Backup/Restore, Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11

Bitlocker Boot Loop Finally Broken

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After at least half-a-dozen failed attempts to build bootable media for the ThinkPad T14s ARM laptop, I finally put a usable UFD together. The secrets? First, I used the Lenovo Digital Download Recovery Service (DDRS) and its associated USB Recovery Creator Tool.  Second, it built me a UFD that actually booted up on the T14s on another ARM laptop (an ASUS Zenbook A14). With the BitLocker boot loop finally broken, the Lenovo Recovery Media successfully reinstalled Windows 11. It was a long, wild and sometimes harrowing ride!

How Was BitLocker Boot Loop Finally Broken?

Because the .wim files for Windows 11 were so huge, I’d been formatting the repair UFD using NTFS. That was apparently not working on the T14s. The Lenovo tool built a UFD using FAT32, and assigned no drive letter to its repair partition. Because the basic Windows 11 .wim files exceed 4GB in size, that means it did some juggling work to create a boot.wim of about 700K, and a Recovery WIM of just under 3.9GB. And then it went through the most complex unattend.xml I’ve ever seen go by on-screen, with no less than six (6!) reboots to get the recovery image installed, updated and ready to run. It took about 100 minutes to grind through its process. Color me impressed.

I had tried using various other tools to fix things on my own, but none of them produced a working and bootable UFD from which to run the Windows installer. I believe all of them foundered either on the use of NTFS. complex partition structures, or lack of complete ARM support:

  • MCT (Media Creation Tool): doesn’t work properly on ARM PCs right now, and cannot generate ARM installation media
  • Ventoy: The UFD could boot initially and select the correct ISO for hand-off, but would not boot into that mounted image. Here, because the Ventoy partition is formatted NTFS, I’m presuming that caused the problems.
  • Rufus: I told Rufus to use NFTS, not realizing this could stymie proper booting into its runtime environment.

One More Thing…

I also learned that ARM PCs want fast, standard UFDs as boot media. Me, I’m fond of those tiny micro-UFDs (in this case, Mushkin Atom devices). Turns out they work fine on Intel and AMD; on ARM, not so much. I ended up using a Mushkin full-size USB 3.0 MKNUFDVP64GB device (or half of it, rather, because its FAT32 partition maxed out at 32GB). It did the job, though, so I’m glad.

This has been one of my wilder, woolier adventures in Windows-World lately. First, I had to find the right medium. Then I had to use the right format. And finally, I had to use the right tool. Only then could I reinstall Windows and put the T14s back into service. Sheesh!

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ASUS Zenbook A14 Intake

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In hopes of bootstrapping one ARM laptop to another, I decided to acquire another Snapdragon-based machine this weekend. Thanks to an early “Black Friday” deal I picked up such a machine for under US$600. Here’s the story of my ASUS Zenbook A14 intake, with extra observations about the OOBE (out of box experience) during initial set-up.

Working Thru ASUS Zenbook A14 Intake

Except for the shrinkwrap around the inner box, the packaging for the A14 was all paper: environmentally friendly, for sure. I got to the OOBE by plugging in the brick, inserting the power lead into one of the USB-C ports, and turning on the power. Interestingly, even though the battery showed fully charged when checked, I had to plug the brick in and power up before the unit would turn on.

This unit is incredibly light: 2.18 lbs (990 grams). It’s also got a ceramal, aka ceraluminum, (ceramic aluminum alloy) skin that is strong and fingerprint indifferent. Mine came in a neutral gray color called “Iceland Gray” (shown on the keyboard deck in the lead-in graphic). It’s a tasty machine, with a nice bright display, a decent keyboard and great battery life (real world analyses claim 15 hours for web browsing, and 23 hours for video playback at 50% brightness). It’s completely on par with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X I blogged about last July, in fact.

Speeds, Accoutrement & Feeds

Speccy couldn’t tell me much about this PC, so I turned to the ARM version of HWiNFO instead. Here’s what it told me:

  • CPU: SnapdragonX Plus X1P-42-100 (8 cores)
  • RAM: Single module 16GB LPDDR5X 8448 MHz
  • Storage: Crucial MTFDKBA512QGN-1BN1AABGA 512GB
  • Display: Samsung SDC420D (10x30cm, 1920x1200px)
  • Ports: 2xUSB-C 40 Gbps, 1xUSB-A 10 Gbps, HDMI 3.1, 3.5mm audio
  • Wi-Fi; Qualcomm FastConnect Wi-Fi 6E Dual Band
  • OS: Windows 11 Home (I immediately upgraded to Pro so I could use Remote Desktop Connection over the LAN for access)

I wouldn’t call this a truly powerful laptop, but I’m comfortable with its performance and capabilities, especially in view of its extended battery life. If I can switch out the SSD without losing my mind, I may bump it up to 2 or 4 TB instead of its current 0.5 TB level. Everything else seems adequate and usable.

The Real Reason I Bought This…

I’ve been trying to resuscitate my ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (my “other ARM laptop,” on loan from Lenovo). I hadn’t been able to build recovery media on x64 Intel or AMD PCs to bring the T14s back to life through alternate boot via UFD. By building the Lenovo Recovery Media on that machine for the T14s, I was able to reinstall and recover that machine in working order on my next try. As compared to the day-and-a-half or so I spent trying to use MCT, Ventoy and Rufus to build bootable ARM media, it was a  cakewalk.

Here in Windows-World, incredible contortions may sometimes be needed to bring a dead laptop back to life. So it was with the ARM-based ThinkPad T14s, which roared back into action after I put the A14 to work building recovery media. Go figure!

 

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New MCT Worth Downloading

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There’s been a new Media Creation Tool (MCT) available from MS since October 14. According to NeoWin, that tool is now better equipped to build USB-based Windows 11 bootable installers than it has been in the past. So I visited the Windows 11 Download page to grab it and give it a try. If my experience is any guide, it’s a new MCT worth downloading for speed and convenience alone.

What Makes New MCT Worth Downloading?

The latest version — as shown  at the bottom of the lead-in screencap — is 10.0.26100.7019. Interestingly, MS continues to refer to Windows 11 versions with a 10 prefix, even though 10 is retired (past its EOS date, anyway).

In the same screencap, you can see Index 6 inside the ~5.6GB file I downloaded. It shows up, somewhat generically, as “windows.iso.” When I save one, I usually append the number and version, so I saved it as “Windows1125H2.iso” to be more informative. You can see the version info for Windows 11 Pro from inside that ISO, mounted, thanks to the DISM command. It shows Build 26200.7171, which matches the current Windows 11 I’m running right now, so it’s completely up-to-date.

Whether or not you have an older MCT at your disposal, this one’s worth downloading. It’s fast, apparently more reliable and less buggy, and will bring you whatever version of Windows 11 MS is offering through the Download Windows page. Right now, it even happens to be completely current. That’s about as good as such things get, here in Windows-World!

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Camera Hello Makes Alternate Logins Interesting

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Don’t get me wrong. I *like* Windows Hello, especially the kind where I sit down in front of a PC (laptops mostly) and the camera logs me in via facial recognition. But the new ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 laptop is too fast at this job. Thus, I have trouble logging into another account after I’ve logged into one with facial recognition turned on. By default, the previous account comes up automatically — and darned fast — on subsequent logins. Indeed, camera Hello makes alternate logins interesting because I’ve had to learn new ways to switch over to a different account.

Why Camera Hello Makes Alternate Logins Interesting

Basically, the IR camera that drives facial recognition and the software that does the work and authenticates login is now way fast. It all gets crunched and handled in less than a second. That gives me almost no time at all to click a different account icon in the lower left corner, so I can login to a different account. In fact, I’m too slow to beat the camera when trying to pick something else.

Of course, there are ways around this. I have come to prefer the old three-fingered-salute method. That’s right — CTRL+ALT+DEL turns off the normal Windows display and UI and lets you make big changes, including “Switch user.” That’s what I want to do by the time Hello speeds me into the default login, and it works like a champ.


By mousing down to the second entry in the list (Switch user), striking the Enter key, and selecting the account I want I can get where I need to go. Here in Windows-World, it’s sometimes the case that where entering via the front door — that is, normal login — won’t cooperate, there’s another path that leads to the desired goal. In this case, I’m glad the fix is easy, straight-forward, and not too time-consuming. Would that all gotchas were this easy to work around!

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Flo6 GPU Driver Hiccup Easily Fixed

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When I crashed last night, it was with yesterday’s post-Patch-Tuesday updates pending. Thus, I had to log in this morning, following the reboot for KB5068861. Right away, I knew something was amiss. Indeed, the right-hand monitor went into serious blink mode immediately as my dual-display desktop came alive. I’ve seen this before, many times, on the old i7Skylake desktop. This was a first since I switched to the Flo6 (AMD 5800X CPU, Asrock B550 Extreme 4 mobo). Fortunately, this Flo6 driver hiccup easily fixed itself, via installation of a new NVIDIA driver.

Here’s How: Flo6 GPU Driver Hiccup Easily Fixed

There’s something about the combination of two displays and NVDIA GPUs that gets them into blink mode. Invariably when that happens, a new driver is mysteriously available. As my friend Wiggo would say of such things: “How do it know?” I have no clue…

But having been in this same spot dozens of times before, I knew exactly what to do. I opened the NVIDIA app, and learned that a new Studio driver (supposedly the most stable version) has been available since Oct 14. However, I needed it today, and installed same. Immediately after installation (no reboot required) the blink mode quit blinking.

Here in Windows-World, one must expect a bit of trouble from time to time. The good kind of trouble is familiar. The best kind is the one that surrenders to the obvious, well-known fix. The worst kind is the one that refuses to give way, even to a “huge bulldozer — slow, tedious, lumbering, laborious, but invincible.” [Note: that’s a quote from Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that describes the full rigor of the scientific method.

Luckily for me, my kind of trouble was the best kind in that taxonomy. Thus I can exclaim: “Problem solved!”

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 11

USB Type A Gen 1 vs 2 Tradeoffs

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Laptop makers — like Lenovo, whose ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 I’m currently testing –must juggle many factors to build usable laptops. That includes managing cost, size, complexity and capability to hit specific price points. For this particular laptop, I’m currently pondering USB Type A Gen 1 vs 2 tradeoffs. The X13 includes 2 USB-C ports at 40 Gbps (with both USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 support). It also includes a single 5 Gbps (Gen 1) USB-A port as well.

Observing USB Type A Gen 1 vs 2 Tradeoffs

It’s pretty clear that USB-C ports cost more than their USB-A counterparts. The lead-in graphic shows that comes as a function of more leads and corresponding pin-outs. When comparing Gen 1 to Gen 2 for the same USB-A port, the cost differential is lower. Indeed, Copilot suggests it’s in the US$2.50 to 5.00 range per port.

Given such a relatively small difference I was interested to observe the performance difference between USB-A and USB-C. I used a fast UFD on the X13. I’m talking about the Kingston Data Traveler Max. It delivers full UASP speeds (up to ~1Gbps) if connected to USB-A Gen 2 or USB-C ports (10 Gbps or higher). The Kingston device includes a male USB-A port.  I was able to hook into USB-C thanks to a USB A-to-C adapter I purchased from Amazon  (current price ~US$4).

Comparing USB-A Gen 1 to Gen 2 Speeds

You can see the speed difference courtesy of CrystalDiskMark in the following dual screencap:

The USB-C hookup (right) is two times faster for the bulk transfers (top two rows), and random reads/writes (bottom two rows) run somewhat faster, too. Clearly, I’d rather have Lenovo use faster USB-A ports, if possible, and plug the Kingston Data Traveler straight in, instead of using an adapter.

But gosh, that’s the only way to get the best performance from that device, given the speed difference between the two ports involved. If you like, you could look at this as confirmation that a Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 dock for this laptop may indeed make a worthwhile accessory.  FWIW, Copilot reports the average price for such a device at “between US$210 and US$300” citing to devices from Startech, Walmart, Acasis and Dell as examples. It’s a hefty premium, but definitely delivers more (and faster) ports.

Choosing Gen 1 vs Gen 2

As I look at other Lenovo laptops here at Chez Tittel, I see the company often chooses Gen 1 ports for USB-A. The Snapdragon X T14S Gen 6 has two USB-A ports, both Gen 1 (Vintage: 2024). Ditto for the P16 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation (Vintage: 2022). OTOH, the P3 Ultra Gen 2 ThinkStation (not a laptop, but rather, an SFF PC) has 5 USB-A ports: all of them are Gen 2.

If I ran the zoo, I’d need a compelling reason to opt for slower Gen 1 over faster Gen 2 USB-A ports. I’m probably missing something important, because Lenovo still picks Gen 1 for many/most of its laptops. But murky mysteries are all part of the charm for those of us who labor in Windows-World. If I keep at it, maybe I’ll figure it out.

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26H1 Comes Via Canary Channel

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Allrighty then. MS pushed a new Canary Channel version of Windows 11 out the door last Friday. I got it up and running over the weekend. It took a while to download and install, too — over an hour, though I didn’t exactly time it. As you can see from the lead-in graphic, Windows 11 version 26H1 comes via Canary Channel to Windows Insiders, courtesy of Build 28000.1.

What’s Driving 26H1 Comes Via Canary Channel?

The afore-linked announcement explains what’s really going on here. MS makes some interesting statements about the MS decision to break its three-years-and-running “H2-only” Window 11 update cadence (all bullets quoted verbatim):

  • 26H1 is not a feature update for version 25H2…
  • 25H2 remains the primary place for new features…
  • …new experiences will continue to land first in the Dev and Beta channels, with Canary primarily focused on platform changes

What’s the real reason for the off-cycle 26H1 update? Qualcomm is readying its X2 family of Snapdragon CPUs for release. MS is going to accommodate new platform capabilities in this Canary channel release, along with other new stuff TBD.

Canary Breaks Away from Dev and Beta

Copilot sez (and my memory confirms, FWIW) that Build 28000 is the “first time a full version branch (26H1) has launched exclusively in Canary [channel], making the divergence more formal and strategic.” Hopefully that means there will be fun and interesting things to learn from Canary, different from things one might learn from Beta and Dev channel releases.

I’m currently not running a Dev release here at Chez Tittel, either on a physical PC or in a VM. Looks like I’ll have to do something about that. But things are always changing in Windows-World, and Insiders need to keep changing along with them. Tally-ho!

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ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 First Look

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Although it showed up two weeks ago, yesterday was the first day I had open enough to unbox and bring up a brand-new ThinkPad. It’s a svelte (thin-and-light, in fact) 13″ laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 7 255U CPU, 16 GB RAM, Hello-capable IR camera and fingerprint reader, WUXGA (1920×1200) IPS 13″ display, and 512 GB PCIe x4 NVMe SSD. As configured, the Lenovo Store price for this unit is $1,269.33 this morning. As the ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 first look gets underway, I’m looking for answers to these questions:

1. Is this a Copilot+ PC?
2. What kinds of users is the X13 best suited for?
3. How does the unit perform on basic tasks? more demanding ones?

Digging in For a ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 First Look

Let’s answer those questions:

Copilot+ PC Status

The Intel Core Ultra 7 255U does have an NPU but it delivers only 12 TOPS. Copilot+ requirements call for 40 TOPS. So no, the X13 Gen 6 is NOT a Copilot+ capable PC. That’s not shocking — right now only about 1 in 50 laptops sold globally is Copilot+ capable (Copilot says it’s 1.9% of global PC sales, and 2.3% of Windows PC sales).

Who’s the Target Audience?

Based on the unit’s size, weight and configuration it’s an entry to mid-level laptop, designed for portability over power and capability. With a smallish 13″ screen, overall dimensions of 29.93 x 20.7 x 0.99-1.78cm / 11.78 x 8.15 x 0.39-0.7″, and a weight of merely 2.03 lbs (0.92 kg) it’s clearly a grab-and-go unit from start to finish. To me, that aims it squarely at an audience that needs computing mostly on the go, but not a whole lot of it.

IMO, that means this laptop aims at students, mobile office workers, and SOHO workers who need to pick up and carry it around rather than sitting always at the same desk. OTOH, this makes it an excellent “road machine” for users who want to carry something light and compact when they travel, but who may not use this laptop as their primary work PC.

Task Performance

Given its relatively modest processing, storage and memory endowments, the X13 Gen 6 configuration I examined — and the whole product line, in fact — aims to support users who want to surf the web, read e-mail, and handle routine productivity, media, and entertainment workloads. I wouldn’t recommend it to those who need to run large or demanding workloads including serious programming, local AI models or other big datasets, or heavy-duty 3-D graphics (which knocks it out of consideration for media, gaming, CAD/CAM, and so forth). If you want more performance nuts-n-bolts see this July 2025 review at Gigazine.

The built-in NVMe is a Lenovo model RPETJ512MMW1MDQ (M.2 22380 with Gen3/Gen4 level performance. It’s reasonably quick, but nowhere near state of the art. The unit relies on a built-in Intel graphic processor in the Xe-LPG family. It’s designed to run on par with entry-level discrete GPUs, and thus, to handle light gaming, media editing and AI workloads. Squares entirely with my subjective impression in watching YouTube, installing and using apps, and bringing the PC current with WU.

Initial Impressions: Nifty, Not Gnarly

The unit itself is incredibly light, but feels sturdy and looks good. I didn’t feel much flex in the keyboard or monitor decks as I picked it up and moved it around. The Windows Hello capable IR camera and fingerprint reader are both fast and easy to set up. Amusingly, I found it difficult to switch from my primary MSA to other accounts at login after I’d set the camera up, because it would log me in faster than I could click the lower-left icon for an alternate account at startup.

I couldn’t log into my ASUS AX-6000 802.11ax router on the 5GHz channel for some reason or another. The unit’s Wi-Fi6E Intel worked just fine with the 2.4 GHz channel, and performed well as I downloaded and installed a raft of updates and software apps.

The X13 has 2 USB-C ports, one of which goes to power unless you dock it up and get power that way. Both are USB4/Thunderbolt 4 capable. It also has 2 USB A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports as well, along with HDMI 2.1 and 3.5mm audio (mini-RCA jack). It’s not overly endowed with ports, but they are sufficient for ordinary users’ needs.

First Look Takeaways…

Overall, this is an eminently portable and usable light-duty laptop. I’d buy one for my about-to-graduate college offspring, except I opted to spend $450 less to buy him the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Copilot+ laptop in May. It lacks USB-A and headphone jack, but offers longer battery life and better AI capabilities.

 

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DISM /Add-Packages Loses Windows 11 Mojo

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This week, I’ve been updating a story for ComputerWorld. Along the way, I learned a little about .msu files for the Microsoft Update Standalone Installer. They differ widely between Windows 10 and 11. TLDR version: it’s pretty easy to extract a usable .cab file from Windows 10 .msu from Microsoft Catalog downloads. For Windows 11 .msu, it’s not. That’s why I observe that DISM /Add-Packages loses Windows 11 mojo. Let me now explain…

Why Say: DISM /Add-Packages Loses Windows 11 Mojo

The contents of .msu files for Windows 10 versus 11 updates reveals some stark differences. For recent such updates  I chose KB5066791 for Windows 10, and KB5067036 for 11.

Turns out you can open .msu files in 7-Zip to examine their contents. The two files couldn’t be more different internally. The latest 10 update includes 5 files and is just over 700MB in size. The latest 11 update includes over 100K files and comes in at just under 3.5 GB.

The really big difference is that DISM /Add-package /online (the incarnation of that command that permits working on a running Windows image) REQUIRES a .cab file to do its job. Simply put: Windows 10 makes that easy to find, extract, and use; Windows 11 makes it pretty much impossible.

Where the Mojo Went…

That means you can use DISM /Add-Package on Windows 10 to apply updates to a running image, when Windows Update isn’t working or something goes sideways with some particular update. But if you want to use DISM to add a package to a running Windows 11 image, you must take that image offline, apply the update, then bring the image back online.

The net effect is that a quick and handy alternate update technique that works fine for Windows 10, turns into a slow and cumbersome slog for Windows 11. Better to try something else, instead. I’m sorry to lose a helpful tool from my Windows fixes and workarounds toolbox, but that’s the way progress sometimes works in Windows-World.

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Update Gotcha Highlights BitLocker Key Backup

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Recent updates have triggered news and warnings that some PCs will request a BitLocker key upon restart. Reports from Windows Latest and Neowin confirm that KB5066835 (Win11) and KB5066791 (Win10) trigger such behavior for Windows Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Business editions. Apparently, as Copilot says of this issue “Intel-based PCs with Modern Standby are most susceptible.” But this update gotcha highlights BitLocker key backup and recovery techniques for all Windows users. Let me tell you about that…

New Update Gotcha Highlights BitLocker
Key Backup and Recovery

The easiest way to backup and use a BitLocker recovery key is to type Bitlocker into Settings, then select the resulting “Manage BitLocker” item that pops up. This takes you to the Control Panel pane for BitLocker Drive Encryption shown above, where you can click the entry labeled “Back up your recovery key.”

Resulting options read:

  • Save to your Microsoft account
  • Save to a USB flash drive
  • Save to a file
  • Print the recovery key

As something of a belt-and-suspenders guy, I usually save to a file named <machine-name>blrk.txt AND I print a copy that I stick in a folder in my filing cabinet labeled “PC Recovery Stuff.” Saving to a file means loss of access to its drives and backups could stymie recovery in some circumstances, so I like to have the hard copy as a fallback.

Of course, you can also register your PCs into your MSA (Microsoft Account) and get it online as well. The URL for that specific purpose is https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. I’ve pretty much got that memorized because I do use it multiple times a year, every year, like clockwork.

Here in Windows-World, if you use BitLocker it’s wise to ensure you can access the recovery key when and as you need it. The techniques I’ve described will get you where you need to go, should that need arise. Cheers!

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