All posts by Ed Tittel

Full-time freelance writer, researcher and occasional expert witness, I specialize in Windows operating systems, information security, markup languages, and Web development tools and environments. I blog for numerous Websites, still write (or revise) the occasional book, and write lots of articles, white papers, tech briefs, and so forth.
Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11

In-place Upgrade Repair Install Fixes Mystery Windows 11 Woes

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It’s an old-school repair technique that remains relevant even for the latest Windows version. While fiddling with my up-and-coming production PC this weekend, I encountered absent apps. This is my latest PC build — Asrock B550 Extreme4 mobo, AMD 5800X CPU, 64 GB RAM, 2TB Sabrent Rocket SSD, and GeForce 1070 Ti . At a bare minimum, I found both Windows Defender and Windows Terminal MIA on the then-current install. Fortunately, an in-place upgrade repair install fixes mystery Windows 11 woes.

Indeed In-place Upgrade Repair Install Fixes Mystery Windows 11 Woes Quickly and Easily

The principle behind this technique involves over-writing the current Windows image with an equivalent replacement. Essentially, it replaces all of the OS files and related scaffolding without touching local files and applications. It also re-creates the default app environment for Windows 11, which was my real motivation for this maneuver.

I visited the Download Windows 11 page to grab the ISO. I clicked on “Download  now” under the Create Windows 11 Installlation Media heading, and used the Media Creation Tool to create an ISO file. After mounting that ISO on the target PC, I ran setup.exe to perform the in-place upgrade repair install.

Before: no Windows Defender or Windows Terminal (the packages themselves were absent from the runtime environment). After: both Windows Defender and Windows Terminal were present and ran as expected. Total time involved in this repair: 10 minutes to download the ISO file shown in the lead-in graphic; 20 minutes to perform the install itself (total time: half an hour).

The Half-Hour Troubleshooting Rule

Once i figured out that the apps were missing completely, I immediately decided to run the upgrade repair install. Normally, I will troubleshoot for half an hour on a problematic Windows image. If I haven’t solved the problem by then, my next move is to try this repair technique. Most of the time, it works when problems are OS related (it may not help with application issues, though).

And fortunately for me, it worked as desired this time. I’ll continue my “slow migration” from my 2016 vintage Z170 i7-6700 (too old to meet Windows 11 hardware requirements) later this week, after I meet some pressing deadlines first and foremost. Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted on progress and issues encountered.

 

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Backup/Restore, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows Update

Troubleshooting Failed Beta 22581 Promotion

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I’d like to report on a snag in upgrading my Windows 11 Beta Channel test PC to Build 22581. As I wrote yesterday, MS has paired up the Dev and Beta channels with this build. Both of my Dev Channel PCs updated successfully; the Beta Channel test PC did not. So now, I’m troubleshooting failed Beta 22581 promotion. This is an interim progress report. Although I’ve already learned a lot, I’ve not yet resolved the problem. Here’s what I know so far. . .

Progress on Troubleshooting Failed Beta 22581 Promotion

The list of data about this update failure reads as follows:

1. The update fails during the final, final phase of post-GUI install after update progress gets to 100% complete.

2. WU Update History reports an error code of 0XC1900101 in its “Failed to install” error  message

3. MS Docs offers a Resolution Procedure for this error code,  from which the following $Windows.~bt items appear important:

3.1 This error code most typically indicates a driver install problem during the Windows install/upgrade process

3.2 If present, the \Sources\Rollback folder may include a minidump file named setupmem.dmp. (Mine does not)

3.3 Event logs may appear in \Sources\Rollback*.evtx (I have no such files)

3.4 The device install log can capture driver install issues, and appears in \Sources\Rollback\setupapi\setupapi.dev.log. I *DO* have one of these and have read it over, and shared it with install experts at ElevenForum.com. Looks potentially fruitful because I do see various errors therein.

4. A typical fix attempt when WU updates fail, is to try an ISO from UUPdump.net. I’ve built one, but I’m also reading online that nickel release ISOs — including Build 22581 — from UUPdump.net are not working properly right now. See this Elevenforum thread (especially pages 6 & 7). Just in  case it blows up, I’ve already made a Macrium Reflect image backup of the current working-but-not-upgraded install. Thus, I can restore it easily booting from the MR Rescue Media.

What Should Happen Next. . .

I’m up against a major deadline today, so I don’t have time to follow all the leads I’ve found. But I do have a task list to follow when the weekend rolls around and I have more free time:

1. The afore-linked Resolution Procedure recommends another WU attempt with all nonessential peripherals unplugged. I’ll do that next.

2. If that doesn’t work, I’ll attempt to use the UUPdump ISO to perform an in-place “repair upgrade” by running its setup.exe file.

3. If that doesn’t work, I’ll check back into the ElevenForum thread to see if any of my appeals for guru help have produced suggestions.

4. If I can’t resolve the issue through typical troubleshooting, I’ll wait and try again when the next Dev/Beta build is released. In my experience of nearly 8 years as a Windows 10 and 11 Insider,  that works more often than not. I’m inclined to believe this is possible because one of my other working Dev Channel PCs is a near-identical Lenovo X380 laptop (only config difference is the built-in NVMe drive: one’s a Samsung, the other’s a Toshiba, now Kioxia).

Stay tuned, and I’ll keep reporting on progress. Cheers!

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

Build 22581 Hits Dev and Beta Channels

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Just yesterday, MS released a new Insider Preview build for Windows 11. That said, they changed that target audience up a bit. Whereas Beta and Release Preview channels had been paired, Build 22581 hits Dev and Beta channels. Out with the old pairing, and in with the new! I’m updating my beta test PC accordingly as I write this. But what does this mean?

If Build 22581 Hits Dev and Beta Channels, Now What?

For some info and possible insight, I turn to the 22581 Build Announcement. It makes the following observations about the change, ranging from channeling “Captain Obvious,” to a limited switcheroo, to ruminations on the roles that Dev and Beta channels play. Here are some illustrative quotes, under related headings.

Captain Obvious says:

Insiders in the Beta Channel can now try out new features such as Live Captions, Start folders, the redesigned Task Manager, tablet optimized taskbar and much more.

Switcheroo Info:

Now that the Dev and Beta Channels are receiving the same builds, the limited window has opened for Insiders to switch channels if you wish to do so by following these simple steps:

  1. Open Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program.
  2. Select Choose your Insider settings.
  3. Select Beta Channel.
  4. The next time you receive an update, it will be for your new channel.

IMPORTANT: This window will close once we release builds with higher build numbers to the Dev Channel. If your device stays on the Dev Channel and receives a build that is a higher build number than what is in the Beta Channel, you will have to do a clean installation of the released version of Windows 11 on your device to switch to the Beta Channel.

See the announcement for more details, but I understand this as a promotion from Beta to Dev, with the opportunity to drop to Release Preview for those so inclined.

Channel Role Ruminations:

As a reminder, we are evolving the way we develop and release to Insiders with the Dev and Beta Channels now representing parallel development paths from our engineers. The Dev Channel will be a place where we will try out different concepts, incubate new ideas, and work on long lead items that may not get released to general customers. The Beta Channel will be the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post from last month that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels.

The Change Is Here, But…

I fired off my Beta test PC as I started writing this piece. When I just went to check status, the update had failed. A new error message appeared in WU “Save your work, and please try again.” Right now, I’m doing as directed and watching the update process. It sat at some while at 17% complete, but the count-up continues (and just jumped to 100%). Now it’s sitting at 100%. . . Another restart . . . spinning circle . . . Working on updates (with count-up) . . . and taking its sweet time (about 35 minutes total for post-GUI updates), it ultimately got back to the Windows 11 desktop.

AND NOW: my beta test PC is still running Build 22000.588. Here’s what WU has to say about the situation:

Obviously, further investigation is needed. Wonder what’s up? To that end, I’m using the Powershell cmdlet Get-WindowsUpdateLog to show me what happened. I’ve got some research work to do. But it may end up making sense simply to install the update using a mounted ISO to run setup.exe. I’ll report further tomorrow. Good fun!

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Device drivers, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, Updates, Windows 10, Windows 11

GPU Driver Update Fixes Flickering Solitaire

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I cheerfully confess: I start most working days off with a rousing round of Microsoft Solitaire. When the game pane started flickering this morning, I asked myself “Time for a new Nvidia driver?” Sure enough, a new one issued on March 22 (yesterday). And, as usual, that GPU driver update fixes flickering Solitaire as desired.

Keep Calm and Carry On: GPU Driver Update Fixes Flickering Solitaire

I upgraded the Game Ready Driver to yesterday’s version 512.15 using GeForce Experience. The whole process took under 10 minutes. No reboot was required. Interestingly, Reliability Monitor collected no errors nor warnings while the monitor was flaking out on me, either.

It’s a good thing that the symptoms are both obvious, and easily diagnosed. And FWIW, a keyboard GPU restart (CTRL+WinKey+ Shift+B) didn’t fix things. That’s why I was hopeful that a driver update would make it all better. Luckily for me, that turned out well.

What If a New Driver Flops?

Things rapidly get more interesting if a new GPU driver fails to fix monitor flicker. First and foremost, I’d check cables next, starting (in this case) with the DisplayPort cables that stretch from the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti GPU adapter to the affected Dell 2717D. If a cable swap didn’t fix things, I’d try rolling back two driver versions or more (for Nvidia GPUs, that means using its manual driver search facility). If no joy after two or three older driver attempts, I’d next run monitor and GPU diagnostics.

Most of the time, it’s the driver. If it’s not the driver, it’s usually the cable. If I have to get down to diagnostics (usually available from GPU and monitor makers), things can quickly get expensive. Glad to have avoided such issues this time around.

But, here in Windows-World, it’s always something, right?

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Windows Ads Go Another Round?

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On March 15, The Verge published a story that raised a familiar Windows spectre.Responding to a tweet from fellow WIMVP Florian Beaubois (it serves as the preceding lead-in graphic), MS spokesperson Brandon LeBlanc is quoted as saying “This was an experimental banner that was not intended to be published externally and was turned off.” Indeed, it could be used in File Explorer to advertise the Microsoft Editor in future releases of Windows 11. If one ad is possible, others could easily follow. Is this cause for concern, or even ire? Whatever the case, it’s possible Windows ads go another round in upcoming versions.

If Windows Ads Go Another Round, So What?

There are several, hopefully worthwhile observations I can offer on the topic of Windows ads. Here they are:

  1. As the previously cited Verge story states, MS tried out ads in a 2017 File Explorer version. They were relatively easy to disable, and didn’t last very long.
  2. MS already uses ads on the Windows 10 lock screen, its Start menu, and in the taskbar. Once again, they can be disabled for those willing to search out related fixes.
  3. Other OS vendors — the Verge mentions Apple and Google specifically — also include ads on various products (e.g. iPhone, Apple TV and YouTube) that they bring to market.

Monetization Is Hard to Resist

What’s driving this phenomenon comes straight from what might be called “the capitalist imperative.” That is, seek out and exploit any and all opportunities to generate revenue. It’s what created Google, and what drives their biggest revenue streams. It’s what funds their search engine, and most other search engines besides.

I take comfort from knowing that there will be ways to turn off ads should they appear. If outright switches to disable them aren’t readily available, third parties will provide ad-blocker software to turn them off. I already use (and happily pay a voluntary “donationware” sum) for the “free” AdBlock Plus program to block web ads.

If I must, I’ll do likewise for Windows. I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that. But where there’s a will, there’s almost always a way to exert it as desired. Time will tell what happens with the ad capability recently shown to be possible in Windows 11. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy that OS in its present (mostly) ad-free state.

Note [Added 1/2 Day Later]

Kudos to Sergey Tkachenko who published a story at WinAero this afternoon entitled How to Disable Ads in Windows 11. it provides a nice overview of all of the settings changes and registry tweaks needed to put them out of sight (and hopefully, out of mind) — if you’re so inclined. ‘Nuff said…

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Insider stuff, Networking, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows OS Musings

911 Works Even With Low/No Coverage

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In case you’ve wondered, I’ve been on a family vacation to points west. Our itinerary included great visits to White Sands (Las Cruces, NM), the Petrified Forest (Holbrook, AZ) and Tucson. While driving home on Friday, we found ourselves with a flat tire in a remote  area as night was falling. Our splendid E250 Bluetech is a great car, but does not sport a spare tire. Fortunately, I learned 911 works even with low/no coverage.

That’s extremely fortunate. Alas, I was unable to call out for local help. Mercedes roadside assistance needed to be dispatched from San Antonio, over two hours away from our then-present location. But dialing 911 on my iPhone 12, I was able to reach the local emergency response center.

Thank God: 911 Works Even With Low/No Coverage

At first, I was concerned that our situation didn’t count as a real “emergency.” Then my wife made several trenchant observations. We were nearly 20 miles from the nearest small town (the other, next closest was nearly 30 miles away). Night was falling. We were stuck on a narrow shoulder. Cars were zooming by, and our downhill stretch was a popular spot for faster vehicles to pass slower-moving ones. OK then: it was a bad spot to be in.

Her opinion: lack of local services, a bad location, and no outgoing cell or data connections meant it WAS an emergency. In less than a minute I was talking to a very friendly and helpful 911 operator. He agreed we needed help, and dispatched a tow truck from Brady, TX (about 40 miles away from our location).

Call Me Back, If You Hear Nothing…

Because the local signal was so weak, he asked me to call him back in an hour. When I did so, he said he’d tried to call me himself but couldn’t get through. A car carrier was on the way, and should be arriving in another half hour or so. Indeed, I’m glad 911 works to carry outgoing messages when other cellular traffic is impossible. Here’s an interesting explanation of what’s involved: How Can Mobile Phones Make ‘Emergency Calls’ When There’s No Network Coverage?

And indeed, about 90 minutes after my initial call to 911, a car carrier (my favorite brand: Jerr-Dan) appeared on the scene. Shameless plug: Henry, the helpful and skilled operator from Brady-based Back on Your Feet Towing had us loaded and back on the road in under 15 minutes. We would wind up negotiating a price to take our car to a tire repair center near our Round Rock home, over 200 miles away. It was infinitely preferable to spending the night in Brady, and waiting for repairs the next morning. As the ensuing repairs would prove, that was the right decision…

The Morning After

We wound up getting home after 1 AM that morning. Our flat occurred just before 8PM, with about 2.5 hours of driving time left to get home, But with several stops to refuel Henry’s truck, to check the tie-downs on our wounded car, and for bio-breaks, it ended up taking 3.5 hours to make the rest of the trek home.

At the tire repair place the next morning, I learned that the tread and the sidewall had started to separate on the passenger side front tire. I also figured out they were just over their 50,000 mile lifetime warranties. A new tire was immediately installed, and I’ll be ordering a new set this week. I have to imagine that in Brady we’d have waited hours for a replacement tire to come from Austin or San Antonio. In Round Rock, the whole repair took under half an hour!

We’re very lucky the tire didn’t fail more catastrophically. We’re also lucky that 911 works even with low/no coverage, even in the Texas boonies. That was an adventure I’d not wish to repeat any time soon.

Needless to say, we’re very, very glad to be home, safe and sound. A typical sentiment at any vacation’s conclusion, but more heartfelt than usual this time. And remember, when all else is unavailable, 911 is worth a try. Thank goodness it worked for us on Friday!

Note Added 1 Day Later: Worth Reading (and Remembering)

By default, the iPhone turns off Data Roaming (which lets a cellphone access other providers’ networks). Settings → Cellular Data → Cellular Data Options → Turn Data Roaming on. Had I done that on the deserted roadside, I’d have been able to tap into the same AT&T network my tow truck driver used to call from that location. Sigh: after talking to a friend who lives in Mullin, TX (also out in the boonies, not too far from our breakdown location, in fact) I learned that AT&T’s coverage in that part of Texas is much better than Verizon’s (the provider from whom Spectrum purchases their nationwide coverage). Good to know! Now you know, too…

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

22572 Explorer Tabs Causing Problems

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Wow! When I read about the new tabbing mechanism in Windows Explorer in the latest Dev Channel build, I couldn’t wait to try them out. Alas, they appear broken on both of my test PCs. In fact, they don’t behave at all as described in recent articles from WinAero and WindowsLatest. On those PCs, alas, 22572 Explorer tabs causing problems is the best I can describe my own experience.

What 22572 Explorer Tabs Causing Problems Means (to Me)

My symptoms are as follows:

1. I don’t see the iconography and layout that the afore-cited stories show. Instead i get a duplicated and somewhat mixed-up title bar:

22572 Explorer Tabs Causing Problems.dup-titles

Click item for full-sized view to show garbled text at left in upper nav/title bar, with lower nav/title bar beneath.

2. As I try to use the control keys for tabs (CTRL+T, CTRL+W, etc.) File Explorer crashes pretty regularly. While creating new tabs (CTRL+T) does something, it does not create tabs across the top of the UI as you’d expect it to. Closing tabs (CTRL+W) is as likely to crash Explorer as it is to close the duplicate title bar. Other tab controls (CTRL+Shift+Tab, etc.) do nothing visible.

3. I can use only the “lowest title bar” (the bottom one) actively. The others do not respond to mouse or keyboard activity.

Both of my test PCs look and behave exactly the same way. I’m tempted to do a clean install (or spin up a pristine VM) to see if that fixes things. But I don’t have time to do that today (other tasks loom large on my schedule. Sigh).

Something’s Busted…

It seems clear that further work is needed from MS to get things straightened out. Or, it could be, I’ve hit some kind of fatal interaction with something else I have installed on my test PCs. I’m hoping I’m not the only Insider who’s experiencing these difficulties. Otherwise, my life is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

We’ll have to wait and see what kinds of reports come in from other 22572 users. Rest assured, I’ll be keeping a close watch on this to see what’s happening, and what’s reported, around the symptoms I’m seeing

 

 

 

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Backup/Restore, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 11

Quick Win11 Reghack Shows Removables Recycle Bin

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Here’s an interesting item that shows off a difference between Windows 10 and 11. Adding a specific Registry key and value to Windows 11 lets it show the recycle bin (and contents) in File Explorer on removable drives.  Normally (and on Windows 10) it doesn’t appear. A quick Win11 Reghack shows removables recycle bin.

That said, the same hack produces no visible sign of the Recycle Bin in Windows 10 File Explorer. Here’s what one of my 8 GB USB 3 removables looks like therein:

Quick Win11 Reghack Shows Removables Recycle Bin .win10

Notice there’s no entry shown named “Recycle Bin.” But as the lead-in graphic shows, it’s defined, even if it’s not visible.

When Quick Win11 Reghack Shows Removables Recycle Bin, Here’s What’s Shown

After adding a registry key named Explorer to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\

One must create a DWORD therein named

RecycleBinDrives

Then that DWORD must be assigned the hexadecimal value “ffffffff” (all 1s for all 8 possible hexadecimal digits). Next comes a quick restart to make sure the setting “takes” in the Registry.

Presto! Recycle Bin Appears

As shown in the next screencap (from my X1 Extreme “road laptop”), you can now see the Recycle Bin (and System Volume Information) in the items listed in Explorer. (Note: for these items to appear, File Explorer Options/View must check “Show hidden files…” amidst its settings. As you can see, I also like to uncheck “Hide extensions…”)

Now you can see Recyle Bin and System Volume Info on the USB drive. Good-oh!

Why is access to Recycle Bin a good thing? Because it provides a ready means to recover deleted files from a USB drive directly, if one so desires. I agree with Sergey Tkachenko at WinAero.com (the source for this story and its info, though I had to create the Explorer key from scratch on my test PC) that easy recovery of deleted files can sometimes be a lifesaver!

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Open With Gets 22567 Makeover

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According to the 22567 announcement, the Windows team has “updated the ‘Open with’ dialog to use the Windows 11 design principles…” In case you’re not 100% sure what that means I’ve included a side-by-side comparison as the lead-in graphic for this story. Windows 11 “Open with” is on the left, Windows 10 on the right. This shows me (and you, too, hopefully) what has changed as Open with gets 22567 makeover.

What Open With Gets 22567 Makeover Means

There’s a lot to like about the new look. First and foremost, it shows the file extension under the gun. I really, really like the first line that reads “Select an app to open .jpg file.” I also like the more compact, fluid layout which shows more options, more easily. The “always use” control is a little more intuitive (as is the “just once” option).

Good stuff, in fact, all the way around. Though such improvements may seem minor or negligible in and of themselves, I see lots of improvement in the Windows 11 UI. To me, working with the new OS is getting increasingly familiar, but also increasingly fun and more intuitive. My hat’s off to the development team and its ever more compelling and interesting efforts.

Nay- and Doom-sayers, Look Out!

It’s always interesting to see the vituperation and scorn that some users heap on Windows 11. Indeed, as I see on both TenForums and ElevenForum (both of which get plenty of comments about Windows 11), a great many users are “NOT HAPPY” with the new OS. Apparently, there’s a lot not to like about Windows 11 from their points of view. That said, I’m puzzled and bemused by such reactions. Personally, I am learning to prefer and appreciate Windows 11 over Windows 10. As far as I can tell, Windows 11 just keeps getting better and better.

I wonder what explains the difference(s) between my take and that of others less intrigued with the new OS? I bet lots of folks at MS would like to know what causes such divergent reactions, too!

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

22H2 Makes Nomenclature Debut

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Here’s an interesting tidbit for the sharp-eyed among us. A close look at a recent Windows 11 Cumulative Update (CU) is more revealing than most. As you can see in the lead in graphic, KB5102427 includes “version 22H2 Insider Preview” amidst its verbiage. Believe it or not, this is where 22H2 makes nomenclature debut from Microsoft. Sure, lots of people have been calling the “next release” of Windows 11 22H2 informally. AFAIK, this is the first “official” use of that term from MS.

If 22H2 Makes Nomenclature Debut, Then What?

Now we can refer to the upcoming release with improved confidence that the name is set. That said, MS has been known to change things up before public release. Thus, my use of “improved confidence” rather than something more absolute.

According to WindowsLatest (my source for this careful observation), MS also used this terminology  earlier, but in various  “leaked documents.” Like me, they read this appearance the 22H2 name as a first official sighting of this term in public use.

22H2 Covers Half the Year…

And indeed, it’s important to remember that 22H2 runs from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. That gives MS a huge timeslot into which it can slide this upcoming release. Will the actual “go-public” date be closer to July or to December? Good question!

If history is any guide, October seems to be the most likely month. It’s been a fairly predictable time harking back to the twice-a-year regimen that used to prevail for the majority of Windows 10 releases. But with Windows 10 still in production through — you guessed it — October 2025, MS may decide to stagger Windows 11 releases to one side of that month or the other so as to avoid stacking both OSes up together.

On the other hand, MS has been pretty consistent about keeping more minor and monthly 10 and 11 releases more or less in lock step until now. Frankly this could go either way. I’m thinking it’s possible that 22H2 Windows 11 may show up earlier than its Windows 10 counterpart. But I’m also thinking it’s possible they could continue to travel together. Stay tuned: I’ll do my best to keep you  informed.

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