If I may ask, why can’t this and many other previous blog posts wait until the actual article is up, with some real content rather than two sentences? It has been more than three hours since this appeared and the upcoming post is still not there. If it isn’t clear, I think a lot of us would appreciate it if a “notification” on AskWoody about an article were posted only after said article is available.

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jescott418,

rontpxz81,

ymo1965,

WilliamC

? says:

“…new stage of enlightenment,” = something, anything other than Windows?

Another masterpiece bug in 1809:

1. Event
If you configure a roaming user profile using an environment variable such as% USERNAME% on the RS 5 terminal, the roaming user profile can not be used.

2. Cause
Environment variables such as% USERNAME% are not changed to a user name such as testuser but are recognized as a string of %USERNAME%.

(Source: TechNet blog)

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woody,

PKCano,

Microfix

Microsoft should release one upgrade a year at the most. Then spend the next six months tweaking and fixing bugs. So we at least have six month of relative stability.

7 users thanked author for this post.

SueW,

plodr,

willygirl,

lanceboil,

Demeter,

Seff,

Cybertooth

WINDOWS 8.1 IS THE MOST STABLE VERSION OF WINDOWS!

Thank you.

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abbodi86,

Karlston,

Microfix

Just read the ComputerWorld article. Aaaargh! All the more reason to leave Update settings at “Never…” until Woody gives the go ahead. Win 7 Pro, SP1 Grp. A (mostly) i7-core Haswell

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Charlie,

willygirl

Windows OS just requires too much “hand holding”.  An operating system should just allow you to accomplish the tasks you want without needing constant attention.

Chrome OS can do 99% of what I want without the constant headaches. Interesting how you don’t seem to hear about the Windows issues on mainstream media. Deliberate? Don’t want to spook the shareholders?

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HiFlyer,

lurks about,

woody,

GreatAndPowerfulTech

I really appreciate all of Woody’s posts. He does a nice job of expressing Windows rage with humor.

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flackcatcher,

Charlie,

SueW,

HiFlyer,

Jan K.,

Propje,

willygirl

Seff wrote:

I think it would be sensible if they adopted a policy across all Windows versions of holding back all updates for annual or possibly 6 monthly release, except for e.g. Zero Day hotfixes. They could give such updates a special name – perhaps something like, oh I don’t know, how about say “Service Packs”? This would allow users to have some respite from the usual monthly shenanigans while affording Microsoft sufficient time to do some actual pre-release testing. While they’re at it, they could also announce now an extension of support for Windows 7 beyond January 2020, perhaps to bring it in line with Windows 8.1. It’s not like Windows 10 is in anything like a stable enough condition to make it likely that most remaining Windows 7 users will upgrade in the next 15 months. Microsoft might just as well bite that particular bullet and acknowledge the reality of the situation now.

Only problem with that is that if they don’t shove the latest and greatest build into all the home users’ PCs, they don’t do any testing, or so it would seem.  At the very least, their in-house testing procedures appear to be astoundingly insufficient.  The fact that the insiders’ reports of the data deletion bug were entirely lost upon MS leads me to believe that they never tested it enough to ever witness the issue themselves.

I’m not quite sure which is worse to imagine.. the idea that they just didn’t do any testing at all, or that their programmers literally never considered that people might actually keep files in a non-standard location.

I’m all for zero-day patching for massive vulnerabilities, but nothing in recent memory has actually seemed more threatening to my computer’s functionality than Windows Update.

People have door locks, alarms, and security systems to keep burglars out, but an incompetent or malicious repairman that you willingly grant access to your home is an entirely different type of danger.

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HiFlyer,

anita.yk,

Cybertooth

Things will be even more fun when Microsoft releases the automatic troubleshooting feature next year (https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/10/17/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-18262). Rest assured, if you don’t break it, Microsoft will help you.

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anita.yk,

lanceboil,

woody

My employer pushed four October updates to my Windows 7 workstation last night as I was getting ready to leave.  Unfortunately they did not push KB3177467 separately.  So, after the reboot, the configuration percent complete went from 35% to 100% and then essentially went back to 0%.  I let Windows Update run overnight and fifteen hours later my computer was still stuck on “Configuring Windows Updates, Please Wait”. After consulting with the on-site PC Tech, I plugged the plug on the computer, even though the screen specifically said not to.

But there were no ill effects, and once I was able to get in, I was able to determine what got installed. Bottom line there’s a reason why Microsoft has set KB3177467 to be an “exclusive” update.

I have the Windows 7 October update now, but only after I hid the Software Removal tool. It seems to be set as an exclusive update, and won’t appear otherwise.

That does make some sense, forcing you to do the servicing stack update separately if you need it – assuming they can set it where you get that one first.

Successful Win 10 Pro 1709 update.  Downloaded KB4339420 SSU update and KB4462918 October 2018 delta update (from 10-6-18) from MS Update Catalog, enabled WU service, installed two KBs, restarted OK.  In Settings/WU/Advanced, changed quality update deferral days to 0, ran WUSH utility and hid unwanted KB4023057, ran Check for Updates to update Office with October KBs.   Reset deferral to 30, disabled WU service.  Machine stable for two days.

Patch Alert: Where we stand with the October patches

It ain’t pretty, lemme tell ya.

Information on Computerworld.Woody on Windows.

Hmmm… a simple copy & paste text with only month’s name changed?

As we’ll probably see the same text in November, December etc. etc. you could save a bit of time by replacing “the October” with “this month’s”! 😀

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SueW,

woody,

Cybertooth

Reflecting on all this, I think we really have not come very far in the last few decades. A very long time ago, Bill Gates opined that, if the motor industry had moved as far as the IT industry, a Rolls Royce would cost £100 and do 1 million miles to the gallon. To that, the GM Vice Chairman replied that their cars do not explode catastrophically once a month, killing all their occupants.

We really ought to have moved on significantly from that lack of reliability and, while the underlying software has moved forward considerably, the patching and security process has not.  I started on Windows 3.11, and sometimes I feel we have not moved forward very far.  My cars just work, so long as I take them to be serviced as I should, so why don’t my computers? My Android tablet just works, as does my Android phone….

I just want to get on with my work, and let my wife get on with her work, without having to waste time monitoring for problems the whole time on sites like AskWoody, excellent though it is.

Oh for the quality standards that have been routine in engineering for a hundred years in the Windows world.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by
  
   Chris B. Reason: formatting

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lurks about,

Cybertooth,

Seff

My takeaway from this is, yet again, to stay far away from windows 10. The deleting of user’s personal files alone should have cost them millions of customers to go elsewhere. If it means jumping ship to Linux and the headache of getting things to work and sacrificing one’s games then so be it because literally anything has to be better than the toxic dump that is 10.

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Charlie,

johnf,

Cybertooth

woody & Susan:

NEW Win10 updates released 10/17 & 10/18:

KB4462932 for Win10 v1709

KB4462939 for Win10 v1703 (yes woody, you CAN install this on your Win10 v1703 computer)

KB4462928 for Win10 v1607 education, enterprise & LTSB 2016

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woody,

abbodi86

My Win7 SP1 x64 PC, Group B since the beginning of same; use mostly non-M$ browser, software etc.; Haswell chip. Home, SO/HO machine.
……
Following is I think a new one, in these Update follies. Have had KB3177467 V 1 installed since 9/27/2016.
…..
Note: I am currently under a BIOS or other similar problem. On boot, my PC “can’t read from disk”; “disk not found”; or similar. Thru several reboots plus Avast Free AV rescue disk and/or Win7 Emerg. Disk, gets the PC to reboot and finally start normally. I ~think~ it may be loose MoBo SATA connection, and/or failing HDD. My solution for that now: Leave the PC on, non-sleep, 24 X 7. Will attempt all that later.
…..
Decided to install Group B secur-only, plus IE11, patches today. Why? No show-stopper errors on Ask Woody it looked like; plus want to do it and get it over with.
…..
First, installed KB3177467, V 2 for Update stack, as discussed on this board. Install non-remarkable, incl. reboot.
…..
Then, tried install of secur-only KB 4462915 X64. Went OK thru desktop install, logoff, Win installer install plus reboot plus installer finish-up. THEN, got error msg “Microsoft-Windows-Servicing,3,None,Package KB4462915 failed to be changed to the Installed state. Status: 0x80004005”
…..
Installer itself aborted install, reverted PC to pre- that install state; successfully got onto Win Desktop on reboot. Thank the Lord, System restore took me back to pre-SUS Version 2 install; no longer on my PC.
…..
Then, installed secur-only KB4462915, reboot, then successful install of IE 11 kb4462949-x64, reboot, both installs un-remarkable. PC works; able to use Net including hitting Drudge Report and NY Times.
…..
Net Troubleshooting error msg. incl 0x80004005: Cannot determine. No clear answers, except probs. in the Update stack. Plus, after removal of that update, plus success install of secur and IE 11 patches, the Vers. 2 Stack update seems clearly the culprit. HTH
…..
Side note: For the first time, on this slower Sat. morning over a cup of coffee: I had, I think, my ~first~ serious thought of “Maybe I ought to buy a Mac”. I want easy-to-use and I’ve had work expers. with Macs.
…..
I have ~Really~Tried~ for 10 Years, or more, to use Linux on VMs on my PC, to popularize Linux, joined local Linux User groups, posted several times re Linux Mint and other, on this board, and elsewhere. But I have found it extremely hard to learn, even to do simple things like change desktop colors, set up a Samba-shared file to access the base Win PC; etc. Help still leaves much to be desired, for me, incl. some of the websites mentioned on AskWoody posts. Just a thought. Again, HTH.

Ever consider sub-Defcons? At least for 10 vs 7/8/Sever 2008?  As wonderfully helpful as the posts are, sometimes it seems like the single Defcon rating is mixing apples and oranges.

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Charlie

Is it the consensus that KB4462923, the W7 Oct monthly rollup has been pulled for good? I have found no official explanation from Microsoft that explains why it has not returned. Did not installing the 2018 SSU fix the issue? Even if you install the SSU, windows update is not re-sending KB4462923. Though it is sending out other updates.

KB4462927, the latest optional preview sent out by windows update does not state that it replaces KB4462923, but it does state that it contains all the updates from KB4462923 (it’s cumulative, I get it), plus a lot of extra improvements and fixes. It will become the November monthly.

I see that the 2018 SSU is a prerequisite for KB4462927 as well. As long as KB3177467 sits in the queue uninstalled, no windows updates will follow.

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walker