Category Archives: Windows 11

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

NVIDIA Driver Forces POPCNT Support

2 Comments

Hey! We’ve known it was coming for some time now. In February 2024, Tom’s Hardware reported: “Microsoft’s PopCnt restriction appears to be unbreakable.” This CPU instruction is part of the SSE4.2 Instruction set for Intel processors. It’s SSE4.2a for AMD CPUs, and also present in Snapdragon X as well. Indeed it’s been part of the computing landscape since 2008 for Intel, circa 2009-2010 for AMD, and since inception for ARM (including Copilot+ PCs). But now, with the introduction of version 555, NVIDIA driver forces POPCNT support. How so? Check the lead-in graphic. Windows 10 and 11 systems that lack POPCNT support will BSOD if they install this latest GPU driver version. Ouch!

Sussing Out NVIDIA Driver Forces POPCNT Support

You can read about this in the NVIDIA release notes for 555 (source of the lead-in graphic). It’s entitled “EOL Windows driver support for older CPUs without POPCNT instruction.” That pretty much says it all. The note recommends using Sysinternals Coreinfo to check for POPCNT support. (Indeed, it worked to show such support on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Copilot+ loaner PC.)

But on Intel and AMD PCs, I found it easier to use Franck DeLattre’s excellent CPU-Z tool to look for the SSE4.2 (or SSE4.2a) instruction set instead. The ARM version of CPU-Z is less than helpful in providing POPCNT info because it doesn’t natively map to any ARM instruction set. Here’s what comes up on my ancient i7 SkyLake desktop (running Windows 10 for lack of CPU support).

Note the “Instructions” entry that reads SSE4.2 (bottom of “Processor” block): that’s what we’re looking for, when using this tool to check for POPCNT support on Intel CPUs. WindowsLatest reports that CoreInfo doesn’t work reliably on all systems, and recommends other CPU check tools besides CPU-Z. Be sure to check it out for those details if one or the other of these tools doesn’t cut it on your rig.

Older PCs: Avoid NVIDIA 555

The real takeaway from this news is that owners of older PCs whose CPUs don’t support POPCNT should avoid updating to NVIDIA driver versions number 555 or greater. Otherwise, they’ll have to boot into WinRE, and use DISM at the command line to uninstall that driver to end a BSOD loop on that machine. You’ve been warned! I’d be inclined to take this as a early indicator that a hardware refresh should be in your future, too…

 

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

24H2 Adopts Energy Saver

Leave a comment

Battery Saver is out, and Energy Saver is in for Windows 11 version 24H2. You can see the new power management capability in Settings > System > Power & Battery in Build 26100 on Copilot+ PCs. For example, see the top elements in the lead-in graphic. When 24H2 adopts Energy Saver, this does come with some behavioral changes, too. Read on for more info and an MS Learn link.

When 24H2 Adopts Energy Saver, Then What?

Good question, and one that MS addresses directly in an MS Learn article entitled Energy Saver (dated 6/24/2024). Basically Energy Saver kicks in at a certain level of remaining battery capacity, and restricts Windows 11’s ordinary behaviors to — wait for it — save energy. Note: here’s a shout-out to Mayank Parmar at Windows Latest for bringing this to my attention.

Energy Saver Particulars

Check out the MS Learn article for all the details, but here’s a thumbnail summary of how Energy Saver works:

1. It kicks in when remaining charge levels dip to a certain level. It’s user-settable, and defaults to 30% (see lead-in graphic).

2. Users can turn Energy Saver on or off via Quick Settings in the system tray as needed. MS recommends enabling Energy Saver all the time. It can even be set to work when a laptop is plugged into AC.

3. When Energy Saver is on, users cannot change power mode in Settings. Display brightness is reduced by 30% (users can toggle this setting, and OEMs can alter this value). Transparency effects for window backgrounds are disabled.

4. For unplugged devices with charge levels below the energy saver threshold, these other behaviors will manifest:

a. MS apps — e.g. OneNote, OneDrive, Phone Link, and so forth — may not sync to save energy.

b. Background apps will not run in the background unless specifically enabled. Certain app categories are exempted (e.g. VoIP) to preserve communications.

c. Non-critical Windows update downloads are blocked, but update scans still occur.

d. Telemetry is (mostly) blocked except for critical items (e.g. census data).

e. Task scheduler ignores IdleSettings and MaintenanceSettings, and runs tasks only if a user is logged on.

For all the details, please consult the MS Learn article. This will change how Windows behaves when PCs update to 24H2 and beyond, so these alterations are worth pondering. For further details on energy saver status tracking see the MS Learn item for SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS. Cheers!

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

First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

Leave a comment

Well, then. A scant few days after I requested access to the business side of Lenovo’s current Copilot+ PCs, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 showed up via FedEx. In fact, the driver was blocking my driveway when I returned home from a visit to the eye doctor on Wednesday. Work life and deadlines being what they are, I’m just now getting around to intake, setup and fooling around with this new machine. That means it’s a first look Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 report.

The First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

I really like how Lenovo has totally minimized packaging. There were two papier-mache molds to cradle the laptop, a single cardboard box for the brick and power cord, and a paper-covered twist-tie for the latter, all inside a small cardboard box. A folded set of start-up instructions occupied less than a typical 8.5×11″ sheet of paper. Plus an environmentally friendly fiber (paper) bag to protect the laptop inside its cradle: 5 items in all. Great!

Lenovo has also completely digitized its user manuals now, and they’re readily available through the Lenovo Vantage app. Here’s a nicely labeled “front view” of the screen and deck of the T14s.

First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6-frontview width=

It’s easy to see what is where in this text-free diagram.

Here’s how this unit came equipped:

  • CPU: Snapdragon X Elite X1378100 3.4 MHz Oryon processor
  • RAM: 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8448MHz memory (soldered)
  • SSD: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2242 (!) NVMe SSD
  • Display: 1920×1280 (Full HD) touchscreeen
  • Windows 11 Pro version 24H2 Build 26100.1150 (after update)
  • Other cool/interesting elements: Windows Hello IR camera, fingerprint sensor, presence sensing, intelligent cooling
  • 2xUSB-C (USB4 40Gbps) ports, 2 USB-A (5Gbps) ports, lock slot, nano-SIM tray, HDMI, mini-RCA audio jack port
  • Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 network adapter (GbE requires USB dongle for wired connection)

Bluetooth on this device works like a champ. Got my Logitech Ultrathin Touch mouse hooked up right away, ditto for the iPhone 12. I used a Thunderbolt 3 dock to link up a recovery disk UFD and an external USB4 NVMe in a fast enclosure. Surprisingly, it shows support for 40Gbps capability all the way down the device chain:

That’s pretty good,  for 4-5 year old Thunderbolt 3 dock. I’ll follow up with throughput and backup times in an upcoming post.

So far, so good…

I’m still getting things set up and configured the way I like them. But this is a sweet little unit, if somewhat chunkier and less vivid that the stunning high-res OLED display on the Yoga Slim 7x it’s replacing. I do like the added RAM, the inclusion of Windows 11 Pro (I had to upgrade from Home on the other unit to use RDP), Wi-Fi 7, and a bigger SSD (1.0 TiB instead of 0.5 TiB). More  will follow as I have time, but I very much like what I see, and what this laptop can do, so far. Stay tuned: more is coming…

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

Fighting MS Phone Link

Leave a comment

It’s been an interesting morning. I’m heading to a medical appointment this afternoon to tackle a recent vision problem. So I’m going through new patient intake for a specialist first visit. Part of that intake asked for photos of my medical insurance cards. So natch, I wanted to transfer them from my iPhone 12. “That’s easy,” I thought, “I’ll use the Phone Link app.” Famous last words: once I got it set up and running, it lacked phone/file access. So I plugged a Lightning-to-USB cable between the P16 and the phone and got it handled. But I found myself fighting MS phone link for much of that way.

Fighting MS Phone Link: One Step Forward,
N Steps Back

Getting the phone link working was a bit more challenging than I’d expected. Because I’d set this phone up with the P16 long, long ago, I struggled to make a connection at first. I ended up scrubbing the device definitions inside Bluetooth on the PC/Windows side, and forgetting the PC on the iOS side. Only then was I able to set up a new, virgin working connection via Phone Link.

Then things got interesting: I could see notifications and phone stuff, plus music files, but no photos (or other file system stuff). I eventually used the USB-A to Lightning charge/data transfer cable to create a file system connection between the two devices. After another round of permissions (let the PC see the iPhone, let the iPhone see the PC), it showed up in File Explorer on the P16. Then I was easily able to move my ID card photos from phone to PC.

Once iPhone shows up as a drive-level volume in Explorer, everything else is just navigation.

Eventually, I got what I needed. But wow! It took me an hour or so longer than I planned to get through all this stuff. And I won’t even bother to mention the weird behavior from the so-called Patient Portal in providing my medical history. That’s a whole ‘nother can of worms altogether. But it’s not Windows related as far as I can tell so I’ll skip those gory details. But hey: it really is just another day in Windows-World. Sigh.

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

Win11 Beta Shows Inactive Jump Lists

Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting one: In its latest incarnation in Build 22635.4000, Windows 11 Insider Preview shows new behavior. Here’s what its announcement blog calls this: “showing jump lists when you hover your mouse cursor over apps on the taskbar that have jump lists and are inactive.” That’s quite a mouthful, so I’m compressing that to say that the latest Win11 Beta shows inactive jump lists instead. Hope that makes sense. Take a look at the lead-in graphic…

What Win11 Beta Shows Inactive Jump Lists Means

What you see in the lead-in graphic, from left to right, is the result of hovering the mouse over the following apps on the taskbar:

  • Chrome
  • Edge
  • File Explorer
  • Microsoft Store

As you can see, this approach works for apps that are closed (“inactive”) and gives you access to stuff you’ve visited or used lately, plus standard menu options. I hope that MS decides to keep this capability, because it’s actually quite useful. In other words: I like it.

Don’t Take My Word for It…

If you’re running the latest Beta channel build for Windows 11 Insider Preview, it’s worth checking out for yourself. If not, it may even be worth firing up an instance — perhaps in a VM — to see it in action. Indeed, of all the UI tweaks I’ve seen showing up (and sometimes leaving) various Insider Preview builds in the past year or two, this one is among the most appealing and obviously useful.

If you need to set an instance up to check it out, your best source is UUPdump.net. Here’s its “Latest Beta Channel” page to make that super easy to grab and build. Warning: this process can take up to an hour, including download time and ISO construction time. Cheers!

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin
Insider stuff, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11

Chrome Makes MS Catalog Get Weird

Leave a comment

Here’s something I’ve never run into before. It’s quite interesting, actually.  This morning I read about a new update –KB5040527 — for both Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 versions. When WU failed to produce same upon an update check, I followed the link in the Windows Latest story that caught my eye, and tried to download the update via Chrome. First up: Dutch, next French, and then Spanish on a third try. Edge showed it to me in en-US (English – United States) right away. Thus I couldn’t help but aver that Chrome makes MS Catalog get weird. You can see the French version in the lead-in graphic.

We are from France: Chrome Makes
MS Catalog Get Weird

I wasn’t sure what could happen if I were to install an update for some language with no corresponding language pack present. Now that I write out those words: I’ll probably make an experiment on another test PC to see what happens. Hoping to avoid language issues, I instead used the English-United States version (en-us) that Edge handed me for the update. In passing, I’ll observe it took some while for this to finish, both in download and install phases (about 15 minutes in all, longer than a typical WU update by 10 minutes or more).

Further adding to the mystery, I can’t replicate this behavior on any of my other production-line Windows 11 test machines. I guess I can try on my wife’s and son’s PCs later today to see if I can provoke multiple languages again. If it is truly a one-off, I blame cosmic rays!! One must’ve crashed through my PC recently and flipped an important bit. If you’re not laughing yet, too bad you can’t hear me carrying on. IMO, this is hysterical…

 

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin
Cool Tools, Insider stuff, PowerShell, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

WinGet Updates PowerShell, Error Aside

Leave a comment

I have to chuckle. There’s a new PowerShell 7.4.4 out. I just used WinGet to update my production PC and it applied the update package. But when it got the end of the update, it reported “Installation abandoned” and ended the WinGet update session. Because 7.4.4 came when I closed, then re-opened, Windows Terminal it looks like WinGet updates PowerShell, error aside. You can see the sequence in the lead-in graphic.

WinGet Updates PowerShell, Error Aside

Notice that a “Cancelled” item shows up below the “Installation abandoned” notification. I’m guessing this last item refers to jumping out of the WinGet update sequence, because you see a normal command line prompt (spiffed up, thanks to Oh-My-Posh).

And sure enough, running WinGet upgrade –all –include-unknown finishes up the remaining items that appeared below PowerShell in the update list. In the next screencap I show a two-pane Windows Terminal session. On the left, you see the sequence of update packages installed; on the right, you see the PS Version is now 7.4.4.

To the left you see WinGet at work; to the right a newly-opened PS session says it’s v7.4.4. [Click image for full-sized view.]

One more thing: the final item in the upgrade sequence on the X1 Extreme was Winget itself (which appears as Microsoft.AppInstaller inside the upgrade list). At its conclusion, WinGet closes things out a bit more reasonably. It says:

Successfully installed. Restart the application to complete the upgrade.

Cancelled

I think that confirms my suspicion that the cancelled item refers to the WinGet session itself. It even throws a couple of Ctrl-C (^C) characters to make sure things get closed out. Here’s a screencap:

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin
Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 11

Copilot+ PCs Bring Better USB4 Support

Leave a comment

When I went to build recovery media for the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Copilot+ PC last week, I dropped a Belkin TB3 dock into one of its 3 USB-C ports. Why? Because I needed a USB-A port into which to plug the Mushkin Atom UFD I targeted for that purpose. The lead-in graphic shows the dock at the “other end” of USB4 host router 1 (right-click the graphic and open in its own tab to see the whole thing). The next screencap shows the Hardware tab from Properties for that recovery drive (E:). Thus, I claim that Copilot+ PCs bring better USB4 support because until USB4 hubs and devices appeared in settings, users had to run a separate (and less informative) Thunderbolt app from Intel to see what was what. This has improved!

Copilot+ PCs Bring Better USB4 Support.e-drive-hwprops

The Mushkin E: drive is an older USB 3.0 Atom device.

So What If Copilot+ PCs Bring Better USB4 Support?

Though I’ve yet to see any laptops or PCs endowed with USB 4 2.0 (you can see version 1.0 in the lead-in graphic) this is now part and parcel of Windows 11 as well. It will also allow channel speeds to double from 40 Gbps (which 1.0 supports) to 80 Gbps (2.0 only, and primarily limited to video links). This probably doesn’t matter much right now, given that these top-of-the-line versions aren’t yet widely available. But for those who need the speed, this will matter once the peripherals and docks gain USB4 2.0 support.

I’ve got a Qualcomm Copilot+ Developer Kit SFF PC showing up here at Chez Tittel in the next day or two (today, even, maybe). I’ll be quite curious to see what Settings > Bluetooth & devices > USB > USB4 hubs and devices has to tell me about what’s inside and the docks and other devices I plan to hook up. Indeed, I’m going to start with a Lenovo P27u20 monitor, with its integrated TB4 docking capability. Hopefully, it will not only provide a great display, but also the means to hook up my keyboard and mouse. Stay tuned! These USB4 adventures will continue…

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

Restoring Start11 Start Button Proves Tricky

Leave a comment

I have to laugh! I’ve been mucking around with start menu and taskbar settings lately, working on a story for Tom’s. In the process I managed to switch my start button logo on a test machine. When I reinstalled Start11v2 on that PC, I said to myself “No prob: I’ll just use the Start Button item in the left-hand controls to restore the old start button.” But restoring Start11 Start Button proves tricky, because it’s missing from the Start 11 gallery of StartButtons, as shown in the lead-in graphic.

Why Restoring Start11 Start Button Proves Tricky

Fortunately, the Stardock developers also include a “Download” button on the same page where you can pick from its start button icon gallery. This takes you to the Start Menu Buttons Gallery page at WinCustomize.com. There, I had to flip through to page 5 (of 50!) where I found what I was looking for:

And sure enough, it did the trick! Even though it leaves me wondering why Stardock doesn’t include the Windows 11 default start button by conscious, deliberate choice, it’s always nice to find a way to get where you want to go. Problem solved, and my test PC is back to where it should be, and working as I want it to. Isn’t that just how things go sometimes in Windows-World, where one change often leads to another? Or, where a change that produces the desired effect also causes something else that’s less desirable? Sure enough: it’s true.

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

MS Intel/AMD Copilot+ PC Date Drop

Leave a comment

Though the details aren’t terribly specific, MS has provided an inkling of when Copilot+ PCs running Intel and AMD CPUs should ship. In an item about a new incremental update technique dated July 15, MS provides the snippet depicted in the lead-in graphic above. This states that “Windows 11, version 24H2 will be available as a traditional feature update to all devices later this year.” Thus, I call this an MS Intel/AMD Copilot+ PC date drop — of sorts, at least.

What Does This MS Intel/AMD Copilot+ PC Date Drop Mean?

I confess: I’m reading somewhat between the lines as I interpret this. But I’m not alone: you’ll find stories at WindowsLatest, TechRadar, Windows Central, and elsewhere that draw the same conclusions I do. Of course, the words “later this year” could occur any time between now and December 31, 2024, so that stipulation is far from precise or narrowly targeted.

That said, I’m in accord with most industry watchers — including the afore-linked stories — in believing that 24H2 is likely to drop some time in Q4 2024. My best guess would be “after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas” to give room to steer around major end-of-year holidays and associated time off for breaks. But it could happen earlier, to get 24H2 out of the way before the holiday season kicks off in late November. Only time will tell…

Further Points of Possible Confirmation

Intel’s May 20 press release for its Lunar Lake CPUs reads “Starting Q3 2024 in time for the holiday season, Intel’s upcoming client processors … will power more than 80 new laptop designs across more than 20 [OEMs]…” A June 2 press release from AMD steers clear of dates for its Ryzen AI 300 Series CPUs, but does mention partnerships with ” Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo and MSI” that will surely ship at or about the time time that Intel’s OEM partners offer up their competing laptops and so forth.

Could it be that interesting options for end-of-year gifting might include snazzy new technology toys? MIght you or I want one? For sure!

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin