Patchday Problem: Message Queuing issues in Windows 10, Server 2016, and 2019

The Windows updates from Microsoft's December Patchday have unintended side effects. Due to changes introduced by them, message queuing (MSMQ) in Windows 10, as well as Windows Server 2016 and 2019, can be disrupted. This leads to error messages and software failures.

Microsoft reports this in the Windows Release Health Notes. Behind Microsoft's Message Queuing is a network protocol that provides message queues, with which applications and services can exchange information. “After installing the December 2025 Windows security updates (KB5071546), users may encounter issues with the Message Queuing (MSMQ) functionality. The problem also affects clustered MSMQ environments under load,” Microsoft explains.

The symptoms could manifest as MSMQ queues becoming inactive, IIS pages failing with the error message “Insufficient resources to perform operation,” or apps being unable to write to queues. Additionally, errors such as “The message file 'C:\Windows\System32\msmq\storage*.mq' cannot be created” may occur when creating message files. Furthermore, log entries like “There is insufficient disk space or memory” can be misleading despite sufficient storage space and RAM.

Problem Cause Found

The disruptions stem from recent changes to the MSMQ security model and NTFS access rights for the folder “C:\Windows\System32\MSMQ\storage”. MSMQ users now need write access to this folder, which is typically restricted to administrators. Consequently, attempts to send messages via MSMQ APIs may fail with resource errors.

Windows 10 22H2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019 are affected. Microsoft states that it is currently investigating the problem and will provide further information when available.

(dmk)