Problem with KB 3176929, the Windows 10 14393.10 patch

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I have no idea why Microsoft shipped cumulative update 3 on the night before the big August 2 rollout of Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Inaccurate twe
[See the full post at: Problem with KB 3176929, the Windows 10 14393.10 patch]

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Have not activated Cortana in TP, but can confirm that the Cortana “O” does not appear in the Search Box.

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You don’t need to activate Cortana in 14393. It’s activated automatically – in fact, there’s no “Off” switch any more.

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Wrong terminology. Under PrivacyInking & Typing have not clicked “Get to know me” and microphone turned off. Do not talk to the computer. But the “O” is missing.

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Dear Woody,

I don’t have an MS account. I hope I can get away with never having to get one. Other than targeted advertising and excessive snooping, I don’t understand why MS *needs* that info on me, or linkage to me. I have no desire for Cortana and the associated snooping to invade my computer, or getting to know me. I do understand that I won’t be able to avoid a lot of the telemetry with Win 10 Home, but cutting Cortana out is something I hope will help.

By not using Cortana (and a connected MS account) aren’t I avoiding the snooping and invasion to some degree?

Will an MS account be required to download the anniversary update on a computer that came with Win 10 already installed on it?

It would be nice to find a way to turn Cortana off totally, or at least to the same degree we could with a switch as on the older builds.

By the way, I don’t wear a tin hat. It is a principle I hold for reasons not necessary for this post.

Thank you Woody

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Uninstalled KB5176929, used wushowhide to hide it. Cortana “O” is back. The update had removed Cortana as a choice in the taskbar context menu.

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OUCH. On my 14393.10, Cortana is an option in the right-click taskbar context menu.

Not sure what triggers the “O”. Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don’t.

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There are numerous articles posted about disabling Cortana in Win10 Anniversary Update. I haven’t tried them yet, but hope to write it up before too long.

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,Nother thing. Uninstalling KB3176929 (mistype above) dropped me back to 14393.0. I had been 14393.5 before uninstall.

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More info: Used wushowhide to restore KB3176929 and reinstalled it. Taskbar context menu under Search has 3 choices – Hidden, Show search icon (magnifying glass) and Show Search box (no “O”). I’m back to v1607 14393.10.

The cumulative update was definitely the culprit.

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On the TP, signed in with MS ID, No Notebook, no way to sign out of Cortana.

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The notebook icon is appearing for me, with KB3176929 installed.

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Yeah. Me, too. Weird.

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If you go into Edge, do you see this? http://imgur.com/a/hYP6S

(Working from the reddit thread.)

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Can you log on to Reddit and let everybody know what you’re seeing?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4vpzyw/windows_10_now_at_build_1439310/

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In the advanced setting in Edge, I see “setting not available when Cortana turned off in Windows”

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That nails it then. Something is causing Cortana to be disabled on install of .10…

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Here is a synopsis of what I have experienced:

Running Win10 Tech Preview in a Parallels VM since 10/2014 using MS ID login.
Don’t use Cortana, so had not clicked “Get to know me,” had turned off Search Box settings “History view” and “My device history” and had Cortana hidden in taskbar context menu. But the Cortana “O” was present if I showed Search Box.
Installed Cumulative Update KB3176929 on Tech Preview 14939.5 – moved to Build 14939.10. There is no Cortana choice in the taskbar context menu – only Hidden, Show search icon, Show search box. Cortana “O” disappeared from Search Box, and there is no “Notebook” icon if you right click on Search Box.
I uninstalled KB3176929 and used WUshowhide to hide the update. The build reverted to 14393.0 (not .5). The Cortana “O” was back.
I reinstalled KB3176929 and everything disappeared again. Also, in Edge under Advanced Settings”Have Cortana assist me in Microsoft,” the slide is off and it says “This setting isn’t available when Cortana is turned off in Windows.” Cortana seems to be disabled.
The Cumulative update was definitely responsible for the change

Cortana running in Task Mgr.
If I type something in Search Box, Cortana Background Task Host pops up in Task Mgr as well and I see some CPU usage, so something is going on.

I am running Classic Shell. If I type something it that search box I see no CPU usage by Cortana in Task Mgr and the Cortana Background Task Host does not start up. Classic Shell 4.3.0 just came out and I installed it and the Cumulative Update today.

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same here, Can confirm Cortana is not present after update.

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I found a workaround to re-enable Cortana by comparing a working account on the same machine to a non-working account.

RegEdit (Run as admin)

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionSearch

Change BingSearchEnabled value from 0 to 1.

Logout, login – Cortana is back.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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BRAVO!

PKCano, rpodrick – can you reproduce?

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If you change BingSearchEnabled (see NetDef’s comment) does that bring Cortana back?

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BINGO! That fix worked! Thank you.

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Yes, this is correct.
The value is REG_DWORD and sometimes it takes the setting immediately, at other times a log off and log on are required.
BingSearchEnabled does not exist by default, which is the same with value 1.

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This only affect Internet Search though, there may be other keys completely disabling Cortana wihch I don’t think is desirable.

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I cannot claim to be the sole discoverer of this key, I think several others on the net simultaneously found it within a small time frame. I reported it on the Feedback App this morning, then found the fix from others almost immediately while searching on the key name as a google keyword. (Was trying to find out more about what that key is really for . . . )

I would also not count on how this reg key interacts with Cortana (on/off) in future builds.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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Yep. I’v ebeen trying to figure out who came up with it originally, and i’m coming up empty. At any rate it’s a great hack!

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I have one up-to-date Win10 v1511 I haven’t updated to AU.

There is no Cortana in the taskbar context menu, but the “O” is present when you click on the Search Box.
Pressing the “O” gives you a choice to use Cortana. Declining flips the “CortanaConsent” bits in the Registry from 1 to 0. But the “BingSearchEnabled” is set to 0, like in the TP and AU. If you go through the “use Cortana” routine, the “BingSearchEnabled” bits still do not get flipped to 1.

I know that flipping the “BingSearchEnabled” bits to 1 has been a SOLUTION for loss of Cortana in the TP and AU. But maybe it’s not the CAUSE.

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