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Updated 5x Updated Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (4 Dell, 1 VM).  As per PKCano’s observation 2 of the Dell’s had the desktop wallpaper setting changed from “Picture” to “Windows Spotlight”.

I was able to change them back, but annoying to have personalization settings changed from my preferred selection.

Thanks for checking your systems.  I suspect that the problem is not very widespread.  It is annoying if you are impacted though! 

Thank you!  Much appreciated!

Peter

I just wanted to say thank you for your extremely helpful article.  I have recently moved to subscription based MS Office and you have answered my key question about resubscribing early.

Two follow up questions:

1. Can you switch between personal and family editions seamlessly, by just resubscribing with a different edition?
2. Presumably with the OneDrive storage there is a grace period if you forget to resubscribe before your files are removed/deleted.  How does this work?

Many thanks

HS

Thanks.  Great to know that will probably work if I need it.

anonymous wrote:

At the end of the day, I need a computer that works as a tool; if I need to spend more time fiddling with the tool than actually doing work with the tool, the tool is failing me.

Many thanks Anon.  I agree this is the key point.  Part of my frustration is the amount of fiddling required to keep Windows running.  A large focus of the AskWoody website with the MS-DEFCON system is really dedicated to stopping Microsoft breaking your computer.  How ridiculous that this is even necessary!

Supporting my elderly father’s computing issues remotely has provided me good insight into the typical users experience with Windows.  It is sad, as he feels so frustrated and helpless sometimes.  The typical user generally just needs simple things (read a document, print a document, use a web browser), but they need this to work seamlessly all the time.  They can’t google around trying to work out how to roll back patches when Microsoft breaks their printer.  I understand the frustration he feels.

Anyway, I want to thank all those that took the time to respond to my initial post.  I really enjoy the community at AskWoody, and the many knowledgeable and helpful people that contribute to the AskWoody blogs.

Thank you.  I really appreciate the additional information.  I think I’ll go Apple Silicon and forego running Windows in parallels.  There were only a couple of Windows programs I wanted to run and I have other options I use there.

HS.

Hi garyfritz

Clever idea to remote in to check if the laptop was alive in the background.

Reading your posts on this site it sounds like you’ve had the same problem over the years with two different laptops.  I’d say its therefore unlikely the laptop but something to do with your set-up or installed software.  You also mention you have external monitors.

As a start, have you tried disconnecting the external monitors to see if the same problem occurs with just the laptop?

I mention this as I have seen a similar(ish) hang on a HP Spectre when copying extremely large number of files to an external drive.  Even though the drive is set to not go to sleep I suspect that there is some interaction with the power settings that causes the hang (if I sit there waving the mouse every few minutes it does not hang).  Note even if there is a hang the file copy completes successfully.  I might try your remote in trick some time.

Good luck!

HS

Hi EP

Here are some HP systems which are/were impacted (details using MSInfo32):

• System Model: HP Spectre x360 Convertible, System SKU T0Y37PA#ABG
• System Model: HP Spectre x360 Convertible, System SKU N8L41PA#ABG
• System Model: HP ENVY Notebook, System SKU T8F99AAR

The first two recently received new drivers as per my first post.  They since have upgraded to 2004 and seem to be working fine.  The last model has yet to receive a new driver and is not yet being offered 2004 (it is running 1909).

These models were sold in 2015/16 I believe.  Based on your info, perhaps HP switched to Realtek on newer models.

Thanks HS.

Hi Susan

Re: Win10 2004/20H2 blocking and Conexant

I just wanted to note that the  Conexant issue is also blocking many consumer HP laptops from upgrading to 2004/20H2.  I know for sure that older Envy and Spectre models which are a similar age to the Dell machine you mentioned are impacted.

Congrats on your new AskWoody role BTW!

Thanks HS

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

howardagoldberg

I have seen this occur, but only in a highly locked-down corporate environment.  It seems to be related to the application update process (and mainly impacts Chrome and MS Office).

I don’t have a permanent fix to stop it reoccurring, but a simple temporary fix is to right-click on the tile and change its size (the icon reappears) and then change the size back.

See if that works for you!

Cheers HS

As someone who has experienced this same issue with two different iPhones, I just wanted to let Mozzzziau know that they are certainly not suffering alone with this really frustrating issue.  Actually, I think there are two distinct issues:

1. The iPhone connection is flakey, I am guessing this is some driver/security issue.  I can usually finally get the iPhone to connect, but I have to have the iPhone unlocked, and plug/unplug it a few times until it finally asks if it should “trust this computer”.  It seems like when the photo upload fails part way through that it loses this “trust” and one needs to start again.  Keeping the iPhone unlocked by prodding at the screen during the upload seems to help.
2. I have also noted that the upload fails on certain video files and fancy iPhone effects like combining multiple shots to mimic a long exposure.  If you are just uploading standard photos then the upload is more likely to succeed.  To work-around this problem, I select smaller groups of files from within Windows Photo app so that I can narrow down the problem files, then I manually copy across the problem files from iCloud.

Really, it should not be this hard!!  Thanks Doriel & Alex5723 for your ideas above.  I must admit I had not thought of just trying to access via file explorer.  Maybe that gives me another option.

HS

 

Just noting that this problem has fixed itself, most probably after the auto-install of Office version 12827.20268. As b noted, this was most likely an Office issue rather than Windows issue. Apologies for the false alarm.

HS

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

b

flashcatj’s predicament sounds similar to the one I posted about some time ago:

See 2nd paragraph in: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/surprise-update-to-1909/

The behavior of Windows 10 when you reach the end of the feature update deferral timer does not seem logical to me. At the moment Windows 10 2004 is only an optional update, but based on my 1909 experience when you hit the end of the timer you may experience a forced install. It would make more sense to be offered the install, but as it is optional then you should be able to opt out.

Perhaps one of the experts here can clarify the expected behavior.

Thanks HS

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

Hi b, thanks for your reply, and the link.

Yes it does sound similar, although I don’t think I am using exchange server. The error message I see is a bit different.

My assumption that it was a Windows 10 update was based on the timing of when the problem started, and the link I posted suggested the same.  I do admit my first thought was that it would be an Office update and can’t completely rule that out.

Your link suggests the problem started with version 12730.20236 released on April 29. I now have one PC with the issue on 12730.20352 (May 21) and another on 12730.20270 (May 12). So if it is an MS Office problem then it has not yet been fixed.

Do you happen to know if there a log somewhere where I can see the Click-to-run install history?

Many thanks, HS.