Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows Update

24H2 Compatibility Holds Block WU

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OK, then: thanks to Paul Thurrott, I think I know why my half-dozen Windows 11 23H2 PCs are getting no 24H2 offers. Among the half-dozen “Known Issues” that could bollix such an upgrade is an item named Fingerprint sensors might experience problems after a device is locked. And wouldn’t you know it: every one of my Lenovo laptops that could get the offer has one. And now I know: 24H2 Compatibility holds block WU from offering 24H2 to such PCs. You can see the issue label and first ‘graph of text as the lead-in graphic above.

When 24H2 Compatibility Holds Block WU…

One can always decide to upgrade forcibly if WU declines to make an upgrade offer. That’s what I did on the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation — which includes a fingerprint sensor and a Windows Hello IR camera. And indeed, it’s been running 24H2 since October 2 without issues or hiccups.

If you decide you want to upgrade ahead of WU offers, just be sure to make an image backup beforehand. That way, if anything goes sideways, you can reboot to WinRE and run a repair or rescue disk (Macrium Rescue Media, in my local cases) to restore that image. It takes 3-7 minutes to make such an image on my PCs, and up to 15 minutes to restore same. Well worth it IMO, to sidestep potential or actual trouble when needed.

In the meantime, I’m standing pat on my other Windows 11 23H2 PCs (both test and production units) waiting to see how long the compatibility holds will persist. If history is any guide, it’ll probably take another month or three before that happens. Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted!

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Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Windows 11

Onscreen Keyboard Lacks Copilot Key

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Consider this: Copilot itself tells me that my ThinkPad T14s Gen6 Copilot+ laptop should show a Copilot key on its onscreen keyboard. It definitely has one on its physical keyboard: I can see it right now, plain as day. But none of the fixes Copilot recommends gives me such a key, nor can I access settings for that keyboard either. As you can see in the lead-in screencap, the onscreen keyboard lacks Copilot key (it would normally appear between Right-Alt and Right-Ctrl on the bottom row). Sigh.

Does It Matter If Onscreen Keyboard Lacks Copilot Key?

Not really, because the Copilot icon is pinned to the taskbar by default. I’ve always been able to open it with a single click anyway. But what I find interesting is that Copilot itself says there SHOULD be such a key on the onscreen keyboard. It’s clearly not visible.

Copilot also says I should be able to access Settings for the onscreen keyboard as well. But when I open the On-screen Keyboard menu, it shows me only options for Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize and Close. No Settings anywhere, nor does right-click help, either.

It Gets More Interesting at MS Learn

So I truck over to MS Learn to examine its article Get to know the touch keyboard. It offers versions for both Windows 10 and 11 (the preceding link is for 11, because it’s the only one with Copilot key capability AFAIK).

There’s an interesting sentence in this document though. It says “Select the keyboard settings icon in the upper-left corner of the touch keyboard to view and switch between options.” That’s the same thing I’ve been doing to try to access Settings. I don’t see the things it tells me I should see.

I’m left to draw one speculation: perhaps Lenovo didn’t update the onscreen keyboard for Windows 11 (24H2 or even earlier versions). I jump onto the P16 Mobile Workstation (23H2 Build 22631.4169). It shows me the exact same onscreen keyboard, with the same missing items. And indeed, it’s identical to the onscreen keyboard I see in Windows 10, too, with the same top-left icon menu and behaviors. Now, I think I have a clue…

Emailing Lenovo to ask about this. If I learn anything interesting I’ll be back in touch in this post… Isn’t that just the way things sometimes go, here in Windows-World? You betcha!

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Device drivers, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11

KB5043145 Throws Interesting Stopcode

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Here’s one I’ve not run into before: Stopcode 0XEA. It shows up on BSODs as THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER. The intro screencap show results running that stopcode against the MS error code lookup tool. Basically, it says a device driver thread is stuck in an infinite loop. (See the MS Bug Check 0xEA page for further deets.) Apparently, it’s showing that optional CU KB5043145 throws interesting stopcode and BSOD/GSOD  on some PCs. Notably, says WindowsLatest, that includes some 2022 and 2024 Asus laptops.

If KB5043145 Throws Interesting Stopcode, Then What?

If that happens to any of your PCs, you’ll need to boot to WinRE on bootable media, and use the “Uninstall Update ” item in its Advanced Options menu to uninstall it from your Windows Image. When a PC won’t boot because the image is damaged, that’s pretty much the only repair that works, short of a clean Windows (re)install.

Alas, this is eerily reminiscent of the July 19 Crowstrike update, which took down 8+million Windows PCs. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as widespread nor impactful as that incident turned out. That said, Windows users should be aware that this optional CU could force recovery and repair to undo. Fortunately, such updates do not typically affect production environments, where update get tested and vetted long before they get scheduled for some update window.

But gosh, it seems like we’ve run into rather more problematic updates that is typical in 2024. FWIW, the update hasn’t caused any trouble on those test machines here at Chez Tittel where I can make it run. Even so, it’s a great reminder to be careful out there in Windows-World…

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

Outlook Search String Magic

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This is an IDKYCDT item. I work with Outlook every day, and have done so since the 1980s. You’d think I’d have learned a long time ago about how to make Outlook search string magic stand up and bark. Not so: in trolling the Internet today I learned about the “isread:no” string in Outlook search, which shows you all unread messages for the current search focus. Indeed, it’s the bomb when applied to my inbox, where things can sometimes pile up alarmingly.

You can see a sample search string of this type in the lead-in graphic. It reads the sender field (from:) in messages, and shows those that match what’s on the other side of the colon. In this case, recent stuff from one of my main project editors at Actual Tech Media.

Exploring Outlook Search String Magic

By itself, this isread:no string is a big boon to my productivity. But naturally, I’d like to find a compendium of all such strings. The closest I could come as an MS Support note entitled “How to search in Outlook.” It lists a pretty good number of such strings. But it isn’t really structured, appropriately organized, or complete in that specific area . Ditto for another support note “Use Outlook’s built-in search filters.”

In fact, the more I look around, the less I’m able to find a useful resource. I’m thinking I should reach out to the father of the AskWoody newsletter — Woody Leonhard himself, author of many books on Word and Office — and see if he can point me in the right direction. Who know where this may lead? Can’t wait to find out.

Stay tuned!

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Hyper-V and VMs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11

Chkdsk /f Fixes DISM Issues

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Here’s an interesting item. As part of routine maintenance, I ran DISM /online /cleanup-image /analyzecomponentstore on the P16 Mobile Workstation this morning. Imagine my surprise when it threw  “Error 2; The system cannot find the file specified.” at about 80% complete. I’d never run across this one before. But a Google Search soon revealed that this happens when DISM encounters a corrupted entry in the component store. MS Answers also reported that, nearly always, chkdsk /f fixes DISM issues of this kind. So that’s what I tried: as you can see from the lead-in graphic, it worked!

How Chkdsk /f Fixes DISM Issues

This particular disk scanning operation repairs any corrupted files it finds, if it can. That has me wondering if sfc /scannow might not have had the same salutary effect. I think that’s at least possible, so I’ll have to try it next time around. The only follow-on is that repairs to the C: drive (especially for the kinds of files that DISM cares about) must run while the Windows OS image is not in use. That means scheduling that check and repair during boot-up before the OS takes over operation of the PC (that is, while the boot loader is running things).

Thus, I had to reboot the P16, and watch the check run as a pre-boot task (large white text against a black screen). Here’s a capture from inside a Hyper-V VM (otherwise, it’s challenging to grab boot-time screens from Windows).

Once that repair had completed, I was able to run the previously inoperative DISM command without trouble. Every now and then, one gets lucky in Windows-World. This time, the repair worked just like it was supposed to. Good stuff!

 

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Insider stuff, Networking, Recent Activity, WED Blog

CATegorizing Ethernet LAN Cables

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I was flipping through X this morning, and came across a mind-boggling reminder that Ethernet networking has come a long way. You can see the chart from Dan Nanni (@xmodulo) as the lead-in graphic here. We’ve been planning our next move recently, and visiting a lot of new homes, so I can attest most builders are laying CAT 7 cable in such dwellings. But we’ve gone past 7 in categorizing Ethernet LAN cables, as a quick look at the chart will reveal. In fact, CAT 8.2 catches up with current top speeds for USB4 (but 80 Gbps is coming, probably next year).

Categorizing Ethernet LAN Cables Is Only Part

…of a more complicated picture. As I look around at PCs, switches, and so forth, I’m seeing a long tail of networking capabilities. When I see new PCs with RJ-45 ports, for example, I seldom see more than 2.5 Gbps interfaces. 10 Gbps is common on servers, but not on end-user gear.

We’re planning to move in 2026 or 2027, once son Gregory puts his university days behind him (planning on a 2-year Master’s to follow his BA). When we do that I’ll upgrade the infrastructure to support 2.5 Gbps. I see that 8-port 2.5 Gbps switches cost from US$60-100 nowadays. I’ll need to buy a bunch of CAT 7 cables, though: the higest-rated ones I see around here are CAT 6 (though it’s possible I’ve got some 6A shorties here or there).

Copilot puts the CAT timeline out as follows:

  • CAT 6: early 2000s [max: 1 Gbps]
  • CAT 6a: 2008 [max: 10 Gbps]
  • CAT 7 & 7a: 2010 [max: 10/40 Gbps]
  • CAT 8.1 & 8.2: 2016 [max: 25/40 Gbps]

Methinks there may some some limited need for 10 Gbps home networking, but not much above that speed. Speeds over 10 Gbps are generally limited to 30 m runs on TP cable, so they’re of limited utility in home spaces as well. Wonder how long it will take for these limits to evaporate? I hope to live long enough to find out.

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Cool Tools, Hyper-V and VMs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

Accessing Hyper-V VM WinRE

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Talk about deja vuI! I was trying to access the Windows Recovery Environment inside a VM today. I needed to make some screenshots for a TechTarget story. Turns out the only way to do that is at the command line, using shutdown /r /o /f /t 00. But there’s a problem: this command doesn’t work inside RDP, nor when running an “Enhanced mode” session. Thus, accessing Hyper-V VM WinRE is a little trickier than it could — or should — be. Sigh.

Tricks to Accessing Hyper-V VM WinRE

Turns out, turning off “Enhanced mode” is key in this case. After I did that, not only did the shutdown command work as advertised from a local session, it also worked through RDP, too. Go figure!

I’m used to working on test and road machines via RDP from my production desktop, so this kind of thing comes as no surprise to me. But each time I find one of these bumps in the road to Windows success, I seem compelled to find said bump with my nether regions.

But at least I now know how to get right to WinRE inside a VM. All the other tips I found online — such as extending the timeout interval to give time to hit the F8 key, for example — required too much time and effort (and happy chance) to work. I like doing things through the command line because it’s straightforward and direct, and does not require getting lucky to achieve success.

And boy, howdy, isn’t that just the way things go here in Windows-World sometimes? I’ll take the command line every time, especially if chance (happy or not) must otherwise be involved. You should do likewise…

 

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Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

ARM 24H2 Shows Spurious Reclaimables

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When I laid hands on my first Copilot+ PC — the inestimable Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x in late June — I checked DISM /analyzecomponentstore on that machine right away. Unlike other versions of Windows 11, the ARM version of 24H2 showed no such anomalies. But last week, while running a routine cleanup on the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 that represents my current Copilot+ PC capability, there they were. 14 of ’em, as you can see in the lead-in graphic in which ARM 24H2 shows spurious reclaimables. Notice the successful clean-up ahead of that report, which is what lets me label them spurious.

What ARM 24H2 Shows Spurious Reclaimables Means

There’s something odd that happens with certain Windows Updates. It causes dism /analyzecomponentstore to report some number of apparently bogus reclaimable packages as you can see in the graphic above. For x64 PCs that number is usually 13; ARM goes one better, and takes that total to 14.

So far, I’ve seen no actual pathology in Windows 11 related to this odd report. One can make this report go away by performing an in place upgrade repair install (Start > Settings > System > Recovery, then clicking “Reinstall now” under the “Fix problems using Windows Update” heading. But those spurious updates have a way of reappearing after the next CU, so I’ve let go of my OCD on that front and learned to live with this oddity.

It’s been that way for x64 versions of 24H2 pretty much since it first appeared, and even shows up on some of my 23H2 PCs as well (both test and production instances). For a while, I thought the ARM version was exempt. But the lead-in graphic argues otherwise. This comes as no great surprise to me, but I’d hoped that the ARM version of Windows 11 might avoid this phenomenon.

Isn’t that just the way things often work, here in Windows-World? You betcha!

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Canary Gets New Clock-based Widgets

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With the arrival of Build 27695, Windows 11 Canary gets new Clock-based widgets. One is named Countdown, the other Timer, so their clock affiliation should be obvious. One or both may be pinned quite easily into the Widgets column at the left-hand edge of the pop-up Widgets panel. Hint: Launch this by entering WinKey+W at some keyboard.

When Canary Gets New Clock-based Widgets, Then What?

You can see what these simple-seeming widgets look like by default in the lead-in graphic (Countdown left, Timer right). Inside the Widget Panel, you must click the top-line “+” (Plus sign) to open the Add a widget display. Then, you can pin either or both widgets, and they’ll start showing up in the Widgets Panel.

It’s always nice when MS starts adding functionality to its facilities. For a long time, that collection was pretty limited. Right now the count is up to 14: Counddown, Dev Home, Family Safety, Focus session, GitHub, Instant Play, Phone Link, Photos, Sports, Timer, Tips, Traffic, Watchlist, and Weather.

And if you click the “Find more widgets” option at the end of the Pin widgets list, you’ll be wafted off to an MS Store page named “Find your next widget.” Highly recommended: it offers better — and more nicely organized — widget listings than a simple search inside Store on “Widgets” offers.

Good stuff: too bad I can’t figure out a URL for that access. You’ll just have to follow the button inside the Widget panel as I did to get there. Enjoy!

AFD  until Tuesday, September 24

Later today, I’m going in for cataract surgery on my left eye. If all goes well — and they tell me this routine procedure has a 95-99% success rate — I’ll be back at the keyboard next Tuesday. Wish me luck!

BTW, AFD means “Away from My Desk.” I’m not sure if it’s a legit acronym, but I used it to shorten that heading length. Hopefully, it at least makes sense. Happy trails…

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Device drivers, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog

Morning Black Screen Recalls Pending Reboot

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On September 10, NVIDIA release its Game-Ready driver, version 561.09. At its conclusion it asked for a reboot. “Oh yeah,” I thought, “I’ll do that later.” It’s happening a LOT later than I planned, nearly 8 days on. If you look at the uptime info in the lead-in graphic you’ll see I’ve somehow managed no reboots since then. But, for the last two days this PC’s monitors have stayed dark when I’ve tried to wake it up first thing in the morning. Alas, that morning black screen recalls pending reboot, which I apparently MUST do (soon).

Note: I’ve been able to bring the desktop back from the black screen state on each of the past two days by striking CTRL-ALT-DEL at the keyboard, then canceling out of the Security Options screen that pops up. Good thing to know, in case this ever happens to you.

How Morning Black Screen Recalls Pending Reboot

Normally, when I click a mouse button or hit a keyboard key when my PC is sleeping, it starts right up. Both yesterday and today, though, I get black screens on both monitors with no cursor. Experience informs me that this is 95+% likely caused by a graphics driver issue. And as I think about it, I dimly recall installing 561.09 last week, then never following up with a reboot. If you do the math on the uptime field from WinFetch in the lead-in graphic, it was last updated on September 9,  around 3:09 PM (thanks timeanddate). Thus, it hasn’t been updated since the GPU driver got updated.

I’ve also noticed graphics running a bit slower and jerkier lately, too. It all adds up: I should’ve remembered to reboot the same day I updated NVIDIA graphics driver. But it may be too late to go back, but it’s not too late to reboot right now. And sure enough, when I do, no more black screens on startup, nor after waking from sleep (which I forced from Power > Shutdown > Sleep through the Start Menu to check).

Go figure. I should know better. This not-so-gentle reminder does the trick to help me remember this time. Isn’t that just the way things sometimes go in Windows-World?

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