Category Archives: Insider stuff

Build 22631.1900 Shows 13 Spurious Reclaimables

Here’s an odd an ind interesting situation. After applying the CU that took the PC to the most current Beta Channel build, it reported an astounding 16 packages amenable to cleanup. After running DISM …/startcomponentcleanup, that selfsame PC running Build 22631.1900 shows 13 spurious reclaimables.

Why do I claim those reclaimable packages are spurious? Because running and re-running the same DISM command (which normally removes them all):

(a) reports successful completion
(b) leaves the number of reclaimable packages unchanged (13)

I’ve seen this happen on some Insider Previews in the past, as far back as Windows 8.x. But never with such a high number of packages — indeed, it’s “lucky 13.” WTF?!

If Build 22631.1900 Shows 13 Spurious Reclaimables, Then?

I’ve reported this situation to Feedback Hub along with screencaps to show what DISM reports. But otherwise, there’s not much a mere user — even an Insider MVP like myself — can do about this kind of problem. If the machine were showing signs of instability, odd behavior, or reduced performance I’d try an in-place repair install. I’d follow that up with a clean install if such problems persisted.

But since this seems to be purely an artifact from inside DISM that doesn’t affect the machine’s overall behavior or capability, I’ll leave it alone for the time being. If MS responds to my feedback, I’ll take whatever advice they dispense. Otherwise, I’ll wait for the next Beta Channel release with hopes that such an upgrade will clear this strange and weirdly high count of non-existent reclaimable packages.

Stay tuned: I’ll report back in after the next CU or new Build. I’m betting this problem will disappear once the “next thing” gets installed. We’ll see!

Minor Build Number Goes to 1906 (June 23)

Yesterday, CU KB5027311 got applied, as did an Update Stack Package. No change to the reclaimables count, nor did a cleanup attempt with /startcomponentcleanup have any effect. I’m guessing this won’t change until the next major version increments through an upgrade of some kind. Let’s see…

Note Added January 20, 2024

With the installation of Build 22635.3066 (23H2 Beta Channel Insider Preview), the “spurious 13” have vanished from DISM’s notice. The announcement says nothing about any relevant changes, and  the one for the base level release for this feature upgrade says only “a handful of fixes to improve overall reliability.” Somewhere, somehow, though this finally got fixed. Go figure.

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File Explorer Restart Fixes Start Menu

I don’t know what I — or Windows itself — did. But I do know for sure that when I logged into my production PC this morning, Start Menu search was broken. I could type anything I wanted into the search bar. But each search came up empty. I could still navigate to apps alphabetically, so I knew something odd or interesting was up. Fortunately, among its many other good qualities, a File Explorer restart fixes Start Menu, too.

How File Explorer Restart Fixes Start Menu

The lead-in graphic shows how it’s done. Fire up Task Manager (I like to use the CTRL-Shift-Esc shortcut, but you can right-click on the Taskbar to get at it through a pop-up menu, too). Find Windows Explorer (I still think of it by its older name as in the title for this blog post), right-click, and select “Restart” from the pop-up menu.

As the term indicates, this basically kills the runtime environment for Windows/File Explorer, which includes the Start Menu, the taskbar, and other stuff, as well as any and all open Explorer windows. All this gets restarted afresh. And when that happens, the new and pristine runtime usually works as it should.

Case in point this morning: my broken Start Menu search function started working again. I cheerfully confess I simply wanted to play Solitaire. But typing “Sol” into the search box did nothing for me. The fix took less than 10 seconds to complete, though. And when it was done it was back to “Windows business as usual.”

Good! That’s just what I wanted… Keep this in your hat: it’s sure to come in handy someday here in Windows-World.

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Windows 11 Restore Point Pros&Cons

I’ve got to admit it: I’m of two minds about restore points in modern Windows versions — especially Windows 11. I found myself chewing over Windows 11 restore point pros&cons this morning, as I used WizTree to check my boot/system drive on some test PCs. Let me explain…

Exploring Windows 11 Restore Point Pros&Cons

Let’s start with a basic definition courtesy of Gavin Wright/TechTarget:

A system restore point is a backup copy of important Windows operating system (OS) files and settings that can be used to recover the system to an earlier point of time in the event of system failure or instability. It is a part of Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11 and Windows Server. They are created automatically or manually. System restore points only affect OS and application files, but not user data.

I confess: up through and including versions of Windows 8, I used to use Restore Points a LOT. But since the introduction of Windows 10 in 2014/2015 — quite some time now — I’ve been using daily or weekly image backups on my production and test PCs almost exclusively. These protect user preferences, settings, and data as well as the “important OS files” mentioned in the preceding definition. For me, it’s also faster and easier to restore an image backup than it is to do likewise with a restore point (and with less certain results). FWIW, I still use Macrium Reflect Free as my primary backup and restore tool. (I use the paid-for version on production PCs.)

Restore Point Pros

If, as shown in the lead-in graphic, you have restore points turned on, Windows will make them for you automatically or manually. They’re created automatically when you apply Windows updates. Likewise, many application installers are built to make a restore point early on in their operation, so they can roll back to a point in time prior to their actions in case something goes wrong. Also, you can create a manual store point by clicking the “Create” button shown at the lower right in the lead-in graphic. If you do choose to use restore points, I also recommend grabbing and trying out Nic Bedford’s System Restore Explorer as well. IMO, it’s easier to use and more comprehensive than the built-in Windows facility.

Restore points are easy, somewhat automated and cover many OS or runtime issues. This makes them easy and convenient to use, especially for less savvy and sophisticated Windows users. In a nutshell, those are the pros for restore points.

Restore Point Cons

In using WizTree to explore a couple of my test machines this morning, I was reminded of one of the cons for restore points — namely, they can soak up a fair amount of disk space. When I use the “Delete all restore points…” option on one of my Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga PCs this morning, here’s what WizTree showed as deleted immediately afterward:

Windows 11 Restore Point Pros Cons.WizTree

All in all I recovered almost 6 GB of disk space by deleting all restore points.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

The impact of restore points can be up to the size limit you set aside for such use. As shown in the lead-in graphic, that’s 19.05 GB for my “other” X380 Yoga test PC. If you’re making image backups and restore points, it’s a good idea to allocate no more than 1% or 10GB (whichever is less) for such use.

Besides space issues, I’ve observed that restore points don’t protect you from unwanted registry changes (including preferences, settings, use of tweak tools and so forth). Nor do they restore user or application data files and such, either. In general, I favor image files because they include absolutely everything that might get changed — or go wrong.

That said, if you use an image restore, you will lose any new files or changes you’ve made since the time at which that image was captured. Thus, it may be necessary for you to run a “mini-backup” to save that stuff to a flash drive or other external media before restoring the most recent image so you lose less (or nothing). Because Reflect lets me mount an image as a virtual drive, I often make another image of my broken system just in case I need something from that set-up after I revert to my most recent saved image.

What’s Your Preference?

On your Windows PCs, you can do as you like with backups and restores (including restore points). I don’t use them anymore because they don’t bail me out of all the trouble I often get myself into. If your usage patterns are less experimental or extreme, restore points may indeed meet all your needs. Even so, I’d still recommend periodic image backups just in case they don’t work to get you of some of the jams you may occasionally get into. But again: that’s up to you!

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Chasing Canary Focus Sessions

I have to laugh — or, at least, chuckle. After reading about a new Focus sessions widget at MSPowerUser I went chasing after same. I should have known it might not be as available as one might hope. It’s on gradual release. Indeed, it shows up only in one of two of its possible haunts. After chasing Canary Focus sessions for a while, let me explain how I figured this out.

Chasing Canary Focus Sessions
May Yield Mixed Results

The first key to focus sessions is an update to the Clock app. It needs to get to version 11.2305.6.0 (or higher). That should come easily, courtesy of a quick hop into the Microsoft Store’s Library tab, where clicking the “Get updates” button should true up a Canary PC or VM. Indeed, as you can see in the app window from Clock that appears at the head of this blog post, “Focus sessions” is the first element in its left-hand menu (also expanded to fill the right-hand pane as shown).

But a pane in a Windows 11 app is not a widget. So I went to both places where one might expect to find such a thing with mixed results:

1. To the Dev Home (Preview) app, where one can click the “+Add widget” button on its Dashboard pane to pin another widget thereto. But alas, the list of available widgets does not include “Focus session” amidst its still-limited set of offerings.

2. To the news/weather bug on the Canary task bar, where clicking on same opens a larger panel that includes this entry:

Chasing Canary Focus Sessions.add-button

After clicking “Add them now” I *DO* see “Focus session” as an available item. Clicking same produces the Focus session widget at the top of the expanded news/weather bug window. Goody!

Chasing Canary Focus Sessions.focus widget

What Did I Just Learn?

Only some widgets make it onto the Dev Home (Preview) dashboard. Many more are available through the expanded news/weather bug pane. For the time being, it looks like the Focus session widget is one of the latter, but not one of the former. That’s one specific lesson learned.

The bigger implication is that not all new widgets that MS announces will pop up in both places. Only some will make it into the Dev Home dashboard, while all should indeed appear through the expanded news/weather bug. Consider yourself so informed.

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Post-Update Cleanup Causes DISM Loop

I’m not sure what’s causing a fascinating Windows 11 issue. But you can see what it looks like in the lead-in graphic for this blog post. Basically, post-update cleanup causes DISM loop, whereby cleanup keeps repeating 100% completion, until I forcibly stop it with Ctrl-C. Weird!

I’ve never seen anything like this before. It occurred on Windows 11 Canary Build 25387.1200, after applying KB5027120 “2023-06 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows Version Next for x64.” This comes in the wake of KB5027849, released June 7, that takes the build to minor release number 1200. Again: Weird!

When Post-Update Cleanup Causes DISM Loop, What Now?

The traditional “next move” when something odd and extraordinary occurs in Windows is to reboot, and try again. So that’s what I did. The affected PC — a Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga — came back up without any obvious signs of distress or damage. I was able to remote in without issues, either. And on a retry of the DISM… /startcomponentcleanup command it ran through to completion without further issues.

There’s a known oddity that this DISM command causes a weird doubling of the progress bar if (a) a CU is applied to a Windows 10 or 11 PC and (b) the command is run before the target system is rebooted for a second time. I can only speculate this oddity has been somehow exacerbated in this version of Windows 11.

Be that as it may, the old standby troubleshooting technique — reboot, and try again — seems to do the trick. Once again, the old “three-fingered salute” comes to the rescue. Go figure!

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Tracking Minor Updates Poses Diminishing Returns

Here’s a question whose best practices answer may save admins time and effort. While indeed many developers now push regular updates for their software, not all are equally urgent. Why? Because whereas some updates add valuable new functionality or plug serious security gaps, others may not introduce much of note. That’s why, IMO, tracking minor updates poses diminishing returns against the time and effort required to find, download, and install them.

A case in point appears in the lead-in graphic. Antibody’s WizTree is a tree graph oriented disk space layout visualization and management tool. You’ll notice that winget doesn’t track release numbers past the first sub version level (e.g. 4.14 is what its “show” sub-command displays, and what its “list” sub-command finds on the target PC).

Why Say: Tracking Minor Updates Poses Diminishing Returns?

Simply put, if winget doesn’t track it and package labels don’t include it, not even the developer thinks it’s noteworthy. I’ve had other development teams confirm this approach to me. Thus, for example, when I contacted IObit to ask about minor revisions to their Driver Booster tool (example version number 10.4.0.127) they’ve told me that they don’t advise users to update unless something new or security-related is changed in a new version. If so, their policy is to increment version numbers more significantly, and to use the tool’s auto-update function to recommend and flog the update process forward.

Long story short: if the developer doesn’t recommend installing every minor update that comes along, I can’t do otherwise. For one thing: life’s too short to keep up with absolutely everything. For another, working toward scheduled update windows for most corporate software means choosing only “worthwhile updates” for inclusion. This reduces the amount of change — and its attendant risk — during such windows, and keeps the time and effort required to survive them as manageable as possible.

The old saw: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” somehow seems apt. Don’t let OCD tendencies to keep up with all change put you in a bind. Relax, and watch the blinking lights instead…

 

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Avoid Cascading Thunderbolt 4 Hubs

I guess it makes sense, now that I’ve figured out what’s going on. I’m using the Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20 flat panel monitor with a Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Hybrid PC. It’s been an interesting ride, getting it working once again. (I wrote about it first last December upon its arrival here at Chez Tittel.) Over the weekend, I got it working again Among the various things I learned along the way: avoid cascading Thunderbolt 4 hubs.

Why Avoid Cascading Thunderbolt 4 Hubs?

Simple, short answer: Windows 11 can’t find the monitor when it has to traverse an upstream TB4 hub and a downstream one. There’s a longer, more complex answer as well. Too much throughput is required for an all-purpose power/video/peripherals link between host and monitor. Multiple TB4 hubs don’t work that way.

This drove me batty for a while. That’s because I used the CalDigit TS4 hub as the primary. Then, I ran a video connection from it to the P27u-20. But the monitor features a built-in TB4 hub that doesn’t work in that configuration. Good to know, but hard to figure out. What led me to this discovery? In part, a consistent report that my power link wasn’t beefy enough to recharge the X12’s battery.

When I finally checked the port map for the monitor I saw that only one is labeled both Thunderbolt 4 and “full function upstream port with max 96W With Smart Power PD output” (see pg. 6). And sure enough, that’s the one I had to hook directly to the primary USB-C port on the X12 to get the monitor recognized as a 2nd working display.

It’s all good now. But if you use a monitor like the P27u-20 with integrated hub, it’s best to avoid bringing another TB4 hub into that mix. ‘Nuff said!

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XP Bliss Wallpaper Brings Back Memories

It may be the longest-lived version of Windows, ever. Windows XP was generally available on October 25, 2001. And it didn’t hit EOL until April 8, 2014. That’s 4,548 days or 12 years, 5 months, and 14 days (not including the end date, add one more day if you’re feeling generous). Now, I’ve learned that the familiar grassy hillside from the XP default wallpaper that graced my desktop for much of that interval is available in 4K format for download. The old XP Bliss wallpaper brings back memories galore for me, as it may do for you.

An auto-scaled version of that download appears as the lead-in graphic for this admittedly nostalgic blog post. You can download the original from the Microsoft Design team. And here’s a shout-out to the Neowin team whose June 9 story brought this onto my radar.

If XP Bliss Wallpaper Brings Back Memories, Grab It!

You too, can grab and use this image yourself if you like. It works for wallpaper, or goes readily into your desktop background rotation. I remember that grassy sward both fondly and well from those days from decades past. If you’re of like mind you may, like me, be inclined to grab yourself a copy, too. The original weighs in a around 7MB in size, with native resolution of 4089×2726 pixels (hence its 4K label).

It’s big enough, in fact, that WordPress had to downscale it so I could run it as my “featured image” here. That took it down from the aforementioned resolution to a less-hefty 2560 by 1707 pixels instead. And there it sits, at the head of this post.

 

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Chrome Signals Busy During 114 Update

Here’s something I’d never run into before. Yesterday, while attempting to upgrade Chrome from a 113.x to the latest 114.y version, I got a “servers busy, try again later” error message. That’s why I’m saying Chrome signals busy during 114 update. Interestingly, this meant that even downloading and running the installer didn’t work. It couldn’t get anything from the servers, either.

If Chrome Signals Busy During 114 Update,
Then What?

Wait for the condition to clear, of course. The denial of service lasted for under half and hour as far as I could tell. But that made me chuckle at the slogan from the download page that appears in the lead graphic. Indeed, there was no place like Chrome yesterday at all. You couldn’t get there from here — at least, not for a while.

Once the servers started responding to download requests as usual, the update went through without difficulty. I guess that’s just the way things sometimes go, here in Windows World. The old saw that begins “If at first you don’t succeed…” somehow comes to mind in this context.

Poking Around Inside Chrome Settings…

While waiting for the DoS to clear, I started poking around inside Chrome settings to see what was new. In turn, this led me to the “chrome web store” where I found some interesting themes and extensions to look at and play with. Given the prevalence of JSON in Windows Terminal, PowerShell, WinGet and other tools, I’m definitely going to take the JSON Formatter for a spin.

Sounds like fun, in fact. So yesterday’s dithering and delay was by no means a total wast of time. And now, the latest Chrome version has made its way onto all of my Windows PCs. Cheers!

 

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MS Defender Update Targets Deployment Images

If you can trust the header data in this MS Support note (I do) it was updated on June 5, 2023. The item is entitled “Windows Defender update for Windows Operating system installation. It describes how to imbue offline Windows images with the latest and greatest Defender capabilities. In fact, that article includes a warning not to apply them to live images. Thus, it’s clear that this MS Defender update targets deployment images.

I got my date information about the article from its HTML meta-data:

<meta name="lastPublishedDate" content="2023-06-05">
<meta name="firstPublishedDate" content="2020-12-04">

How  MS Defender Update Targets Deployment Images

Pre-requisites to run the updates — for WIM and VHD files — include:

  • Works on OS install images for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and Windows Server 2016 and 2019
  • OS environment must include PowerShell version 5.1 or newer (current production version is 7.3.4 as I write this)
  • Microsoft.Powershell.Security and DISM modules installed
  • The PowerShell session for the script  <code>DefenderUpdateWinImage.ps1</code> runs with admin privileges. (“Run as administrator” or equivalent.)

The script provides switches to apply, remove or roll back, and list details for the installed update. Useful for those who maintain Windows images and want their security levels up to current snuff.

Find all the details in the MS Support article previously named. Do this before your next scheduled update window, for sure. Of course, this means you’re using Windows Defender as part of your security infrastructure.

MS Is BIG in Security

I just worked on a promotional piece for a joint Rubrik and MIcrosoft security webinar (YouTube video). Amazingly, MS describes itself as “the biggest cyber security company in the world” and did over US$20B in such business in 2022. I guess they do have some legs to stand on in this arena. And indeed, they’re doing all kinds of fascinating stuff with AI and ML to improve their security posture and incident response capabilities. Great stuff!

 

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