Microsft to Claim 7GB of space (maybe more) on Windows 10 devices for updating

For those of you with a small storage space (32GB or 64GB) on your device, beware. Microsoft intends to make the storage space you can use even smaller. Beginning with Windows 10 version 1903 (currently Beta version known as 19H1), Microsoft will start reserving 7GB (maybe more) of a device’s storage for updating purposes. Windows doesn’t check for the necessary available free space ahead of time, so the space is to be reserved on the device’s hard drive.

Back in March, 2018, Susan Bradley needed to upgrade a 32gig HP Envy 8 Note 5000 from Win10 v1703 to v1709. Her trials are recorded here. She finally had to delete a bunch of files, download the ISO to a media card on another computer, then mount the media card as a CD drive on the computer to be updated, in order to run the setup.

Economy devices with 32GB storage, even ones with 64GB, have difficulty (or fail) installing the Cumulative Updates. Feature Upgrades every six months can cause more havoc. In an attempt to avoid this. Microsoft is building into Win10 a Reserved space to store temporary files to insure Windows installs more easily.

@dph853 has this to say about Microsoft’s use of his device’s storage.

dph853 wrote:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-windows-10-to-grab-7gb-of-your-storage-so-big-updates-dont-fail/

I am relieved to read that MS does not intend to grab yet another partition for their proposed servicing “use” but at the same time, I do not particularly appreciate being locked out of areas of my HD. I generally know what I can mess with and what I should leave alone. There is no reason for this “temporary file space” to not be accessible and at least read only so as to confirm that what is being stored here are in fact temporary files rather than a long term repository for telemetry and data MS wishes to have access to but does not wish to send to themselves and store on their own servers. Who knows what the future holds for this scalable reserved space. If its purpose creeps over time, will the user be told of these new uses? I do believe in inspect and verify when it comes to the claims of Microsoft these days.

Whatever happened to, “You do not have enough disk space to proceed. Please free up 7 GB and try again”?

Patch Lady – cleaning up on the weekend

So as I’m here cleaning my house…. okay so I’m checking email and getting my email fix in BEFORE I clean my house on a weekend…. I noticed that my laptop’s C drive is getting tight.  This Lenovo has a 100Gig hard drive and with Windows 10 that is sooooooooooooo not enough.  Try 250 gig as a minimum these days.  So anyway back to cleaning up… I run treesize free and realize that there’s 10 gigs in a folder called “Packages” and specifically in what appears to be a history folder for Edge.  Note that disk clean up doesn’t touch this folder.

I went into Edge and nuked the history off the browser (and will consider making clearing history a default), but then I googled and found this post with a couple of things of interest:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/a9f30534-8d91-4bdf-8864-3a64f4b71e04/deleting-data-from-appdatalocalpackages?forum=w8itproperf

The files in the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages folder store the user configuration settings for all of the installed Modern UI Apps.

These apps use a completely different programming model than the traditional Desktop (Win32) apps.
It is not recommended to delete the folder.

If you are just trying to clear the Windows Store Cache, there is a built-in component to accomplish this.
1. Press the WinKey+Q to display the Search and type WSRESET.
2. In the Results, click wsreset to reset the Store Cache.
3. The Windows Store will open and confirm that the cache has been cleared.

So like the SXS folder this is another “don’t touch” location.

Also spotted this:

It should be noted at this point that if you do not use any modern apps, and / or have used PowerShell to uninstall them all – see http://www.thewindowsclub.com/erase-default-preinstalled-modern-apps-windows-8 for details, then this folder can safely be deleted, with no ill effects.  I have done this on both Windows 8.1 computers I own, and they continue to function just fine.

While I’m on the subject of nuking items remember don’t touch the Windows store is not supported and in fact if you attempt it, you can count on reinstalling your computer:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4339074/removing-uninstalling-reinstalling-microsoft-store-app-not-supported

So now that I’ve cleaned up some space on this hard drive, I need to stop procrastinating and start cleaning my bathroom.  And when I get some time later I need to give feedback that Windows 10 needs to do a better job of self cleaning up the Modern apps.

US-CERT Warns of ASLR Implementation Flaw in Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team is warning of a vulnerability in Microsoft’s implementation of Address Space Layout Randomization that affects Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system.

Microsoft said it is investigating the matter.

Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) is championed as a system hardening technology used in most major desktops and mobile operating systems. ASLR is used to thwart memory-based code-execution attacks. iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux each use ASLR to keep systems safer.

Read the complete warning here.

Catalin Cimpanu on bleepingcomputer.com offers a further explanation of the vulnerability and a workaround until Microsoft provides the fix.

@MrBrian first brought this to our attention on Novemver 17, 2017.
Please Click here to Comment in the Lounge

Windows 10 on ARM

Looks like we’re going to see Windows 10 running on Snapdragon chips by the end of the year.

This is a fascinating presentation:

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2017/P4171

Windows 10 on Snapdragon/ARM chips will run Win32 apps through a “X86 Win32 emulation layer,” which is surprisingly fast. Watch at the five minute mark forward.

Microsoft coming (a little bit) clean on its telemetry settings for Win10 Creators Update

I’ll have more as I get a chance to step through the details, but the post this morning from Brian Lich is a decided step in the right direction.

Version 1703 diagnostic data

Version 1703 basic level Windows diagnostic events and fields

Version 1703 installation privacy settings

That latter article duplicates some info that we’ve known for quite a while. See the info I posted earlier in 5 Fatal flaws that dog the new Windows 10.

Thx to Peter Bright at Ars Technica.

New Windows 10 beta build 15055

It’s out and I’m downloading it now.

Official announcement is on the Windows blog.

How to block automatic updates in the next version of Windows 10

As long as you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, the next version – 1703, Creators Update – will include built-in tools that let you delay forced updates. If you know what the settings mean.

InfoWorld Woody on Windows

There’s that Win10 “400 million” number again

Microsoft’s having its annual Shareholder Meeting at the moment. Amy Hood mentioned 400 million active Win10 devices. Now there’s a demo (I missed the name of the presenter, sorry) that again repeats the 400 million number.

Tomorrow we’ll see the monthly reports on Windows usage from NetMarketshare and StatCounter. I wonder if we’re going to see another disappointing month?

On Sept. 26, at Ignite, Microsoft announced Win10 was running on 400 million “monthly active devices.” On July 15, the number was 350 million.

Is it possible that Win10 adoption has been nearly static for the past two months? Or are we looking at roundoff errors – a reticence to spill all the beans?

With something like 20 million new PCs being sold every month, and Win10 coming along for the ride on most machines, you have to ask where all the Win10 users (er, monthly active devices) are going.

A month ago, Terry Myerson referred to “the billion people, all around the world, using Windows” — in spite of Microsoft’s claim, for many years, which pegged the number of Windows users at 1.5 billion.

I wonder what’s ahead tomorrow…