Category Archives: Insider stuff

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

Attaining Windows 11 23H2

November 1, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

In everything but name, I’ve already been running Windows 11 23H2 for a while. That level of functionality has been trickling into Windows 11 since September 11 with the release of KB5030310 (a preview update). A few days ago, the release of KB5031455 took Windows 11 to Build 22621.2506. Note the version and build numbers in the lead-in graphic. They support my assertion that there’s little difference between the two.

Steps to Attaining Windows 11 23H2

Over at ElevenForum.com I’ve been reading about various ways to get to 23H2 in its Installation, Updates and Activation forum for the past few weeks. None of the easy methods outlined there did the trick for me. I wasn’t motivated enough to try the longer, harder ones — e.g. an in-place repair install using the recently published Windows 11 23H2 ISO (it’s now present on the Download Windows 11 page). Why not? I knew an enablement package for 23H2 was coming soon. (Note: for those not already hip, an enablement package is a small, quick update that simply turns on features and stuff already present in Windows but not yet visible or active.)

Today (or more precisely, yesterday) that changed with the release of KB5027397. It describes that very enablement package, and announces its availability. I’ve not been able to get WU to proffer it to me (though I did have pre-requisite KB5031455 already installed). Instead I grabbed the MSU link from ElevenForum admin @Brink (real name: Shawn Brink, a fellow WIMVP). It comes from an October 31 thread entitled KB5027397 Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2 Feature Update.

It’s a ZIP file, so must be unpacked before it may be run. But run it does — and quickly, too: the whole shebang was done in under 2 minutes on my Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation. After a reboot, the target PC should produce nearly the same winver information shown above. Note the “Version 23H2” moniker in the second line of the fine print. Nerdvana!

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

Sussing Out Doubled-Up PowerShell

October 31, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting one. After running winget upgrade on Friday afternoon, I noticed something interesting. Even though I’d already upgraded that particular PC to PowerShell version 7.3.9, it still showed a version of 7.3.8 in need of an upgrade. Immediately, I started sussing out doubled-up PowerShell. As you can see in the lead-in graphic it was a case of “parallel versions.” Even though 7.3.9.0 is clearly installed (PowerShell 7-x64), so is 7.3.8 (PowerShell 7.3.8.0).

After Sussing Out Doubled-Up PowerShell,
Bye-Bye 7.3.8!

Turns out that 7.3.9 has some install changes. That means winget won’t simply upgrade the software. One must run winget uninstall, then winget install to do this particular round of the PowerShell upgrade dance. You can see this at work in the next screencap, which shows:

(a) notification from PowerShell that a new stable release is ready for download (white background against black text up top)
(b) notification from winget that “install technology is different” for new PowerShell release, so uninstall/install maneuver is needed

PowerShell is pretty clear that winget upgrade can’t handle this without extra maneuvers.

Thus, one approach here would be to run this sequence of wingets:

winget uninstall Microsoft.Powershell
winget install Microsoft.Powershell

The first removes the old version and the second installs the current (new) one. Easy-peasey, right?

Take the Long Way Home

The way I see things, there’s another choice when this kind of thing happens. The PowerShell installer file at GitHub (or the equivalent link shown at the top of the screencap: https://aka.ms/PowerShell-Release?tag=v7.3.9) not only installs the new PowerShell version, it also removes the old one. So I went ahead and ran PowerShell-7.3.9-win-x64.msi on the same machine where I captured the preceding screencap. I closed PS manually, instead of having the installer do it. Then I ran winget upgrade again. And sure enough, the doubled-up version once again appears!

It gets more interesting. I ran winget uninstall MIcrosoft.PowerShell –version 7.3.9.0 to remove the older version. This time, I let the (un)installer attempt to close PowerShell. It failed, and showed an “uninstallation abandoned error” (see next screencap).

Winget drops the ball trying to uninstall the newer version from inside that version! [Click image for full-sized view.]

Go with What Works

OK, I want to run the new version. But I also want to remove the older one. That cycles me back to the original screecap at the head of this blog post. If you go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps, you can easily excise older PowerShell versions from there. So that’s what I did. And presto: no more winget notifications that 7.3.8.0 needs an upgrade to 7.3.9.0.

One more thing: on another test machine (one running a preview version of PowerShell) I successfully used winget to uninstall 7.3.8.0 and then follow up with a successful 7.3.9.0 install. I think this worked because PowerShell 7.3.9.0 didn’t attempt to uninstall or install itself. That said, I did also have to manually install a new profile so I could make 7.3.9.0 my default PS selection afterwards. It’s always something, right?

Note added November 1: Do It From Command Prompt

On another test PC just now, I opened Windows Terminal. Then after opening a Command Prompt tab, I closed the open (default) PowerShell 7.3.8.0 tab. After that I was able to use winget to uninstall the older PS version and install the new one. This required no new profile shenanigans. It’s my recommended approach until the PS team gets this fixed (I got confirmation from an MS contact yesterday that yes, this is a known thing and they’re working on it).

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

Bringing Up 2TB NVMe Proves Challenging

October 30, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

About a week ago, I picked up an on-sale SSD, mostly so I could do some off-the-cuff price/performance testing. I’ve got plenty of 1TB models here at Chez Tittel. Suprisingly, bringing up 2TB NVMe proves challenging as I fight with cables, connections and ports to get it recognized and formatted in Windows. Let me explain…

Why Bringing Up 2TB NVMe Proves Challenging

From the get-go, I had problems getting the SSD recognized in Disk Management. There could have been numerous factors involved:

Power draw from a big NVMe
My attempt to start in a CalDigit TS4 hub
The el-cheapo NVMe enclosure I used
The USB-C cable between enclosure and port

By the time I did get things working, I had changed all of those things (except the first, which comes from the SSD itself). I ended up working from a USB 3.0 port in my desktop PC instead of a TB4/USB4 port on a CalDigit TS4 hub. Then, I switched from a US$18 Fideco to a US$70 Sabrent EC-NVMe SSD enclosure (I have two, and both work quite reliably). I went from a TB3 rated USB-C cable to a TB4 rated one.

Though it took me the better part of an hour to work through all those changes, I finally got to the point where I could see and set up the NVMe drive inside Windows. Once that was done, I plugged it into my Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation.

The Price/Performance Story

There’s still something hincky with this set-up or with the SSD itself. I didn’t get very good numbers out of CrystalDiskMark (lower numbers than many HDDs, in fact). But when I ran a full backup in Macrium Reflect, it created a 62GB image file in 06:33.

These numbers are about 20% of what I get from Gen4 (PCIe x4) NVMes in this same enclosure.

That’s a data rate of around 9.45 GB per minute (161.5 MBps or 1292 Mbps by my reckoning). It’s about one-third the speed of an image backup to a fast NVMe in the same enclosure. But faster NVMes cost more (a Crucial T700 goes for US$340; a Teamgroup Z540 for US$260; a Samsung 990 Pro for US$150), too.

One more thing…

On the theory that even the Sabrent enclosure is old enough to be overwhelmed by a 2TB NVMe drive, I swapped it into a 2022=vintage Acasis TB4 NVMe enclosure. And whereas the drive had been unrecognizable in a TB4 port before this switch, it now came up. Then look at the difference in the CDM numbers it now produces (funny thing: the other enclosure produces better random R/W numbers, this one is emphatically the other ‘way round). And in this enclosure Macrium Reflect finished in 02:21 rather than 06:33 (that’s on par with other, faster NVMes in the same enclosure).

Emphatic block block differences in the Acasis enclosure!!!

One lesson I take away from this is that it’s important to remember that bigger capacity means a bigger power draw. Therefore, older and slower enclosures are less likely to provide the handling that bigger, newer NVMe SSDs need. I confirmed this by loading up the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus that had been in the Acasis enclosure into the Sabrent enclosure: results were typical for a UASP NVMe (just over 1 Gbps for bulk transfers; better overall random R/W). That’s good to know!

All in all, I’m fine with what I’m getting from my US$84 outlay. I am looking for a capable enclosure that’s cheaper than the Acasis TB-401U (still costs US$140 on Amazon). This US $23 Sabrent USB-C 3.2 10Gbps model looks pretty good. I’ll follow up with its results when it shows up later this week…

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

Beta Build 22635.2552 Adds System Components

October 27, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I’ve known this was coming for some time now. Last month, I researched changes to the Windows Troubleshooters to a Get Help facility in Windows 11. Note: “Get Help” works for Windows 10, too. Indeed, it fell under a general heading of “System Components” as explained at MS Support. Thus it came with more of a sense of inevitability, not surprise, when Beta Build 22635.2552 adds System Components to its Settings → System subhead lineup. You can see that pretty clearly in the lead-in graphic, which has Winver superimposed to show Build info.

What Else Appears When Beta Build 22635.2552 Adds System Components?

If you look at the lead-in graphic you’ll notice the following list of elements under the System Components heading (in order of appearance):

Game Bar: former Xbox Game Bar app, now renamed to drop Xbox.
Get Help: Built in Windows troubleshooting facilities now runs as an app (and auto-launches when the OS itself spots trouble).
Microsoft Store: Primary source for Windows apps of all kinds.
Phone Link: Provides link and synch facilities between smartphones and Windows PCs (iOS and Android devices).
Tips: Built-in Windows notification, advertisement and “information” items.
Windows Security: Home to Defender’s AV, account protection, firewall & Internet controls, device security, health and family options.

Essentially this positions these specific apps as Windows built-ins that “come with the OS.” Thus, they can’t be uninstalled: inspection will show their Remove buttons are greyed out in Advanced Options. And although they can be terminated, from a runtime perspective, they’ll “keep coming back from the dead” in Halloween-appropriate fashion.

I find it interesting that MS lumps in Game Bar and Phone Link along with the other built-ins that comprise “system components.” It will also be instructive to watch this category to see when and if it expands, exactly what else appears under this heading. Stay tuned!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

PC Manager (Beta) Version 3.8.1.0 Is Out

October 26, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I recently wrote an article for AskWoody about the Chinese-based Microsoft PC Manager utility. If you visit its MS Home Page, alas, it hasn’t changed since a new version came out yesterday (October 25). OTOH, winget will let you know that PC Manager (Beta) Version 3.8.1.0 is out and ready for update or install. That’s what’s showing in the lead-in graphic above, in fact.

Home Page Unaware PC Manager (Beta) Version 3.8.1.0 Is Out

I downloaded the version from the preceding home page link. It happily installed over version 3.8.1.0 with no warnings or info. After that I confirmed it had rolled back to version 3.1.3.0. Indeed, that’s how I got to the Windows Terminal/PowerShell stuff in the lead-in graphic. There, winget upgrade shows I’ve got version 3.1.3.0 installed. And next winget upgrade –id Microsoft.PCManager.CN performs the upgrade to the higher-numbered version.

When my editor at AskWoody figured out that PC Manager was of Chinese origin, he was a bit taken aback. He noted multiple instances of fractured English in its screens and info. We share a somewhat surprised estimation of its slapdash assembly and overlap amidst its various pieces and parts.

What About That New Version?

This is apparently a pretty substantial rev for PC Manager. It’s got a new logo (which now prominently features “BETA” in its upper-left quadrant.

The new logo includes “BETA” label (Start menu entry shown).

The PCM UI has undergone substantial revision, too. Its left-hand buttons/icons now read:

Home: Provides access to memory boost, temp files cleanup, health check, Process mgmt, Deep cleanup and Startup items.
Protection: Run a Defender scan, access WU, jump to default browser settings, perform taskbar repair, restore default apps.
Storage: Deep cleanup, manage downloads, manage large files, jump to storage sense.
Apps: Process mgmt, startup items, jump to Apps, MS Store.
Toolbox: Access to Windows & Web tools, plus custom links (PDF conversion and MSN provided by default).
Repairtips: Checks PC for recommended settings, provides info when one or more is out of whack.
Settings: Toggles, settings for boost, shortcuts, startup with Windows, and early access to new versions.
Feedback: Abbreviated feedback a la Feedback Hub but seemingly outside that umbrella.

PCM remains a hodgepdge of capabilities: some new, some old, and some pointing to other Windows facilities (mostly in Settings). It’s still got plenty of rough edges. I’m a little concerned that installing an older version atop a newer one provokes no warnings nor notification. Think I’ll send a feedback item to that effect and see what happens…

Nope: it’s apparently not tied to Feedback Hub, and I see more fractured English:

Note Added 10/26 mid-afternoon

There’s another new version of PCM out now: the next-to-last digit incremented from 3.8.1.0 to 3.8.2.0. So far I don’t see any obvious differences vis-a-vis the last update. Hmmm….

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

Experiment: Reset this PC

October 25, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

After digging further into Reliability Monitor on the P1 Gen6 ThinkPad, I realized things were unacceptably unstable. As an experiment, reset this PC came to the fore. It’s the option available as Settings → System → Recovery from the “Reset PC” button. The resulting window serves as the lead-in graphic for this story (above).

Why Conduct the Experiment: Reset this PC?

Alas, I had four straight days of error behavior like that shown in the next Reliability Monitor screencap. That is, over a dozen serious Critical events, including:

Windows stopped working (2)
Windows was not properly shut down (2)
Hardware error (2)
Windows shut down unexpectedly (2)
Various NVIDIA-related “Stopped working” errors (4)

Whoa! That’s a lot of Critical errors for one day…and I had 3 more just like it. [Click image for full-sized view]

In addition, the OS install was showing other odd and unexpected behaviors. For example, I couldn’t get the Edge browser to run. The display was occasionally flashing on and off (probably related to the NVIDIA errors shown). File Explorer was herky-jerkey when traversing the file system. There was probably more, but that was more than enough for me to realize something wicked had already come onto that desktop. Hence, the reset experiment…

Since performing the reset, I’ve experienced exactly one (1) critical error over the past 24 hours. It may still be too early to tell if the reset really fixed things. It might just be having left this PC alone for the last while that’s kept things quiet.

Going through the Reset Process

It seems like Reset is an awful lot like an in-place upgrade repair install, except that it wants the end user to reinstall apps and applications one at a time (each had an “Install” entry in the Start menu/All apps after the first reboot). I’m too lazy to do one-offs like that, so I used the bulk installer built into PatchMyPC Home Updater instead. Works like a peach! Alternatively, I could have done most of those installs using winget instead.

I wasn’t sure if the reset function would take the PC back to its fresh-from-the-factory state. No, it didn’t: it simply reinstalled — via a cloud download — the same version of DevChannel Insider Preview already running on this test PC. Good to know!

Stay tuned: I’ll report back if the earlier instability persists. I had attributed it to an Intel firmware update. I’ll end up poking it one way or another over the next days and see if it blows up again.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

New GSOD Implicates Intel Firmware

October 24, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s something nobody wants to see on a Windows PC. The lead-in graphic shows a Windows crash screen. Because this one is green, it’s sometimes called a GSOD (“Green Screen of Death”). The error message it carries is one I’ve not seen before — namely: secure_pci_config_space_access_violation. A bit of online research, and some inspection of reliability monitor’s copious error output tells me this new GSOD implicates Intel firmware.

Why Say: New GSOD Implicates Intel Firmware?

It’s not like I didn’t have plenty of potential issues from which to choose. Relimon pointed to Windows stop errors, improper shutdowns, unexepected shutdowns, and hardware errors. Indeed the actual BlueScreen error that provoked the GSOD refers to (and depicts) a CPU-Z .sys file. So again: why point at Intel firmware?

Online research (Reddit, Lenovo forums, and more) all report this very same error code after Intel firmware updates. And indeed WU itself delivered a — you guessed it — Intel Firmware update just before I upgraded to the most recent version of the DevChannel Insider Preview on this test PC.

One More Thing:

After I removed the program that caused the GSOD: Piriform Speccy, the problems have completely ceased and desisted. I imagine this program attempted to check the firmware during its scans, and that’s what threw the error. I’m guessing that a fix will come along in a future update. As long as my system stays stable otherwise, I’ll leave it alone and hope it does the same for me.

Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted…

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog

Mouse Goes AWOL: Panic Ensues

October 20, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I have to laugh — and mostly at myself. I confess: I was playing MS Solitaire this morning when my mouse quit working. It was a timed event so I wanted to get back at it ASAP. Because of that as my mouse goes AWOL, panic ensues as I try to get it working again. Long story short: I keep a backup, replacement mouse around just for occasions like these. It’s now in place, doing the job of the old one. Time to order another pair of replacements!

When Goes AWOL Panic Ensues Because of Timing

The lead-in graphic shows a picture from Amazon of my likely replacement mouse. It’s a Microsoft Mobile Mouse 4000, instead of the 3500 model that just quit working. They cost the same, so I figure why not get a newer model if I can at no extra charge? My only problem right now is that the best price is for delivery from China (!): $19.95 vs. $28.95 from US outlets, including the MS Store itself.

Let me be clear about one thing, too: I don’t blame MS for my mouse fail. Meese are consumables and I use them enough that I wear one out every 18-24 months or so. This comes as no surprise — except for today’s timing — and is a cost of doing business for me. Indeed, that’s why I always order them in pairs rather than singletons. I know it’s just a matter of time before another one drops out of service. My wife’s and son’s desktops also have external wireless meese, too. One or more of those will probably crap out before 2023 is over.

The Proper Stocking of Spare Parts

So, here’s a short list of the spares I keep around the house knowing that I’m going to need them sometime (preferably later, rather than sooner):

Mice, both wireless and wired (mostly MS wireless, but also Logitech Bluetooth and Unifying Receiver models)
Keyboards: mostly MS Comfort Curve 4000s, but a couple of Logitech wireless models, and a couple of wired el-cheapo chiclet types
GbE switches: I like the NetGear unmanaged 8-port models, but I also have 5-port and an 8-port models (house brand from Fry’s).
Cables of all kinds: RJ-45 Ethernet in lengths from 6″ to 100ft, USB: 2.0 and 3.0 (Type A), USB-C 3.1-2, Thunderbolt 3 and 4, plus other miscellany; and video cables including HDMI 1-3 and DisplayPort 1.2-1.4 (also in various lengths and models).

This lets me deal quickly with predictable troubles as they happen. And when they do, I always order replacements plus at least one extra as things happen. That way, I’m already prepared for next time.

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

Appreciating Microsoft’s Update Ecosystem

October 19, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As part of my daily Windows routine, I run the winget package manager to keep most of my applications up-to-date. Occasionally, I’ll also check in on the MS Store to see what it’s been finding and updating on its own. As the spirit moves me, I sometimes click the “Get updates” button to spur its actions along. I find myself appreciating Microsoft’s update ecosystem more and more (yes, even WU) as I work with it constantly. Let me explain…

Why I’m Appreciating Microsoft’s Update Ecosystem

The lead-in graphic shows an artfully arranged update view of MS Store’s Library tab, with three items “modified momens ago” in front. Behind, you see winget inside Windows Terminal/PowerShell working to install 8 different updates.

The amount of effort involved is pretty negligible, and the results are almost always trouble-free, speedy and reliable. Although I still have to turn to third-party tools to catch updates outside this ecosystem, under its umbrella things work pretty darn well.

Now, if only those other app makers would get on the manifest circuit and start offering packages for winget to use, life would be entirely peachy. But alas, life isn’t like that — especially here in Windows-World, where a certain amount of chasing one’s own tail is too often a necessary part of the daily grind.

But a WIMVP can always hope for a better future, right? Surely, someday it will all be completely automated and totally easy. Yeah, right: I’ll keep dreaming about it, but that’s the closest I’m sure I’ll ever get.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

October 2023 Windows 11 Monthly Active Users

October 18, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting item, for a variety of reasons. Yesterday, Zac Bowden at Windows Central reported that “Windows 11 is now in use on over 400 million monthly active devices” (emphasis his). In typical headline fashion the title of the story inflates it to “almost half a billion devices.” I have to laugh about that, but the number of October 2023 Windows 11 monthly active users is no joke. Even if those numbers come from, as Zac puts it, “…my sources who are familiar with the matter…” Right!

What October 2023 Windows 11 Monthly Active Users Means

Mr. B observes that this uptake comes at half the rate for Windows 10, but without the upgrade pressure that Windows 7’s retirement put on those numbers. Ditto for the notion, widely held at the time, that the free upgrade would only last for a year or two. In light of those factors, he also reports that these numbers beat internal MS expectations.

IMHO, business users don’t really care that much about the Windows running on their desktops or devices. Business will migrate when it’s good and ready, which means the clock really hasn’t started ticking too loudly just yet (Windows 10 EOL date is 10/14/2025). In fact, it’s just barely audible right now… That will change next year.

So Good, So Far

In my own experience, I ‘ve found Windows 11 to be a workable, reliable and attractive desktop OS. I’m almost completely migrated myself, with only 1 physical PC still running the older version, along with a handful of strategically placed VMs. I have at least 9 physical PCs running Windows 11 here at Chez Tittel, and another 2 off at college with my number-one son.

But what about those numbers? Given that many (if not most) businesses have yet to move from 10 to 11, I think they’re pretty high. In other words, I’m pleasantly surprised as MS apparently is also. My gut feel is those numbers will swell by as much as 200-300M next year, and more the year after that.

Meanwhile, somewhere between 1.2 (IDC) and 1.4 (Statista) BILLION smartphones sold in 2022. That’s a whole different ballgame. Increasingly it’s the game that matters most. So let’s keep this all in perspective, shall we? That said, Windows-World remains my home!