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Just to acknowledge that I posted this. I didn’t realise that I was not logged in when I posted.

Thanks EP. I suspect it was indeed something to do with the cache. Hopefully now it will settle down given that it’s been upgraded to 20H2. I’ve even developed a theory as to what might have happened relating to the “on again/off again” blocks that MS applied with Surface devices for 2004 last year creating a glitch in the cache but have no way to explore or prove it.

My real concern and why I started the thread was trying to find out whether the SP4 was still blocked or whether MS had solved the problems with Surface devices. I had assumed that the SP4 was not offering the upgrade because it was still a problem and I couldn’t find a definitive answer to whether they had or not. I found the answer in the end by just biting the bullet and running the Media Creation tool and finding that it did not brick the device.

I’ll keep your advice in mind in case I need it in the future (I did look at the threads).

 

[Stargazer]

Isn’t firmware for the SP4 meant to be delivered by Updates? That page is referring to the creation of custom deployment images etc and AFAIK I should not need to install them manually. But hey, it’s Microsoft, anything is possible, they change processes so often and their information pages are all so clear, like mud. I also cannot find out how to check what version of firmware is installed, but there is no version on that list which matches my current Win 10 version!

Right now the upgrade to 20H2 appears to have been successful. Also, DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth followed by a sfc/scannow report no problems so…

Still no idea why I was not being offered a version update by the Windows updater.

Thanks to everyone who dipped in an offered suggestions.

 

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Stargazer.

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Alex5723

Thanks Paul, Alex and PFC. Paul, I was reluctant to use an ISO because there were quite a few references to it causing problems with the SP’s. Alex, the SDT was a good idea – it reported no problems. PFC, I knew that the SP3 was running fine now but could not find any details on the SP4.

I’ve bitten the bullet and Downloaded the Media Creation Tool and running it in Upgrade mode now. We’ll see what happens as this will upgrade to 20H2. It’s either going to work or result in a BSOD at which point…

I’ll report back what happens. <span style=”color: #993300;”>Chances are it will just work, but as I said there were reports of an issue with SP4 (and 7 I think) and the recommendation in the middle of last year was to not try forcing it as it was resulting in BSOD’s. </span>

Interesting idea ScotchJohn, thanks, but it had 68.6Gb and I just deleted an account (this was my wife’s machine, which I’ve always maintained, but she’s now on a MacBook Pro so I deleted her account) and it now has 129Gb free and still no offer of 2004 when I run Windows Update.

It seems like MS still have a block on the SP4 (although I can’t find anywhere to confirm that beyond the block mentioned by Mary J Foley in July last year). My concern is what happens when they drop support for 1909 in May! (It’s not like 2004 or even 20H2 add anything worthwhile, it’s just about ongoing security support).

Thanks PKCano,

I didn’t mention Home or Pro, because AFAIK MS Surface Pro’s only ever came with Windows 10 Pro – it’s definitely Win 10 Pro. Further, its an MS device, so surely they know what drivers they have installed in their own devices!! According to Device Manager the audio devices are Realtek. Video is Intel HD Graphics 520. No blocks on updates and no third party blockers. It’s still updating 1909 automatically and/or manually.

I have read of horror stories where people forced SP4’s and other SP devices to upgrade and bricked the device. So I’m looking for specific information about whether an SP4 should be able to be updated or whether there are known problems.

According to Mary J Foley as late as July 2020 there were still blocks on some SP devices. See https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-has-not-unblocked-the-windows-10-2004-update-for-surface-devices-after-all/ 

I can’t find any more recent or precise information.

 

Good advice Fred and hopefully it will help the person with their problems. BUT, seriously? This is an MS device running MS software and MS peripherals and they can’t get it right? This kind of problem has simply become way too common with MS products. If they can’t get their own stuff working reliably what hope is there for people using third party hardware. (Actually, in everyday practice, it seems that third party stuff is more likely to work reliably than their own stuff, but that says heaps in itself.)

I now run Windows in a VM on MacOS with far more reliability than I could ever get it to run on an SP4. MS lost me when they couldn’t even upgrade their own devices to Win 10 2004  (devices that were then about 3 years old)!

 

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Harv, Microfix, rc primak

Sorry about you name Doriel, it was a typo that I missed. I’m working from my laptop today and not so good on the keyboard. For me that folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Document Themes 16.

Given that there’s no black/dark theme or white theme in those lists, I don’t think they relate to Office’s colour schemes. I did open one up and have a look and it would be tricky to work out what relates to what. I think they may be style themes for Word.

I don’t miss XP, but I sure do miss Win 7 and I still prefer Office 2003 or Office XP. I could do whatever I needed or wanted to with those. Now…

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doriel

Hi Access-mdb,

I have the same version. It’s updated on all three PC’s here now and the same problem occurs. We used to have a light grey calendar background with lighter grey gridlines, now the background is darker and the gridlines are black. It’ only occurred after the latest update. So if yours is not like the image I linked to in the first post, then I have no idea. Perhaps MS is doing a 50:50 test to see what the reaction is.

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Cybertooth

Okay, I’ve just spent another few wasted hours of my life looking for ways to circumvent Microsoft’s idea of what they think is best for me. From seeing the number of ignored complaints and that no-one seems to have found a way to do it, I’ve come to the conclusion that MS is the borg and we have two choices submit or run away. There does not seem to be any way, approved or secret that I can find that would allow these themes to be changed. The information must be stored somewhere, but I’ve given up.

Thanks to Cybertooth and Oriel for taking the time and interest to try and help. You’ve taken more interest than hundreds of MS employees who just ignore all sorts of feedback and requests from heaps of people on various threads etc.

BTW Oriel, I could not locate any XML files that map this stuff and I’m sure if it existed someone else would have found it by now.

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Cybertooth, doriel

Hi Doriel,

Yes we have the choice of four (three really). the light one is horrible which when they did that change was why we went to grey as soon as it was available. The new black one just makes everything black and yucky too. Someone at MS should have a look at how Apple does black themes – sublime.

When I get a moment, I’ll do a search for XML files. Good idea, but then we just have to work out what does what 🙂

Outlook is one of the prime corporate applications. Once the Corporates start introducing the new release, I’m sure the complaints will be loud and clear.

Thanks CT. Some interesting info in those links some even hinting that we used to be able to do this but nothing works on this latest version.

Thanks, I looked a the thread and the page. What the OP wanted to do was not quite the same but the page given to him was useless in any case. I’m sure this is just some newbie MS developer who has no idea about how ugly this really looks. Lately its like MS have given up on good design period and are back in the early 90’s when we did things that way because we did not have the computing power to render things well.

I’ve used Linux and Thunderbird and they are okay. I just find that Linux takes a lot of upkeep. It’s fun and you do have a lot of control, but I’m at a stage in my life where I want my IT to serve me not require me to serve it 🙂

I’m sure there’s probably some registry setting that could change this Outlook grid colour if I only knew what to look for. They’ve done it to my laptop’s copy now and … They also waste a heap of screen space on the addressing section, which on an older 768 high screen leaves very little for the actual message in an email.

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doriel, Cybertooth

Yes I’m saving up for a Macbook Pro. I know that I’ll still need MS Office for some things but the more I can distance from MS the happier I’ll be. I’ve avoided Apple for years and been an MS person since Dos 2.0 and I’m just over them. I know Apple aren’t perfect but the arrogance of MS making useless changes and rebooting my computer with updates when it suits them (sometimes even with pause updates in place) is just astounding. Having been forced by their stuffing up of the Windows Phone and dropping it unceremoniously, I went to an iPhone and then purchased an iPad. I’ve had to eat a lot of humble pie with family as I just love the Apple hive even if it costs a little more. Windows as a service takes away the very control that kept me in the MS hive. Changes to interfaces that do nothing other than to make it look like their doing something to justify updates and make it harder for me to be productive are stupid.

But regardless I need a way to fix my partner’s Outlook if possible. We’re stuck with Office for a while yet.

Brilliant, that was it. I don’t think I’d have ever thought to look at that. Seems that after every update in Office or Windows that I’m hunting down some little change (and some not so little) and fixing things back to the way I like/need it.

In this case, I have a SP4 and a second hi-res screen. So the latest Office update detected the touch screen of the SP4 and defaulted to the touch screen mode, ignoring the attached hi-res non-touch screen which becomes my default when sitting at my desk.

So all fixed, thanks.

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b, Elly