Category Archives: Cool Tools

Backup/Restore, Cool Tools, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Restore Point Pros & Cons

March 18, 2024 Ed Tittel 3 Comments

By default, Windows 10 and 11 both turn on restore points (RPs). These may be used to return an OS environment back to a prior state. The OS typically shoots one RP daily, and takes one as it starts the WU process. In addition, app developers may include taking an RP snapshot early on during their own install processes. All this said, there are plenty of Restore Point pros & cons.

What Are Restore Point Pros & Cons?

These days you reach Restore Points through the System Protection tab in the System Properties window in Control Panel. Interestingly enough, you have to navigate through Settings > System to get there. Once you find what you’re looking for (see lead-in screencaps) you can enable or disable RPs, and also allocate a maximum percentage of the system/boot disk which these system snapshots can occupy.

RP Pros

RP’s positives include the following:

Convenience and ease of use: you can create an RP manually with a few mouse clicks, and it takes little time to complete one. It’s also fairly easy to revert to a Restore Point using either Windows built-in tools or one of my faves (it’s an oldie, but a goodie): System Restore Explorer. It tool 33 seconds to create one on my i7Skylake desktop, and 1:05 to restore same on that PC.
Provides a simple layer of system protection: can easily revert Windows to undo update, app or application, and driver changes. This is faster — but more limited in scope — than even the fastest image backup restore. As a knock-on effect: this can also undo software or library conflicts (after adding an app or application, or a new .NET version, or something else that’s similar).
Some cleanup when removing new software: This might be somewhere between a pro and a con. Restoring an RP does result in removal of executable files and dlls added when installing apps. But shortcuts, preferences, and other files (including home folders — e.g. inside C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86)) remain intact.

RP Cons

By contrast, RP’s negatives include:

No antivirus protection: restoring an RP won’t necessarily eliminate triggers for or stealth executables that cause malware infections. Thus malware can return even after using an RP.
No data file backup: RP copies the contents of the system volume shadow using the Volume Shadow Service (aka VSS). This does not include data files by intention. So RP provides no data restore capability (see the note at the end of this story for a 3rd-party tool that does provide such capability, however).
New user accounts are not protected by RP: if you define a new user account after the point in time at which an RP shapshot is created, those accounts will no longer exist when that RP is restored. That said, the User files for that account will persist. IMO, this is a kind “worst of both worlds” situation. Sigh.

My Net-Net Is: Don’t Rely Solely on RPs

Reading through the previous plusses and minuses, it’s pretty easy to see that RPs can have value in a limited set of circumstances. But they’re no substitute for a recent image backup, and they’re no panacea for solving non-trivial Windows issues or problems.

I don’t use RPs much myself anymore myself (though I did in the Vista and Windows 7 eras). These days I rely mostly on in-place upgrade repair install for semi-serious to serious troubleshooting, and a clean install (or image restore) for outright system failures and boot problems. It’s also my repair of last resort when nothing else will produce a working Windows instance. Go figure!

Note Added March 19: More Madness

I got a comment from TenForums.com and ElevenForum.com regular “Old Navy Guy” (ONG) this morning reminding me that the NirSoft ShadowCopyView tool does allow users to view and copy certain data files from a VSS snapshot. This *does* allow access to user files and folders and adds to what you can recover from such a snapshot.

I totally forgot about this tool, and am glad to be reminded of same. More important, I’m grateful to have the chance to point this out to you, dear reader — and to make that tool known and possibly useful for you. AFAIK, this capability applies only to files and folders in the Users folder hierarchy, so if you keep stuff on a data drive — as I do — it won’t help much, or at all. But it could still be helpful nevertheless. Cheers!

Note Added March 21: Including Other Drives

Another Homer Simpson moment has come and gone for me. ONG commented again to remind me that ShadowCopyView does data drives, too. I initially wondered how VSS could accommodate drives other than the C: (boot/system) drive where the OS and other key stuff lives. Then it hit me: you must enable RP protection on those drives, too. Here’s an illustrative screencap:

Turn on Protection for the D: drive so it gets VSS snapshots, too.

Maybe there’s more to this protection scheme than I originally gave it credit for. It took 12 seconds to capture an RP for my C: drive and 13-14 seconds for my D: (Data) drive on a Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga. WizTree says C: contains ~80GB of data, while D: contains ~400GB. So it is indeed remarkably fast. And with VolumeShadowCopy providing access to contents, it provides workable file and folder level access to bring back items one-at-a-time or as portions of a target drive’s file hierarchy. Good stuff!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, WED Blog, Windows 11

Another Teams Iteration Hits Build 26080

March 14, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Yesterday, March 13, Windows 11 Canary Channel saw a new feature update hit the Insider Preview Canary Channel: 26080.1. Amidst the many changes it brought, I found an add-on of particular interest — Microsoft Teams. In an era when Teams (classic) and Teams (work or school) coexist side-by-side, a new version of the latter is available via WinGet or the Microsoft Store. You can see its icon in the lead-in graphic. If you read this blog, you can probably guess that when another Teams iteration hits Build 26080, I got it via WinGet. You can also see its traces in the next Windows Terminal screencap that follows.

Examine this closely to see a new Teams version ending in .1505.
[Click image for full-size view.]

Why Another Teams Iteration Hits Build 26080 Matters

For the longest time I’ve had to use both Teams (classic) and the previous iteration of Teams (work or school). Actually, I’ve often used its web-based counterpart to avoid Taskbar confusion.

No longer! This latest version lets me use the same program, define multiple accounts, and switch easily between them. Minor quibble: MS says this switching is “fast” but it does take a while. Indeed, some of my Teams logins use 2FA and require re-authorization each time I enter the environment. I guess I’m starting to grok what passwordless authentication is about, eh? But once you’ve got multiple taskbar elements open, switching takes only a mouse click.

For the moment, though: I’m tickled. It is a lot more helpful to be able to use both AD- or Entra-managed work or school accounts alongside personal ones. Good work, MS. I wish you’d done it this way from the outset. But, as things sometime turn out in Windows-World, later is always better than never.

News Flash Added 1 Hour Later

In both 26080 announcements (it’s out in both Dev and Canary channels) MS talks about “a preview experience of the new, unified Microsoft Teams experience on Windows.” Windows Central calls it a “unified Teams client.” I like that terminology and wish I’d made it up. You’ll definitely want to read the announcement for lots of useful deets and examples. Good stuff.

Another Possibly Helpful Test/Observation

Just for grins, I made an image backup of one of my Canary Channel test PCs, then uninstalled the old version of Teams from same. With the new version installed by itself, I am still able to do what I need to do with just the one version installed. That said, I do seem to have lingering MSA issues when using only my personal account. Very interesting!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog

Failed Update Shows Increasing Winget Smarts

March 13, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting observation. Since its release in May 2020, built-in Microsoft packaging tool Winget has been a work in progress. I don’t mean this as a critique: it started out pretty good, and it’s kept on getting better and better. I was reminded of this yesterday when an update for my CyberPowerSystems UPS software failed. But that failed update shows increasing Winget smarts. You can see the whole trail of events in the lead-in graphic.

How Failed Update Shows Increasing Winget Smarts

You can see the error message about one-third the way down from the top as it reports:Installer failed with exit code: 1. But it’s the lines above that really show off Winget’s increasing smarts:

v.2.5.1 cannot be updated through the installation package. Please remove the old version of Personal first and then install v2.5.1

This remove-replace (reinstall) maneuver is a fairly frequent occurrence when using Winget to update Windows software. It’s usually the next thing one tries if an update/upgrade fails. What’s new here is that Winget itself explicitly recommends this strategy. Previously it might indicate a “change in installer technology” to make such recommendations. This seems like more general — and broadly applicable — advice. I like it!

Doing What Winget Says…

If you look at the bottom section of the lead-in graphic, you’ll see it did just that (right-click that image, and select something like “Open image in new tab” to see the whole thing). Using the package’s ID string for unambiguous identification, I first uninstall it, then I install it again (note that it picks up the desired version: v2.5.1). That works: good stuff!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Hotpatching Windows 11 24H2?

March 5, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

If Zac Bowden at WindowsCentral is right — and he often is — there’s something unusual coming in the next feature update for Windows 11 (24H2). When it emerges later this year, it may include something called hotpatching. In an October 2023 Learn Story, MS defines hotpatching. It is “…a way to install OS security updates … that doesn’t require a reboot after installation.” Basically, it means that PCs can defer the mandatory reboot that follows certain monthly cumulative updates. But there’s more…

Beyond Hotpatching Windows 11 24H2

Right now, hotpatching only applies to WindowsServer VMs inside the Microsoft Azure umbrella. Bowden also asserts it’s used on Xbox systems. According to his unnamed sources they’re already experimenting with hotpatching 24H2 images in Redmond. Same sources say MS plans to push them out into the Dev and Canary channels in coming months.

Because MS has been doing this for a while (with Windows Server VMs and Xbox) this is less startling than it might otherwise be. The MS Learn item is particularly worth reading for the section entitled “How Hotpatch works.” It explains this technique relies on patching “the in-memory code of running processes without the need to restart the process” so that “applications are unaffected.” Good to know!

A quarterly reboot is still required to make sure that an actual CU acts as the baseline for the current running Windows image (say in January). Then, February and March can be hotpatches, with another CU to follow in April, and so on, as shown in the lead-in graphic.

Presumably, full update integration would occur on the “next reboot” for hotpatched PCs. I’ve never had a Windows desktop run for 3 months without a single reboot myself. Thus, I’m pretty sure I’ll be finding out when and as hotpatches show up inside Windows 11 Insider Preview releases — hopefully, soon!

Cool Tools, PowerShell, Recent Activity, WED Blog

WingetUI Throws Bogus Update Notification

March 4, 2024 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

Alas, all tools have their little quirks. I’ve noticed recently that WingetUI is telling me to update CredentialManager (CM) from version 2.0 to version 2.0.0. They’re the same thing! Even more interesting when I tried running the Update-Module cmdlet manually, it told me CM wasn’t even installed on the target PC. So I used Install-Module to get it installed. You can see what happened next when I re-ran WingetUI in the lead-in graphic. Sigh.

Why Say: WingetUI Throws Bogus Update Notification?

What else should I say when WingetUI tells me to update something that’s not installed? And then, once installed it finds version mismatch from a “2.0” label from the developer versus aninternal Winget “2.0.0” label? Sigh again. I remember this kind of thing happening from time to time as I ran the old Software Update Monitor (SUMo), now out of action.

Look what happens when I click my way into “Package details” for CredentialManager inside WinGetUI and then click the update button for that package:

When it actually goes to look, it finds no update.

My best guess is there’s something in the CM manifest in the PS Gallery that’s presenting the version number as 2.0, and something going on with Winget that changes the value to 2.0.0. And indeed, if I look at get-installedmodule data again it shows the CM version number as 2.0. I’m hoping Demitrius Nelon and the winget team will check this out, and share their findings. Also filing a bug report via GitHub at the WingetUI pages.

Should be interesting to see what kind of response comes up. Cheers!

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

Windows 11 Nears Built-in IPRI Facility

March 1, 2024 Ed Tittel 1 Comment

Here’s a nice Windows 11 milestone to ponder. Those who opted for KB5034848 (released 2/29/2024) already have it. Those who wait for the March Patch Tuesday release will get it. What is it: an IPRI, or in-place repair install capability, as depicted in the lead-in graphic from my Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation. That’s the basis for the title (also above) that reads “Windows 11 nears built-in IPRI facility.” Let me explain what makes this cool…

Sussing Out Windows 11 Nears Built-in IPRI Facility

I’ve been hip to the IPRI technique — which basically involves launching setup.exe from an installer image that matches whatever version of Windows is currently running — since I joined up at TenForums.com back in November 2014. It’s my favorite technique to restore Windows to stable, normal operations when things start getting weird and normal troubleshooting techniques shed no light on things. IPRI works by re-installing all the OS files but leaving apps, applications, and the registry alone.

And now in the CU Preview for March (and thus presumably also in the March update), Windows 11 users running the latest version will get the “Reinstall now” button that lets them attempt to “Fix problems using Windows update.” While this will reduce my level of need for UUPdump.net to built an ISO for IPRI from time to time, it is incredibly convenient and generally helpful. Good stuff.

One word of warning: Having tried this tool out on a Beta release a couple of months back, I can observe it takes quite a while to do its thing. It took me 55 minutes to get through the process on that Beta image, and I assume it will do something similar with this Preview CU image should I put it to the test again. I’m pretty sure that’s because it has to build a custom image (just like the UUPdump.net batch file does) before it can start doing its repairs.

And so it often goes, here in Windows-World, where spending more time for improved convenience is a common trade-off. Cheers!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

Winget Solves Self-Update Issue

February 29, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, Winget would hiccup when updating itself. No longer. The latest leap to 1.7.10582 solves that, and adds a bunch of cool new functionality as well (e.g. repair command, enable Windows Features as dependency, access URL instead of local file, and more). As Winget solves self-update issue, it’s becoming even more of a go-to tool for admins and power users.

How Winget Solves Self-Update Issue

It’s taking the same approach that Windows Terminal has for a while now: it’s maintaining the existing process, and instructing users to “Restart the application to complete the upgrade.” Closing, then re-opening Windows Terminal does the trick nicely. Glad to see it.

Indeed, this is by any metrics a “big update” for Winget. Take a look at the release page and you’ll see 6 entries under the “Features” heading, with dozens more under “What’s Changed.” Good stuff!

Here’s the complete –info block for this latest incarnation, for the record:

Winget –info for v1.7.10582
[Click image for full-size view.]

These days, I’m about as big a fan of this tool as you can find. I highly recommend it for updating apps and applications in Windows. I also recommend that you send feedback to developers whose apps and applications you use, but who don’t yet submit package manifests to make their updates installable via winget. The winget Windows Package Manager Manifest Creator toolset also got a recent and major set of enhancements designed to persuade those not already using this tool to jump on board. Let them know!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog

Exploring New NVIDIA Beta App

February 28, 2024 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

OK, then. Through what I can only describe as a bitter irony, the only desktop that I own with enough space in the case for a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is my aging i7-6700 Skylake build. It’s too old to meet Windows 11 system requirements so it’s running Windows 10. Even so, I put it through its paces just now, while exploring new NVIDIA beta app (NVIDIA App.exe). Its home page, with the exe file properties page overlaid, provides the lead-in graphic above.

What Exploring New NVIDIA Beta App Tells Me

If you visit NVIDIA’s “Test Drive” page for this beta software you’ll find a concise summary right next to the download link for same. It reads:

The NVIDIA app beta is a first step in our journey to modernize and unify the NVIDIA Control Panel, GeForce Experience, and RTX Experience apps.

Indeed, the driver update and subsequent desktop behavior is unchanged. I used the beta sofware to update my RTX 3070 Ti to version 551.61 (Rls 2/21/24). Just like GeForce Experience did, it changed all RDP windows from maximized to “fill entire pane.” It also moved all open windows from my (secondary) left-hand screen to the (primary) right-hand screen. Easily cleaned-up but I wish they’d change the code to capture home screen info and restore it at or near the conclusion of the driver install.

The NVIDIA Control Panel is indeed gone from Control Panel, though. Its functions are now integrated into the Beta app. I believe that’s a positive step. NVIDIA also mentions

a redesigned in-game overlay for convenient access to powerful gameplay recording tools, performance monitoring overlays, and game enhancing filters, including innovative new AI-powered filters for GeForce RTX users.”

I’ll have to turn this rig over to my gamer son when he’s home for Spring Break next week and see what he thinks of the gaming stuff. I’m no gamer myself (except for card and board games which exercise none of these advanced capabilities).

What About That New Software?

The beta software kicks off with a new version number of 10.0.0.499/p. So far it seems mostly like a stitched-together version of GeForce Experience and the Control Panel Item. But then, I can’t appreciate the game stuff. We’ll see how it all plays out. It’s undoubtedly more convenient to find everything together, though, so I’ll give NVIDIA brownie points for consolidation. The rest is still TBD. Stay tuned…

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, PowerShell, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

CNF Conundrum Gets Some Love

February 21, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. I’ve been trying to figure out why, on some of my test PCs, I get an error message when PowerShell loads my profile and tries to import the PowerToys WingetCommandNotFound (CNF) module. You can see that error message in the lead-in graphic above (from my ThinkPad P16 Mobile workstation). Thanks to some fiddling around, this CNF conundrum gets some love — finally!

I haven’t figured out how to fix the problem properly just yet. But for the nonce, if I go into PowerToys, visit CNF, uninstall and then resinstall same, it returns to work. This happens every time I open a fresh PowerShell session, so it’s at least mildly bothersome. But I’m starting to make progress on figuring things out.

How CNF Conundrum Gets Some Love

The error message keeps changing on me as I add things to the folder where the profile resides — namely %user%\documents\PowerShell. First, it complains about not being able to find the module itself. I copy it into that folder. Then it complains about a .DLL. I copy that, too. Finally, it complains about an error handler not being able to field a thrown exception.

It’s not fixed yet, but I now know that this issue comes from my PowerShell modules path set-up. Something is wonky between those search paths (there’s one for the system, and one for my login account) and PowerToys. This happens for one of my Microsoft Accounts (MSAs) every time I use it to log into Windows, because this information is shared across those instances through OneDrive.

What’s Next?

I’ve got to research how I should be setting things up in the OneDrive environment to get PowerShell and PowerToys to get along with each other properly. I’ll be contacting the WinGet crew (Demitrius Nelon’s team at MS) to request additional info and guidance. That’s because my online searches have only clued me into what’s going on, but not how to fix it properly.

Stay tuned: I’ll keep this one up-to-date. And I’ll probably post again, when a resolution is formulated. This just in: OneDrive is reporting multiple copies of the PS profile in its file store. Could this be related? I have to think so. Again: stay tuned…

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Repair Install Fixes Instability

February 20, 2024 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

At the beginning of this month, I performed an in-place upgrade repair install on my Windows 10 production PC. It’s now running Build 19045.4046. You can see that this repair install fixes instability on the PC in the lead-in graphic. Over the past 20 days I’ve had only one critical event — mostly self-inflicted when testing winget Chrome update behavior (see last Friday’s post for details). Otherwise, this 2016-vintage system has been rock solid of late.

When in Doubt, Repair Install Fixes Instability

Gosh! I’ve long been a believer that an in-place upgrade repair install (IPURI) is something of a Windows cure-all. Reminder: an IPURI runs setup.exe from a mounted ISO for the same version of Windows that’s currently running on a PC. Thus, it requires the host OS to be running well enough to replace itself. See these terrrific TenForums.com and ElevenForum.com tutorials for all the details…

Thus, you can’t use this technique if you’re having boot problems, or the OS isn’t running well enough to get through the GUI phase of a Windows upgrade. But for situations where the OS is running (but most likely, not as well as you might like) this technique works extremely well. My earlier Reliability Monitor trace, before the February 1 IPURI, looked something like a sawtooth wave on an oscilloscope. Ouch!

How to Get the Right ISO

I still use UUPDump.net to match build numbers between what’s running and the ISO I have it build for me. Then, I mount that ISO, and run setup.exe from the virtual DVD drive ID Explorer puts out there for me. Lately it’s been showing up as the E: drive; but this morning it comes up as P:. But you’ll most likely see it labeled with the initial characters of the image label like this:

Here’s what Explorer shows me when I mount the ISO I used on February 1 for an IPURI: Virtual DVD Drive P:

For the record, I also use the excellent Ventoy project software to boot into my various ISOs when an IPURI won’t do. Admins and power users will want to keep a USB handy with their fave ISOs for repair and recovery scenarios. I do that on a 1 TB NVMe SSD inside a USB3.2 drive enclosure. Lets me keep dozens of ISOs around, ready to boot into any of them on a moment’s notice. Good stuff!