Forcing the issue with Win10 v1809

Always a Guinea Pig – Forcing the issue with Win10 v1809.

I am running Win10 Pro in VMs, so this was a test situation, not my daily driver. The host system is MacMini, MacOS Mojave using Parallels Desktop 14, Ivy Bridge i7 with HD Graphics 4000 and running TrendMicro – the last two are counts against me from the beginning because 1809 has problems with both the graphics and the AV. But this system is also running an up-to-date Insider Preview, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I was running v1709. In the Settings, I set SAC (Targeted), delay Feature = 0, delay Quality = 0, no pause. Try what I may, I could not get WU to offer anything but v1803, so I let it upgrade to v1803 in hopes I’d see v1809 on the other side.

No joy. I finally downloaded the v1809 ISO and burned it to a double layer DVD (the x64 is HUGE). I could have copied the ISO to the VM and mounted it there, but I did not want the extra 5GB in the VM. I accessed the DVD from within the VM and ran setup. After accepting the EULA, I chose to keep my data and programs (an in-place upgrade) and let it install.

The ISO installed Win10 v1809 Build 17763.107 with no problems. i immediately ran Windows Update and was offered KB4467708 which brought the Build to 17763.134 – according to WU up-to-date. Thanks to Parallels Tools driver emulation, the HD 4000 was not a problem. And the VM is running BitDefender Free, so no conflict there either.

Although I have not had time to look at it in depth, here are some of the superficial observations:
+ I did not lose any data – because in the test machine there was no data to lose and I had not relocated the User folders to another location other than C:
+ Under Default Programs, all my third-party defaults came through (at least they are on the list) – Thunderbird, Firefox, VLC, Windows Picture Viewer, etc.
* System Restore was turned off (again)
* Under Network, sharing had been turned back on – I had it turned off in the VM for testing. I have not checked to see if the VM is visible on the network.
+ I went back through all the Settings App. Anything new is turned on by default, and some of the ole settings were also changed.
* Task Scheduler – I had to disable the tasks under Application Experience and CEIP (again) as they were turned back on. Some of the other Tasks that I have been disabling I no longer have permission to change the setting.
* I have blocked Cortana/Bing in Group Policy, along with other things like web search. I have not had time yet to go back over those settings.
+ I did not get Apps like Candy Crush. I did open a few of the UWP Apps just to see if they worked. Geezz, they’re ugly! Dumbed down, flat, ugly! No wonder I use Classic Start and third-party programs.

If you’re as old as dirt, you’ll find this fascinating

As a certified ancient journo who watched the original Windows – OS/2 – Excel – 1-2-3 fight, I found this Twitter thread to be most enlightening:

Mitch Kapor: "The spreadsheet [on a PC] was an incredibly brilliant invention by Dan Bricklin, not by me. But we fundamentally improved the spreadsheet in multiple ways simultaneously. So we weren’t a first mover [with Lotus 123], we were a fast follower." https://t.co/A2Mwq8CbqV

— Tren Griffin (@trengriffin) November 17, 2018

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834

Patch Lady – KB4461522 and KB2863821 pulled

In addition to the Outlook patch on the 64 bit platform that is causing issues, Microsoft has pulled two Office 2010 updates.  These are both two non security updates.

Patch Lady – now we’re talkin’ 1809 transparency

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4464619

Updating the master patch list tonight and look at the new known issues:

Apple has identified an incompatibility with iCloud for Windows (version 7.7.0.27) where users may experience issues updating synching Shared Albums after updating to Windows 10, version 1809.

After updating to Window 10 version 1809, F5 VPN clients may lose network connectivity when the VPN service is in a split tunnel configuration.

And the issue with mapped drives now showcases it will be fixed by the end of November:

Next Steps: Microsoft is working on a resolution and estimates a solution will be available by end of November 2018.

Microsoft finally confirms that buggy Nov security patch KB 4461529 causes Outlook 2010 to crash on startup

I reported on the problem on Nov. 14. MS finally got around to acknowledging it officially.

After updating Outlook 2010 to the November 2018 Public Update KB 4461529 Outlook crashes or closes suddenly on start up. The issue only affects 64-bit installations of Outlook 2010.

More Information

In the Application Event Viewer the following event details are observed:

Faulting application name: OUTLOOK.EXE, version: 14.0.7224.5000, time stamp: 0x5bcb80d1
Faulting module name: olmapi32.dll, version: 14.0.7224.5000, time stamp: 0x5bcb809a
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000001e4b9
Faulting process id: 0x3998
Faulting application start time: 0x01d47d3befb78cd8
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OUTLOOK.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\olmapi32.dll

STATUS: INVESTIGATING

Microsoft is investigating the issue and we will update this page when further details become available. As a workaround, you could try using Outlook Web Access.

Caution: We do not recommend removing security update KB 4461529.

Took ’em long enough….

Outlook.com won’t let some people log on – 401 error

This has been going on since last night, US time.

@MikeyD215 reports:

Anyone here experiencing issues trying to sign in to Outlook.com?

Attempted sign-in results in “401 error: Unauthorized: Access is denied due to invalid credentials.”

I have succeeded in signing into one account, but cannot sign into a second one. Softies claim problem almost 100% solved as of 10:45 a.m. EST, but complaints still pouring in.

Affects some accounts, but not all. Occurring around the world. Been going on for over 15-16 hours now. Type of connection not a factor, type of browser not a factor. I am signed into MSN.com and can see my “@msn.com” emails, but I cannot access them in that one email account, but no problem with a different “@msn.com” email account.

The Office 365 Service health page reports:

Title: Can’t access email

User Impact: Users may be unable to access their email.

Current status: Restarting the affected infrastructure has resolved the issue. We’re continuing to monitor the service and are reaching out to some of the affected customers to validate resolution.

Start time: Thursday, November 15, 2018, at 10:05 PM UTC

Next update by: Friday, November 16, 2018, at 7:30 PM UTC

Thx  @b, @BobbyB, Günter Born.

The folks running Win10 1809 seem to know what they’re doing

I know it’s a controversial observation, especially around here, but I’m starting to hope that the current regime (whomever they may be) are using the tools they have to roll out Win10 1809 in a much more sane way.

My most recent cause for hope: The “C week” or “D week” non-security cumulative update for Win10 version 1809, KB 4469342, is going out to the Insider Release Preview ring, for testing before broad deployment.

That’s exactly what the Release Preview ring was made for. And it’s never been used correctly. Until today.

Details in Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Windows 10 version 1809 advances to build 17763.165 – with no documentation, of course

I’m reading between the tea leaves here, but it appears as if KB 4469342 was released to the Insider Release Preview ring, then to the Win10 1809 masses at large, early this morning. It’s not showing up on my machines just yet, but there are reports popping up all over.

If you install KB 4469342, you end up with build 17763.165.

The official update page doesn’t list it, of course.

Thx @hoyty

UPDATE: The cumulative update was only distributed to the Insider Preview Ring — which is precisely what the Insider Preview Ring was built for. See https://www.askwoody.com/2018/the-folks-running-win10-1809-seem-to-know-what-theyre-doing/