Category Archives: Windows 10

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

So Long i7 Skylake

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It’s been a long, long ride. It must’ve been right around 8 years ago that I first brought up my Asrock Z170-based, i7 Skylake PC. Today, I made the decision to lay it to its final rest. I’ll decommission it in hours. Indeed, as I bid “So long, i7 Skylake,” I’m saving the drives and ordering a 12GB SATA drive to which I’ll back everything up before wiping and sending them onto Goodwill (or elsewhere). It’s safe to say this has retirement been a long time coming.

In yesterday’s blog post, I had planned to bring out the heavy guns next. That is, I unplugged all the drives from the i7 Skylake, and inserted a new, blank NVMe from which to boot. At first, it looked  like it wasn’t going to work. I even got past providing a license key. But then, the newer NVMe wouldn’t run even when I provided the right Intel RST driver version. When I switched back to the old drive, the PC would no longer boot, not even to the UEFI screen. Something serious quit working along the way, and I no longer want to spend any more time on this. It’s over…

What Does So Long i7 Skylake Mean?

Because I’m moving the unit out of my office entirely, it means I can set up a couple of other machines.  I’d set them aside during the “parallel runnings” phase as I was using the Ryzen 7 5800X build as my primary production desktop, but running the i7 Skylake just in case I needed something from that PC. Now, I’m going to content myself with snapshots of its drives for a while, and put the old beast to rest.

As I was looking inside the case today, I see it was reasonably equipped for a machine of its day:

  • 4 physical cores/8 threads (vintage 2015)
  • 32 GB DDR4 RAM
  • NVIDIA 3070 Ti GPU (originally a 1080)
  • TONS of storage (11 drives totaling 16TB)

But it’s been getting flakier and flakier over the past 3-4 months. So yesterday, when I couldn’t get the machine to handle a clean install of Windows 10 Pro, I decided “enough is enough.” I have plenty more PCs to work with, so I don’t need to nurse this one along anymore. If somebody in central Texas wants to come by and pick it up, they can have it, gratis. (I’ll be taking the 3070 Ti, but the rest of the build, including 6 drives with about 8 TB of total capacity — wiped, of course — will come along for the ride. Contact me if you’re interested.) Otherwise, it too is headed for a Goodwill drop-off.

I’m sad to see it go, but I’m definitely glad the X5800 build is working out quite well. Hopefully, it will see me into the next decade. But here in Windows-World, the strangest things can (and often do) happen. Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted.

 

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Backup/Restore, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Win10 Boot Follies Galore

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Here’s my situation. I’m still running the old i7Skylake with its 2015 vintage Asrock Z170 motherboard. That machine is running Windows 10 Enterprise. Thus, it’s not eligible for the ESU (Extended Security Updates) offer from MS to keep that machine alive for another year. “No problem,” I thought, “I’ll just clean install Windows 10 Pro, and take up the offer that way…” Instead, I’m dealing with Win10 boot follies galore, unable to boot to USB media to replace the current Windows image. It’s been heartbreaking…

Describing Win10 Boot Follies Galore

Copilot agrees that something is hinky with the UEFI on the Z170, and it’s preventing the PC from booting off a USB flash drive. So far, I’ve:

  • Turned off Fast Boot in UEFI, and discovered that toggling CSM (the compatibility support module that supports both MBR and GPT partitioning schemes) kills UEFI completely for UEFI version P7.60. Turns out that’s a known gotcha.
  • Built rescue and install disks on 8GB media to avoid FAT32 issues (using the usually reliable Media Creation Tool, and the still more dependable Macrium Rescue Media Builder)
  • Run those UFDs from USB 2.0 ports, on the off-chance that USB 3.x isn’t working for boot

So far, nothing has worked to install a different Windows 10 version on this PC. But I have a plan…

Bring Out the Heavy Guns

When all else fails while installing Windows, I’ve observed that disconnecting all non-boot drives, and replacing the boot media with a completely blank drive will sometimes work. I’ve got a 1TB Crucial T705 NVMe that I’ll prep in that way, and give it a try. IMO, it has a good chance of getting me over this hump.

I won’t have time to do this until the weekend. Stay tuned: I’ll follow up on Monday with a report on that experience. I’ve been bit on the hindquarters many times in Windows-World, but this bite kind of stings…

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Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Recent Updates Bork Reset Option

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In its Windows Issues list, Microsoft confirms that recent updates to Windows 10 and Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 may cause the “Reset PC” option to fail if invoked. The actual issue is entitled “Reset and recovery operations on some Windows versions might fail,” and specifically identifies KB5063875 as a potential cause in Windows 11. WindowsLatest  also reports that KB506370 could do the same for Windows 10. Hence my heading “Recent updates bork reset option,” though versions 24H2 and 25H2 appear to be exempt.

Workarounds When Recent Updates Bork Reset Option

If either of the previously cited KB updates has been applied to a Windows install, one should avoid tempting fate. That means: don’t use the “Reset PC” button on such instances. Consequently, two options present themselves as workarounds:

  1. Perform a clean install of the same Windows version using an MS ISO or the identical version from UUPdump.net. Of course, that also means one must reinstall drivers and other software present on the PC when it left the factory…
  2. Roll back the update, then use the Reset PC button. The easiest way to do this is to visit Settings > WU > Update history, click the KB item therein, and select Uninstall. Alternatively, wusa /uninstall /kb:<number> /quiet /norestart should do the trick.

Better Not to Use It, If in Doubt

WindowsLatest also reports that the “Reinstall now” option may be likewise affected on 23H2 and 22H2 PCs (it’s not available on Windows 10). The best approach is to use alternative methods for repair and recovery, or one of the preceding workarounds, for possibly affected Windows PCs. This is a big enough deal, however, that MS will probably fix it as soon as it can.

Hopefully that mean this situaiton won’t persist for too long. But hey: It’s Windows-World. Anything is possible, and careful repair is always a good strategy. Stay tuned!

 

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AI, Backup/Restore, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Copilot Leads Me Astray

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I couldn’t leave it alone. I had to worry at the RDP problem between my old production desktop (i7Skylake) and the new one (Flo6). So I asked Copilot for help. Big mistake! It led me into an account replacement exercise that is still underway, 8 or 9 working hours later. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t ever spend that much time on fixing things. This time, I decided it was OK if Copilot leads me astray. And by gosh and by golly, that’s exactly what it did.

No Sense of Effort, As Copilot Leads Me Astray

I started following Copilot’s advice when we discovered that my user account primary directory differed from my login account name. It led me into deleting a bunch of registry keys and folders, to try to force the login process to restore my primary account. I was OK with all of this because I have a daily image backup to which I can always revert, if things go sideways.

But what I found so interesting was that Copilot had me do a bunch of stuff, without informing me how long it was going to take, and how much work was involved. Copilot may know how to solve technical problems — and I learned some useful stuff about how MSAs and local accounts work in the Registry Hives along the way –but it has no sense of balancing time and effort against the rewards that may or may not come, at the end of the day.

Copilot Offers Good Info, But It’s a Lousy Boss

I learned a valuable lesson. But I spent a lot of time learning it. Here ’tis: Copilot is a good source of info, and can guide you into and through all kinds of technical changes and tweaks to Windows. But it has no sense of how much time things take, nor how much work is involved.

Lesson learned: I can ask Copilot to tell me what needs doing, but I still have do decide if and when I want to do it. Others who let Copilot lead them into the briar patch should bear that in mind, as they lose sight of the clear fields around its edge.

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Insider stuff, Remote Desktop (RDP), Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Chasing RDP Login Takes Too Long

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OK then, I’ve hit my troubleshooting time-out. Now that I’ve switched over to the Flo6 5800X build for my production desktop, I’m keeping the i7Skylake up and running in parallel. Why? So I can grab or look up things I discover I need on the new build that are only available on the old. So far, that’s included some logins that didn’t make it into the Norton Vault (only stored in Firefox on the old PC, as it turns out), various files and some app configuration data I didn’t know I’d need. Only one small problem: I can’t RDP into the account where all the stuff I need lives. I can RDP into the i7Skylake on a local admin account, but I get an LSA error when I try to log into my primary account. Alas, chasing RDP login takes too long, so I’m using TeamViewer instead. Indeed, it came up on the first try.

Why Chasing RDP Login Takes Too Long

Something has gone weird with NetBIOS and/or Domain Name resolution for RDP into the i7Skylake. That’s why I can get in using a local account, but not the MSA for the primary account. I’ve tried everything Copilot and Google can tell me about fixing that, to no avail, including:

  • Flush DNS name cache
  • Editing hosts file
  • Turning off browse service
  • Trying cmdkey explicit access in Command Prompt

And a whole bunch more. At present, I’ve spent at least 4 hours trying to MAKE it work. But RDP stubbornly refuses to let me use my MSA to log into i7Skylake.

The TeamViewer Alternative: Armadillo Time

TeamViewer doesn’t use RDP for remote access. It’s got its own set of protocols and services to manage LAN and Internet-based connections. It took me all of 15 minutes to get everything downloaded, installed, configured and running. I was able to access i7Skylake using the MSA I wanted on the first try. Go figure!

Sometimes, the best thing about beating your head against the way is how good it feels when you stop. Here in Windows-World this is not an unfamiliar sensation. If anybody knows how I can fix my RDP issue, I’d love some added insight and info. But for now, I have lots of other things to do — including a big deadline tomorrow on a writing project — so I’m taking the alternate route. If you’re not familiar with Jim Franklin’s wonderful armadillo image of that same name, check it out courtesy of Coast Monthly (it serves as the lead-in image for a terrific story).

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Inching toward Flo6 Cutover

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OK, then. I’m just about there. But it’s been a much wilder ride than I expected, as I keep inching toward Flo6 cutover. That is, I’m almost ready to put the 5800X Flo6 build where my i7Skylake PC is right now. I’ll also leave the i7Skylake running for a while to pick up missed bits and pieces, as they inevitably come up. Let me tell you what’s happened so far…

Steps Involved in Inching toward Flo6 Cutover

In my July 28 post, I listed remaining steps before I could switch from old production desktop to new production desktop. Those included:

  • MS Solitaire: turns out I had to find and run a recovery utility to figure out to which MSA my stats belonged. Only then could I bring up the right account. Took about half an hour: done.
  • Macrium Reflect: 9AM full backup configured and running. This turned out to be dead easy, compared to the other items. Took all of 5 minutes, then another 10 minutes to fire off daily backups.
  • PaintShop Pro: Turns out 2023 is as new as it gets. I didn’t need to buy a new version, but I had to decommission the install on the i7Skylake before I could install and activate the Flo6. Also took about half an hour, most of which was figuring out how the heck to log in. Eventually, I figured it out and got it done.
  • PDF reader: I couldn’t get Nitro Pro to send me an email to reset my password for love or money. That took half an hour. So I switched to Adobe Acrobat Pro. Murphy struck again! The default Acrobat Pro installer — the one on its primary download page — doesn’t work on Windows 11 (at least not on the Flo6 install). It took me almost an hour to find and use the company’s standalone installer instead. That worked, but sheesh: a PITA!

Ready to Switch…

It’s after 5 PM on July 31 (Thursday), so I’ll unplug everything for both systems, switch their locations, and plug them back in after lunch Friday. Hopefully everything will come up as it should. If not, I’ll report further in an addendum hereto. With finger crossed, I’m hustling through the morning so I can get this handled in the afternoon. Wish me luck!

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Pondering Window 10 Turns 10

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There’s been a lot of coverage in the Windows trade press around Windows 10’s tenth birthday. It made its debut on July 29, 2015. As I’m pondering Windows 10 turns 10 — and its upcoming EOS on October 14 — I asked myself “How does a 10-year lifespan compare to other Windows versions?” Obligingly enough, Copilot provided me with a text-based histogram that lays things out as far back as Windows 1.x versions. It serves as the lead-in graphic for this post.

Pondering Window 10 Turns 10: Lifespans Compared

Here’s what I see when I look at that chart:

  • Only two versions have had longer runs than Windows 10 — namely, Windows XP (13 years) and Windows 7 (11 years). Both are arguably the Windows champs as far as versions go, and I used the heck out of them during their heydays.
  • I’d have to say that a life span of under 7 years pretty clearly separates winning Windows avatars from losing ones. That group includes Windows 1.x, 2.x, 95, ME, Vista, 8 and 8.1. Of those, Windows 95 is the only one I remember fondly, but I moved to 98 long before it got close to EOL.
  • Over this set, the distribution is pretty scattered and broad. The min is 2 years, the max is 13 years, the mean is 7.25 years, and the median is 6 years. Given my preceding observation about lifespans under 7 years, does that mean Windows is rather less than more successful? Interesting question, but I don’t think the answer is “Yes.” Arguably, Windows 7 persisted because neither 8 nor 8.1 could really pick up and run with the ball.

It’s interesting to step back and look at how many versions have come and gone and how each one has had its own lifecycle. My gut feel is that Windows 10 deserves to be in the same cohort as XP and 7. I’d argue further that Windows 11 could be in the same company — but of course it’s too early to say just yet. After all, it’s only just a bit over 4 years old.

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Remote Desktop (RDP), WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

MS Support Eases Office 2024 Transfer

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I guess it was inevitable. As part of my Microsoft MVP award benefits I get a license for Office 2024 for Home and Business. Turns out it’s a single-use (single device) license. I had installed it on a test machine last year, and returned same without uninstalling that software. When I tried to install it again on my nearly-complete replacement desktop, I couldn’t activate my valid license because it was already in use. I knew what I had to do — put a call into Microsoft. But to my great surprise and delight, MS Support eases Office 2024 transfer. I did it all via online chat, too.

How MS Support Eases Office 2024 Transfer

Here’s how the process went. I followed a license transfer link on the MS Support pages (depicted as the lead-in graphic). Then, I logged into that page using the same MSA tied to that license. Next. I entered “transfer license” into the Need more help? field, and selected the resulting “Transfer your Office license…” at the top of the options list. Then I clicked “Contact Us,” and started an online chat with MS support rep Kath (screen name “Kathleen”).

I’ve been on the phone with MS Support dozens of times in my 3-plus decades of working with Windows and Office. This call went as smooth as glass. Interestingly, Kath sent me an image (.img) file to use as my Office installer (that’s a first for me). But I knew enough to mount that file as I would an ISO and run the installer from there. The install went through without a hitch, and when I fired Word off for a first run, it prompted me for the license key. And this time, because Kath had unbound the license from its previous device, the key was authenticated and activated. I’m in business!

The Vexing Climb to Working Outlook

I futzed around with the Outlook app for a while, but wasn’t able to get it to work. That’s because my email provider uses a non-standard domain name for its outgoing SMTP mail server, not the standard default (smtp.mailchannels.net). The Outlook (classic) client provides the facility to override that default, but I couldn’t figure out how to make that happen in the app.

Long story short: I’ve got nearly everything I need to transition from the old i7Skylake desktop (working on it right now) to the new Flo6 desktop (running an RDP session into it right now). I’ll run both systems in parallel for a while, but switch Flo6 into service on my actual desk Monday, and move i7Skylake to a monitor on the next desk over in my office. That way, as I transition from the old machine to the new, I’ll retain easy access to the old to grab anything I realize I’m missing on the new machine from its predecessor.

This turned out to be a great way to get over the Outlook hump yesteday, in fact. When I couldn’t get the Outlook auto-configure to work, I was able to open the old client, examine its configuration in detail, and see the default-vs-actual domain name issue for outgoing mail. Very handy! I’m sure I’ll be doing that again in the next week, probably  several times.

What’s Left, Transition-Wise?

I’ve still got to set up and customize PowerShell (install OhMyPosh, switch to a compatible font, add bunches of tools and utilities, etc.). I will also check over what’s running on i7Skylake and decide what I want to move from old to new PC. At a minimum that will include MS Solitaire, some kind of PDF client, Amazon Kindle, Audacity, possibly a new Corel PaintShop version, Jabra Direct (for my awesome headset), Powerchute Serial Shutdown, UniGetUI, VS Enterprise, and Zoom workplace.

That should — and probaby will — take a while. I’ve been using my current desktop since 2016 more or less daily, so it’s still going to be something of a shock to switch. Stay tuned. I’ll keep writing about this, as it remains a major preoccupation for me coming up.

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Microsoft 365 Apps Get EOS Dates

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It’s possible I’ve been around the Windows-sphere for too long. I wanted to entitle this blog post “When MS Will Stop Updating Office on Windows 10.” But that’s not what MS calls things anymore. First off, EOS is “End of Support” which means no new feature updates, with security updates continuing through October 20, 2028. Second, Office doesn’t fit the bill: in today’s cloud based subscription model, it’s Microsoft 365 Apps that people use. So, when I say Microsoft 365 Apps get OES dates, I’m preparing to tell you when those apps won’t get new stuff from MS for those running Windows 10. Let me tell you more…

Note: the official end of life date for Windows 10 is October 14, 2025. That’s the basic backdrop against which all of these other dates play. So keep that in mind!

How Microsoft 365 Apps Get EOS Dates

On June 24, MS Learn published an article entitled Windows 10 end of support and Microsoft 365 apps. It’s worth a read-thru, but here are those dates, quoted verbatim (I bolded the dates and associated versions to make that info super-easy to pick out):

Devices running Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 will receive feature updates until Version 2608 is released on the following dates:

  • August 2026 for Current Channel (including all versions for individuals and families)
  • October 13, 2026 for Monthly Enterprise Channel
  • January 12, 2027 for Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel

Devices will remain on Version 2608, receiving only security updates until October 10, 2028.

Customer Supports Gets Constrained, Too

After October 14, 2025, Microsoft 365 Technical support continues to function, but becomes subject to certain limitations (see the Learn item cited earlier for details). Basically, MS Support will try to move affected users to Windows 11 to get in the mainstream. Otherwise, assistance is limited to troubleshooting help, with “technical workarounds…limited or unavailable.” No bug logging or product update requests, either.

The End Is Near, Get Ready for Zombification…

Windows versions sometimes experience a life after death, through Extended Support Updates and related measures. These can keep things in a kind of “living dead” mode. But companies and users who depend on Microsoft 365 should clearly prepare to make the Windows 11 transition if they want to get the best and newest capabilities out of their productivity suite. You may not need to repent because the end is near, but you should get ready to switch over for best outcomes and results.

Here’s a shout-out to Martin Brinkmann at ghacks, whose July 14 story Microsoft reveals when Windows 10 customers won’t get Microsoft 365 Apps updates anymore clued me into the MS Learn pronouncements and their content. Danke schön, lieber Martin.

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Undoing Systray Entanglements

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Before I got turned in the right direction with APC PowerChute software yesterday, I’d already installed two different versions (see post). Each of them runs as a systray app. That means it’s set up as a startup task, and keeps one or more Windows processes running constantly. It turns out that neither app was exactly what I wanted, so I needed to uninstall them. Alas, the developers didn’t — and still don’t — include an exit option in the right-click menus for these beasts (see lead-in graphic). Thus, I found myself first undoing systray entanglements before Revo or built-in uninstallers would work. Let me explain…

What’s Involved in Undoing Systray Entanglements?

Revo Uninstaller gave me a good clue when I tried to uninstall either version of the PowerChute software. It flashed a warning that told me the software was running. I should try uninstall again when it was turned off. What, exactly, does that entail? Good question!

I had to open Task Manager, find all related processes and kill them. For the old PowerChute, that was easy: I just killed its one and only process. For the new PowerChute Serial Shutdown (PCSS) utility, I had to kill once process named pcss-systray.exe, and another named pcss-agent.exe. Indeed, to be on the safe side, I chose the right-click “End process tree” option in case there was anything else related also running under the PCSS umbrella.

It worked! After killing those items, I was able to successfully uninstall both PowerChute versions. Then, when Schneider tech support (APC’s parent company) furnished me a different version of the new executable, I was able to install and use it. It’s running right now, in fact.

This Story’s Moral Is…

If you find yourself needing to uninstall a systray app of some kind, and uninstallers won’t run, check Task Manager for related processes. If you end those tasks (or their process trees) you should be able to proceed. At least, that worked for me. Here in Windows-World, such esoterica occasionally comes in handy. Keep it in mind!

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