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.

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…

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!

Some people learn to live with Windows and make the best of it. Others refuse, and turn to third-party tools to bring back bits and pieces of prior capability that MS has removed. Ditto for adding functionality missing but desired in Windows. When MS released its “Moment 2” updates on February 28, it announced that KB5022913 may break customization tools in common use.

If KB5022913 May Break Customization Tools, Then What?

If an update breaks a third-party tool, users have two choices:
1. Remove the third-party tool, and continue forward with the update.
2. Uninstall the update, and keep using the third-party tool.
Of course, neither option is perfect but sacrifices are sometimes necessary here in Windows-World.

Here’s what the announcement says, verbatim (emphasis mine, for easy identification of possible offenders in the first paragraph; emphasis in the second paragraph is Microsoft’s):

After installing KB5022913 or later updates, Windows devices with some third-party UI customization apps might not start up. These third-party apps might cause errors with explorer.exe that might repeat multiple times in a loop. The known affected third-party UI customization apps are ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack. These types of apps often use unsupported methods to achieve their customization and as a result can have unintended results on your Windows device.

Workaround: We recommend uninstalling any third-party UI customization app before installing KB5022913 to prevent this issue. If your Windows device is already experiencing this issue, you might need to contact customer support for the developer of the app you are using. If you are using StartAllBack, you might be able to prevent this issue by updating to the latest version (v3.5.6 or later).

Notice that MS puts the onus for figuring things out if Windows doesn’t work properly with such a third-party tool on that tool’s developer. This could make life extremely interesting for related tech support operations.

To Tweak, or Not to Tweak?

With apologies to Hamlet (and Shakespeare), the real question is how much, how often and what kinds of tweaks Windows users can safely make to their own installations? I’m of the opinion that “less is more” because it involves fewer things that could go wrong, and fewer such things to keep track of.

That said, I do indeed enjoy tinkering with Windows. I don’t see what MS is doing here as a general injunction against such efforts. Instead I see it as a warning against “unsupported methods” that some developers use. I agree with MS that on principle such tools are best avoided. But that puts an interesting burden on users to figure out what’s working and what’s not. I can tell you from copious personal experience that diagnosing and pinpointing trouble can be difficult and time-consuming. Indeed: the MS workaround seems like a well-intentioned way to shortcut that work, and bypass related problems.

Note Added March 2 AM

This morning, the first thing I saw on WinAero was a story entitled “A new version of ExplorerPatcher fixes issues with Windows 11 “Moment 2” Update.” According to WinAero principal Sergey Tkachenko, at least one set of already-identified problems is addressed. I guess that’s the kind of response you’d hope for, if you were an ExplorerPatcher user. While I am not, I see plenty of people over at ElevenForum who use (and praise) it.

Another item has joined the list of offenders, though: Stardock’s Start11 (says Neowin). That one, I do use, on some of my Windows 11 PCs. Guess I’ll have to watch closely and take evasive action as needed.

Stay tuned: this looks like it could get increasingly interesting…