Category Archives: Insider stuff

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

Flaky Video Driver Forces Fix Revisits

August 8, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

My production desktop’s dual monitor setup gets a little wonky from time to time. For some odd reason, the right-hand (primary) monitor will start blinking on and off. It’s annoying, but not overwhelming. When it happens, an apparently flaky video driver forces fix revisits. Basically, I keep trying stuff until something works. By no coincidence, that’s a decent operational definition for troubleshooting.

Items Checked When Flaky Video Driver Forces Fix Revisits

It usually goes something like this:

1. Use the Winkey-Ctrl-Shift-B key combo to reset the graphics driver. It does work, sometimes…
2. Check GeForce Experience to see if a newer driver is available; if so, install it.
3. If using the Nvidia gaming driver, switch to Studio driver, or vice-versa.
4. Uninstall, then reinstall the Nvidia driver. I also recommend using the freeware DDU tool to remove all traces of the old before installing the new.
5. Visit the Nvidia Driver Downloads page, and start trying older drivers, going back one version at a time… The recent entries in that list for my GeForce RTX 3070 Ti appear as the lead-in graphic for this story.

Today’s Fix Occurred Mid-way in Sequence

I got to Step 4 today before the blinking stopped. That’s a bit further than I usually have to go, but that’s Windows for you. I’m just glad I can concentrate on what’s showing on both displays, rather than how one or the other is (mis)behaving.

Some Windows errors or gotchas can be set aside and ignored for a while. Others — especially when they interfere with normal system operation — demand immediate attention. While today’s gotcha was one of the latter, it was familiar. Thus, I knew what to do, and how to do it, with minimum need for diagnosis and root cause analysis.

I just marched through the foregoing list and found my solution in under 10 minutes. I can only wish that all problems were so easily fixed. And that’s the way things are unfolding today, here in Windows World. Stay tuned: there’ll be more!

Note Added August 13

Yesterday, I installed a new NVIDIA Studio Driver (version 516.94). The problem has not re-appeared since I applied my uninstall/reinstall “fix” earlier this week. That jumps me up from Step 4 (original fix) to Step 2 (current fix). And so it goes…

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

Build 25174 May Drop Insider MSA

August 5, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s a nifty little gotcha. After upgrading my two Dev Channel test PCs earlier this week, I noticed something missing. As you can see in the lead-in graphic for this story, despite Insider membership in good standing beforehand, things were different afterward. Hence my warning: Build 25174 may drop Insider MSA info, as shown in the graphic. Both of test machines were likewise affected.

If Build 25174 May Drop Insider MSA, Then What?

If you click on the “Please link…” entry shown in the graphic, it will automatically open the “Sign-in” page that lets you choose the MSA (Microsoft Account) you wish to associate with the Insider build on the target PC. I simply picked the one I had already associated with the PCs before applying the upgrade. It took all of 15 seconds to fix.

So why am I telling you this? I can’t extrapolate from 2 machines to the entire Dev Channel population. But I can guess that if both my machines were so affected, other Insiders running Dev Channel builds may find the same thing when they check their Insider status after the upgrade.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? This reminds me of other oddities I’ve seen post-upgrade for earlier versions of Windows 10 and 11. For a long time, in fact, I had to check “Private” vs “Public” network status after such upgrades, and routinely reset them to my desired states. This strikes me as just another case in point.

Nothing in the 25174 announcement…

I just checked the 25174 announcement, and it makes no mention of this particular gotcha. I’m reporting this to feedback hub as I write this item and I see no similar reports amidst that collection. Perhaps this is idiosyncratic and only applies to my PCs. But I bet it’s not, so check yours, too, please. Cheers!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Exploring Windows 11 Widgets

August 4, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I just installed Build 25174 on both of my Dev Channel test machines. Upon reading that MS has included a new “Game Pass” widget with this release I decided to spend some time exploring Windows 11 widgets. I found what was promised, and spent some time. But I came away unready to surrender my beloved 8GadgetPack. Let me explain…

What Exploring Windows 11 Widgets Tells Me…

The lead-in graphic for this story shows the top part of “Add Widgets.” In Windows 11, launch Widgets by clicking the weather bug, or the Winkey+W key combo. The “Add Widgets” item appears under “Widget settings,” where I did indeed find Game Pass as shown in the screencap.

Here’s a list of currently-available widgets in two-column format:

* Family Safety        * Weather
* Watchlist            * Outlook Calendar
* To Do                * Photos
* Tips                 * Sports
* Traffic              * Entertainment
* Gaming               * Game Pass

Without exception, all of these items are news, event, or game oriented. That’s fine, but it doesn’t do for me what gadgets do. Sure, widgets can help you keep up with what’s going on in the world. But the gadgets I use tell me important stuff about my PC: I rely on CPU meter to see what my CPU is doing, Network Meter to see what’s up with the network, and so forth. The Control System gadget lets me restart or shut down any PC, including inside an RDP session (very handy).

Opening Up Widgets?

MS has promised for some time now it will open widgets up to third-party developers. Search on “3rd party windows widgets” to read numerous May 24, 2022, stories on this topic. But so far, none of this stuff has seen the light of day. I’m incredibly curious to see what fruit will spring from this vine. But until I see stuff that does what my gadgets already do, I will continue using 8GadgetPack and its great collection of useful, compact, always-visible desktop items.

Needless to say, I’m bursting with curiosity to see what outside developers will offer Windows 11 by way of widgets. I’m hopeful that it might include monitoring and management stuff like that included in the Gadgets collection. Stay tuned: I’ll let you know what’s included when these things start to appear. Should be interesting…

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

Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure Raises Odd Issues

August 3, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

This is the part of playing with Windows that I love best. I’m researching different speeds for backup drives, ranging from a USB-C HDD drive caddy into the SSD realm. My objective is to see how fast an external USB-C drive can go, and to see if Thunderbolt support makes any difference. I added a cheapo (US$29) NVMe enclosure to my line-up. But alas, that Thunderbolt 3 SSD enclosure raises odd issues. Let me explain…

Why Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure Raises Odd Issues

As far as I can tell, I went too far back in time with the first M.2 NVMe I tried out in the cheapo new NVMe enclosure. My initial attempt featured a 2016 vintage OEM Samsung MZVPV512HDGL SSD. It kept blowing up during write testing in CrystalDiskMark, and it wouldn’t make a Macrium Reflect backup.

So I cannibalized a newer ADATA XPG 256GB SSD (vintage 2020) from my Sabrent-enclosed Ventoy drive and tried that instead. It worked just fine, and got aggregate read/write speeds from Reflect of 5.7/3.0 Gbps when backing up my Lenovo X12 Hybrid Tablet. It includes a USB 3.2 version of USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support. Total backup time on that system was 6:16 with 76.5 GB on the C: drive and under 1.5 GB on the other partitions. Figure 78 GB overall, that produces a physical time (no compression) of roughly 200 Mbps of ongoing read/write activity. By comparison an mSATA drive (vintage 2013) takes just under16 (15:56) minutes to complete the same backup. That’s more than 60% faster!

It’s All About the Speed

My best guess is that the older drive wasn’t sufficiently compatible with the PCIe x3/x4 requirements inside the NVMe enclosure. Once I switched over to something newer (and definitely PCIe x3 compliant), everything worked fine. I’ve got a brand-new PCIe x4 SSD coming today or tomorrow, and am hopeful the faster media will also produce faster transfer rates for backup, too. We’ll see!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Buying Windows 11 Direct Online

August 2, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then: it’s finally happened. MS now makes downloadable Windows 11 available through its online store. The lead-in graphic pertains to Windows 11 Home, but there’s another, similar page for Windows 11 Pro. Prices are US$139 and US$199 respectively, which makes buying Windows 11 direct online an interesting proposition.

Why Is Buying Windows 11 Direct Online “Interesting?”

The prices for Home (US$139) and Pro (US$199) very much represent MSRP numbers. That is: they set the upper bound on what you must pay to acquire a legit Windows 11 license of either type. A quick search on “Windows 11 pro key purchase” or “Windows 11 home key purchase” shows plenty of etailers offering substantial discounts on those numbers. Some of them are so cheap, in fact, that I have trouble contemplating them as absolutely legit.

Even big etailers such as Newegg, Best Buy, CDW and so forth, offer discounted versions of these OSes. Admittedly some of those are for OEM use. Those are supposedly good only for a one-PC install on a machine for resale to a third party, but I’m not aware of MS enforcing that restriction on users purchasing such a license for appropriate use on any PC they own.

Why Buy From MS, Then?

Convenience, guaranteed legitimacy, and automatic licensing are probably the main reasons why some buyers will turn to MS for these license/download combinations. Those who know how to shop around can do better, to be sure. But those factors can be compelling for those leery of stepping afoul of scams and disallowed uses of seemingly legit license keys.

I’m more than just a little curious to see what kind of buying volumes emerge from this MS offer. Likewise, I’m hopeful MS may actually tell us something about ensuing activity. They don’t always share such data, though. Even official Windows user numbers come only sparsely — the last such “report” covered Windows 10 By The Numbers. It dates back before the pandemic.

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

Weird Full-Screen RDP Effect

August 1, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I still use Windows 10 on my production desktop, but I run half-a-dozen instances of Windows 11 right now. Lately, I’ve noticed that with screen size expanded to fit the left-hand monitor — but not maximized — I get a weird full-screen RDP effect. I lose the start menu at the bottom of the screen. As I said: weird!

What Is the Weird Full-Screen RDP Effect?

The lead-in graphic for this story shows what I’m talking about from the Start Menu perspective. Up top, we see a Windows 10 Start Menu that surprisingly shows up at the bottom of a “full-screen” Windows 11 RDP window. When I hit the maximize button at upper right, the lower (and normal) Windows 11 start menu appears. (Note: I selected “left” alignment in the Task Manager options to make it show up there for purposes of comparison and contrast).

Needless to say, when I don’t notice this and click on the full-screen Windows 10 menu, it doesn’t do anything to the Windows 11 RDP window above. This is disconcerting, to say the least. At worst, I start thinking I’ve got problems and start unnecessary troubleshooting actions. Sigh.

Why/How Did This Weirdness Present?

For some reason, this happened to me the last time I updated the Nvidia driver on my production PC. It’s now running version 516.93, installed last week. After the install completed, all the open windows moved to the right-hand (primary) monitor. That’s normal. But what’s different is that maximized RDP windows changed “auto-magically” to full-screen (but not maximized) layouts. That led me to the source of confusion when I dragged those full-screen windows to the secondary (left-hand) monitor.

Again: Weird! But by looking very closely at what I was seeing, I eventually figured out what was going on. Now I make sure to click the maximize button when using RDP. That way, I see the maximized RDP session controls at the top of the screen (see below) and know that the start menu at bottom is the start menu I want to work within that window.

And that, dear readers, is how things sometimes go in Windows-world. As JRRT put it “All that glitters is not gold; not all those who wander are lost.” I wandered a bit, but ultimately figured out what was weird and why.

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

Build 25169 Gains Spotlight Background

July 29, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Windows Spotlight is a gorgeous collection of nearly 2K images that MS brings to OS users. It appears by default in the hidden local app data folder associated with your login account (see below for a full path spec). Thus, it’s always available to those who know where to find it. But, starting right now, Dev Channel Build 25169 gains Spotlight background option in Settings → Personalization → Themes. It also shows up at the top of the Personalization pane, as shown in the lead-in graphic above. It’s boxed in red at the upper right corner of the six theme tabs showing there. Its mouseover text reads “Windows Spotlight, rotating background images.”

When Build 25169 Gains Spotlight Background Variety Folllows

The range and coverage of the Spotlight collection includes reams of nature photography, plus all kinds of other arresting images of great visual interest. Thus, the collection is worth exploring just to see and appreciate what’s there.

Find it at the following path specification (broken across multiple lines for readability: if you cut’n’paste to navigate there, you may need to paste it back together first):

C:\Users\<Account-name>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets

Please note: you’ll need to replace the place holder in the preceding string shown as <Account-name>. Use the label associated with your current logged-in account. In my case that’s “etitt” (a truncation of “etittel”). YMMV.

I Win at the Gradual Rollout Game, for Once!

Though the 25169 announcement is mum on this topic, 3rd-party reports on the Spotlight background option indicate that it’s another gradual rollout from MS. That means some Dev Channel users will see it on their desktops, while others won’t. To my astonishment and delight it showed up on my Dev Channel test PCs.

For once, I seem to have been included in the first wave of lucky participants. Good-oh!

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

Updating Dolby Audio X2

July 28, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

On some of my Lenovo systems, one specific file often shows up in the Software Update Monitor (SUMo) in need of a newer version. It’s named dolbydax2desktopui.exe . According to Lenovo, it’s part of the Dolby Audio X2 system (DAX2) and comes preloaded on some of its PCs. Updating this Dolby Audio X2 file has been problematic, because a file source and update method have been unclear. No longer!

Updating Dolby Audio X2 Is Easy, If You Know How…

Most software updates require … well … an update of some kind to be applied. Not so for this particular file. One simply needs to overwrite the older version with a newer one in its default path:

C:\Program Files\Dolby\Dolby DAX2\DAX2_APP\

Of course, this raises an interesting question — namely, where might one find current versions of this file? I finally found them at a website named pconlife.com, which describes itself as “aimed at recovering the .dll or .exe file lost by Windows OS for computer users.” In general it seeks to help users replace lost, missing or damaged Windows files. For me, it’s shown itself to be a safe and reliable source of current versions of the afore-named DAX2 file. (Note: VirusTotal gives this file a 0/68 finding on its comparative checks).

Now, when SUMo tells me I need to update this file, I know where to go to get its specified version. I also know how to “update” that file. Choosing “Copy and Replace” in Explorer when seeking to over-write its predecessor does the trick nicely, thanks very much!

Yet Again, Persistence Pays Off

Learning how to keep Windows apps and components current is mostly a matter of routine. But for some things — this DAX2 item is a good example — one has to figure out how to do that, and where to get new versions as they appear. It’s easier when the vendor or maker provides an update package (and easier still when applying that package can be automated). But with enough investigation and elbow grease, these problems can be cracked over time. I’m glad to have this one finally made routine as well.

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

Store Reinstall Solves Stuck Terminal

July 27, 2022 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Interesting! As is my usual practice, I just installed KB5015882, the upcoming CU preview. It targets production Windows 11, and takes it to Build 22000.832. After that update and restart, I noticed two things. First, this PC was still running the old Windows Terminal version. Second, Windows Store offered me an upgrade for same, but it got stuck during the process. After forcibly closing Store, and returning to the same page, a Store reinstall solves stuck Terminal once and for all. Deets follow, and a general approach to app repair.

Praise Be! Store Reinstall Solves Stuck Terminal

To begin with, when I ran Windows Terminal, I noticed it was still running an old version (no access to Settings, nor various supported command line environments). When I visited the Store, and searched on “Windows Terminal” its app page hung while trying to upgrade that very tool. So I terminated the whole shebang by clicking the close button at upper right.

Just for grins, I ran winget upgrade --all. It did not upgrade my Windows Terminal install, though it found and updated numerous other items successfully. Go figure!

Then, I opened the Microsoft Store again. I repeated my search on “Windows Terminal.” Lo and behold, it offered an Install button this time. When I clicked that option, it downloaded and installed the latest version. As you can see from the lead-in graphic above, the result was a current version of Windows Terminal, which runs PowerShell version 7.2.5 by default. Fixed!

When Windows Apps Get Wonky…

When apps start going sideways, I go through a drill to clean them up. This drill consists of the following steps:

1. Visit the Store, look up the app and see what it offers. Apply any resulting upgrades or installs. If this doesn’t work, go on to
2. Use PowerShell and Winget to find the name of the package for the app in question. Here, winget list terminal reports that name is Microsoft.WindowsTerminal.
3. You can use winget to uninstall, then reinstall the package as follows:
  winget uninstall Microsoft.WindowsTerminal. Then,
  winget install Microsoft.WindowsTerminal
  will install the current version.

Most of the time — as in this instance — if the Store offers options, they will usually suffice to fix app issues. Steps 2 and 3 are only needed when the app itself is somehow damaged or corrupt.

Put this in your bag of Windows 10 and 11 tricks. It could come in handy someday!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

KB5015684 Provides Quick Windows 10 22H2 Upgrade

July 26, 2022 Ed Tittel 8 Comments

Here’s an interesting item. Turns out that MS has made KB5015684 available through its update servers. Thanks to the team at DeskModder.de you can find x86, x64 and ARM64 versions of either .CAB or .MSU files. All have links of the form https://catalog.s.download.windowsupdate.com/c/upgr/2022/07/windows10.0-kb5015684-xxx.cab or .msu. They must be legit, right? Hence my claim that KB501864 provides quick Windows 10 22H2 upgrade.

I just ran it on my production Windows 10 PC, and it went through without hitch or glitch. Completed in under 2 minutes, including download, install and reboot time, too. May be worth a try for those with Windows 10 PCs not expected to elevate to Windows 11 soon (or ever). So far, I see no discernable changes in look, feel, or behavior — just a new Build number 19045 (vs. 19044). Same minor extension as before, in fact: 1826.

What KB501864 Provides Quick Windows 10 22H2 Upgrade Really Means

Two things:
1. MS is getting close enough to a 22H2 public release for a preview to go out.
2. The code for the 22H2 release is stable enough to start it through the Windows Insider program.
Note: I didn’t have to join the Insider program to install this update, which appears as a “Quality Update” in Update History. The Windows Insider Program page on this PC, post-update, does NOT show itself as “joined-up” either. So one need not be concerned that applying the update automagically changes the PC’s status to that of an Insider machine. That’s a relief!

I ran the .MSU x64 version of the upgrade, simply because a self-installing update file is a little easier to apply than CAB files can sometimes be. You can find all links in the original Deskmodder.de article (6 files in all). It might be a good idea to apply this upgrade to test machines with some caution, if you’re concerned about possible unwanted side effects. That didn’t stop (or hurt) me on this PC, though…

If you’re interested, have at it. Cheers!