Microsoft releases patch for bug that makes NTFS drives unreadable

A bug in Windows 10 causes an NTFS drive to be corrupted with a simple command, which can also be run on an account without admin rights. Microsoft says it is working on a solution.

The bug can be triggered by a .url shortcut, but also when opening a zip file. In addition, it is possible for a computer to crash if the user opens the folder where the zip file was extracted, without further user interaction being required. After the command is executed, Windows displays an error message that a file or folder is unreadable. The drive is then no longer accessible.

When a disk is made unreadable by the bug, the computer must be restarted. The disk can then be analyzed via chkdsk and in most cases repaired.

A security researcher warned about the bug earlier in January Twitter. Microsoft has told The Verge that a fix is ​​being worked on and that it will be released in a future release. According to the researcher, Windows 10 from version 1803 contains the bug. Windows 8 and 8.1 would also be vulnerable.