Recent Microsoft .NET Update Resulting in ArcGIS Pro 2.8 and 2.9 Crash When Changing Symbology

[#1]

Summary

Recent Microsoft cumulative updates result in a crash for ArcGIS Pro 2.8.x and 2.9.x users when changing symbology. This document provides additional information about the crash and what Esri recommends that customers do.

What is causing the crash?

This issue is caused by an update in the .NET 4.8.x framework and only affects ArcGIS Pro 2.8.x and 2.9.x users who have the Microsoft cumulative updates applied on their machine.

Users will encounter this issue if they access any symbol gallery or color gallery except the one located in the Catalog view. Most of the time, the crash will occur when opening the symbol gallery in the symbology pane (for example, by clicking a symbol patch in the Contents pane). Other common scenarios that will cause the crash are opening the color picker for a symbol patch in the Contents pane or accessing any symbol picker from the ribbon.

Does this affect the ArcGIS Pro 3.0 release?

No. ArcGIS Pro 3.0.x is built on .NET 6, therefore it is not affected by this recent Microsoft update.

What is Esri recommending that customers do?

Since ArcGIS Pro 3.0.x is built on .NET 6, this issue can be resolved by upgrading to ArcGIS Pro 3.0 or later.

Note that ArcGIS Pro 3.0 is a major release. When upgrading from ArcGIS Pro 2.x, customers should review and understand the following documentation before moving to 3.x:  

• Get Ready for ArcGIS Pro 3.0
• Migration from ArcGIS Pro 2.x to 3.0 

What if customers cannot update to ArcGIS Pro 3.x?

For customers unable to update to ArcGIS Pro 3.x, this issue is fixed in ArcGIS Pro 2.9 Patch 5 (2.9.5), released October 20, 2022 and in ArcGIS Pro 2.8 Patch 8 (2.8.8), released November 1, 2022.

2.9.x customers

Update to ArcGIS Pro 2.9 Patch 5 (2.9.5). The patch is available to download from My Esri. ArcGIS Pro 2.9 must be installed prior to installing any ArcGIS Pro 2.9 patches. Each patch is cumulative of all previous patch fixes.

2.8.x customers

Update to ArcGIS Pro 2.8 Patch 8 (2.8.8). The patch is available to download from My Esri. ArcGIS Pro 2.8 must be installed prior to installing any ArcGIS Pro 2.8 patches. Each patch is cumulative of all previous patch fixes.

For informational purposes, at this time the following cumulative updates are known to cause the crash.

KB5017263 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10, version 1809, and Windows Server, version 2019.
KB5017264 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 11.
KB5017267 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11for x64.
KB5017271 – Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 22H2.
KB5017262 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10, version 20H2, Windows 10 Version 21H1, and Windows 10 Version 21H2.
KB5017265 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Microsoft server operating system version 21H2.
KB5017268 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Microsoft server operating system version 21H2.
KB5017266 – Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 10, version 20H2, Windows 10 Version 21H1, and Windows 10 Version 21H2
KB5018515 – Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 4.8 for Windows 10, version 1607 and Windows Server 2016.
KB5018518 – Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 4.8 for Windows Server 2012.
KB5018519 – Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 4.8 for Windows 8.1, RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

[TylerLarson]

10/30 update. This appears it may have been an update to our VPN the same time as the windows update so not related. 

The USFS is also experiencing the inability to add content from any Portal be it our personal AGOL content, Org content, and Living Atlas.  It throws an error "Failed to add data". And sometimes it acts like it is trying to log into a server but sits and spins and you have to canel then receive the error. 

Update, installed the 2.9.5 patch and still cannot add hosted feature layers to a map.  Symbology crashing the program is fixed. 

[marco_be]

Hi @KoryKramer , do you know if there is already a date of release of the patch for ArcGIS Pro 2.8.x?

[KoryKramer]

We do not have an estimate for a 2.8 patch at this time, but will update this thread once we have more information. We are still looking at tomorrow for the release of 2.9.5. If at all possible, upgrading to 2.9 and then applying patch 5 will have a fix from our side for this.

[Will]

Under "What is causing the crash" it says "only affects ArcGIS Pro 2.8.x and 2.9.x users who have the Microsoft cumulative updates applied on their machine" but does that mean any cumulative updates related to .NET 4.8.x framework, or only the ones listed further down in this article?  Thanks

[KoryKramer]

@Will I can't answer that authoritatively, but it does appear that the recent updates (from ~October 11th) that have to do with .NET 4.8.x result in this issue. It can be confusing given how Microsoft numbers updates - the KB# you see on their download site may be an umbrella KB and when you actually install the update, it will show a different KB#. What we have listed in this article are the known installed KBs that result in the crash. 

Also note that we just updated the article to reflect that ArcGIS Pro 2.9.5 was released today and is available for download from My Esri. 2.8.8 is currently scheduled to be available November 7th, and we will continue to update this article as we have better information.

I hope that this helps.

[xingchenc]

I followed the instrution on this website(ArcGIS Pro 2.9 Crashes when Using Symbology - How to Fix - GIS Tutorial (freegistutorial.com)), installed the .NET Framework 4.8.1 and the problem is gone, just FYI

[RhettZufelt]

Need this for 2.9.3 as 2.9.4 on broke hosted feature layer popup with attachments ability.....

[butterip]

I installed patch 5 for 2.9 but continued to experience crashes when editing symbology. I then uninstalled Pro and reinstalled 2.9.5 but am still experiencing symbology-related crashes, though they seem to be slightly less frequent.

Don't have the option to install 3.0 due to agency policy. I am stumped.

[KoryKramer]

@butterip sorry to hear that you're still experiencing a crash. It would be best to call technical support so that they can get your latest .dmp files to compare against what was fixed in 2.9.5. 

cc @AmeliaBradshaw 

[RhettZufelt]

I found that doing a silent re-install (as it won't let you load an earlier version) of .NET 4.8.1 on my computer fixed this issue.

R_

[DeniseJohnson]

Are there any new bug fixes released for ArcGIS Pro 3.0.3 having all kinds of issues, Ribbon totally grayed out after one command, Contents and Catalog panes lock up / lag and can not work with layers ????

[JerryDavis]

In our labs at San Francisco State, we had the symbology crash problem go away when we updated to 2.9.5, and don't see it in 3.0.3 either.

[DeniseJohnson]

Thanks Jerry; but still having the issues