Microsoft says October updates did not fix Always On VPN issues

Microsoft says its October 2026 Windows 11 cumulative updates did not fix connection problems affecting Always On VPN. The company had mistakenly marked the issue as resolved and has returned its status to mitigated.

The problem affects systems running Windows 11 24H2 and later after installing the September 2026 security updates. When an initial VPN connection fails with automatic protocol selection or fallback configured, a connection may remain stuck at “Connecting” or fail. In some cases, later attempts show the error, “The specified port is already in use.”

Microsoft first acknowledged the issue in a service alert to IT administrators in late September. It said a resolution is planned for an update expected in the coming weeks, and apologized for the confusion.

As a temporary workaround, Microsoft says administrators can change the Always On VPN profile from automatic protocol selection to a single protocol: SSTP or IKEv2. The choice depends on the organization’s environment and configuration.

Microsoft says the September updates have also been linked to other problems for home and enterprise Windows users, including issues with Hyper-V, Remote Desktop Services, USB audio, domain sign-ins, and File History.