Backup/Restore, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Security, Troubleshooting, WED Blog

Windows Resiliency Initiative Includes Quick Machine Recovery

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It’s that time of year again, when MS meetings and conferences — Ignite 2024, in this case — heat things up with future promises and new idea campaigns. Yesterday’s Windows Experience Blog from David Weston (MS VP Enterprise & OS Security) is a case in point. Entitled Windows security and resiliency: Protecting your business, it asserts that a new Windows Resiliency Initiative includes Quick Machine Recovery as a key capability. Very interesting!

Explaining Windows Resiliency Initiative Includes Quick Machine Recovery

This new initiative “takes four areas of focus” as its goal — namely (all bullet points quoted verbatim from the afore-linked blog post, except for my [bracketed] commentary):

  • Strengthen reliability based on learnings from the incident we saw in July. [Crowdstrike kernel mode error took down 8.5M Windows PCs.]
  • Enabling more apps and users to run without admin privileges.
  • Stronger controls for what apps and drivers are allowed to run.
  • Improved identity protection to prevent phishing attacks.

The first and arguably most impactful preceding item is what led MS to its announcement of Quick Machine Recovery. Here’s how Weston explains it:

This feature will enable IT administrators to execute targeted fixes from Windows Update on PCs, even when machines are unable to boot, without needing physical access to the PC. This remote recovery will unblock your employees from broad issues much faster than what has been possible in the past. Quick Machine Recovery will be available to the Windows Insider Program community in early 2025.

In other words, this new feature should enable what savvy administrators had to do using OOB access to affected machine via KVMs smart enough to bootstrap machines otherwise unable to boot.

Great Addition: How’s the Execution?

IMO this is something MS should’ve built into Windows long ago. I’m curious to see how (and how well) it works. I’m also curious to see if it will be available for Windows 10 as well as 11. Only time will tell, but I’ll be all over this when it hits Insider Builds early next year. Good stuff — I hope!!

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

MSA Switch Brings Standard 24H2 Aboard

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Here’s the happy, happy conclusion of my recent saga involving the ThinkPad X1 Extreme laptop. When I ran the clean install of 24H2, I also provided a different MSA than the one I’d used previously. Because that combination of MSA and machine name is not enrolled in the Insider Preview program, the Windows installer went with the standard General Availability (GA) channel. Hence, I aver that an MSA switch brings standard 24H2 to that PC.

Why Say: MSA Switch Brings Standard 24H2?

The results speak for themselves, as you can see in the Winver output in the lead-in graphic. You can also see that the machine is not enrolled in any Insider Channel. Instead it says “Join the Windows Insider Program.” That means it’s not enrolled.

Because I use this machine on the road, especially for legal cases, that’s a good thing. I’m actually pleased to have this laptop back on the primary GA track. That means it should be as stable as Windows 11 gets. So, all’s well that ends well, but it took some doing.

A Long and Winding Road to 24H2 26100.2314

After I completed the clean install and started into the OOBE, I supplied a different MSA for this machine setup. It was therefore happy to stick with the GA thread of 24H2 releases. I did have to apply two sets of updates (2 CUs and one preceding update, plus an MSRT and a Confugration Update). I show most of that history in the next screencap:

2 CUs, another update, MST and configuration stuff (plus 8 drivers and 2 Defender updates) make the install current.

The Rest of the Schlemozzel

Now, of course, I need to restore the applications I like to use on my production PCs. PatchMyPC Home Updater can handle many of them, but I’ll need to install Office 2024, Nitro Pro, WizTree, and a few other odds’n’ends to bring the machine back to its former glory. But hey! I’m caught up to 24H2, back in the GA channel, and ready to rock and roll. It’s what passes for a happy ending, here in Windows-World!

Bottom line: as soon as the installer recognized it could only handle a clean install, things got on the right track. I’m not sure how I got off that track when I manually installed a CU the other day, but I’m glad to have a clue as to what’s what on that laptop finally restored.

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Copilot Still Hallucinates Occasionally

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I knew it remains a possibility. And I’ve seen it myself, from time to time. But this morning, I got slapped in the face with it: Copilot still hallucinates occasionally. I’m assembling parts to migrate my production desktop over from a 2016 vintage i7 Skylake desktop rig. I’m moving to a snappy 32-core Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra. I need a lot of storage for that setup, so I asked Copilot the question in the lead-in graphic: “What’s the highest-capacity 2.5″ hard disk available right now?” I was stunned by the answer at at first, then…

Showing Copilot Still Hallucinates Occasionally

I’ve got a couple of Seagate 5TB HDDs here at Chez Tittel. I purchased them 3 years ago. At the time, they were the biggest 2.5″ drives available. And as it happens 5TB Seagates are STILL the biggest 2.5″ models for sale today.

Follow the link to the Tom’s story cited in the Copilot response. Then jump to Amazon for that Seagate IronWolf Pro 20TB item. Guess what? It clearly says “CMR 3.5 inch SATA 6 Gb/s, 7,200 RPM, 256 MB Cache” in laying out that drive’s specifications. It’s not a 2.5″ drive, period.

The good news is: if I want to use a 5TB 2.5″ HDD in this rig, I’ve already go two of them. The bad news is they’re pretty slow, as old-fashioned mechanical storage media can’t help but be. But there’s another hope!

Given the 5TB Limit, I consider 4 TB NVMe

Gosh, there’s not much capacity difference (25% figuring up, and 20% figuring down) between a 5 TB HDD and a 4 TB NVMe SSD. I’m coming around to the idea that I should buy a 4 TB NVMe for my second storage slot in the P3 Ultra. Decent models are available for around US$300, while the 5TB Seagate HDD costs US$233 or so. This provides roughly 10X the speed for 130% of the price. That’s a good trade-off. I’m still thinking but now I know how I’m leaning.

In the meantime, keep checking those blithe and speedy Copilot answers carefully. You wouldn’t want to be misled. Here in Windows-World it’s smart to stay skeptical, and double check what AI tells you.

 

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WinTerm Customization Remembered & Repeated

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I’m closing setting up and tweaking my Lenovo loaner SFF PC , just the way I like it. Indeed, I plan to switch my production desktop over from the 2016 vintage Skylake i7 I now use.Instead I’ll go with an uber-powerful ThinkStation P3 Ultra. It’s equipped with a 13th-Gen i9-13900, 64 GB RAM, Nvidia RTX A2000 12 GB, and a Hynix 2TB Gen 4 SSD. As a near-final step, I am fumbling through WinTerm customization remembered & repeated. You can see what I mean in the lead-in graphic…

Digging Thru WinTerm Customization Remembered & Repeated

It took four steps to get all the pieces lined up to customize my Windows Terminal as you see it in the graphic:

  1. Install Jan DeDobbeleer’s OhMyPosh for a custom prompt. That also required creating a $Profile file for startup. There are plenty of good how-tos around on this. I’m sad to report, however, that TekkiGurus.com is off the air. And thus, my series on this subject, too — find it instead on the WayBack Machine.
  2. Download and install the CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font (which I grabbed from NerdFonts.com) so that OhMyPosh can do its fancy thing with Windows Terminal prompt characters and environment variables. Handy now that drag-n-drop font install works inside Settings > Personalization > Fonts.
  3. Grabbed one of my favorite MS SpotLight images and then dimmed it up (30% opacity or thereabouts) to use as the Windows Terminal background. Dare I say I find it fetching?
  4. Ran the command Install-script WinFetch inside WinTerm to visit the script archive and install the eye candy that this displays about target systems when run.

Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? I’ve learned to expect and appreciate a bit of Windows Terminal pizazz to keep my eyeballs entertained while working at the command line.

And there you have it. Just another day in the paradise known to some as Windows-World. Good stuff!

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PatchMyPC Home Updater Mini Annoyance

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First things first: I’m a HUGE fan of PatchMyPC’s Home Updater product. Indeed, I got invited to try out the company’s latest version — an app-based implementation that supersedes PatchMyPC.exe — because I’ve written about it often and positively. In the interests of sharing my enthusiasm and support, I also have to report a recent PatchMyPC Home update “mini annoyance.” Let me tell you more…

What Is the PatchMyPC Home Updater Mini Annoyance?

It’s a Store app, so you must call it via the Start menu as “PatchMyPC Home Updater” to launch the program. But it’s NOT available in the Windows Store. Rather you must download it direct from the maker’s website, from the PatchMyPC Home Updater home page. If you try to find it in the MS Store, you get a big fat zip instead. Ditto for a search on “Patch My PC” as it appears here:

Only the website will do: the app is NOT in the MS Store.

Forewarned is forearmed, I guess. But gosh, it’s kind of a minor thing to add an app to the Store, isn’t it? C’mon guys: fix this sooner, rather than later. I applaud the new UI and the switch to a modern app style for this excellent tool. But please: finish the job and put it in the Store. Just sayin…

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Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

MS Sez: Copilot+ PCs 5X Faster Than 2019 Models

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Here’s an interesting MS announcement from last week. I saw it, but didn’t read it all the way through. This morning, I read follow-up coverage (e.g. this WindowsLatest story). It’s entitled “How prepare for Windows end of support by moving to Windows 11 today.” Overall, it’s an eminently predictable bit of upgrade rah-rah. But specifically MS sez: Copilot+ PCs 5X faster than 2019 models.  I translated “5-year old PCs” from the original to get this year.

Weighing Copilot+ PCs 5X Faster Than 2019 Models

It just so happens that this cut-off equates to 10th Generation Intel CPUs (e.g. Comet Lake and Ice Lake). It also hits 3rdGeneration AMD Ryzen models (Matisse and Renoir). I’ve got 4 8th Gen Intel laptops here at Chez Tittel. I’ve also worked with 3 Copilot+ PCs (2 Snapdragon X models, and 1 Intel Aura/Lunar Lake model). My own gut feel, and my ongoing observation of resource intensive tasks — such as disk cleanup, updates, upgrades, big installs, and so forth — absolutely agrees with this claim.

If you dig into the October 31 announcement, you’ll find a section entitled “Benefits of upgrading to Windows 11.” Therein, author and MS EVP/Consumer Chief Marketing Office Yusuf Mehdi avers that when compared to Windows 10, 11 is

  • more sure and trusted
  • better optimized for speed and efficiency
  • better at multitasking
  • more accessible
  • more energy efficient

The 5x speed claim is footnoted to a May 2024 MS Learn item entitled Copilot+ PC performance details. That’s where the 5X claim gets some substance, which turns out to rest on the Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core benchmark. Further investigation shows this to be a 10-minute rendering test using the Redshift engine. Looking at the laptop segment at CPU Monkey, I see the first recognizable Copilot + PC in 17th place, with a value of 1,150 (Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU) takes 1st place , with a value of 1,918).

Moving Up Probably Means Copilot+

With a handful of older PCs that I’ll need to upgrade in the next year or two, I am thinking about “what’s next” here at Chez Tittel. And indeed, most of what I’m thinking about buying into is Copilot. My first such purchase will probably be a Yoga Slim 7x (blogged July 1, 2024). It’s got a killer screen, runs like a demon, and represents a good value for its cost (~US$1,200 for 16 GB RAM, 0.5 TB SSD, and X1E-78-100 Snapdragon X CPU).

There will be plenty of other models to consider in the months ahead, as the Intel and AMD offerings get fleshed out alongside the earlier ARM Snapdragon X offerings. I’ll be choosing among those, or their successors, in the next year or two as I start upgrade. You should probably be thinking along those same lines. Unless and until something better comes along…

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Forced 24H2 Upgrade Throws BSOD

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I couldn’t help myself: I HAD to try it. On the Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra, I used the Windows 11 Installation Assistant to bring on the newest version. Alas, my forced 24H2 upgrade throws BSOD with error code 0X85 SETUP_FAILURE. Quick research found an MS Learn article on that very topic. Alas, it also says “a fatal error occurred during setup” and suggests unplugging peripherals and trying again, but provides no real repair advice. You can see my iPhone BSOD photo, skews and all, as the lead-in graphic here.

Bad Cess As Forced 24H2 Upgrade Throws BSOD

Please note: even though the BSOD text reads in part “We’ll restart for you,” I had to toggle the power button to bring the P3 Ultra back to life. Sigh: looks like its Intel i9-13900 Intel CPU is subject to some documented issues. Indeed, I just found an Intel Community post that says if Turbo Boost is enabled in the BIOS, it can crash during the Windows 11 upgrade process.

So I visited Settings > System > Recovery > Advanced Startup and then entered the BIOS. Sure enough, Turbo Mode was enabled, so I disabled same. Now, I’m running the Installation Assistant again. It zoomed through download and verification phases, so the files from the original download were obviously still present. Now it’s doing the GUI install portion …

Is the 2nd Try Charmed, or Doomed?

It took about 10-15 minutes for GUI install to complete. Turning off Turbo Mode notably slows things down. The post-GUI install went much slower, though: it zoomed up to 71% in 5-8 minutes, then took the better part of an hour to work its way to completion and OOBE.

But I’ve now got a working 24H2 installation on the ThinkStation P3 Ultra,  as you can see in the next screencap. It shows Lenovo Vantage device info, above which I’ve positioned Winver output. Then I had to go back into the BIOS and turn Turbo Mode back on. With Turbo Mode restored, the system runs very much faster.

Winver 24H2 in front, Lenovo Vantage Device Details in back.

Now, I have to ask: is this disable/enable in BIOS looming over all future upgrades, or is it just a one-time 24H2 thing? As the clue that pointed me toward this fix came from 22H2, probably not. Another thing for me to remember, in that case…

And isn’t that just the ways things go from time to time, here in Windows-World? You betcha!

 

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PC Manager Gains Advanced Browser Cleanup

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Thanks to a recent story in Windows Latest, I just learned that a new version of the Chinese-built MS store app named PC Manager is out. For those who don’t already know, this tool offers performance boost, health check, storage  and startup cleanup tools, and more. Though I’ve heard from plenty of used inclined to be skeptical, if not distrustful, of this tool, I’ve never had it cause me a problem in the 16 months I’ve been writing about it (here’s my first intro post from July 2023). With the latest 3.14.10.0 release, PC Manager gains advanced browser cleanup tools.

Showing PC Manager Gains Advanced Browser Cleanup

You can see the results of such a cleanup in the lead-in graphic: especially for Chrome, they’re substantial (5.0 GB). Of the 9.7 GB in disk space that the Deep Cleanup tool freed up, 6.84 GB (~70%) comes from this newly-minted browser cleanup facility. IMO, that’s pretty major — especially because web browsers account for plenty of the CPU and memory cycles, and disk and memory space on Windows PCs.

Indeed, Copilot says that on a typical Windows PC, web browsers generally consume around 10-20% of the total runtime resources (CPU, memory, network and storage). I think that’s on the low side, but then I nearly always have 20 or more Chrome, Edge and Firefox processes visible in Task Manager (each), and at least a half-dozen tabs open in all 3 browsers. Seems like double (or more) in my case as compared to Copilot’s estimate.

Whatever your typical usage patterns might be, this newly-added cleanup tool will probably be worth running once in a while. I’m going to try it daily and see if it makes any difference.

Give It a Try?

If you’re not using PC Manager already, this new facility makes it even more compelling. If you don’t have it installed, you can find in the MS Store, or grab it via this MS Store link. Go ahead, check it out. You may enjoy it!

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Macrium X Next Migration Step: P360 Ultra

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As I manage my small fleet of desktops and laptops lately, I’ve been slowly but surely updating Macrium Reflect. I’m transitioning from version 8 to version X (as in Roman Numeral 10). At this point, I’ve allocated 5 of my 8 licenses for X. Today’s effort for my Macrium X next migration step: P360 Ultra switches a temporary 8 preview version out for the “real thing.”

Taking Macrium X Next Migration Step: P360 Ultra

“What is involved in upgrading” one might ask? I just did one. Now, I can say it requires getting the configuration and schedule right. On the P360 Ultra that meant:

  • switching from a no-longer-attached USB4 NVMe enclosure to an older mSATA NVMe that stays constantly plugged in.
  • Defining a daily backup task, to see how that works out in this situation.

Total time and effort required: about 8 minutes, most of which went to accessing my Macrium Reflect login to grab a 5th license to take the upgrade/install process to completion.

Here’s where things get interesting: Macium X is a LOT faster than Macrium 8. Even on a 10-year-old Samsung EVO 500GB mSATA SSD, X reported whopping I/O performance of: 25.7 Gb/s read and 2.7 Gb/s write. Total elapsed time for the backup was 2:13. And that backup image occupies about 32.8 GB on the EVO500 (D:) drive, as you can see in the lead-in graphic. It’s at least 2:00 faster than version 8.

This has been my experience on all the PCs I’ve upgraded so far. It’s also been blazing fast on new installs on a trio of Copilot+ PCs (two ARM Snapdragons and one Intel Aura model). That provides a sweet reward for the time and effort involved in moving on up to that new version. Good job, Macrium Reflect developer team!!

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Device drivers, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11

BIOS Update Demands Cable Switch

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Whoa: this time, things got just a little bit TOO interesting. I’ve got a Lenovo P360 Ultra ThinkStation on loan, and a BIOS update came through today (to version S0JKT2AA). But when I would install the update, the usual BIOS flash screens did not come up after a reboot. It wasn’t until I swapped the graphics cable from the full-size DP to full-size DP port, to a full-size DP (monitor) to mini DP (PC) that the splash screen showed up at boot, and the BIOS flash ran through to completion. Thus, the BIOS update demands cable switch to succeed. Go figure!

How Did I Figure Out That BIOS Update Demands Cable Switch

By watching the post-reboot behavior on-screen, I realized it wasn’t showing me what it was supposed to. Basically, the screen stayed black post-restart until the lock screen for Windows 11 appeared. I knew I was supposed to see the boot-up splash screen (which reads “Lenovo” in white letters on a black background on this device). But instead: nada.

So on a whim, I brought down the video & power cables box from atop my bookshelves. Then, I grabbed a full-size DisplayPort to mini-DP cable and used it to replace the full-size DP to full-size DP I was currently using. Immediately thereafter, I got a splash screen and the BIOS update started processing. It took a while, but it eventually ground through to a successful update.

What About those Intel Graphics?

The next item of business was to get the built-in Intel graphics (UHD Graphics 770) updated. After a handful of failed attempts to get the Lenovo version to run, I visited the Intel DSA (Driver & Support Assistant) and installed that version instead. It worked. You can see the results for my final — and entirely welcome — update check using the Lenovo Commercial Vantage tool as the lead-in graphic above.

That was a wild ride. But indeed, that’s the way things go in Windows-World far too often, based on my current level of interest vs. fatigue. Today, fatigue wins out. Sigh.

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