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Good , useful post.  Thank you,

However I will not ever be going to Windows 11. I will use Windows 10 until the end of MY life thank you. Fortunately I can now do all critical communication and financial tasks on my iPhone — quite easily (and safely) and avoid the life-shortening frustrations of Winnows 11.  I do use Windows 10 for a couple spreadsheets and documents (I wont tell you which version of office I use! – grin).  BTW I cant stand the Windows 10 interface as well so I use Open Shell to configure it to look like Windows 7 (which is still the best looking version of Windows).

 

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Cybertooth

June update on the first of my three Win10 computers bodes ill for the next two.  Too exhausted to do those this week!

It was helpful to include instructions for the Repair install.  That turned out to be critical but it was not the end of the story.

After going through that process (lengthy but not difficult).  A new problem arose that required restoring from the latest image.  After all was complete (an overnight effort) the “Check For Updates” reported that the June updates had NOT been done by the Repair Install (THAT was new).

After the updates were finally done (surprisingly, they actually worked this time; I’d guess the Repair Install did some good) everything was going smoothly until the next day a blue screen of death appeared during the busy time trying to catch up on all the time lost with the update.  Amazingly, the system recovered from that without intervention and might be OK now although only time will tell.

This stuff is resembling witchcraft more and more every year.

Windows 11, you ask? Not in this lifetime, sister.

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geekdom

Thanks for this very informative article.  It has undoubtedly saved me a lot of time, money, and aggravation.  I was considering using Verizon home as a backup to my (much improved) Comcast setup.  I, too, use only wired for computers and printers. I use WiFi only for ‘phones although I plan to test an Ethernet dongle soon. Apart from the much higher level of performance, we still don’t have enough reliable information about the dangers of radiation.

I didn’t know that WiFi performance could be enhanced at the expense of the wired connections! (clearly a WTF moment for me). I will not now consider using Verizon for my home network.  To change my mind their system must actually be plug-and-play since there is now essentially no usable tech support (not just Verizon for this phenomenon, it’s just part the accelerating decline of the West).

You were extremely lucky to have been connected to Terri after only three attempts. Intelligent and capable people don’t normally stay very long with these outfits.

I have used my own modem and router for many years now. I would not do business with an ISP if using their equipment was mandatory.

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genej101, Will Fastie

As population increases, the number of brain cells per person must drop”

SURELY YOU JEST!

But I must admit it sure is a clever line and quite appealing to those of us over 80 and still functioning. I will try to remember this one when chatting with my grandkids.

 

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rc primak

Can I presume this means we should also update Local Group Policy Target Update Fature to now specify 21H2 instead of 21H1 that you advised us to do previously?

No problem.  Open Shell is all I have ever needed and it works well.  No Start Menu problems with any of the three Win10 machines I work with ever since I found it years ago.  And even more good news, two of my machines do not qualify for Win11!  Thanksgiving is coming early this year.

2025 coming soon you say?  On the off chance that any of us are still here and functioning, I will plan to upgrade my remaining (qualified)  machine in January, 2026. Might even buy a new laptop then too.

 

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rc primak

It’s no fun to be living in the last years of a dying civilization, eh?

Sounds like Windows 8 all over again, eh?

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MHCLV941

I now use only a Microsoft account for all my Windows computers because I have found that it is impractical to try and recover from a lost or damaged local account password.  There are basically no workable tools to do so and this is especially true when, for no reason I can determine, the stored password has actually been corrupted in some way by the system.

On the other hand, Microsoft recovery procedures for  a lost (or damaged) password is straightforward, and especially easy if you use the Authenticator app on your ‘phone.  I am sure this is because Microsoft really wants us to be signed on to their account when using Windows.

Not so quiet here:

Windows Update no longer works for two of my computers including a key laptop. The updates will easily download (with either Windows Update or from the Catalog) but when the computer attempts to restart, it hangs until it is forced to restart and concludes by announcing that updates could not be installed and were being rolled back.

Here is a message from Event Viewer (the only indication of what MIGHT be wrong): “Event ID 20, Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0xE0000100: 2021-05 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5003173)”.

So this is not the Edge issue. A search on Error “oxE0000100” turns up only two finds and the “explanations” describe something to do with a hard drive failure.  However I have at least three dependable hard drive utilities that assure me there is nothing wrong with the drive (Samsung SSD 850PRO 512 GB SATA) including an offline run of ChkDsk.

So, after trying -for over 12 hours- every suggestion or tip I found on the net dealing with “updates fail to install” I am at a loss as what to do next.  Anybody have any ideas?

Too bad.  Extracted with 7zip and flash and gone nothing more.  Sounded good though.

I was ready to buy until I read the “Downsides” paragraphs in the linked Horowitz item.

Sure does not sound like they are using those fees to the users’ benefit!  I mean, perpetually screwed up firmware updates?  And way too many other issues too.

I will stay with the devil I know, thank you!

[chasrome]

I notice that again when updating (for the THIRD time) to 2004 that Event Viewer is populated by a growing number of instances of Event 642 (ESENT).  There are more and more upon every restart!  No one, least of Microsoft, seems to have any answer to this issue that actually works except one: roll back to 1909!

I have wasted hours (during busy tax time!) with this nonsense and am out of patience with it.  I am rolling back to 1909 again today. Until I see plenty of chatter that indicates, definitively, that this issue is fixed, I plan to skip this upgrade completely on all of my systems.

I continue to regret updating to Win 10 from Win7. It’s been like trading a Lexus for a Trabant!

I would sure be interested to know if there IS ever an answer to this.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by chasrome.

Correct.  This is the only way to use the 2019 or 2020 versions for recovery.  I have not tried teh 2021 version yet.

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windbg, Kathy Stevens

Me too.

Acronis tried hard to help me with the 2020 version but without much luck.  It is a very tricky program to use for recovery since Win10 was forced on us.  The 2014 version (which does not work with Win10)  was the last one to work as expected on recovery.

 

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Kathy Stevens