Windows 10 forced updates — the rest of the story. It’s not straightforward.

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Don’t panic. Wait.InfoWorld Tech Watch
[See the full post at: Windows 10 forced updates — the rest of the story. It’s not straightforward.]

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Hi Woody,
Very informative article. I have one question. What does “attached to an Update Server” mean? MS Exchange? I have a home LAN, with 3 Win 7 PCs. All PCs have Windows Update set to Download, Notify Me but Do not Install.
Thanks, HH

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http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-commits-to-10-year-support-lifecycle-for-windows-10/

Finally!

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I decided long ago to “Wait”. So my question may make me sound clueless. When I do eventually bring 10 down (as an update?) to Win 7 Pro, will all of my installed (32 and 64-bit) programs remain in place (even if some don’t work)? Or does the process initiate a fresh install? Thank you.

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I know I am getting older but I am just not feeling the love with the Win 10 forced updating. MS support is a poor excuse for a joke and when the day comes that MS renders the OS unbootable, I will wait for MS to automatically fix the problem. All of a sudden, things will not be so automatic, I suspect. I will be a curious watcher from the weeds for many months after the rollout of Win 10.

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Contrary to what the article states, Firefox does not force updates. I’m on 38.0.5 and it still has the option for me to receive update notifications but allow me to decide when/if to download and apply them. As long as forced updates remain a “feature” of Windows 10 I will avoid it like the plague. It’s bad enough when apps do it and consequently break themselves, like Quicken does these days, and I refuse to take such a risk with an OS. Not now, not ever. Whose computer is it, anyway?

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Hi Woody
Excellent article, and your usual good unbiased advice (hold off on uprading to Win 10 for at least the near term)

One minor correction – unlike Chrom, Firefox does NOT force updates on you. Very easy preference setting to disable autoupdates in FF.

And I see MS has just now announced an actual supported life date for Win 10. That’s a good thing, as it reduces risk of doing the free upgrade and then being forced to buy an upgrade in a year or two.

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Key paragraph:

“Let’s see if any really bad patches roll out the Windows 10 chute. When Microsoft releases a less-than-stellar patch (it will) and the cannon fodder starts screaming (they will), let’s see how quickly, and how well, Microsoft reacts.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

BTW, on tablets, it’s not just the forced updates which can be a worry. Updating Win 10 can on most tablets, permanently alter the Recovery OEM WIM File.

I just had a bad experience with losing the Factory Reset OEM Recovery Partition on my ASUS Transformer Book t100ta. Only after the disaster, I found in the Transformer Forums what had (probably) gone wrong.

This manufacturer (and they are not alone) has their tablets rigged so that even the donwloaded Windows 8.1 ISO burn of the generic DVD installer, will not proceed to reinstall Windows until it can “connect” with the original Factory OEM WIM File in the origginal Recovery Partition.

I had imaged this Partition with EaseUS ToDo Backup, then later restored it with the EaseUS WinPE 5 Recovery USB Media. The process went Sector by Sector. But in this condition, the tablet would not boot. A BSOD declared that “a required device cannot connect”. That’s when I used the Win 8.1 Install DVD obtained from my local Microsoft Store, in an attempt to reinstall the OS to the tablet.

I had extracted the Windows License Key from the Windows/System32 Config folder with NirSoft’s ProduKey, and this appeared to be a valid Win 8.1 Product Key, according to Microsoft Phone Activation Support.

And the Installer accepted the Key, then declared that it could not proceed because it could not connect the License Key with any available Recovery WIM.

So, if Win 10 MS Updates ever corrupts the OEM WIM File, you are forced to send back the tablet to ASUS (your shipping is your expense) and negotiate a Factory Reset repair (covered under ASUS Warranty only for about a year). That’s a three-week turnaround in the Continental US via FedEx Ground. (Including actual sitting time at ASUS before they get the tablet to the front of their repair queue.)

Solution discovered after this current disaster:

ASUS has a utility called ASUS Backtracker. Only the Full Windows 8.1 Connected (64GB onboard storage) models of the t100ta can use this utility. It simply pulls the Recovery Partition (and all else necessary for a Factory Reset Reinstall) off the tablet and onto a USB Flash Drive (16GB recommended, and a separate 8GB drive if you want to also pull off all the tablet’s OEM drivers, which MS Updates can also mess up). This Recovery Environment can then be copied anywhere any number of times, according to Transformer Forum contributors. (Yes, someone actually tested recovery from a copied USB Recovery Stick.)

So the backup and recovery method is very round-about, but it (apparently) works. Any properly upgraded Win 10 installation should acquire an altered OEM WIM, or else the normal Win 10 Recovery Partition will have its own upgraded WIM inside of it. So running the Backtracker utility should allow a Recovery to Win 10, not to Win 8.1 OEM conditions.

I suspect other manufacturers have and will hve their own Recovery Disks or Utilities for making Recovery Drives. Remember, this is NOT the normal Win 8.1/Win 10 Recovery Media creation method! It’s a long way to go around the mulberry bush, but once created (and ARCHIVED!) the Recovery Media should be at least as reliable as any USB-Boot Recovery MEdia you or I or anyone can now create for Windows recovery.

The point is, you cann NOT perform a generic reinstall on many tablets from Windows Install Media.

With forced automatic updating, we all should be prepared for the worst. Make Original and Upgraded and Current Full Image Backups, on top of your manufacturer’s OEM Recovery Media, and keep archived copies on reliable HDDs, or anywhere else where they will be absolutely safe.

The day WILL come when you will need to fully reinstall Windows 10 on your devices. Sooner or later. And the later, the more care you need to take to make sure periodically that your Recovery Media still work.

Otherwise, get ready to pay for a full-scale RMA Factory Reset repair. (OUCH!!)

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@Randall –

Yep, you’re right on all counts.

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@Bruce –

You’re right!

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@CyGuy –

That’ll be a big point of debate for months to come.

Chances are pretty good, though, that most programs (er, apps) will come across with no problems.

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@HH –

That means they’re specifically attached to a Windows Server Update Services server. Mouthful, right? For most people, if you have to log on to your company’s servers, you’re attached. If you don’t , you aren’t.

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As I posted elsewhere here, I found the same info Randall posted here.

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