Category Archives: Windows 10

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

Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0 Follies

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As it turns out, I should’ve read the Microsoft announcement more carefully. The Windows Insider blog post that announced a new Experience Pack warned me that things would be different for Beta Channel and Release Preview PCs. It said: “For Windows Insiders in the Release Preview Channel, this will be an optional update for you.” I just didn’t pay sufficient attention. And that, dear readers, led me to some unnecessary but still effective Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0 follies yesterday.

What Kind of Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0 Follies?

The kind where I decided that because WU didn’t offer my Release Preview PC an obvious and immediate download, I would get it by other means. So, I turned to TenForums.com, where sure enough. I found a thread with a link to a reliable online source. Because this was a .CAB file, I then ran DISM /add-package … to get it installed. It worked!

Then I found out that the Release Preview mechanism differed from the Beta Channel one. Beta Channel (Surface Pro 3) got a direct offer from WU. Release Preview had a new item show up as an “Optional Update” — just as the afore-linked blog post said.

Sigh. One of these days, I’ll slow down and pay more attention. I swear. As Jerry Pournelle used to say in his Byte column from Chaos Manor “Real soon now.” Fortunately, there’s usually more than one path between Points A and B here in Windows-World. Yesterday, mine took me off the beaten track, and had me do manually what WU would have done for me automatically. Sigh again.

Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0 Follies.info

I did get here eventually, but not via the most direct route.

One More Thing…

I used DISM to install the KB5004393 update on the Release Preview PC (Lenovo ThinkPad X380). Thus it doesn’t show up in WU Update History (unlike the screencap at the head of this story, which came from the Surface Pro 3). Indeed, I had to go into Programs and Features and use “View installed updates” to find it instead. When you do things manually, reporting changes, too. A word of warning, by way of factual observation.

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WU Extends X390 21H1 Offer

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This morning, I checked Windows Update on the 2019 vintage X390 Yoga (i7 Kaby Lake 8th Gen) as is my daily practice. Lo and Behold! There it *finally* was: WU extends X390 21H1 offer. I immediately downloaded and installed that update. What you see for this story’s lead-in graphic is the “Restart required” status that popped up less than 2 minutes later.

When WU Extends X390 21H1 Offer, I Take It!

After clicking said button, it took another 30 seconds or so to get to the actual restart. After reboot, it took less than 20 seconds to get to the start screen. I was able to RDP into the X390 with no delays to produce a 21H1 Winver screen (clipped to cut off email address).

No sooner is the offer extended, than it’s taken up. I’ve been waiting for this, in fact…

What I didn’t see after this update was additional updates to bring the 21H1 image up-to-date. That tells me WU is still keeping 2004-20H2-21H1 in pretty tight synchronization. In other words, I didn’t need specifically targeted 21H1 updates, because the necessary bits were already present. They’d been applied to 20H2 and stayed in effect across the  image transition into 21H1. Good stuff!

Just for grins, I ran DISM … /startcomponentcleanup on the 21H1 image. It took a while to get anywhere, and left two persistent, supposedly reclaimable packages behind. I’ve seen this before, and expected a re-run to leave them untouched. It did, and quickly, too.

Another One Bites the Dust

At this point I’ve only got one more machine that hasn’t been offered the 21H1 update yet. Should be interesting to see how much longer that takes. Stay tuned: I’ll let you know when that happens.

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Networking, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Jabbering Transceiver Error Rears Its Ugly Head

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My first real networking job was as a Networking Consultant for Excelan in 1988. That company was purchased in 1989 by Novell, where I stayed quite happily until 1994. My initial training for the position included learning a hardware-based protocol analyzer (the LANalyzer, in fact). One of the things we learned in class was a coax-based 802.1 10 Mbps transceiver could crash an entire physical LAN. This device had a classy alias: “vampire tap.”  It was scre-clamped onto a thickwire coax cable to add one or more  network ports. Sometimes, its built-in circuitry would go bananas and overrun the network with bogus traffic. This problem, known as a jabbering transceiver error rears its ugly head recently. It happened  on  one of the Chez Tittel GbE switch domains.

When Jabbering Transceiver Error Rears Its Ugly Head, Divide and Conquer

Here’s a quote from the 2000 classic by Charles Spurgeon: Ethernet: The Definitive Guide

The quote comes courtesy of Google books, pg. 107.
(I still have a hardcopy on my bookshelf).

I’m pretty sure that NICs don’t have transceivers any more, so they aren’t really subject to such failures. But similar behavior — specifically, failure of a switch domain — is well-known to occur when hardware problems bedevil a LAN segment. For a while there, I was chasing random network failures in my office. They would kick all the machines off the switch, but would gradually let everybody back on.

It wasn’t until I quit using the built-in GbE port on my retiring X220 Tablet PC that the problems stopped. I was able to confirm the issue by plugging the RJ-45 cable back into that until and watching the circus start back up. If I switched to a USB dongle instead, the GbE domain attached to either or both switches in my office worked fine. One is a standalone NetGear 8-port GbE switch, the other an 8-port switch integrated into my Asus 802.11AX WAP/router.

Historical Note

Divide and conquer was the recommended troubleshooting method to identify a jabbering transceiver. One would subdivide the cable segment by interrupting it at a repeater, and terminating each sub-segment. Whichever segment stayed broken had the failing device. Repeat until the device can be identified, then replace it. I did this for TRW in Austin in 1988 on an actual service call there…

It wasn’t really until I started the trip down memory lane to my first-ever Ethernet networking class in 1987, and my trip to TRW,  that I understood what was happening. The built-in GbE interface was failing, and acting like a jabbering transceiver. I can’t exactly say “everything old is new again.” But I can say, an old lesson learned came in handy. And indeed, that is the way things sometimes go, shooting trouble here in Windows-World!

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

Pondering Free Windows Upgrades

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The world is expecting information about a new major Windows release on June 24. I’ve been watching the byplay and discussion of what could be new, and what might be next. For me, one question is paramount. Will the next upgrade be free? Or, will users have to pay for that privilege? That’s what has me pondering free Windows upgrades, as the Microsoft event comes in a just a few more days.

History  Guides Me, In Pondering Free Windows Upgrades

Let me think back on my own personal Windows history. I remember most early upgrades to Windows were neither free (because they came on “official media”) nor terribly expensive (because MS wanted users to stay current). If I remember correctly, upgrades cost US$50 to $99 for Windows 3.0 and 3.1. Windows 95 upgrades listed for US$109.95, but deals were sometimes available. Ditto for Windows 98, which also offered a pre-order price of $94.99 for upgrades to those willing to spend less sooner and get the media later. Windows Vista is the last version that I remember Microsoft charging a fee to upgrade and it cost more: US$120 (Home), US$200 (Business) and US$220 (Ultimate).

Since then, upgrades to 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 have pretty much all been free to those with legit, valid Windows licenses for previous (and sometimes older) versions. To my way of thinking, this says that recent history argues that a “next upgrade” should be free for Windows 10 licensees. OTOH, there’s plenty of older history that argues directly to the contrary.

Time Will Tell … and Soon, I Hope!

With a major announcement coming up on Thursday, June 24, we may soon be finding out what any upgrade deal will be for Windows 10 licensees. Because I have 10 PCs here at Chez Tittel, I’m more than a little interested in (and apprehensive) about the upcoming upgrade policy. In the meantime, I’ve got my fingers crossed that recent history trumps ancient history now that physical media are seldom needed, and OS downloads represent the most common and widely used distribution channel for Windows install files.

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

Tom Petty Got Windows Wait Right

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As the community of Windows Insiders, journalists, watchers and hangers-on collectively holds its breath for June 24, I’m thinking about an old Tom Petty song. The name of the song, of course, is the 1981 classic “The Waiting.” The lyric runs “The waiting is the hardest part.” And wow, how true is that as time marches toward Microsoft’s next generation Windows event on June 24. For me — and I imagine, many others — Tom Petty got Windows wait right.

Because Tom Petty Got Windows Wait Right, Hang In There!

Earlier this week, a leaked version of what purports to be the next Windows release appeared online. Since then, all the usual Windows news outlets are abuzz.  These include WinAero, Windows Latest, Windows Central, OnMSFT, Thurrott, and countless others. All are awash in exposition and analysis of “what’s in there.”

Visit one or more of the widely read third-party Windows sites to see what I mean. On every one, stories about the leaked version dominate their home pages.  Here’s a quick “count analysis” of what I see. In fact, most of them have devoted over half their line items to this topic. Some go as high as 90 percent.

When the Hardest Part Is Over, Then What?

I’m crossing my fingers that MS will indeed release an official next-gen version during or after the June 24 event. Because I’m an Insider MVP I’m not allowed to write about details regarding leaks and unofficial releases, hacks and other similar stuff. That probably explains why I’m a little frustrated that there’s so much activity already underway that I can’t dive into just yet.

In the meantime, I’ll keep humming Mr. Petty’s tune and watching the clock. There’s really not much else I can do right now — except, of course, to keep plugging away at all the real work I actually get paid for. Do stay tuned: as soon as I can, I’ll start covering this next big Windows thing, whatever it turns out to be.

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

Upcoming PowerShell Updates Arrive via WU

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Here’s an interesting tidbit. Starting with Preview edition 7.2 preview 5 or newer, Windows Update will take over responsibility for updating PowerShell as new versions emerge. Used to be it would notify users an update was available, but they would have to visit GitHub to grab the .msi,  or use a package manager to install the new version. But now, certain upcoming PowerShell updates arrive via WU.

It’s not clear when this will click in for production versions, but the shift is already underway for preview versions. If you download and install PowerShell 7.2 preview 5 or 6, you’ll be queued up for this grand experiment. (Visit the Releases GitHub page to find them.)

Rolling Out Upcoming PowerShell Updates Arrive via WU

As is typical when introducing new features and capabilities. MS will start this process with Preview editions of PowerShell. You can read more about the rollout plan in the June 16 PowerShell blog “Preview udpating PowerShell 7.2 with Microsoft Update.” Some registry tweaking is required, but the blog post provides all necessary commands in scripts designed for easy cut’n’paste use.

This is a nice step forward for Windows-heads who, like me, are regular and interested PowerShell users. It’s one step closer to real OS integration now. The post doesn’t say when this treatment will include PS production versions, but I’m hoping it will be soon. Perhaps it will come along for the ride into “next generation” Windows 10? Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you when that news hits.

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Forcibly Upgrading 20H2 PCs Many Ways

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OK, I’ll admit it. I got tired of waiting. This weekend, I forcibly upgraded my 20H2 production desktop to 21H1. As it happens, when forcibly upgrading 20H2 PCs many ways to the new version are open. I took one of the easiest: installing the enablement package. Links for x32, x64 and ARM64 versions are available at TenForums, via KB5000736 self-installing update files.

Forcibly Upgrading 20H2 PCs Many Ways Requires Follow-up

Of course, it’s been a while since KB5000736 first appeared on May 18. After I got through that install — which took under 2 minutes on my SkyLake i7-6700 PC — I had additional updates to install:

  • KB4023057: Update for Windows 10 Update Service Components
  • KB5004476 Out-of-band MS Store fix for Xbox Game Pass games

These took MUCH longer to download and install than the enablement package for 21H1, much to my surprise. Not all updates, apparently, can happen as quickly or easily as its minimalist changes (which mostly involve flipping switches for stuff already in the 20H2 OS).

Other Ways to Forcibly Upgrade from 20H2 to 21H1

Though it may be the fastest way to get from 20H2 to 21H1, other methods are also available. The Microsoft Update Assistant and an in-place upgrade install from mounted 21H1 ISO (both available on the Download Windows 10 page) will do the trick as well. But not only do these methods take longer, they also leave Windows.old and related cruft behind. That’s why I use the enablement package whenever possible. If you run out of patience like I did, I suggest you take the same route to get to 21H1 yourself. Enjoy!

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Windows 10 Retirement Date Is 2025

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The exact date is October 14, 2025 to be more precise. This information comes from the Windows Lifecycle page for Windows 10 Home and Pro. Other online sources brought it to my attention last week. After earlier statements from MS that Windows 10 would be the last version, ever, this comes as something of a surprise (here’s a BBC story that reports this same observation). Notice, though that this statement — namely, Windows 10 retirement date is 2025 — covers only Home, Pro, Pro Education and Pro Workstation versions in the intro screencap. But if you visit the corresponding Lifecycle Page for Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, you’ll see that same date there also:

Windows 10 Retirement is 2025--including Enterprise and Education, too.
Windows 10 Retirement is 2025–including Enterprise and Education, too.

EOL = Windows 10 Retirement Date is 2025

This information certainly adds some frisson to the upcoming June 24 announcement of what’s next for Windows. Indeed, the current reigning version has always had this expiration date, according to Microsoft internal sources. Frankly, I just hadn’t looked closely at the Lifecyle data in quite some time.

Given that a 10-year life for Windows versions is more or less standard, that means a new, replacement version is more or less obligatory.  The next generation’s name, content and release details still remain a cipher. however, as the June 24 event day draws ever closer.

Gosh! I find myself a whole lot more interested in the upcoming event than I had been. I suspect a great many Windows watchers, reporters, and professionals my share that feeling. And with Windows Cloud PC now apparently working I find myself wondering if that version won’t also switch over to “the next big thing” sooner,  rather than later.

Up until last week, Windows 10 versions (e.g. 2004, 20H2, and 21H1) all came with expiration dates. I mistakenly thought that Windows 10 itself never had a retirement date of its own. In fact, it always had been slated for a 2025 end date, and I somehow missed that boat. I’m reminded of Donkey’s line in Shrek I: “Of course you’re a girl dragon!” In that vein, of course we should have known something must succeed Windows 10. Perhaps on June 24 we’ll find out more about what that could be.

I Must Apologize for Misunderstanding…

Note:  This item was substantially revised on June 15, when I learned from sources within Microsoft that the retirement date has been published and present for some time. Indeed I can find this information in the Wayback Machine as far back as September 22, 2020. My apologies for any suggestions that this is a big change or that it is of more than ordinary significance. It’s just the normal working out of the software lifecycle.

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Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

My Personal 13.3″ ThinkPad History

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As I wrote in yesterday’s blog post X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet, my trusty old ThinkPad X220 Tablet is aging out of useful Windows test machine status. This got me to thinking about my personal 13.3″ ThinkPad history. In fact, all of those PCs are still in the room here with me and I’d like to run through them in today’s disquisition. Let’s tackle the series in chronological order.

My Personal 13.3″ ThinkPad History Begins

It all started in 2012, when Que (Part of Pearson Publishing) asked me to help revise Windows 7 in Depth for the upcoming release of Windows 8. Its beta release occurred in February, and I started looking for a pair of suitable test PCs at that time. Because touch was integral to Windows 8, but still rare and expensive, one of those two units HAD to include a touchscreen. That’s what led me to the ThinkPad X220 Tablet (and a ThinkPad T420 laptop) both with i7-2650M CPUs, 8 GB RAM, and (if memory serves) 500MB 2.5″ spinning disk drives. Read more about the ThinkPad X Series at Wikipedia.

Changes and Upgrades Follow

Over the next few years, I made many changes to those two laptops. SSDs emerged and I endowed each of them with Plextor mSATA 256 drives. This let me take advantage of their empty M.2 slots, which were designed to handle either cellular wireless access or storage. I also upgraded the HDDs to OCZ SATA-III SSDs, doubled up RAM on both machines to 16 GB, and purchased a PCIe card with 2 USB 3 ports to include higher-speed USB access on those PCs (both include only USB 2 ports built-in).

Over the years, these machines served me faithfully and well. I took them on the road for many legal and consulting jobs, not to mention family trips. Last year, the T420 proved increasingly difficult to upgrade to production Windows 10 versions. But the X220 Tablet kept chugging along until about 4 months ago, when a new Intel Management Engine upgrade failed, and left that firmware in a perpetual error state. Since then, it too, has proved increasingly difficult to upgrade to the latest Dev Channel Insider updates and upgrades. That said, the machine was designed in 2011 and purchased in 2012, so I would have to say it’s had a long and productive go here at Chez Tittel.

Phase 2: X380 Yoga Comes Aboard (2018)

In 2018, I actually acquired 2 X380 Yogas, both more or less identically configured. Each includes an i7-8650U Intel 7th generation (codename Kaby Lake) CPU, 16 GB DDR4 soldered RAM, and a 1 TB NVMe OEM SSD. (One  has a slower Toshiba, and the other a faster Samsung model.) I use one for the production version of Windows 10 (currently 20H2 awaiting the 21H1 enablement package offer from WU). The other one runs Windows 10 Dev Channel Insider Preview release (currently at Build 21390.1010).

The X380 has proved an excellent bring-along family/entertainment PC, when I’ve also carried a “work machine” on family trips and vacations. It’s got the right combination of size, display, computing capabilities, and battery life to make a great media platform.

Phase 3: X390 Yoga Joins the Party (2019)

As my wife’s ancient Mini-ITX PC (Ivy Bridge i7) started showing signs of age, I decided to buy an X-series ThinkPad for her as a main machine, hooked up to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard using a Belkin USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 dock. That didn’t pan out, so I got her a Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro in 2020 instead. I’m using the X390 as a test machine for Insider Preview releases, and have also taken it on the road. It’s pretty much identical to the two X380s except for some minor port differences. (The X390 has two USB-C ports one of which is Thunderbolt 3 capable; the X380s have more USB-A ports and fewer USB-C).

Phase 4: ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 Gets a Look-See (2021)

Because of my long and productive history with this particular ThinkPad series, I contacted Lenovo to see if the might send me the latest 11th Generation (Tiger Lake) version of this PC. They did: it arrived here yesterday. Known as X1 Yoga Gen 6, the unit has an i7-1185G7 CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR4x 4266MHz RAM, and a 500GB Hynix SSD (an OEM model I’ve never come across before). It’s got enough interesting bells and whistles that I’m looking forward to writing up a first look on this nice little laptop. Also, this machine is my first exposure to Lenovo in some color other than black (it’s  a mat and muted steel grey all over as you can see in the photo).

It’s too early to tell much about this PC. So far, I’ve turned it on, hooked it up to Wi-Fi, set up my Microsoft account, and installed a few apps (mostly for testing and benchmarking). You can see its publicity photo, however, as the lead-in graphic for this story. I’m planning to write a first look piece about it next week.  Stay tuned!

 

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Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet

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With the 2012 vintage Lenovo X220 Tablet going into a well-earned retirement, I need a replacement Dev Channel test machine. I’ve decided to call upon my 2019 vintage Lenovo X390 Yoga to fill that role. As the X390 Yoga replaces X220 Tablet, I’m sure I’ll be learning a lot more about this machine, even though it’s been around for 16 months or so.

More About X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet

Originally, I purchased this laptop to replace my wife’s aging Ivy Bridge mini-ITX PC. I ended up going for a Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro instead. Since I bought the machine in December 2019, I’ve been using it to test the current GA version of Windows 10. Now, it’ll switch over to following the latest bleeding-edge Dev Channel releases.

Here’s how that PC is equipped:

  • 8th Generation (Whiskey Lake) i7-8565U CPU
  • 16 GB RAM (2×8 GB, soldered, DDR4 2400 MHz)
  • Intel UHD Graphics 620
  • SSDPEKKF512G8L Intel 1TB NVMe SSD
  • Intel Wireless-AC 9560 160Mhz Wi-Fi adapter
  • 13.3″ FHD (1920×1080) touchscreen
  • Fingerprint reader, Windows Hello camera
  • 2xUSB 3.1 Gen 1; 1xUSB-C; 1xUSB-C/Thunderbolt 3
  • MicroSD card slot
  • ThinkPad Pen Pro stylus included
  • Dimensions: 12.2″ x 8.6″ x 0.63″ / 310.4 x 219 x 15.95 (mm)
  • Weight: 2.85 lbs (1.29 kg)

Lenovo’s port map graphic that follows shows where everything is, on the unit’s right and left sides. It’s been a treat to work with and use.

X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet.portmap
X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet.portmap (click image for full-sized view).

Backup and Restore

Any test machine has to have backup/restore capability. That’s because there’s always the chance that updates, upgrades, or fiddling about will cause trouble. That’s what beta testing is about. I’m also prone to occasional “what-ifs” that have landed my PCs in trouble. Thus, it pays to be prepared.

I’ve got a speedy SATA-III SSD (Sabrent enclosure, Samsung EVO 500 nominal/465 GB actual) plugged into the USB-A port for backup. It takes about 6.5 minutes to do a complete image backup of the boot/system (and only current) drive. I’ll need to pop for a microSD card for this machine, now that’s it’s moving into a more active test role. I’ve also got a Macrium Reflect bootable Rescue Media USB Flash device ready to run restore as and when I need it.

How I Work with Test Machines

I don’t work directly on my test PCs, unless there’s some activity or utility that won’t work remotely. Frankly, I use RDP from my primary desktop for most interactions. That’s because I can do everything from my comfortable desk chair working on 2 Dell 2717 monitors. Almost everything works well that way. And if I do need to access the X390, I need only rotate my office chair to the left to access the unit. It’s situated atop a rolling file cabinet right next to my desktop case.

As time goes by, I’ll be writing about this nifty little laptop more and more in dealing with Windows 10 Dev Channel releases and related topics. Keep an eye out, and you’ll soon see evidence to support this prediction. Cheers!

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