Category Archives: Windows 11

Playing Windows Catch-up Post OOO

OOO is, of course, a common abbreviation for “out of office.” I just returned from a family visit to Alexandria, VA, late Tuesday night, after attending a family wedding. Thus, for the past couple days I’m playing Windows catch-up post OOO on my mini-fleet of 10 PCs. Of those, 5 are desktops, and 5 are laptops in what I think is a common SOHO distro. It’s been a bit of an adventure, but by no means a real trial. Let me explain…

Deets on Playing Windows Catch-up Post OOO

If you look at the output from Advanced IP Scanner for my LAN, you can see all the currently active nodes there. Some items are routers or WAPs, others include TV sets, printers,  iDevices, smart thermostats and so forth. Note: I use Private IP addresses in the C range, which makes this stuff opaque from the outside. FWIW, Spectrum does a pretty good job of blocking scanning and intrusion attempts on their coax network, too.

Here’s the regime I’ve been running to make all my PCs current:

  • Run WU, apply updates, reboot as needed.
  • Run WinGet upgrade –all –include-unknown to update local apps for which it has package info in its database
  • Run PatchMyPC Home Updater to update local apps it handles that WinGet does not
  • Run vendor update elements for their contributions — e.g. Lenovo Vantage, Dell Command Update, Intel Driver and Support Assistant (DSA), and so forth

Total time required for the whole shebang for 10 PCs is about 2.5-3.0 hours altogether, including walking up to those PCs to light them up for those few not WOL (Wake on LAN) enabled.

What a Typical Week Away Brings the Fleet

Here’s what I observed for the various items mentioned across my collection of devices, all purchased in 2018 or later (except my primary desktop, which I’ll finally be replacing in June, now that our second X5800/B250 PC is home from Boston for good):

  • Given that the second (optional/preview) WU cycle hit while I was gone, about 60-70% of the PCs got a CU. Some handled them automatically on their own, others I had to run and/or restart manually (depends on configuration, not Microsoft).
  • For the majority of PCs, WinGet updates numbered from 3 to 7; one outlier needed 9 (but I hadn’t touched for a while before going OOO).
  • PatchMyPC found an average of 3-plus updates, and varied from 3 to 5.
  • Intel DSA offered new BlueTooth, Wi-Fi and Wired Ethernet drivers as it seems to do, two or more times a month, like clockwork.

All in all, it wasn’t too bad. Things are all caught up now. Glad to be back in the saddle, with all my gear clean and shiny, and ready to ride. Yesterday and today were both good days in Windows-World, with no snags worthy of note to report. Boring is good, sometimes!

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X380 Yoga Is Not Quite QMR-able

It’s been a long time coming, and it’s on its way out. QMR is, of course, Quick Machine Recovery. It’s a facility to let an unbootable Windows image grab a repair and fix itself, from WU or other sources. MS announced it at Ignite 2024, and it started rolling out to the Beta Channel for Windows 11 24H2 in March 2025. It showed up on my Beta test PC — a Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga –earlier this week. But alas, that X380 Yoga is not quite QMR-able just yet. Let me show and tell what that means…

Why Say: X380 Yoga Is Not Quite QMR-able

Take a look at the into screen cap. Up top you see the pane from the X380 for Settings > System > Recovery > Quick machine recovery. Note above that I’ve got QRM turned on and likewise the “continue searching” option. Below, I opened WinTerm to check the status of the Windows recovery agent console (aka reagentc) to show status.

According to Copilot if QMR is available and ready to work on a Windows 11 24H2 Beta PC, one should see four entries in the reagentc /info output (all bulleted items are quoted or paraphrased):

  • Recovery Test Mode: Enabled (if test mode is active)
  • Windows RE Status: Enabled (QMR relies on WinRE)
  • Remote Remediation: Active (if QMR is configured for automatic fixes)
  • Remediation Package: Installed (if a recovery update has been applied)

If you look at the output in the screecap, it shows only item 2. That simply means WinRE itself is turned on, and able to work on the X380. None of the other QMR specific items appear, though, do they?

Turns Out There’s a Gradual Rollout, Too…

There’s a Quality Update that WU should automatically download on some Windows 11 24H2 Beta Channel PCs for testing QMR. If it’s present the PC can be induced to reboot and use the QMR facility. That package is named “Quick machine recovery update for Windows 11.” BUT it’s on a gradual rollout, as I just learned yesterday.

Alas, this update is NOT in the Update History on my X380 PC. So I still can’t take QMR for a spin. I’ll get there — soon, I hope — but not today. If you’ve got a Windows 11 24H2 Beta image at your disposal, and it’s up to date, you can check things out, too. If you find the afore-mentioned item in your update history, you can take if for a spin with these two commands in Windows Terminal:

reagentc /SetRecoveryTestmode
reagentc /BoottoRE

Then, reboot your PC and you will see QMR do its thing. That’s what I plan to try as soon as I make into the “included group” during this gradual rollout.

And ain’t that just the way things go for Windows Insiders sometimes here in Windows-World? This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that I’m behind the leading edge on a gradual rollout.

 

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Unsticking Lenovo System Update

From May 6 through 12, I had a Lenovo System update stick in WU. That is, it would attempt to install, fail, and then push a retry button at me. Alas, that meant WU wouldn’t show me any newer updates, either. At the end of this cycle KB5058496 came along. It didn’t show up in WU, either. That’s when I found myself unsticking Lenovo system update on the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga X380 where it happened. How did I do that? I ran the:

Reset_Reregister_Windows_Update_Components_for_Windows11.bat

batch file from the Eleven Forums tutorial Reset Windows Update in Windows 11. As it so often does, the Lenovo System update worked the next time I tried after said reset operation had completed and I’d rebooted that PC (as per the batch file’s own instructions). The new CU installed, and went to Build 26120.3964.

More on Unsticking Lenovo System Update

I’m not sure why the WU version got stuck, nor why it stayed that way for some time. When I looked in the Windows-Update.log file I produced via the PowerShell Get-WindowsUpdateLog cmdlet, no supporting detail told me why it happened, either.

All that Copilot could tell me was that it must be a Lenovo servicing driver update of some kind. Google was willing to speculate it might be the driver for the Lenovo Intelligent Thermal Solution. Lenovo Vantage kind of confirms this in a back-handed way, in that its history shows the latest version dated March 2024 with version number 2.1.14.0, which certainly seems to follow in the general numbering track for the item that got stuck.

So I checked Device Manager > System devices > Lenovo Intelligent Thermal Solution properties. Sure enough, the currently installed version is 2.1.52.0. Interestingly the install date shows as 4/11/2025 (same as in WU update history). That leaves me glad this already-installed driver somehow got itself unstuck. I’m still wondering why WU offered it repeatedly from 5/6-12.

These meaningless mysteries never stop in Windows-World. I’m just glad this apparently unnecessary driver offer stopped when I reset WU. Now the machine is running Build 26120.3964 and the right Intelligent Thermal Solutions driver without further issues. I’m good for now, but sure something similar will pop up soon, on one or more of my mini-fleet of 12 PCs. Stay tuned!

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Windows 10 Keeps PowerToys ComPal Error

On April 10, I blogged about how a new release of PowerToys (v0.90.1) apparently fixed a “Class not registered” error for the Command Palette from the previous version (v0.90.0). Alas, while ComPal (as I like to abbreviate this tool) is now rock-solid on my Windows 11 PCs, it’s still throwing errors after restart on my sole remaining Windows 10 desktop. That’s why my title here reads “Windows 10 Keeps PowerToys ComPal Error” — you can see the aftermath in Reiability Monitor as the lead-in screencap above.

Why Windows 10 Keeps PowerToys ComPal Error

Look at the screencap. Notice the Problem Event Name is “MoAppCrash.” This means a Modern App (aka UWP app, usually an MS Store App of some kind) has crashed. In this case it’s the PowerToys Command Palette user interface (MicrosoftCmdPal.UI.exe). Copilot says common causes include faulty, outdated app versions, corrupt system files or missing dependencies, conflicts with Windows updates, and issues with DLL files. My bets are on conflicts with Windows updates and/or issues with some DLL needed for ComPal to run.

I just tried to access ComPal on the affected Windows 10 machine. At first, it refused to respond to its shortcut (WinKey+Alt+Space) for related settings, But when I disabled, then re-enabled ComPal itself, that capability woke up and started working. So did the utility itself, without any easily discovered limitations.

What about Windows 11?

I have — and see — no such issues in Windows 11. So I’m forced to speculate that this is just a Windows 10 hiccup of some kind. Fortunately, once I disable, then re-enable ComPal, everything seems to work fine. There’s obviously some kind of minor gotcha at work, but it’s easy to get around.

Isn’t that just the way things work sometimes, here in Windows-World? Fortunately, even when the path to success isn’t automatic, or even a straight line, a small dogleg often does the trick. And so it was this morning…

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Rebuilding P16 Windows 11 24H2

Allrighty then: I got tired of seeing odd, unfathomable and stuck packages in the component store. That image resides on the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation. So yesterday, I set about rebuilding P16 Windows 11 24H2 to come up clean. Let me explain what I did, and why I did it. The whole story shows in the lead-in graphic. It depicts the image going from 10 reclaimable packages to 2 and then to zero (0): clean! But you’ll  need keen eyes (or be unafraid to grab this screencap and make it readable.)

3 Steps To Rebuilding P16 Windows 11 24H2

STEP 1: My first step was to visit Settings > System > Recovery and then click the “Reinstall now” button to kick off an in-place upgrade repair on the P16’s suspect Windows image. For the record, it failed my “sniff test” because it kept showing 4 reclaimable packages that wouldn’t surrender to DISM /online /cleanup-image
/startcomponentcleanup.
The reinstall took about 45 minutes to complete, but required little or no effort from yours truly.

STEP 2: My second step was to run the aforementioned DISM …         /startcomponentcleanup command and see what remained. As I expected, that brought the number of reclaimable packages down from 10 to 2.

STEP 3: My March 21 blog post “Remove Package Kills Spurious Reclaimables” explains this use of a specific DISM /Remove-Package target that’s responsible for 2 spurious packages showing up in a canonical Windows 11 24H2 production image. TLDR version is: a deeply superseded package is stuck in WinSxS, but a single command removes both spurious reclaimables in one go.

The results appear in the fine print at the bottom of the lead-in screencap: a clean version of Windows 24H2 Build 26100.4061, with zero (0) reclaimables in the component store. Good-oh!

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Windows Start Soliloquy Gets Fanciful

MS has started a new design blog under the general heading of “Behind the Surface.” It’s entitled “Start, Fresh –Redesigning the Windows Start menu for you.” The “Windows Design Team” is named as the author, rather than one or more specific individuals. It’s an interesting read, if a bit too breathless and wonder-struck for me. Indeed although this Windows Start soliloquy gets fanciful and overdone, IMO, it’s still worth your perusal.

Where (and How) Windows Start Soliloquy Gets Fanciful

In a list of so-called “guiding stars” the blog states four key principles driving Start Menu design. These serve as the lead-in graphic above, so I don’t repeat them. MS makes much of the work it took to rework the Start Menu. Those efforts presumably fit into the upcoming release of Windows 11 25H2 later this year. Here’s a representative quote from the post, likely from a user interaction during that process (note the tone and diction, please):

Help me find my apps faster. Let me bend Start to fit the way I work. And please—keep the magic, don’t lose the soul.

You’ve got to read the post and check out its images, tables, and language to really make sense of what it says. The key conclusions (and design changes) should include (each bolded item below is quoted verbatim from the blog post, sans quotation marks):

  • Dynamic recommendations: “files and apps” that “surface exactly when they matter.”
  • More and better views for all apps: Repositioned at the top of the Start Menu, you can choose “between logical categories, a neat grid, or the familiar A-Z list.”
  • Mobile content, gently blended: Integration with mobile devices mentions both Android and iPhone and stresses how you can reach out from the desktop to a mobile device.
  • Personalization, elevated: Stresses user’s abilities to zoom in on, or ignore, individual Start Menu sections, and to size it to match available screen real estate (bigger on big monitors, smaller on littler ones).
  • Under-the-hood speed: A commitment to making Start an “accelerator of your day” that loads “in a snap” not “dragged by lag.:

Generally MS makes an ongoing commitment to keep listening to user input and adjusting to what users have to say. Overall their goal is to meet their mantra for what the Start Menu should be:

Everything you need, right here, ready when you are.

This Should Be Interesting…

The rah-rah nature of the blog post and its overall tone and language aside, MS is putting itself out there. In the broadest of strokes they’re promising to improve the Start Menu, and to keep making it better. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in upcoming Insider Preview releases — and ultimately, in 25H2 itself. I’ll be watching — and sharing my observations — along that path. So will lots of other Insiders and other users. Stay tuned!

Note: here’s a shout out to Sergey Tkachenko at WinAero.com, whose story this morning pointed me at the MS blog post. Thanks! For a vastly different take on what’s going on here, see what Paul Thurrott has to say about this blog post.

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Dev Home Leaving Soon

I’ve been away on a family trip to Boston. Upon returning to my desk this morning, WinGet brought a Dev Home update to the Lenovo P16 Mobile Workstation (see lead-in graphic). “Hmmmm,” I thought, “Isn’t Dev Home leaving soon?” Indeed it is, as per MS Learn as you can see in the next screencap.

With Dev Home Leaving Soon, What’s Next?

Good question! In the afore-linked MS Learn item, MS announced last January that Dev Home would be discontinued in May, 2025. I’ve been “staying tuned” for more info since then, but so far such info has not been forthcoming.

Well: May is here and I still can’t find anything new about Dev Home’s impending retirement. Ditto for which features will be preserved and where within Windows they’ll show up. Of the tools that Dev Home brings to the Windows party, these are the ones about which I’m most curious:

1. Support for ReFS volume creation in Windows 10 and 11.
2. GitHub connection with repos for access to tools and packages.
3. The Hosts File Editor and Registry File Editor utilities.
4. Consolidated view of development projects via its dashboard.

In January, MS dropped the first shoe to warn developers (and other interested parties) that Dev Home would be yanked in May 2025. Now that it’s May, the silence while waiting for that next shoe is nearly deafening. All I can say is: “Please give us a clue or two, Microsoft: where are the best bits of Dev Home going to wind up?”

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Snipping Tool Text Extractor Rollout

Windows certainly has its weird and wonderful ways. I was forcibly reminded just now, when looking on a Canary test PC to see if the next Text Extractor tool was on my Snipping Tool toolbar. While you can see it in the lead-in graphic for this story, I couldn’t see it on my PC right away. At first, understanding that MS is conducting a new Snipping Tool Text Extractor rollout, I thought I might be on the outside, looking in. Not so: let me explain…

Working Thru Snipping Tool Text Extractor Rollout

When I first checked the app and saw the toolbar unchanged, I jumped to the assumption that my PC wasn’t in the first rollout cohort. Then I remembered: Snipping Tool is a Windows Store app. So I went to the store and clicked on the Downloads button. Nothing had been updated since 4/14 (two days ago), so I clicked the “Check for updates” button.

Guess what? There was indeed a new version of Snipping Tool ready for download. Once that step was complete, and a quick install later I saw what MS announced in its April 15 blurb. Yes, Virginia: there is now a text item in the Snipping Tool toolbar. Again you can see it in the second from right position in the intro image. MS even provides an intro blurb to tell you what this toolbar element does.

I checked it, and it works as advertised. Makes the steps involved in grabbing text from an image and dropping it into a file ever so much easier and faster. Thanks, MS for giving us something many of us can use and enjoy (your humble author included). Visit the MS Store on Canary and Dev Windows 11 PCs and you, too, can partake of this neat new feature. Cheers!

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Reinstall Now Builds Current Images

Last Wednesday, I blogged that a repair install for Windows 11 unsticks WU. As I think about what that really means, I want to emphasize that using Settings > System > Recovery > Reinstall now does something remarkable. That is, Reinstall Now builds current images for whatever version Windows Update is serving at the time. It used to be only UUPDump.net could do that, by slipstreaming all the latest updates into the base Windows image (24H2 in this case).

How To See That Reinstall Now Builds Current Images

If you look at the Settings > System > About info that appears in the lead-in graphic, it tells pretty much the whole story needed for evidence. You can see it shows version 24H2, Build 26100.3775 with an install data of 4/9/2025. That’s the very day I ran the repair install, and the build number matches what follows in the wake of the latest CU (KB 5055523 — see the parenthetical phrase at the end of that title).

What makes this facility remarkable is that UUPDump.net has to build a Windows image for the baseline release, then apply as many updates — the latest security, cumulative and servicing stack items — as it needs to bring the image current. This requires some time-consuming DISM manipulations that can take an hour to complete. Interestingly, the WU facility handled the entire repair in about 35 minutes.

I still recommend UUPDump.net as a way to create an ISO for some specific (and non-current) Windows Build. But if you need to repair a current version, it looks like built-in Windows 11 recovery really is your best choice. Good to know! That’s why I’m telling you…

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Leave Post KB5055523 Inetpub Folder Alone

I’d seen reporting on this yesterday, along with blithe assumptions about related cleanup (deletion). Today, MS has published a CVE-2025-21204 security note that explains what’s going on, and specifically advises users to leave post KB5055523 Inetpub folder alone — and intact.

Here’s a direct quote from the afore-linked source:

After installing the updates listed in the Security Updates table for your operating system, a new %systemdrive%\inetpub folder will be created on your device. This folder should not be deleted regardless of whether Internet Information Services (IIS) is active on the target device. This behavior is part of changes that increase protection and does not require any action from IT admins and end users.

Note: KB5055523 is a security update for Build 26100.3775 (production level Windows 11 24H2) released as part of the Patch Tuesday collection on April 8, 2025.

Why Leave Post KB5055523 Inetpub Folder Alone?

It’s part of the infrastructure upon which MS relies to fend off the named vulnerability. In other words, if the folder is present, MS can use it to protect against potential attacks. MS is sometimes fond of leaving folders behind in the wake of various installs (especially feature upgrades). Anything not needed is usually fair game for Disk Cleanup or the Windows Store PC Manager app.

That said, some OCD-friendly Windows users (you know who you are) relentlessly clean up things just because they must. This is apparently a case that flies against that impetus. MS, in this particular case, says “Leave it alone.” I guess I shall, and you probably should, too.

Though the Inetpub folder is empty after the update runs (see next screencap) it is meant to be and stay there. You’ve been warned! Indeed, as you can see, it’s properties are also set to “Read-only.”

The ‘Read-only’ status signals weakly that this item should stay put.

Final Warning: Don’t!

I’ve seen various online sources assert that it’s OK to delete this folder because it caused no observable ill effects on their test PCs. If what MS says about Inetpub’s presence or absence on a PC is true, you don’t want to sight what could happen if it were to be deleted. Let this particular sleeping critter keep snoozing, please.

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