Category Archives: Windows Update

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows Update

22635.3430 Post-Reboot Black Screen Fix

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Here’s an interesting item. Yesterday was Patch Tuesday for April. As per normal due diligence, I updated my various Windows 10 and 11 PCs. When I tried to remote into the production PC (ThinkPad P16 Gen1 Mobile Workstation) it showed me a black screen. Fortunately, I was able to come up with this 22635.3430 post-reboot black screen fix: Ctrl+Alt+Esc launched Task Manager. Then I was able to run Explorer.exe. After that, the desktop and all came up normally. Weird!

After the 22635.3430 Post-Reboot Black Screen Fix…

The system seems to be working properly. Nor is reliability monitor showing an error in its output for today. Whatever caused this strange pause in screen output during startup seems to have been benign (no errors) and purely transitory (I can’t make the system do it again).

After I did get to the desktop I installed a handful of winget updates, plus Intel DSA updates for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Iris Xe. This made another reboot mandatory. After that second reboot, all worked as it should have. So whatever caused my initial black screen was apparently a one-time hiccup.

The DISM /cleanup-image Report

I try to run dism /cleanup-image /analyzecomponentstore any time I install a CU. This time it quite startlingly shows 16 (!) reclaimable packages. Based on recent experience I’m guessing 13 of them are bogus (that’s a recurring number). Check it out!

What’s more the cleanup fails with error 6824 “another transaction is depending on the fact that this property will not change.” I’ve learned this means it’s time for a repair install based on recent experience.

Methinks something went awry with the latest CU KB5036992. I wonder how many others will report similar difficulties. In the meantime, I’m off to fix this, and move on. This time, I will have to use UUPDump.net, too. Sigh. The new way in Canary and Dev versions “Fix problems using Windows Update” is ever so much easier…

Note Added +3Hrs: IPRI Does It!

An indeed, though it takes quite a while to work through all the steps, building an ISO for 22635.3430 from UUPDump.net, mounting same, and running install from setup.exe gets rid of the high count for reclaimable packages (including “the bogus 13”). Here’s what I get from
dism /online /cleanup-image /analyzecomponentstore
after in-place repair install and its final reboot:

22635.3430 Post-Reboot Black Screen Fix.IPRI

After the IPRI, reclaimables drops to zero.
[Click image for full-size view.]

Fixed! Now I need to figure out how to report this on Feedback Hub.

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

KB50001716 Is Puzzling

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OK, then. I was reading Martin Brinkmann’s post to gHacks this morning. It’s entitled “Microsoft’s sneaky KB5001716 Windows 10 update pushes Windows 11.” I don’t think my production PC qualifies, because its Intel SkyLake i7-6700 falls outside the range of supported CPUs. So I went looking for it, and learned some useful things. Let me share them with you…

Why KB50001716 Is Puzzling

First off I went to look at WU Update History to see if KB5001716 was present (or absent). I quickly realized that reading the whole WU history was more than a little taxing on a machine that’s been running Windows 10 since 2016.

So I turned to PowerShell where some operating on the Get-WUHistory command seemed like a good idea. When I figured out my Update History had 528 entries, that idea seemed even better. You can view the update history by creating a variable named $history, like so

$history = Get-WUHistory -last 1000

This grabs up to the last 1000 entries in the history records and assigns them to the variable $history. If you look at that output it’s kind of hard to ingest from Windows Terminal. It makes more visual sense if you look at it this way:

$history | sort date -desc | Format-Table Date,KB,@{l=’Category’;e={[string]$_.Categories[0].Name}},Title

[Note the preceding lines are a single PowerShell command string. If you want to try it, cut’n’paste into a text editor and make sure it’s a “one liner” before pasting into PowerShell. This produces output that looks like this:

KB50001716 Is Puzzling.table-output

Table format is more readable, but still too much to take in.
[Click image for full-size view.]

So I changed up the command string to write it to a file. That required appending the following string:

> i7wuhist.txt

The > symbol redirects the output, and the filename resides in folder context in which PS runs. Working with a file I was able to figure out the following:

1. I had no instances of KB5001716 in there anywhere
2. There were a total of 528 entries in that file.

I also concluded that my PC’s failure to meet Windows 11 hardware requirements probably meant that the upgrade offer (and indeed KB5001716 itself) were not forthcoming. Good to know, and I learned some interesting stuff along the way.

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

Canary 26063 Throws Install Error

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Oh well: it happens sometimes. One of my two test PCs on the Insider Preview Canary 26063 throws install error right near the end of the install process. It’s one I’ve seen before –namely:

Failed to install on ‎2/‎22/‎2024 - 0xc1900101

It’s something of a grab-bag error in that it can come from insufficient disk space, driver conflicts (esp. from external USB devices), an out-of-date driver on the target PC, AV conflicts, and more (see this MTPW Backup Tips note for all the deets).

When Canary 26063 Throws Install Error, Then What?

I’m trying a two-pronged strategy this morning. First thing is a simple retry. And when I ran that option in WU, it thought for a while, then jumped from the download phase to the GUI install phase. So obviously, it checked over yesterday’s UUP downloads and found them satisfactory. Right now, WU is 49% into installling 26063. Here’s hoping that works.

But on the other prong, I’m downloading the 26062 ISO from UUPDump.net. I’ve observed that when a WU-based install fails, sometimes a local install using setup.exe from a mounted ISO will work. It may also provide more useful error messages in local logs should it fall over near the end of the process yet again.

FWIW, this seems to be a pretty substantial update, too. And indeed on the other test PC — the one where the upgrade worked –it  says 24H2 in the Winver window. I guess that means MS is floating Windows vNext to Insiders right now.

Lookit that! 26063.1 says “Version 24H2.” It’s arrived…

More to Follow…

Now, the WU install is at 64% and UUP is building images and stuff for the upcoming ISO file. Based on yesterday’s experience, this will still take a while. I’ll jump back in and update when it gets wherever its going. Stay tuned!

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

Repair Version Feature Update

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Hey! I noticed something new and interesting yesterday. When MS pushed a feature update into the Beta Channel, it included a “(repair version)” label. That’s why I’m representing this as a repair version feature update, based strictly on the MS presentation in WU (see lead-in graphic above). Uncharacteristically, MS says nothing about this in its 22635.2921 announcement. It does say “This update includes a handful of fixes to improve overall reliability” under the General heading, though.

Is Repair Version Feature Update A New Thing?

Hard to say, except by watching to see if this falls into regular usage, or comes and goes without re-use. I think it’s a useful label because it designates the feature upgrade as bug-fix and reliability oriented.

As things played out on my Beta Channel Test PC (2018 vintage Lenovo X380 ThinkPad Yoga), it was a pretty lightweight feature update. The download and GUI install portion finished in 2-3 minutes, and the post-GUI/reboot phase took less than 2 minutes. The changelog is virtually non-existent. The only other item not already quoted reads:

[Input]

  • Fixed a high hitting tabtip.exe crash which was impacting the ability for some Windows Insiders to input text.

It’s always fun to catch MS slipping new terminology into the mix. It’s impossible not to wonder if it’s going to stick. Stay tuned: I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if and when it pops up again.

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Thoughts & concerns, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

Windows 10 Lifecycle Changes

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If I’m reading its HTML metadata correctly, Microsoft updated its Lifecycle FAQ = Windows document yesterday (December 5).  That’s when they added information about Extended Support Updates (ESUs) beyond the Windows 10 EOL date of October 14, 2025. ESU is a paid-for kind of support that allows licensees to get updates even after that cut-off date. Let’s explore what these Windows 10 Lifecycle changes  could mean.

Exploring Windows 10 Lifecycle Changes

For previous versions of Windows (e.g. 7) MS offered ESUs only to MS customers with existing paid-for support or licensing agreements. If I’m reading the afore-linked FAQ’s text correctly (see lead-in graphic), ordinary users (“individual users”) will also be eligible to pay for and receive these updates. That should be interesting.

I asked Copilot this question “How much did MS charge for ESU on Windows 7?” Here’s how it answered (superscript numbers 1-3 link to the sources for this information):

According to the web search results, Microsoft charged different amounts for Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 7 depending on the edition and the year of purchase. For Windows 7 Professional, the ESU prices were $50, $100, and $200 per device for the first, second, and third year respectively1. For Windows 7 Enterprise, the ESU prices were $25, $50, and $100 per device for the same period1. However, some customers could get ESU for Windows 7 for free through Windows Virtual Desktop or other support contracts23.

Given that EOL for Windows 7 was January 14, 2020, let’s factor in some inflation. That makes it exactly 5.75 years between that date and the Windows 10 EOL. Using a low-ball average inflation rate of 2.5% over that period means adjusting the foregoing numbers by 14.4% or thereabouts. That means $50 becomes $57, $100 → $114, $200 → $228. You can do the math for the rest (but I think the Professional prices are the ones to go by).

Are They Ready to Rumble?

I’m forced to speculate that MS is adding individual consumers to its upcoming ESU coverage because they believe they left money on the table during the Windows 7 extended service period. This essentially brings businesses and users who are willing to pay for coverage, but who don’t have a licensing agreement or equivalent already in place with MS. It could easily be as big a revenue stream as the covered Windows 7 population was when EOL rolls around.

Inertia is indeed a strong force in business affairs. And sometimes, smaller businesses — especially sole proprietorships — can strongly resist change. This should be interesting to watch and try to figure out. I’m not sure if I should be impressed or appalled. Stay tuned: I’ll tell you…

PS Thanks to Sergey Tkachenko at WinAero.com for bringing this to my attention. I figured out the date info on my own…

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

WU Finally Proffers 23H2

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OK, then. The wait is over — for the Ryzen 5800X system anywho. I just checked WU on that machine and got an offer. Now that WU finally proffers 23H2 on that system, it’s kind of an anticlimax. Took less than 3 minutes to download and install, reboot and everything.

As WU Finally Proffers 23H2, I Install It!

I’ve been deliberately waiting on this offer, to see how long it would take for WU to make it happen. Now I know: this time, it took 9 days after the original info came out for WU to come knocking at my door. One wonders, sometimes, how these things happen. I’m just glad the new release is finally arriving through “official channels.”

On my “big beast” test PCs — most notably, the P16 and P1 Gen 6 Mobile Workstation Thinkpads — I wasn’t inclined to wait. I simply grabbed the MSU file that Shawn Brink posted at ElevenForum.com, and had at it right away. I could be patient where the Asrock B550 (Ryzen 5800X, 64 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD) and Dell Optiplex 7080 (11th-gen i7, 32GB RAM, 1 TB SSD) were concerned.

So, whatever the holdup may have been, it came off sometime in the last 24 hours (I last checked these PCs in the morning yesterday, so it could be more like 30 hours, but no more). And now, things are upgraded.

Known Issues Sez…

I’d wondered if the BitLocker or Intel Smart Sound Technology issues on the Known Issues list might have been involved. I see they’ve both been “Mitigated.” But neither has been updated since October 31. So neither is an obvious culprit for the hold on those two PCs, either.

Sigh: I may never know what slowed the offer, or what eventually made it come through. Can I live with that? Heck, yeah! That just the way things sometimes go, here in Windows-World. By now, I’m used to it…

 

 

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

Phased Windows 11 23H2 Rollout Bites Hard

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It’s another never-ending story. Earlier this week, I found myself wondering why none of my 5 physical Windows 11 production PCs, nor either of my two Windows 11 production VMs, were getting any WU action for the 23H2 eKB (enablement package). Then I read from various sources (see this WindowsLatest item, for example) that it’s arriving as a “phased rollout.” Given my personal experience (0 for7) I must observe that the phased Windows 11 23H2 Rollout bites hard here at Chez Tittel. Go figure!

If Phased Windows 11 23H2 Rollout Bites Hard, Then…?

There are other ways to force the KB5027397 eKB onto a production Windows 11 22H2 system running 22621.2506. This makes the transition to 22631.2506 and changes the version number from 22H2 to 23H2. You can read all those details in Shawn Brink’s helpful ElevenForum post “…Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2..” More important, there’s a link there to an MSU (Microsoft Update, with installer) file for X64 and Arm64 PCs. I’ve used it on three of my production PCs and both VMs now, so I’m convinced it’s legit and I know it works.

But gosh! I always wonder why MS makes us wait for updates to rollout. The official line is they’re being conservative and taking no chances on incurring errors or issues on existing Windows 11 PCs, especially older units. But with two of my population less than a year old, both running pretty beastly workstation grade configurations, I’m puzzled by their hold-backs.

On the two PCs that haven’t yet updated (a 2020 vintage Dell OptiPlex 7080 with 11th-gen i7, and a 2021 vintage Ryzen 5850X) I’m deliberately waiting. I’m checking daily to see when WU will “make the offer.” So far, nada. Stay tuned…

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Attaining Windows 11 23H2

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In everything but name, I’ve already been running Windows 11 23H2 for a while. That level of functionality has been trickling into Windows 11 since September 11 with the release of KB5030310 (a preview update). A few days ago, the release of KB5031455 took Windows 11 to Build 22621.2506. Note the version and build numbers in the lead-in graphic. They support my assertion that there’s little difference between the two.

Steps to  Attaining Windows 11 23H2

Over at ElevenForum.com I’ve been reading about various ways to get to 23H2 in its Installation, Updates and Activation forum for the past few weeks. None of the easy methods outlined there did the trick for me. I wasn’t motivated enough to try the longer, harder ones — e.g. an in-place repair install using the recently published Windows 11 23H2 ISO (it’s now present on the Download Windows 11 page). Why not? I knew an enablement package for 23H2 was coming soon. (Note: for those not already hip, an enablement package is a small, quick update that simply turns on features and stuff already present in Windows but not yet visible or active.)

Today (or more precisely, yesterday) that changed with the release of KB5027397. It describes that very enablement package, and announces its availability. I’ve not been able to get WU to proffer it to me (though I did have pre-requisite KB5031455 already installed). Instead I grabbed the MSU link from ElevenForum admin @Brink (real name: Shawn Brink, a fellow WIMVP). It comes from an October 31 thread entitled KB5027397 Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2 Feature Update.

It’s a ZIP file, so must be unpacked before it may be run. But run it does — and quickly, too: the whole shebang was done in under 2 minutes on my Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation. After a reboot, the target PC should produce nearly the same winver information shown above. Note the “Version 23H2” moniker in the second line of the fine print. Nerdvana!

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Latest Soonest Windows Update Benefits

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Hmmmm. When I started reading through a discussion of an upcoming Windows11 23H2 release on WindowsLatest this morning, I soon realized there was more going on than I had thought. Seems like opting into the “latest updates” option shown in the lead-in graphic does more than I had thought. In fact, one gets unexpected latest soonest Windows Update benefits. Let me explain…

What Are Latest Soonest Windows Update Benefits?

As a pretty passionate Windows Insider, I’m always after the latest and greatest that Windows Insider Previews have to offer. Sure they can be occasionally gnarly, or even troublesome. But that’s a big part of what I signed up for when I joined the program.

And until recently, I had too often felt left out when MS started A/B testing new features, and I wound up on the “B fork” (the one that doesn’t get the new stuff). That’s why I was hornswoggled to read these sentences in the afore-linked WindowsLatest story:

All Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge updates now use Controlled Feature Rollouts (CFR) technology, gradually introducing new features. Users can choose to get these features immediately by enabling a specific toggle in Windows 11 22H2 or later.

Yowza! That’s just what I’ve always wanted. Not realizing this would forcibly put me on the “A fork” for all CFRs, I had opted in anyway. I did so just because I think that’s my job as a serious Insider (and WIMVP).

How nice to learn I’m getting what I really wanted without having know that’s the way this toggle (or slider) really works. I’m jazzed: thanks Microsoft!

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Post-Update Cleanup Causes DISM Loop

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I’m not sure what’s causing a fascinating Windows 11 issue. But you can see what it looks like in the lead-in graphic for this blog post. Basically, post-update cleanup causes DISM loop, whereby cleanup keeps repeating 100% completion, until I forcibly stop it with Ctrl-C. Weird!

I’ve never seen anything like this before. It occurred on Windows 11 Canary Build 25387.1200, after applying KB5027120 “2023-06 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows Version Next for x64.” This comes in the wake of KB5027849, released June 7, that takes the build to minor release number 1200. Again: Weird!

When Post-Update Cleanup Causes DISM Loop, What Now?

The traditional “next move” when something odd and extraordinary occurs in Windows is to reboot, and try again. So that’s what I did. The affected PC — a Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga — came back up without any obvious signs of distress or damage. I was able to remote in without issues, either. And on a retry of the DISM… /startcomponentcleanup command it ran through to completion without further issues.

There’s a known oddity that this DISM command causes a weird doubling of the progress bar if (a) a CU is applied to a Windows 10 or 11 PC and (b) the command is run before the target system is rebooted for a second time. I can only speculate this oddity has been somehow exacerbated in this version of Windows 11.

Be that as it may, the old standby troubleshooting technique — reboot, and try again — seems to do the trick. Once again, the old “three-fingered salute” comes to the rescue. Go figure!

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