Looks like Win10 version 1903 will get a fix for the Windows Update “disappearing deferral dialog” bug

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I’ve seen it now on two systems, with my very own eyes. One of Win10 1903 Pro’s most obnoxious bugs will probably get fixed next week. If you’re conce
[See the full post at: Looks like Win10 version 1903 will get a fix for the Windows Update “disappearing deferral dialog” bug]

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lmacri

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Well that’s good to hear I was beginning to think it was a feature not a bug. On clean installs you get a chance to set (my favourite settings 365, 30) then the advanced options promptly disappear next Boot or after the first round of updates. Been like that, well errm since April??
However the settings are honoured so that updating is pretty much “set it and forget it” when the Monthly Patches arrive about 30 days later you, assume fingers crossed, that the Bugs (or features) have been shaken out. Certainly seems to work that way there’s been no “show stoppers” here on 3 Machines and the handful at work that have 1903. Possibly some one can confirm if you still get the Advanced options (updates) with a clean install with the net connected. Have been messing, until just lately with David Xantos’s WUMGR running at logon or Boot time but as things stand it seems. There’s no need (famous last Words?? 😉 )

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woody

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I do believe it’s ALWAYS been like that. And, yes, I can confirm that it works that way with a completely clean install.

Significant, congenital defect in 1903. Never acknowledged, and only fixed last week.

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“Best I can tell, Microsoft has never acknowledged the bug, and they certainly haven’t announced that it’s been fixed.”

Which I find disingenuous of them.  Especially since that seems to be their MO for slipping telemetry into security-only updates for Win7.  It’s happened twice this year, correct?

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kiwisolutionz, PrivacyPhreak

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Yep.

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It’s fixed just before 1909 is ready for release

what a coincidence 🙂

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woody

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abbodi86 wrote:

It’s fixed just before 1909 is ready for release

what a coincidence 🙂

That ain’t no co-inkydink. MS knows 1909 is going to be problematic for business users.
I am aware of one very LARGE business that is still back in the 1800 series because of this.

Byte me!

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[EP]

so woody when you wrote the following:

Looks like the bug’s been fixed in the “optional, non-security” second October cumulative update for Win10 1903

does this mean the “disappearing deferral dialog” problem was fixed by installing the KB4522355 update for 1903?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by EP.

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Got fixed on mine with KB4522355 – and the panel doesn’t disappear when I change the value.

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Just like PK says – but I do NOT recommend that anyone else install this “optional non-security” patch that fixes a bug in the security patching sequence.

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Microfix

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I definitely agree with Woody on this.

My 1903 is installed on a test VM. If I run into any problems I can’t fix, I simply swap the VM out with the last backup.

Anyone who doesn’t have a test setup like this doesn’t need to be testing on a productin machine.

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Microfix

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I’d disagree..lol
some people enjoy restoring images to rectify issues 😛
it also proves their imaging software still works, giving peace of mind 😉

Keep IT Lean, Clean and Mean!

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bassmanzam

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VMs are just big files. A matter of copy/paste.

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Hm, but what will happen now if you’d set the delay via the group policy editor, will that be still working after Tuesday or should I disable that and use the ‘normal’ feature delay settings again…?

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The Group Policy settings and the GUI pulldown settings both do the same thing – delay the appearance of updates. But their Registry settings are different (in different places in the hive). You can use one or the other, I don’t think you need both for the same function of deferring updates.

There is a setting in Group Policy that I find very convenient that I haven’t found elsewhere. Under Windows Components\Windows Update\Configure Automatic Updates – Set this to Enabled with a value of 2 (notify download/install).

There is an explanation here of the settings and why I set them that way. The GUI pulldown settings should reappear with the November CU for 1903. I believe they are still available in 1803 and 1809.

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woody, b

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Ok, thanks & good to know! I’ll leave it as it is then and keep your tip in the back of my mind. Just don’t like experimenting just before a feature update that no one knows how it is going to be rolled out (completely ridiculous if you think about that…)

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Hopefully is was not fixed by accident.

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woody

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HA! I hadn’t even considered the possibility….

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[frankus333]

G’day folks

I was running Win 10 Home 1809 (not Pro with all the settings options), and a few days ago I allowed the feature update to 1903, to ensure I could easily get it, before having to fend off the upcoming 1909 offering. There is what seems a great improvement in the Advanced Options for pausing updates; allowing a setting of a very specific day/date up to 35 days into the future to hold off updates.

Just wondering why this option has not been recommended, instead of the process Woody recommends, of hitting the “Pause updates for 7 days” button three times? Does this soon to be fixed bug mean this new setting was not to be trusted?

If it works reliably, I envisage setting it to the weekend before patch Tuesday each month, which seems to be about when Woody tends to raise the DefCon level. I have set it up this way for this month (resuming updating on 8th December), and the setting hasn’t disappeared or changed through reboots over the last few days so far.

Also just wondering whether pausing updates prevents Defender from automatically updating definitions? I thought Defender was supposed to automatically update its definitions regularly (daily, or after each reboot?), but it doesn’t seem to be doing so.

Anyway, I am enjoying being able to allow my wifi to connect automatically at each boot, and not having to disable WU after each 24 hours or so.  (Setting wifi to metered didn’t seem to block all updating; only feature updating.)  Fingers crossed.  At last, this is the next best thing, if we can’t have reliable indefinite deferral, as per Win 7/8.1.

Cheers

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by frankus333.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by frankus333.

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lmacri

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G’day folks

Re my above query about Defender automatically updating; it seems it does if I wait long enough (7 days).  The update gets through the above advanced pausing setting, and presents itself as ready to download, and doesn’t download automatically.

That sounds OK, but I’d prefer it updated its definitions every day.  I don’t suppose there is a way to make it do that on a Home machine?

Cheers

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frankus333 wrote:

Re my above query about Defender automatically updating; it seems it does if I wait long enough (7 days). The update gets through the above advanced pausing setting, and presents itself as ready to download, and doesn’t download automatically. That sounds OK, but I’d prefer it updated its definitions every day. I don’t suppose there is a way to make it do that on a Home machine?

Hi frankus333:

According to Ed Bott’s 11-Mar-2019 Windows 10 tip: When You Should (And Shouldn’t) Pause Updates, pausing updates for 7 days “immediately stops all updates, with the exception of Windows Defender definitions (which are typically small and don’t require a restart)“. I assume that comment applies to both Home and Pro versions of Win 10 that allows users to temporarily pause Windows Updates.

I’m fairly new to Win 10 and still exploring my configuration settings, but I don’t normally receive any Windows Defender definition updates since my McAfee AV automatically disables Windows Defender and Windows Defender’s Limited Periodic Scanning is currently disabled. However, I ran a brief test last month and confirmed that my Windows Defender definitions were automatically updated at least once a day as expected if I enabled Limited Periodic Scanning, even when I had my Win 10 Pro v1903 advanced setting set to defer “Quality updates that include security updates”.

If required, Microsoft posts full offline installers for the latest Windows Defender definition set at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/defenderupdates that you can save to your desktop and install manually while you’re troubleshooting.
———-
Win 10 Pro v1903 build 18362.418 * Firefox ESR v68.2.0 * McAfee LiveSafe v16.0 (R21)

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frankus333, b

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[frankus333]

Thanks Imacri

I am using only Defender for malware protection, and it is set up as normal, with the Quick Scan option, which seems to run periodically.  I couldn’t find any setting related to the periodic scanning option you mention.  I guess that is because I don’t have another AV product installed.

I am suspecting that the updating is held off by my wifi being set to Metered. When the 7 days rolled around and I got the message that the Defender update was available, on the WU page it said something about updates being available, but charges may apply. At first I thought that the pausing updates was not working afterall, but was able to confirm with wushowhide that the “updates available” referred only to a defender definitions update. Why it waits until 7 days to alert me is unclear; why not any time an update is available?

At the time I just went ahead and removed the Metered setting and pushed the Dowmload Now button on the WU page, and Defender definitions were updated. I didn’t wait to see if they would download automatically.

My plan is to wait until the Windows updates are safe later in the month, and then remove the Metered setting and see if Defender updates automatically. In the meantime, I will probably get another prompt after the next 7 day interval, and will cautiously explore that in more detail at the time, depending on the status of Windows Updates.

If I want to update definitions at any time, I use the manual update definitions option in the Defender settings page. That doesn’t require me to remove the Metered setting.

So far the Advanced Options Pause updates I have set (to December 8th) seems to be holding off the presentation of all updates other then defender definitions, which is great.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by frankus333.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by frankus333.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by frankus333.

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G’day again folks

Looks like my hunch was correct; Defender updates don’t download automatically on metered connection. I had set my ethernet connection to unmetered a couple of days ago, and Defender updated its definitions automatically. Other updates did not present themselves, indicating that the new Pause updates feature works well, even when metering is set to off.

Now that DefCon is at 4, I pressed the Resume Updates button, WU immediately checked for updates, and three updates (Nov CU, MSRT and a Realtek driver I allowed through) downloaded automatically, and then sat patiently waiting for the Active Hours to end. I pressed the Restart Now button and the updating completed normally.

I am now a happy camper. I can leave my internet connection normal, unmetered, and WU updating paused to the precise Sunday before each patch Tuesday, and the only updating that occurs is Defender. The way it should be, at last!!

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lmacri

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Hey Y’all,

Don’t know why but I can’t get either my production or test machines to update past 18362.418?  Windows Update says I’m current. I’ve been trying to update for the last 3 days since Woody posted the OP showing 18362.449. 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Hi RetiredGeek:

I’m still on Build 18362.418 (rel. 08-Oct-2019) as well, and you might be experiencing the same glitch as me. Shortly after my August 2019 Patch Tuesday delivered KB4512508 (OS Build 18362.295, rel. 13-Aug-2019) I changed the advanced Windows Update option (Settings | Update & Security | Windows Update | Advanced Options | Choose When Updates Are Installed) to defer “Quality updates that include security updates” to 30 days. I didn’t realize there was a known bug that would cause those advanced Windows Updates settings to disappear as soon as I entered non-zero numbers, and since August 2019 Windows Update has continued to honour that deferral setting (even if I click “Check for Updates” to run a manual update) and I’m currently stuck waiting 30 days for new cumulative quality updates to be delivered. For example, my Windows Update history shows my last 3 cumulative updates were delivered approx. 30 days after their official release date:

• 2019-09 KB4515384 (OS Build 18362.356, rel. 10-Sep-2019) installed 10-Oct-2019
• 2019-09 KB4524147 (OS Build 18362.388, rel. 03-Oct-2019) installed 03-Nov-2019
• 2019-10 KB4517389 (OS Build 18362.418, rel. 08-Oct-2019) installed 07-Nov-2019

I could probably fix this with the Group Policy Editor [Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Windows Update | Windows Update for Business | Select When Quality Updates are Received (my setting currently states “Not Configured“) followed by a Check for Updates] as described in the TenForums thread The Strange Case of the Missing Pause Feature Update Setting but I’ve decided to wait another two weeks until the bug fix in KB4522355 (OS Build 18362.449, released 24-Oct-2019) comes through on it’s own.
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Dell Inspiron 5584, 64-bit Win 10 Pro 1903 Build 18362.418

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RetiredGeek

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RetiredGeek wrote:

Don’t know why but I can’t get either my production or test machines to update past 18362.418? Windows Update says I’m current..

Hi RetiredGeek:

Just an FYI that my Win 10 Pro v1903 OS was updated from Build 18362.418 to 18362.476 today and my missing Windows Update settings at Settings | Update & Security | Windows Update | Advanced Options | Choose When Updates Are Installed have reappeared. As expected, and per my previous comment in post # 2002647, Build 18362.476 (KB4524570) was installed ~ 30 days after its initial release. I’m not sure why, but the optional KB4522355 released on 24-Oct-2019 that included the initial bug fix for this problem was never detected by any of my manual Windows Update checks:

• 2019-10 KB4517389 (OS Build 18362.418, released 08-Oct-2019) installed 07-Nov-2019
• 2019-10 KB4522355 (OS Build 18362.449, released 24-Oct-2019) skipped by WU (optional update with initial bug fix)
• 2019-11 KB4524570 (OS Build 18362.476, released 12-Nov-2019) installed 12-Dec-2019

A few weeks ago I ran regedit to check the registry key at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings and confirmed that the value for “DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays” had been previously set to “30” (see attached image), so rather than set this value back to “0” I just waited the 30 days until KB4524570 was delivered by Windows Update.
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Dell Inspiron 5584, 64-bit Win 10 Pro 1903 Build 18362.476

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Imarci,

I set the  Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administration Templates -> Windows Update -> Windows Update for Business -> Select when Quality Updates are received t0 Enabled. Rebooted. Checked WinVer unfortunately no change. Good thought though. 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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