouldn’t cause these problems, but the lesson is this: always visit the Xerox Support Pages if you encounter an issue after an OS update.
Just to reiterate, even though updates can sometimes cause problems, they’re still very important to do! Please always keep your software up to date. Any minor problems encountered after an update are tiny in comparison to the real problems that security flaws can cause.
Learn More About How Xerox Multifunction Printers Remain Reliable, No Matter What Apple or Microsoft Get Up To!
If you’re ready to upgrade to Xerox office technology for better reliable and a whole world of efficiency-boosting options at your fingertips, please feel free to contact us to start a conversation. If you’ve been doing your homework already and you want to get the ball rolling on an upgrade, you’re also more than welcome to request a free online quote.
