Microsoft finally provided a workaround for broken Windows apps via a smaller SQL Server driver.

Although Patch Tuesday updates are meant to deliver security patches to Windows, they often cause major problems as well. November’s Patch Tuesday, for both Windows 11 and Windows 10, as well as Windows Servers, caused app problems due to an ODBC SQL Server driver bug.

Microsoft said that affected users will receive an app error or error from SQL Server, such as “The EMS system encountered a problem” with the “message: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver] Protocol error in TDS stream” or “Message: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver]Unknown token received from SQL Server.

Today, Microsoft has finally released a fix for the issue, although the delay is understandable since it was the holiday season in the US and many other parts of the world. Company writes:

Solution: To minimize this problem, you can do one of the following:

• If your app is already using or capable of using Data Source Name (DSN) To select ODBC connections, install the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server and select to use it with your app using a DSN. Note: We recommend the latest version of Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server, as it is more compatible with apps that currently use the Microsoft ODBC SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) than Microsoft ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server. More consistent.
• If your app is unable to use DSN, the app will need to be modified to allow DSN or to use a new ODBC driver from the Microsoft ODBC SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll).

The Redmond company says it is working on a permanent solution to the problem.