Category Archives: Windows 11

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Thoughts & concerns, WED Blog, Windows 11

Ongoing Win11 DISM WinSxS Cleanup Issues

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I’ve been writing about this since late 2021 or early 2022 — within months of the initial preview release for Windows 11. Something in the update environment produces ongoing Win11 DISM WinSxS cleanup issues. That is, running /analyzecomponentstore keeps popping up reclaimable packages even after /startcomponentcleanup reports cleanup success. Right now, I see this in almost every version of Windows 11 I have running, which includes:

  • Windows 11 23H2 Production (Build 22635.4435: 13 items)
  • Windows 11 24H2 Production (Build 26100.2161: 2 items)
  • Windows 11 Beta Channel (Build 222635.4435: 13 items)
  • Windows 11 Canary Channel (Build 277729.1000: 0 items)
  • Windows 11 24H2 Copilot+ PCs (26100.2033:  2 items)

You can see this at work in the lead-in graphic. Notice the initial reclaimables count is 16 at the top of that screencap.  After running cleanup, then analyzing again,  that count drops to lucky 13 instead of zero as one might expect. (Note: you may need to right-click the image and open it in its own tab to see that 13 value.) I’ve seen that count as high as 14 and as low as 1 or 2 in various Windows 11 builds over the past 3 years.

Fixing Ongoing Win11 DISM WinSxS Cleanup Issues

As Windows 11 issues go, this one is quite benign. I’m pretty sure that’s why it has been allowed to pop in and out of various Windows versions pretty much since the get-go. That said, one can fix this if one must (and you OCD types know who I mean). How do I know? I’ve done it myself…

You can perform an in-place upgrade repair install to make this issue go away. But it takes time (30 minutes  and counting on my Windows 11 PCs) and the issue keeps coming back after you apply upcoming Cumulative Updates. That’s why I don’t bother with fixing this myself (except when I need pristine screencaps for writing work) anymore. If you must zero this out, use Settings > System > Recovery, then click the “Reinstall now” button under the “Fix problems using Windows Update” heading. Easy-peasey!

There is a spot of forward-looking cheer, too. The current Canary Channel build (277729.1000) does NOT have this issue. Maybe when production catches up that far, it won’t continue. Fingers crossed…

 

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

Strange Yoga Slim 7 USB4 Behavior

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Seems like I’ve been messing about more than usual with USB ports of late. That’s why an apparent anomaly on my latest Copilot+ PC review unit — the Intel-based Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (15ILL9) — didn’t phase me for long. It delivered mSATA-level CrystalDiskMark results for a known, good, working Konyead USB4 NVMe enclosure. That is, when plugged into the right-side USB-C port. In the left-side port, its outputs ran somewhat under what I originally expected. What gives, you might ask? I’ll make some educated guesses…

More details on Strange Yoga Slim 7 USB4 Behavior

Even the Port 1 (left side) results weren’t fabulous for a USB4 NVMe device, but they’re within the realm of the expected. Here’s where things get interesting though: when I unplugged the enclosure from the left side, and plugged it into the right, the next set was much closer to expectations (and those recorded from the other side). The lead-in graphic shows left-side and right-side CrystalDiskMark results, each where you’d expect them per that ordering. Again I ask: what gives?

I can’t say with certainty, but I can guess with reasonable confidence that the device did not get properly detected the first time I plugged it in. The top 2 rows of CDM values were under 1K at left, and under 200 at right. The bottom 2 rows show random access to 4K segments, and seldom differ much across 5, 10 and 40 Gbps ports.

I do find the write values uniformly disappointing and significantly slower than what I’ve seen from Snapdragon X-based Copilot+ PCs. Could it be that Intel — the co-inventor and a major manufacturer of USB4/Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port controllers — isn’t as good at this as Qualcomm? Perish the thought. I’m thinking it may just be a lesser-grade part that’s not as fast as its Qualcomm counterpart.

Indeed, a quick jump into Settings > Bluetooth & devices > USB > USB4 hubs and devices lists the external NVMe as “Intel – USB4.0 SSD” and bandwidth as “40 Gbps/40Gbps (Gen 3, dual lane).” That’s exactly what it should be. So any performance differences seeming come from the parts themselves.

When in Doubt, Try a Different Device…

Just for grins I tried a different NVMe enclosure and SSD in the right-side port, then ran CrystalDiskMark again. Results initially came in nearly identical. As CDM continued through its read sequence, so did that similarity. Ditto for the write side of things with some slight improvements in the top 2 rows. I can only suggest that Qualcomm USB4 ports and controllers offer more balanced read/write performance than their Intel counterparts and better overall throughput. Isn’t that a surprise!

For those users who need max performance from external USB media, these differences might be worth considering as part of a purchase decision. Others are neither likely to notice, nor care.

 

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Remote Desktop (RDP), WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Possible RDP Session Startup Delay Fix

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I have numerous PCs in my office right now, and a couple more elsewhere in the house. My usual modus operandi is to work from my primary desktop, and use Remote Desktop Connection (and the RDP protocol) to jump onto and work with those other machines. I do this dozens of times daily, as I check various Windows versions, VMs, and more. At least 1 time out of 4, when I start up an RDP connection it sits on the remote PC’s lock screen for some time (minutes, even). Only recently have I researched this, and come up with a possible RDP session startup delay fix. You can see it in the unchecked box at lower left in the lead-in graphic: persistent bitmap cache.

What Is This Possible RDP Session Startup Delay Fix?

Another workaround is to close the opening session, then open it again. This almost always works. But in reading over a set of possible fixes in an April 2024 TheWindowsClub story on this very topic, I came across one I’d neither heard of before, nor tried. So, of course, I tried it: it involves unchecking the “Persistent bitmap caching” entry on the expanded Remote Desktop Connection app’s Experience tab as shown above.

I tried that on a couple of PCs that were showing significant delays in starting RDP sessions just now. And guess what? After that tweak, they opened right up. I’m guessing the delay might come from loading the cache at session startup, which the app uses to speed reproduction of already-known (and cached) screens. So it’s gonna be a tradeoff: faster startup at first, but slower response when screens need to move across the network that would otherwise already be stored.

I’m not sure it’s a total win, but it’s interesting to try such things out and see how they work for you. To me that’s the essence of getting things right in Windows-World — namely finding and using the right controls, to do what you need in a way that you can live with.

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

24H2 Gets WU Boost

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Here’s something quite interesting. Yesterday, MS published a Windows IT Pro blog post entitled Windows 11, 24H2 improved update fundamentals. It’s worth reading, and makes claims for faster installs and restarts, lower CPU consumption, and smaller update packages in the latest OS version. Today, WindowsLatest  offered some data to back that up, showing that indeed 24H2 gets WU boost going forward. Its findings are interesting, too.

What 24H2 Gets WU Boost Apparently Means

As you can see in the lead-in graphic, WindowsLatest compared results for 2 PCs: one running Windows 23H2 was updated to 24H2 using the March update (it appears as “Well-maintained device”); the other was running 22H2 and had the same 24H2 update applied (it appears as “Outdated Device (18 months)”). In both cases, the numbers are noteworthy, and accord with my own recent experience in installing or updating Windows 23H2 PCs to 24H2 as well.

CPU utilization goes down by around 15% for newer Windows images, and by up to 25% when transitioning from 22H2 to 24H2. Restart times speed up by one-third or more, and installation by 40% or more. Download size also drops by 200 MB, thanks mostly to omitting MS Store app updates from that download package.

The Need for Speed…

This is good news in general for all Windows 11 users. But it’s especially good news for IT pros who typically handle fleet upgrades in time-constrained update windows. Often these fall on holiday weekends to make sure there’s enough time to get through the cycle (and fix any gotchas that pop up along the way, as they sometimes do). Anything MS can do to speed the time it takes to physically process updates also helps shorten the time window necessary to do them at scale. Thus, it’s a nice case of good news all the way around.

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

Intel’s Initial Copilot+ Salvo

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OK, then. As I was gearing up for medical adventures on Tuesday, Lenovo shipped me a new Copilot+ PC. Because I apparently munged my initial login, I wasn’t able to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro at first. A factory reset (described in yesterday’s blog) set things right, and I’m now digging in to see and understand what I can about this Yoga Slim 7 15ILL9 unit. So far, Intel’s initial Copilot+ Salvo seems a little less bodacious than the Snapdragon X ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 I’m getting ready to send back to the reviews team. Let me explain…

Absorbing and Interpreting Intel’s Initial Copilot+ Salvo

We’ll start with the port map (side views) of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15ILL9. You can see it sports 2 TB4/USB4 ports — one on each side — along with a power button, camera shutter, and USB Type A 5 Gbps, plus HDMI and 3.5mm audio jack. Very basic, very simple.

Here’s a more detailed list of its various innards:

CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (8 cores/8 logical processors)
RAM: 16 GB LPDDR5x-8533 (2 modules, soldered)
SSD: WD SN740 1TB (NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4; M.2 2242)
Integrated Intel Arc Graphics 140V
Display: 15.3″ 2880×1800 Touch screen
NPU Capacity: 45 TOPS

As configured, it costs US$1,322 at the Lenovo Store. Thus, this is clearly a consumer oriented mid-range laptop. This explains why it isn’t as full featured or snappy as the T14s I’m sending back (it doubled up RAM and offered a 12-core CPU, but lists for US$1,700).

Sorry About the Bloatware…

Unlike most other new Lenovo PCs and laptops I’ve encountered lately, this one comes a bit more laden with bloatware, including:

  • Numerous Lenovo helpware items: Hotkeys, Now, Vantage, and Vantage Service (I usually keep Hotkeys and Vantage)
  • McAfee Trialware: removed
  • WebAdvisor by McAfee: removed

Initial startup also flogged numerous subscriptions including YouTube and other video items, Amazon MusicDropBox 100 TB, and special offers (that’s what Lenovo Now delivers, I’m removing it). I’d rather see this kind of thing as opt-in if I have to see it at all. Thankfully, that’s how Lenovo handled it. If flogging is required, it should be easy to circumvent.

Initial Take on the Yoga Slim 7 15ILL9 Itself

The unit offers a bright, clear display with snappy graphics and handling. By default brightness was set to 13: I had to bump it up to 60-something to see things properly. It’s pretty lightweight, too (1.53kg/3.38lbs) despite the over 15″ display with narrow bezels. The all-aluminum case in gray is sturdy and attractive enough, but not in the same league as the ThinkPad. Wi-Fi7 (Intel BE201 320 MHz) is included in all configurations, too. Chez Tittel is still on 802.11ax, though…

Overall, I like the Snapdragon Yoga Slim 7X  better than this Intel model, but that’s mostly because its OLED monitor pops like crazy. I do think the 12 cores in the Snapdragon X somewhat outperform the Ultra Core 7 256V’s 8 cores, but that could be subjective. I’ll be digging deeper into SSD and USB4 port performance in the future, but so far this offering seems like a pretty good value. See this October 12 NoteBookCheck story for more details on this nice little notebook.

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

Upgrading Home to Pro Proves Challenging

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OK, then. It’s been a busy week, but not all work-related. I had a lens replacement (cataract surgery) in my right eye yesterday. Perforce that meant a day off. In the meantime, I’ve been involved in intake on a new Copilot+ PC: an Intel Model this time. It’s a Yoga Slim 7 15ILL9. And indeed, for this PC upgrading Home to Prove proves challenging. I had to perform a factory reset on the PC to get it to work. Let me explain…

Why Upgrading Home to Pro Proves Challenging

Simply put, when I tried to upgrade from Home to Pro, none of the keys I tried would work. In fact, not even an attempt to purchase one from the MS Store did the trick, either. That’s when I knew something with my login wasn’t copascetic. So I used the System > Reset > Recovery > Reset this PC option to restore the OS to its “fresh from the factory” reset state.

This time, when I logged in I duly furnished an MSA into which my login account could be tied. And guess what: that did the trick! I was able to run updates (they hadn’t worked either) and then used a one-time key from Visual Studio Subscriptions (Thanks, MVP Program!) to upgrade from Home to Pro. I’m now logged into the new test PC via RDP which is how I like to interact with my test/review machines.

Introducing the Yoga Slim 7 15ILL9

It’s got an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD, with something new to me: integrated Arc Graphics 140V. Compared to the Snapdragon X ThinkPad T14s I’m getting ready to return to Lenovo, it’s got 8 cores (instead of 12), half the RAM, and a different CPU architecture (x64 vs. ARM64). But so far, it seems to run reasonably well. It got through the Home to Pro upgrade in under 5 minutes, handled WU updates with alacrity, and chuffed through a dozen items via PatchMyPC Home updater in under 2 minutes. So far, so good.

Now that I’ve got the device set up on my network, I can start putting it through its paces. Stay tuned as I start understanding how Intel based Copilot+ PCs compare to their Snapdragon X counterparts. Should be interesting…

 

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

24H2 Compatibility Holds Block WU

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

When 24H2 Compatibility Holds Block WU…

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

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

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

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

WinGet Discord Update End-Around

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I absolutely love Microsoft’s built-in package manager WinGet. But occasionally things happen when updating application that it can’t (or won’t) handle. As you can see in the lead-in graphic, it cheerfully discloses in red that Discord “…cannot be upgraded using winget.” Indeed, its own built-in update facility did nothing to get me to version 1.0.9165. Thus, my only shot at a WinGet Discord update end-around was the tried-and-true uninstall-reinstall maneuver. That worked, as you can see…

Why Use a WinGet Discord Update End-Around?

Short answer: because it worked. Apparently, it’s uninstaller is smart enough to leave user account information alone. Even though I uninstalled the old version and then installed the new one, it carried over anyway. I’d been worried I’d have to set accounts back up, but no. Everything came up as it should’ve even after an “out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new” operation had completed.

I’m counting myself lucky in this case. There are plenty of other applications that don’t ask if you want to keep personal, account and config info. Then they cheerfully wipe all that stuff out as part of the uninstall process. That makes getting back to where one started a little more time-consuming, especially when a reinstall requires account, password, and possibly even other information to complete.

What’s with Discord’s Pinned Status Anyway?

Notice my attempts to unpin Discord reported “There is no pin for package Discord” (line 7 in the intro graphic). In the past, WinGet has often reported it can’t update Discord because the app is pinned. That’s an experimental feature in WinGet that prevents ordinary syntax for updates from working on certain apps.

Contrary to expectations, though, Discord wasn’t pinned. Yet WinGet couldn’t update it, either. Because the built-in updater didn’t do anything when I tried it (right-click on the notification area icon, then select “Check for updates…” in the resulting pop-up menu), I didn’t have a lot of other options. Thus, I’m grateful that the remove-replace approach did the trick. As you can see from the name of the package downloaded, I did wind up with version 1.0.9165. That’s just what I wanted.

Good thing one can sometimes get lucky here in Windows-World. Glad to have this behind me with no apparent ill effects.

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Assistant Handles 24H2 Upgrade

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OK, then: I read this morning that MS dropped the “official” 24H2 release yesterday. “This time,” I thought to myself, “I’m taking a different approach.” From the Download Windows 11 page, I grabbed the Installation Assistant. Prosaically enough, it’s named Windows11InstallationAssistant.exe. File properties show today’s date for creation and modification, so I’m hopeful it will get me to 24H2. But I’m still wondering if the assistant handles 24H2 upgrade as expected, or not. Right now it’s going into its initial restart.

Deciding if Assistant Handles 24H2 Upgrade

If you look at the lead-in graphic it shows the Assistant in phase 3 of the upgrade process — namely 75% through installing the new stuff. After this got to 100%, I rebooted that PC (Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 Mobile workstation). It’s now 30% through the post-reboot install process (white  text, spinning arrow, black background).

…Aaaaaand then, it stayed at 30% long enough for me to finish a round of Backgammon waiting for it to complete. But complete it did, only to drop into the OOBE portion of the install next. A couple of minutes later, I had a Windows 11 desktop. But which version is it? Here’s what winver says:

Looks like the Installation Assistant is a workable way to get to 24H2 from 23H2, if you’re of a mind to do that. And it also looks like indeed the upgrade is officially out. I’ll go some exploring and report my findings in tomorrow’s blog post. In the meantime you could try it yourself to see what happens… Cheers!

 

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Onscreen Keyboard Lacks Copilot Key

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

Does It Matter If Onscreen Keyboard Lacks Copilot Key?

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

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

It Gets More Interesting at MS Learn

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

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

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

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

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