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Hey everyone, I was preparing to install the July patches (Windows 10 Home 1803 here) when I noticed something “unusual” upon running wushowhide to un-hide the July updates: the July CU for 1803 (i.e. KB4507435) has disappeared from the list of hidden updates (all I see in the hidden updates list are the July Office 2013 updates, the 2019-07 Windows Defender update, the 2019-08 KB4023057 update and the Feature update to 1903).

Assuming that WU will not automatically install the July CU for 1803 with the other July updates, should I install it (and the corresponding servicing stack update) manually by downloading the relevant files from the MS Update Catalog? Or should I just skip this CU entirely?

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KP

Just a heads-up to report that today on my Windows 10 1803 Home machine I was offered a new KB 4023057 update (2019-08). I suppose this update was released after woody changed the MS-DEFCON level to 4, so anyone on 1803 trying to avoid KB 4023057 better keep your eyes open when installing the July patches.

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woody

Thanks PKCano. I plan to hang on to the metered connection and keep my fingers crossed. No download of 1903 took place on the metered connection so far, but I’m not too happy sitting here just waiting for it to potentially happen. I’m actually wondering whether to avoid this uncertainty I should upgrade to 1809 using the copy I downloaded back when that was suggested.

What is really interesting, however, is that today my Windows Update screen changed back to the “All available updates installed” and it is no longer reporting the Feature Update to 1903 being pending for download:

I did not take any further steps after yesterday’s notice about the pending download (except running wushowhide which reported nothing available to hide). Also, the “last checked” date did not change. It almost looks like WU tried to push 1903, failed because the connection is set to metered, then on the subsequent reboot realized that I hid the 1903 Feature Update in wushowhide. Does this sound possible?

Using wushowhide on July 27 I spotted on my Windows 10 Home 1803 computer the Feature Update to 1903: I promptly hid it in wushowhide, checked that it was hidden and followed the “How to clear the Windows Update queue in Win10” instructions from PKCano. After that, the Windows Update screen reported that all available updates were installed and that the last check had been performed on July 27 around 4 pm.

Today I was surprised to receive a notification that an “update cannot be installed”, so I looked in Windows Update and found the following:

It’s not in English (apologies), but it’s saying that the last check dates back to July 27 at around 4 pm (i.e. the same date when it previously reported no updated being available), but now it is reporting that the Feature Update to 1903 is pending, but cannot be downloaded due to my ethernet connection being set to metered.

I find this extremely annoying and suspicious, since it looks like hiding Feature Update to 1903 in wushowhide was not enough to really hide the update.

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rc primak, Fred

I just spotted the Feature update to 1903 in wushowhide and promptly hid it, since I’m not ready to install 1903 and happy to stay with 1803 for a few more months.

I’m currently on Windows 10 Home 1803, with June updates installed, no July updates installed, no instance of KB4023057 installed and my connection set to metered. Windows Update is still showing the “Download and install now” notice and (a bit misleadingly) saying that I can install 1903 when I’m ready to do that. I assume that having the Feature update to 1903 showing up in wushowhide actually means that MS was tired of waiting for me to be ready to install and decided to not-so-gently push the update on my machine.

Assuming things work as expected, it seems that wushowhide is the best ally for anyone running Windows 10 Home who wish to postpone the Feature update to 1903.

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Fred

Thanks for your reply anonymous! 🙂

Honestly, I have no idea why they are using the Consumer Edition. Anyway, thanks for the info regarding that ‘2019-03B’ update. Also, today the computer finally completed the download of all three updates and guess what? The two 1809 updates failed to install with a certain error code, while 1903 is waiting for me to begin installation. I can only guess that there was something wrong with both 1809 and 1903 being offered at the same time, but Windows Update ultimately decided that 1903 is the feature update to install.

Thanks for your always timely replies, much appreciated!

Yeah, I’d rather upgrade to 1809 when it’s me who wants to do it, rather than having MS force an upgrade to 1903 when I least expect it.

All things considered, since I’m using Home and thus don’t have the Feature deferral setting, I’ll not take the risk of going through Windows Update to see whether I can upgrade to 1809. When I decide to do the upgrade it seems safer to rely on the ISO I previously downloaded, albeit I understand that this will require me to install updates to make 1809 current (I’m confident that with metered connections and wushowhide I’ll have at least a minimum of control on which updates get installed).

Is an upgrade from 1803 to 1809 recommended at this point in order to avoid the uncertainties of an upgrade to 1903? Out of precaution I downloaded a 1809 .iso when it was suggested by Woody a couple of months ago, but I never planned to actually use it and would rather stay on 1803 and skip 1809 unless the risk of a forced upgrade from 1803 to 1903 is too high. Also, will an upgrade to 1809 avoid being pushed to 1903 also for those like me who have Win10 Home rather than Pro?

BTW, on a slightly-but-not-so-unrelated note, I just saw on wushowhide that MS is pushing yet another release (2019-06 version) of KB4023057 to 1803 users.

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Lars220

Hello PKCano, just want to report that I followed your suggestion to copy C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder in a different location, delete the contents of the original folder leaving the folder itself and run the procedure in AKB2000013.

At first nothing seemed to change and the Windows Update screen still showed the CU as available for download. However, on rebooting the system once more, the Windows Update screen changed to “up to date” status and the CU is now listed in the update history as having failed installation with error code 0x8024200d.

On the other hand, Windows Update now shows a message offering to update to 1903 with a “when you are ready you can download and install”. No way I’m going to click on download and install for the time being…

Win10 1803 Home here and I’m hoping that metered connection and wushowhide will be enough to block the feature update once it is actually pushed to my system. So far, Windows Update is only offering to update to 1903 with a “when you are ready you can download and install” message, just like the one seen in the screenshot attached to bishbash’s post above. No way I’m going to be ready at least until 1903 is declared (more or less) safe to upgrade to here…

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Fred

I’m relatively sure that the CU was downloaded, but not installed. Below is what my Windows Update screen looks like since last Tuesday. Since then the CU is not shown in ‘View installed update history’ and Windows did not prompt to “Update and shut down” or “Update and restart” at any time.

A literal translation of the text between the Windows Update title and the Download button reads as follows:

“Updates available
Last check: 11/06/2019, 19:01

2019-06 Cumulative update for Windows 10 Version 1803 x64 (KB4503286)
Status: Awaiting download

Updates are available. The download will take place when using a non-metered connection or you may download 82.02 MB on the current metered connection (charges may apply). Some updates may require connection to a non-metered Wi-Fi network”

Despite claiming that the update is yet to be downloaded this is what I found in the C:WindowsSoftwareDistributionDownload folder:

The folder that pertains to KB4503286 is about 300 MB in size, so I don’t think this is a container of metadata, but the files that were downloaded (and not installed).

Anyway, I’ll follow your suggestion to copy the Download folder elsewhere, delete the original and re-run the AKB2000013 procedure to see what happens.

Thanks for the explanation PKCano!

So, the bottom line is:
1) it’s normal for Windows Update to automatically check for updates when the connection is set to metered;
2) it’s a good idea to run wushowhide multiple times after updates have been released to ensure that everything I want to hide is set to hidden;
3) it’s (always) necessary to clear the update queue for the hiding to be effective.

The only “mystery” that remains unsolved is why Windows Update actually downloaded (but did not install) the KB4503286 update despite the connection being set to metered. It’s a bit silly for Windows Update to warn me that costs may be incurred if I choose to download the update on a metered connection when it actually already downloaded that update. Well, think I don’t really need to solve this mystery: after all it’s Windows Update we are talking about, so strange things are bound to happen! 🙂

[Berserker79]

Hello, I’ve got a question regarding “making sure that Windows Update is de-fanged”.

I’m on Windows 10 Home 1803 and I’ve set my Ethernet connection to metered as suggested here for Home users in order to “de-fang” Windows Update. In Settings\Update & Security\Windows Update\Advanced Options I have also set to ‘Disabled’ that ‘automatically download updates over metered data connections (charges may apply)’ option. I have no Wi-Fi connections on this machine.

Last Tuesday first thing I did after booting up was running wushowhide and hid all new updates that showed up as available. Notably, ‘KB4503286 – 2019-06 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1803’ did not show up wushowhide. Out of curiosity I went to Settings\Update & Security\Windows Update and noticed that Windows Update was in the middle of checking for updates of its own initiative. Am I wrong or this should not happen considering I’ve set my connection to metered?

Probably I should have shut off my machine before Windows Update completed this unsolicited check for updates, but I didn’t. Anyway, a minute later the check was complete and Windows Update showed a message noting the availability of KB4503286 and that because my connection is set to metered the update would not be downloaded until I hook to a non-metered connection or I hit the “Download” button. What bothers me is that when I looked in ‘C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download’ I found a folder with all the files needed to install KB4503286! So, to add insult to injury, not only Windows Update did an unsolicited check for updates, but also downloaded the update on a connection that is set to metered while claiming that no update has been downloaded because the connection is set to metered. Just more Windows Update crazyness? Good thing I’m not on a “truly” metered connection… Also, at least the update was not automatically installed (I suppose that would happen if I press the ‘Download’ button).

Assuming the above should not happen when setting the connection to metered, did I miss some important step to “de-fang” Windows Update? If so, can anyone please suggest what to do to make sure Windows Update stops this kind of behavior? Alternatively, does Windows Update perform the automatic check regardless that the connection is set to metered and then it’s just my bad luck that KB4503286 did not show up on wushowhide and thus was not hidden?

BTW, after Windows Update reported KB4503286 as available, I re-run wushowhide and sure enough that update (along with the Adobe Flash update) were available to be hidden. That’s annoying that 5 minutes earlier wushowhide had failed to list all of the available updates…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Berserker79.

Hello, Win10 Home 1803 user here who has been following with interest this blog from the past several months and I couldn’t be happier to have finally found some guidance to assist me figure out when it’s (sufficiently) safe to install updates rather than letting WU throw me whatever it likes whenever it likes.

Interestingly enough, I realized when reading this post that the “Update for Skype for Business 2015 KB4464593” was not part of the May patches that had been green-lit for installation. Before installing the May patches last Tuesday wushowhide did not list KB4464593 among the patches available to be hidden, so I was kind of surprised that WU installed it together with the May patches that I had previously hidden. Is it possible that updates available on WU are not immediately “detectable” by wushowhide? Guess this is one reason to avoid installing patches on any of the patch Tuesdays and maybe wait for the next day…

BTW, with all the screwed up patches over the past months I thing I couldn’t agree more with the recommendation that “Consumer patching should be more cautious”. I see the logic (and the benefit for business users) of having consumer users field-testing the patches, but at the same time I’m no longer willing to risk the stability of my system (and my own nervous system) if the patches are put out there with apparently no effort to curb the worst bugs. In other words, in the (unlikely) scenario that there will no longer be enough consumers acting as unpaid beta testers for the patches, I suppose we know who is to blame.

Oh, one last thing: I noticed that opening any page on AskWoody at this time of the day (I’m currently on UTC+2 and it’s 19.30 here) is very slow, while I have no trouble at other hours of the day. Maybe this is just due to heavy traffic on the site at this hour, but I thought to mention this in case it’s something someone wants to look into.