Newsletter Archives

• Report: Win10 users being pushed onto 1709 even if they have Feature Updates deferred

  Posted on March 8, 2018 at 11:31 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  UPDATE: See Computerworld Woody on Windows.

   

  Hey @woodyleonhard , it seems Microsoft is now forcing Windows 10 1607 and 1703 users to upgrade to 1709, even if Feature Updates have been deferred. This notification just popped to my laptop, which is running 1703.
  Couldn't stop it upgrading.
  More info:https://t.co/9hgphP7QI9 pic.twitter.com/IYBouieDl0

  — Juzu Operatzija (@juzuo) March 8, 2018

   

  Windows Patches/Security forced upgrade, Win10 1709

• Problems with yesterday’s Win10 1709 patch, KB 4090913, starting to appear

  Posted on March 6, 2018 at 07:26 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m seeing some reports of problems with yesterday’s Patch Monday single-purpose cumulative update for Win10 1709.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  UPDATE: We have a report of the “reboot to black” bug in the Win7 Feb. Monthly Rollup KB 4074598.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4074598, KB 4090913, KB 4090914, Win10 1709

• Microsoft claims it’s solved the USB problem with Win10 1709 cumulative update KB 4090913

  Posted on March 5, 2018 at 20:15 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Welcome to Patch Monday!

  A few hours after I posted my diatribe in Computerworld, taking Microsoft to task for not fixing Win10 Fall Creators Update, version 1709, wouldn’tcha know it, but Microsoft released yet another cumulative update for 1709 that claims to fix one (not all) of the admitted problems with Win10 FCU.

  KB 4090913 brings Win10 version 1709 up to build 16299.251.

  According to the KB article its sole raison d’être is fixing the USB bug introduced in the last cumulative update.

  Addresses an issue in which some USB devices and onboard devices, such as a built-in laptop camera, keyboard, or mouse, stop working. This may occur when the Windows Update servicing stack incorrectly skips installing the newer version of some critical drivers in the cumulative update and uninstalls the currently active drivers during maintenance.

  That’s all she wrote. The other bugs are still there:

  • Windows Update History reports that KB4054517 failed to install because of error 0x80070643.
  • After installing this update, some devices may fail to start, and return INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.
  • Because of an AD FS server issue that causes the WID AD FS database to become unusable after a restart, the AD FS service may fail to start. / There is no way to undo the database corruption. To return your AD FS server to a functional state, you must restore it from a backup.

  There’s also an out-of-out-of-band Servicing Stack update, KB 4090914.

  I suggest you hold off until we find out if this patch actually fixes the problem, or if some other ogre jumps out and bites.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4090913, KB 4090914, March 2018 Black Tuesday, Win10 1709

• Patch Lady – Not enough space to install 1709

  Posted on March 3, 2018 at 23:53 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Susan Patch Lady here – writing an online letter to Microsoft:

  To whom it may concern at Microsoft:

  I am concerned that in your zeal to make your vendors happy you are “vista-fying” Windows 10. 

  Let me explain:

  Recently I purchased a cheap laptop because I needed another one since I am lately using a computer connected to my TV to watch online videos.  Because I still needed a laptop to look up items, remote into computers and various other tasks, I needed a computer – not a tablet or an ipad – and I needed a Windows based computer.  I reviewed my options for a cheap small laptop and I saw one online for a low price and purchased it.  Knowing in advance it had a small SSD drive I figured that I would have fun keeping it updated and keeping the drive cleaned out.  But I’m a cheap geek, and knew I had options so I purchased it.  The computer came shipped with 1703 Windows Home and soon after I turned it on it started attempting to update.

  The first thing I noticed after the system started checking into Windows update was how sluggish the machine had become. In reviewing the task manager both the CPU and the drive was pegged at 100% utilization causing the device to respond slowly.  Please ensure that when a machine is first turned on and checking in for updates that sucking up 100% CPU and disk drive isn’t the norm.  I’m seeing more and more people complain about this.  Please make sure that when either Windows update or Windows Defender is operational they aren’t taking all of the resources of the system.

  Then you need to make sure that a 32 gig hard drive is really suitable to handle Windows 10 semi-annual feature releases. In my case it’s not and demanded that I have some sort of external storage available to have enough room to handle the update.

  Yes, Microsoft I know that I got what I paid for, but my point is like Vista you are causing undo harm to a platform by letting vendors install it on price points and platforms it shouldn’t. When you shipped Vista, the driver ecosystem wasn’t ready and you had vendors install it on hardware that couldn’t handle the operating system. If one installed Vista on the RIGHT hardware it actually worked just fine.

  I’m seeing in the consumer space of Windows 10 that multiple vendors have selections in this 32 gig space that will have issues getting any feature update installed.  After I get this laptop upgraded to 1709, there’s an HP Envy tablet that a friend of mine has that I have to help it up to 1709 as well.

  I’ll be filing a bug on this, but please don’t “vista” any more vendor offerings. Any windows device should be able to handle a feature update without any external storage – at least in my opinion. And I’ll bet many of your frustrated customers think that way too.

  To anyone else suffering from this issue, evaluate your options. In my case I’m ordering a MicroSD card to add a bit more space. For the Envy tablet I’ll be recommending we purchase that as well to give it breathing space to get this 1709 feature update installed.  Remember you can evaluate the files and storage on the machine and even turn off hibernation temporarily to gain a bit more space as noted in this blog post.  Microsoft does make it obvious during the upgrade to 1709 that it needs additional storage space and gives a various obvious GUI interface indicating that it needs more storage space. After the install remember you have 10 days before it automatically deletes the prior version so check your applications to make sure there are no issues.   1709 is now the most broadly released version, but if you are stuck back on 1703, I would recommend going to the Software download site and trying to install from the update now link at the top of the page and have a MicroSD card on hand should you get stuck.

  Windows Patches/Security Patch Lady Posts, Win10 1709

• Microsoft “helps” Intel by releasing KB 4090007, a Spectre 2 microcode update for Win10 1709, Skylake processors only

  Posted on March 1, 2018 at 13:38 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  UPDATE: Correcting myself (thanks to the anonymous poster) — this is a microcode update, which is kind of a transient firmware override, for lack of a better description. There’s a more thorough description on the Debian wiki, “Processor microcode is akin to processor firmware. The kernel is able to update the processor’s firmware without the need to update it via a BIOS update. A microcode update is kept in volatile memory, thus the BIOS/UEFI or kernel updates the microcode during every boot.”

  I can’t recall ever seeing Microsoft issue a firmware update (other than a Surface firmware update) as a security patch. This one comes with its own KB, no less.

  The announcement is very specific. KB 4090007 only deals with the Spectre Variant 2 / CVE 2017-5715 (“Branch Target Injection”) mitigation, and only on 6th generation Skylake H/S, U/Y and U23e processors. It’s only for Win10 1709. It’s not a cumulative update.

  And — importantly — it’s an Intel microcode update. Not a Windows patch.

  Says Microsoft:

  We will offer additional microcode updates from Intel as they become available to Microsoft. We will continue to work with chipset and device makers as they offer more vulnerability mitigations.

  which is a noble goal, at least to my way of thinking.

  You won’t get the patch via Automatic Update. If you really, really want to test it on your Win10 1709 / Skylake machine, you can download it from the Microsoft Update Catalog and manually install.

  Spectre v2 is a vulnerability in just about everything — Intel, AMD, ARM. As I’m fond of repeating, neither Meltdown nor Spectre (either variant) has been found in the wild.

  As you might imagine, I’m highly skeptical. I mean… what could possibly go wrong?

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4090007, Skylake, Spectre v2, Win10 1709

• Windows 10 1709 still isn’t ready for prime time — and the latest buggy cumulative update, KB 4074588, proves the point

  Posted on February 20, 2018 at 07:32 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m seeing a whole host of different problems with this month’s cumulative update for Win10 Fall Creators Update.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security Fall Creators Update, KB 4058258, KB 4074588, USB, Win10 1709

• Report of the Win10 1709 cumulative update KB 4074588 disabling USB devices

  Posted on February 16, 2018 at 09:53 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m seeing sporadic reports of this month’s Win10 version 1709 cumulative update, KB 4074588, causing problems with USB-attached devices.

  Per trongod on the MSI forum:

  I thought I would pass this information along. Tonight I had to reboot my laptop. After rebooting I lost my usb mouse and any device plugged into the USB ports. I went into my device manager and saw 3 devices that said drivers could not be found:

  MSI EPF USB
  USB Receiver
  USB Receiver

  I knew the night before a Windows 10 update was installed so I looked up the last update which was KB4074588. According to this site LAPTOPNINJA, it says the following:

  Addresses issue where the certutil.exe -MergePfx feature couldn’t produce a merged EPF file for multiple V1 certificates.
  Addresses issue where booting with Unified Write Filter (UWF) turned on may lead to stop error 0xE1 in embedded devices, particularly when using a USB HUB.

  Since both of those particular updates had both EPF and USB involved, I uninstalled the update. After that everything was working again. Looks like Microsoft is breaking stuff again and I don’t see any updated chipset drivers on the MSI site since the original. I may have to see if I can find something more up to date, try those and then attempt the update again.

  Poster brozkeff goes on to say:

  I have the very same symptoms on a All-in-One HP PC with Win10, AMD A6 APU, Radeon R4 graphics and AMD USB 3.0 controller. Afer this update the USB devices stopped working once they were reconnected. Not resolved after reboot and full poweroff/poweron. The USB devices are somewhat recognized but appear in the Device manager as Other devices , missing drivers. Regular USB keyboard  appears as composite USB device, etc.

  There are several other reports of odd USB device behavior after installing the KB. And, of course, there’s the usual spatter of reports about the KB failing to install.

  Can anybody out there confirm? Any idea what might be at the core of the problem?

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4074588, Win10 1709

• Welcome to the third cumulative update for Win10 1709 this month, KB 4058258

  Posted on January 31, 2018 at 14:34 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I went back and counted, and came up with 15 different days this month that have had Windows/Office patches, pulled patches, re-patches, and the like.

  Note to self: Microsoft declared that 1709 was ready for business deployment on Jan. 11. Since then, it’s pulled the original patch for 1709 because it bricked AMD machines, re-released them, and then it released two more cumulative updates. This month.

  Sounds like it’s ready for business to me.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Uncategorized KB 4058258, Win10 1709
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