Windows 10 version 20H2 – Is it Stable Now?

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I’ve been running Windows 10 Home v.1909. Would like to update to v.20H2 if you guys tell me they’ve worked out most of the kinks. So, is it safe for me to update to 20H2 now?

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RandRose

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On the front page of the Blog on March 1st:
https://www.askwoody.com/2021/ms-defcon-4-february-updates-trigger-few-issues/

All-clear for February patches

It’s that normal time of the month when I’ll urge everyone to get the February security updates installed. For consumers, I’m not tracking any major issues. l also recommend that those of you still on 1909 consider installing 2004 or 20H2, unless they are not yet being offered on your PCs. I’ve now installed 2004/20H2 on enough systems to be comfortable recommending either one on your machines. Remember, the complete list of February updates that I recommend — or not — can be found at any time on the Master Patch List.

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Thanks for your reply. I’ll create a System Image backup then do a clean install of the latest version – 20H2. Cheers.

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WSstarvinmarvin wrote:

do a clean install of the latest version – 20H2

What is the reason for clean install vs upgrade ?

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Sometimes an Upgrade install works perfectly. All my apps, programs, games, etc. open and run without any issues. On other occasions a glitch has occurred in one or more places. A recent example of this arose after the March monthly update. A screen recorder app no would no longer record at the desired resolution and frame rate, and a game became jerky and less responsive. Graphics and audio driver updates didn’t solve the problem and neither did running System File Checker. Rather than attempt to uninstall the monthly update or reinstall the app and game I chose Clean Install of 20H2.

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I would like to update to 20H2 from my Windows 10 Home v.1909 using Target Release Version on my local account. Can this be done so that I can keep my local account and not be forced to create a Microsoft account. What steps need to be followed. Any help and advice is appreciated.

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anonymous wrote:

What steps need to be followed. Any help and advice is appreciated.

None.

With Windows Updates you will retain your local user account.

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20H2 blows up Hotmail.  I have a client who has a Hotmail account, and after upgrading her computer with 8 GB memory, an SSD, and a Win 7 -> Win 10 installation using a downloaded copy of 64 bit 20H2, Outlook.com refuses to allow me to add her Hotmail account back in.  If I fire up a browser and enter hotmail.com, I get Outlook.com; if I try to add Hotmail to the mail app, it tells me that hotmail.com is a reserved domain or some such.  I find this unacceptable on Microsoft’s part to impose such a restriction on a client’s mail preference.  I am toying with creating a Gmail account, piping the Hotmail account through Gmail, and adding Gmail to the Outlook.com app.  Toying, because the absurdity of having to do so makes me crazy.  Anyone have a similar problem/solution to this?

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gsteele531 wrote:

If I fire up a browser and enter hotmail.com, I get Outlook.com; if I try to add Hotmail to the mail app, it tells me that hotmail.com is a reserved domain or some such.

You have to select Outlook.com for a Hotmail account (that’s where it’s reserved):

Set up email in the Mail app for Windows 10

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[CraigS26]

gsteele531 wrote:

If I fire up a browser and enter hotmail.com, I get Outlook.com; if I try to add Hotmail to the mail app, it tells me that hotmail.com is a reserved domain or some such.

https://outlook.live.com/  mail/

My online Hotmail login page STARTS with this (slightly edited) address above and re-arranges more characters to produce the Login Page. I Enter my Hotmail Address and then Password and I’m In. Use your Login data on the Outlook Live page you see and I bet you get in.

I made a 2nd Hotmail acct in Win 10 Mail as my EPIM mail app doesn’t like 2 different Hotmail accts in the list.

W10 Pro 22H2 / Hm-Stdnt Ofce '16 C2R / Macrium Pd vX / GP=2 + FtrU=Semi-Annual + Feature Defer = 1 + QU = 0

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by CraigS26.

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Been using my @hotmail.com email address since around 1999 (or was it 2000). Microsoft has varied/changed what they call it more than once I think. Regardless, it’s now Outlook.com. I still use my @hotmail address there to send and receive email, no problem. I’m sure your client can do the same. She just needs to bookmark it so she can go there conveniently all the time. Cheers!

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gsteele531 wrote:

I find this unacceptable on Microsoft’s part to impose such a restriction on a client’s mail preference.

Hotmail has been closed for 8 years !! All clients were moved to outlook.

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… but Users are being allowed to keep their Hotmail addresses if they want.

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Keeping a Hotmail account is different from being able to use a Hotmail account.  If you can’t install it on a new 20H2, you can’t read mail, nor can you send it from the account – unless, of course, you do it from your phone or tablet.  That all still works fine.  But a fresh 20H2 installation doesn’t let you get there.  See the problem?

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I’m running 20H2, and since running Win10 or until the Outlook app was available, I continue to use Outlook “Hotmail” via my browser, yea, old skool, but it works.  All of these URL’s will take you to the same login page:

hotmail.com, outlook.com, live.com

 

ASUS TUF SABERTOOTH Z170s Motherboard, Intel i7-6700k CPU, Corsair 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM, ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX-1070 Video Card, 1x BPX M.2 240GB NVMe SSD, 1x Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 2x WD Black 6TB HDD, Windows 10 Pro 64bit v1909

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Coldheart9020

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Same here. Access e-mails through Firefox on my PC, and through the Outlook app on my phone. So a mixture of old school and modern approaches. 🙂

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Yes – in the background, Microsoft changed the implementation in 2013;  but in the foreground, users could simply enter hotmail.com in a browser window and access their mail.  They can no longer do so.  Hotmail still exists on their phone, on their tablet, and on earlier copies of Windows.  For example, I had no problem whatsoever signing up from a 1703 installation that had been update-frozen with a metered connection setting.  But on 20H2, you cannot do this.  That was my point.

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FWIW, I’ve found 20H2 to be stable on all four of our machines. Three running Pro and one running Home. The 3 running Pro have all been updated to .906 w/o incurring ongoing problems.

Note: All of these machines have gone through all Major updates via upgrade installations NOT clean installs, two of them from 8.1!

HTH 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I have just upgraded from v1909 Home to v20H2.  It took a little over an hour before it was usable.  I note:

The update switched Defrag ON for all drives.

The Privacy settings for camera, mic, phone etc, were all switched ON when they were all OFF.

SFC/scannow found and fixed corruption on the first run.  DISM and Chkdsk were OK.

EventViewer is currently showing 400 Errors and Warnings per hour.

Epson printer appears OK.

DevMgr is showing that all devices upgraded OK.

Fingers crossed…

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windbg

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gsteele531 wrote:

20H2 blows up Hotmail

No it doesn’t, changing from W7 to W10 changes the setup for Hotmail.
It’s your expectation that was not met, not a problem in W10.

cheers, Paul

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Sorry, Paul – not my expectations.  A rational expectation.  Hotmail still exists, and people still use it as an e-mail address; they have a reasonable expectation that if they move to Windows 10 20H2, they can continue to do so.  What Microsoft has done, when a fresh copy of Windows 10 20H2 has been installed, is to prevent access to the login page that allows you to enter a Hotmail address and password.  If I enter msn.com on 20H2 from within a Chrome tab, I get a DIFFERENT page than I do when I do so from an earlier version of WINDOWS 10 – not Windows 7 – which precludes connecting an existing and fully functional Hotmail account, still working on the client’s phone and tablet, to the 20H2-based PC.  Sounds like your facile response isn’t backed by any real experience or tests.

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Next is my Email page Inbox. I have blanked out the list of emails for privacy purposes but this is indeed my Inbox.

Finally, and here’s the important point, because I clicked on “Keep me signed in”, the next time I open my browser and type “Hotmail.com” it goes straight to my Inbox as shown above. So, once you’re signed in Hotmail.com is all you need to type. Even better, set your browser to automatically open to that page and you won’t need to type anything. That’s the most convenient way ever! (I have my browser set to open Hotmail (Ok, Ok, it’s now called Outlook.com), plus two news websites, plus GoComics.com to get a laugh or two.) Cheers!

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I still have a hotmail account that I use and can get into.  Where are you trying to add the hotmail account to?  The mail app?  As I have it connected here on my fresh 20H2?

When you go to the mail app and add the account, what error message do you get? Can you get me the exact error message?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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gsteele531:

Greetings. If you have a moment please view these pictures. They are screen captures from my monitor screen showing the steps which I use to sign in with my Hotmail name and password.

MSN.com Homepage. Note that I’m not signed in.

I can either click on “Outlook.com” icon or “Sign in” text. Since I want to go to my email I click on Outlook.com. That takes me to this next page.

Here I type in my Username which you will note is my venerable Hotmail account username.

Next is the Password screen. Please note that I check the box “Keep me signed in”.

 

 

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I have to update my husband’s hotmail password I’m tech support in this house –  he knows nothing about tech stuff, but he’s a fantastic carpenter! Anyhow, I digress – so  I have not updated his pw for a loong time.  I remember being able to logon via browser (hotmail or redirect  to outlook) and update pw.  I have not created a MS account for him and I do not want to – he doesn’t need it, I don’t need it!

I don’t want to mess it up & maybe lose access to his email – can I logon to msn homepage, as noted, and update the password from there?  He doesn’t have a computer – just IOS devices – so of course, will have to update those passwords too – which is another problem in itself. Wish Apple would provide an update password function and make it easier!  I know it should tell me I need to logon again – but sometimes the prompt doesn’t come up for a while.

I’m also concerned that sometimes when I use my pc to logon it gets messged up bc it’s associated with my account, my id – I don’t know how that works – maybe I should logon with the ipad and do it there to remain separate??

 

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This Email is Part of a Reserved Domain | Murray’s Blog (ligos.net)  and Still using an @hotmail, @live, @msn or @passport email address? Switch to an @outlook address! – MSOutlook.info  Read those posts…will they help?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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gsteele531 wrote:

If I enter msn.com on 20H2 from within a Chrome tab

Chrome doesn’t care what version of Windows 10 you have, it goes to the site you enter by requesting the IP address from your DNS. Microsoft do not have a hand in this transaction except to provide the network connection.
If you end up on a different site compared to another machine, there is some other issue at play.

cheers, Paul

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OK.  I seem not to be getting my very specific circumstance across; let me see if I can clarify it.  This situation has occurred under the following circumstance: starting with a blank hard drive, I install Windows 10 20H2 64 bit, from a DVD created by downloading the image from Microsoft.  Once completely installed, I attempt to set up access to a Hotmail account for someone who has had, and still has, a Hotmail account, and who can access that account successfully from her phone and from her tablet.  When I attempt to get to the second screen shown by starvinmarvin, above, using a freshly-installed copy of Chrome browser, I am redirected to outlook.com, instead of the login screen shown.

So the issue appears to be that if you attempt, for the first time from a new 20H2 OS installation, to create a link to your Hotmail account, you cannot do so.  I can fully understand that if a computer with a working Hotmail account is upgraded to 20H2, that the link carries over, and all is well; but it seems that Microsoft is prohibiting an existing user from accessing their account on a new computer or new OS install, when that OS is version 20H2 – i.e. they have closed the door to Hotmail.  That is what I find perplexing.  I am taking the computer back tomorrow to work further on this, but having tried to do this both initially at the computer myself, and subsequently by phone with the user attempting login, it has not worked.

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Can you login if you enter your hotmail account details in the Outlook login screen?

cheers, Paul

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It seems as though you are bouncing back and forth between web access via a browser and access via the built-in mail app.

If you go to hotmail.com on any browser you will be redirected to outlook.com. Your Hotmail credentials will still work as before. I’ve done this on a clean install of 20H2 and the latest insider build. I just logged in to a Hotmail account on an in-private browser window using Edge. An in-private window will not have any knowledge of what I’ve previously accessed.  If you can’t access the Hotmail account using a browser please post pictures of what you are seeing.

I’ve also successfully set up a Hotmail account in the built-in mail app. When you try this, please post pictures of the steps you are attempting. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words especially a series of pics showing the steps.

 

 

--Joe

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On a test computer where I have logged in from the get go with a Microsoft account I can get into a hotmail account with no issues.

Is the OS signed into this Microsoft account or did you install it offline?  (I’ll test with the OS not logged in – give me a few to test this)

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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I just set up 20H2, did not set up a Microsoft account, then turned on Internet, downloaded Chrome and had no problem logging into outlook.com with my Hotmail.com account.

Is there any antivirus or extension loaded up into Chrome?  I can’t repro your problem?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Yes, 20H2 is stable.  Finally.  We have 20H2 Pro on six machines in our home and they all work fine.

Not sure how you can get to Hotmail from any device without landing on Outlook since it was deprecated or transferred or something to Outlook around 2013 and the redirect behavior is normal.

The phone and tablet may be skipping display of outlook and going directly to your hotmail login.   Neither work the same as a computer with Windows.

Trying a different browser likely won’t matter; no telling what using the Windows mail app does beside increasing the number of ads seen.

One thing you could try is installing Thunderbird and see if it sets up Hotmail.  It should automatically.  It’s a vastly better client anyway.  Probably have to go to “Are you sure?  Really sure?  Really, really sure?” from Windows but it will install.

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Microsoft changed the name of their web-based email, but they didn’t change everyone’s email address. You still have your Hotmail account, but now it’s called Outlook. Your email address is still @Hotmail, no problem.

It’s like your favorite store was taken over by another store, but your account still exists.

If I open a browser, any browser, and type Hotmail.com and hit the Enter key it always takes me to Outlook.com and all my email is there. If I need to sign in it’s still my @hotmail address that I sign in with.

Why is there such a long thread about this? Cheers!

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It’s bloatware hell full of unremovable updates. Don’t install it!

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At some point in time we all have to install it. 🙂

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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It’s not that 20H2 is unstable. The way windows 10 architecture is designed and handles the updates and drivers is what the issue is. After weeks and months of testing on core2, sandy / Ivy bridge , cabby lake Intel cpus, mother boards and all sorts of gpu’s the bios requires alot of manual reconfiguration to stabilize certain updates in windows 10, hyper threading can experience issues on over clocking. Of course not ever device will experience these issues but there does seem to compatibility issues with hardware. Xbox installer for Gamepass I find is a good testing ground

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anonymous wrote:

Yes, 20H2 is stable.  Finally.  We have 20H2 Pro on six machines in our home and they all work fine.

Not sure how you can get to Hotmail from any device without landing on Outlook since it was deprecated or transferred or something to Outlook around 2013 and the redirect behavior is normal.

The phone and tablet may be skipping display of outlook and going directly to your hotmail login.   Neither work the same as a computer with Windows.

Trying a different browser likely won’t matter; no telling what using the Windows mail app does beside increasing the number of ads seen.

One thing you could try is installing Thunderbird and see if it sets up Hotmail.  It should automatically.  It’s a vastly better client anyway.  Probably have to go to “Are you sure?  Really sure?  Really, really sure?” from Windows but it will install.

I’ve used Thunderbird for years on all the variations of Windows – never had a problem setting up a hotmail account.

Good luck!

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gsteele531,

I have to laugh when I see stuff like this.

“Sorry, Paul – not my expectations.  A rational expectation.  Hotmail still exists, and people still use it as an e-mail address; they have a reasonable expectation that if they move to Windows 10 20H2, they can continue to do so.  What Microsoft has done, when a fresh copy of Windows 10 20H2 has be…”

you seem very entitled to a service that you have paying how much a month for?   I guarantee nobody cares if you or anyone uses a service that was in fact discontinued in 2008.  If this is what keeps you up at night, move to Linux or IOS.  Nothing last forever and I also have a hotmail account I use.  When Microsoft announced they were discontinuing the service I, like most of the grown ups, found another email service and email account.  I them immediately stopped sending the $0.00 monthly subscription fee and stopped complaining about the fact the world is unfair to me.

The solution is very easy

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I’m interested in why you got rid of your hotmail account? Or did you? You say you still have a hotmail account, but also, you found another email service.

Nothing last forever and I also have a hotmail account I use. When Microsoft announced they were discontinuing the service I, like most of the grown ups, found another email service and email account.

My understanding was hotmail’s been ported over to outlook.com – I’ve been using my hotmail since then.  I guess MS could eliminate hotmail entirely at some point, but I didn’t think the change meant I had to get a new email id.  I thought it means that it’s now outlook.com still with my hotmail front end….is my understanding incorrect?

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Yes, Hotmail was ported over. They simply arranged it so that when you type Hotmail.com and hit the Enter key on your keyboard you are taken to the latest version of Microsoft’s webmail. Currently, that is Outlook.com. Over the last twelve years or so they MSN Mail and more, yet typing Hotmail.com always gets you there and all your email is still there. I’ve used Hotmail since 1999, and still have some email messages archived on Outlook.com from that era.

One thing that flummoxed some users is that Microsoft offers a premium version without ads and with some extra features (I know not what) if you pay a monthly subscription. Advice/instructions for porting that premium service through various iterations created confusion among some people.

In 1999 we traveled a lot in our RV. We took with us a Compaq laptop equipped with an add-on slot-card modem which was specifically designed to connect to a Nokia cellphone via a supplied cord. While sitting at the picnic table in a campground or state park we would hook up the Nokia to the Compaq and go online with, wait for it, a 1200 baud rate. Using Netscape browser we would check our Hotmail, read the news, or upload/send 160 x 160 res. videos to send to friends and family. We also occasionally clicked on the little icon on the Hotmail page to access text chat on MSN Messenger. OMG, we were s-o-o-o-o cutting edge. Eat your hearts out, gringos!

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anonymous wrote:

One thing that flummoxed some users is that Microsoft offers a premium version without ads and with some extra features (I know not what) if you pay a monthly subscription. Advice/instructions for porting that premium service through various iterations created confusion among some people.

Outlook.com Premium is no longer available separately though:

Outlook.com Premium closed to new subscribers

It’s now part of a Microsoft 365 subscription:

Premium Outlook.com features for Microsoft 365 subscribers

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See, they changed it yet again!

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For me 20H2 isn’t stable – I keep getting kernel messages and end up in the recovery mechanism.  I don’t know if it’s Windows or if the update just pushed my hardware to the edge.  Given that 20H2 has only just been offered to me I am betting on some sort of software incompatability.

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What’s your hardware?  What specific BSOD are you getting? As 20H2 has been stable for me.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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My hardware is an Asus laptop with an SSD and hard disk.  When the machine is in recovery mode (Windows PE) they are listed as D: (SSD) and C: (hard disk) – that’s my first risk factor as the full fat Windows is on the SSD and appears as C: when running (with the hard disk being D:).

It’s an AMD processor FX-9830P (so not being Intel is my second risk factor)

The BSOD messages – they fly past too fast to get them all – are varied but include:

System Service Exception

Kernel Securty …

Kernel Mode Heap Corruption

Page fault in none paged area

IRQ less than …

I managed to get a stable enough period to do a clean instal from an iso image which has actually jumped me to 21H1 (the only version I found on the Microsoft website).  That had a few initial wobblies with BSOD on startup but, touch wood, is currently working.

I now know a lot more about doing instals and command lines and safe mode.  I think I prefer blissful ignorance.

Cheers

Andrew

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