Patch Tuesday problems include even more reported bugs with Win10 version 1809

Server and WSUS have their share of problems, too, and the new SSUs may need feeding.

Details in Computerworld. Woody on Windows

Windows management taking one on the jaw. Or two.

You folks are accustomed to my rants. I’ve been kvetching about Windows rollouts and fixes for… just about forever.

Take a look at these other rants, this time about 1809.

Paul Thurrott: “You can’t trust anything these people tell you. They literally have no idea what they’re doing… They’re going to say ‘there’s nothing to see here.'”

Watch Paul and Brad on First Ring Daily.

Chris Hoffman at HowToGeek:

We want Microsoft to understand the problem, take it seriously, and make some real changes. But Microsoft seems disconnected from users. Microsoft is saying it already does a lot of work to ensure Windows 10’s quality, as if Windows users would be happier if only we knew about all Microsoft’s hard work.

No. We’d be happier if Microsoft would stop breaking things.

Bravo and huzzah.

Somebody tell me… how much money has Microsoft made from Windows? And we keep getting kicked in the teeth like this?

Win10 1809 is officially re-released

I bet you couldn’t wait.

Hey, there’s one born every minute.

Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Microsoft says it’s improving patch quality for a complex ecosystem

Michael Fortin just posted this on the Windows blog:

While our measurements of quality show improving trends on aggregate for each successive Windows 10 release, if a single customer experiences an issue with any of our updates, we take it seriously… Windows 10 marked a change in how we develop, deliver and update Windows: What we call “Windows as a Service.” We shifted the responsibility for base functional testing to our development teams in order to deliver higher quality code from the start. We also changed the focus of the teams that still report to me who are responsible for end-to-end validation, and added a fundamentally new capability to our approach to quality: the use of data and feedback to better understand and intensely focus on the experiences our customers were having with our products across the spectrum of real-world hardware and software combinations. This combination of testing, engagement programs, feedback, telemetry, real-life insight across complex environments and close partner engagement proved to be a powerful approach that enabled us to focus our feature innovation and monthly updates to deliver improved quality.

Your opinion may vary, of course.

Microsoft security patches are up

I count 128 of them on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

Martin Brinkmann has his usual stellar overview on ghacks:

• Windows 7: 13 vulnerabilities of which 2 are critical and 11 are important.
• Windows 8.1: 16 vulnerabilities of which 2 are critical and 14 are important.
• Windows 10 version 1607:  18 vulnerabilities of which 2 are critical and 16 are important
• Windows 10 version 1703:  16 vulnerabilities of which 1 is critical and 15 are important
• Windows 10 version 1709: 18 vulnerabilities of which 1 is critical and 17 are important
• Windows 10 version 1803: 17 vulnerabilities of which 1 is critical and 16 are important
• Windows 10 version 1809: 17 vulnerabilities of which 1 is critical and 16 are important
• Internet Explorer 11: 1 vulnerability, important
• Microsoft Edge: 2 vulnerabilities, 2 critical

November 2018 updates for Microsoft Office are available for Office 2016, Office 2013, Office 2010, the Office Viewers, and the SharePoint servers.

Win10 1809 is on its way. This time, for sure. I think.

There’s a new Windows 10 update history page that says:

On November 13, 2018, we will begin the re-release of the Windows 10 October Update (version 1809), Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server, version 1809. We encourage you to wait until the feature update is offered to your device automatically.

Note for Commercial Customers: November 13 marks the revised start of the servicing timeline for the Semi-Annual Channel (“Targeted”) release for Windows 10, version 1809, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server, version 1809.  Beginning with this release, all future feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions that release around September will have a 30-month servicing timeline.

A few items worthy of note:

• KB 4464455, which brings 1809 up to build 17763.107, still lists the Program Defaults assignment bug, publicized by HowToGeek Chris Hoffman, as a known issue.
• The first referenced article, Resuming the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, isn’t available at this point.
• Nor is Windows 10 Quality approach for a complex ecosystem

Looks like we have a whole lot of information coming.

P.S. The deluge of articles in the blogosphere reflect the fact that Microsoft leaked this info and (at least part of) the associated blog posts to a select handful of writers — probably yesterday. Looks like the embargo went off about 10:00 am Redmond time.

Microsoft re-releases Windows Server 2019 (part of the Win10 version 1809 cluster)

The announcement is up:

Windows Server 2019 is once again generally available. You can pull the new Windows Server 2019 images—including the new ‘Windows’ base image—via:

docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:1809
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:1809
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows:1809

Just like the Windows Server 2016 release, the Windows Server Core container image is the only Windows base image in our Long-Term Servicing Channel.

But the bits aren’t there yet. Per @teroalhonen:

Something something

Error response from daemon: manifest for https://t.co/J4b32CLZB8 not found

— Tero Alhonen💙💛 (@teroalhonen) November 13, 2018

UPDATE: Surprise! Microsoft pulled the page. Maybe Server 2019 isn’t headed out the door yet.

The other Woody returns

From the official release:

Woody has always been confident about his place in the world and that his priority is taking care of his kind, whether that’s Andy or Bonnie. But when Bonnie adds a reluctant new toy called “Forky” to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends will show Woody how big the world can be for a toy

Hard to believe that Toy Story will be 24 years old next summer.