Category Archives: Insider stuff

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

UUP Dump Shenanigans Ongoing

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Just over a month ago, I reported that UUPDump.net was going down on a more-or-less regular basis. I’m sorry to follow up and say that UUPDump.net is now completely off the air. It had been supplanted by UUPDump.ee. But that’s apparently off the air, too. Right now, there’s an apparent mirror or clone site up and running at www.uup.ee that keeps Windows images available. With these UUP Dump shenanigans ongoing, “How long?” is an open and valid question.

As an experiment, I ran the script for a Windows 11 Pro ISO for Build 22621.2338 (Insider Preview, Beta Channel). It completed, but I need to test it by performing an in-place repair install on the target PC. In the meantime, I’m left wondering about all this up-and-down and site-hopping activity. The lead-in graphic shows output from near the tail end of the ISO creation process.

What UUP Dump Shenanigans Ongoing Means

I have long admired the work and insight that goes into letting UUP Dump do its thing. It’s been an invaluable resource for me and the Windows community ever since I started working with Kari the Finn on Win10.Guru in 2018 or thereabouts.

But now, I’m growing increasingly reluctant to recommend this as a resource to others. It’s simply gotten a little too flaky to trust completely. It’s definitely become more of a “Use at your own risk” kind of thing, even as it continues to do what it has always done.

Wouldn’t it be great if MS took this over, or provided sponsorship funds for the UUP Dump crew’s obviously strained resources? Shoot! I’d be willing to pay US$25 to 50 a year to support their efforts. But I don’t see any way to do that, either. Sigh.

Note Added 4+ Hours Later

After posting a query to ElevenForum.com, uber-user @Bree responded with some great information. Seems that the UUP team is now focusing their efforts on the UUP Dump channel on Discord, and on an app named uupdump.7z. So I’m digging into that info, and will write about it in a future blog post. Looks like it takes the process local, instead of relying on a server to support it. Could be good!

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

DevHome Update Hiccup Deciphered

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On those test PCs where I’ve got Microsoft DevHome installed, i noticed an update issue last week. The lead-in graphic shows a failure when a dependency install for WindowsAppRuntime bombs out. So when I saw this MSPowerUser story about a new version, I found my DevHome update hiccup deciphered at last.

Getting to: DevHome Update Hiccup Deciphered

In light of a new version with different capabilities, my workaround for this problem also makes perfect sense. I tried uninstalling DevHome using winget. However, a leftover remained in “Installed Apps” — where, curiously enough, the uninstall button is greyed-out and inaccessible. Indeed, neither the Repair nor Reset buttons changed things at all. Interesting.

DevHome Update Hiccup Deciphered.notrepair

The button I want (uninstall) is inaccessible. Sigh.

A Curious Fix Emerges

I went ahead and restarted the affected test PC (one of my 2018 vintage Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yogas). After restarting, it updated the Windows Store apps — of which Dev Home is one. It shows up as the most recently updated item (“Modified minutes ago”) under the Library tab.

And guess what? Running winget upgrade again, post-reboot, shows nothing in need of update. This tells me that when winget finds Store apps in need of updates that it can’t handle itself, running updates through the Store can fix what ails them. I’m not sure the reboot was necessary. But gosh: it sure looks like the “Get updates” function in Store did the trick. Extremely good to know!

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

P1 Gen 6 Post-Sleep RDP Fail Fixed

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I’m still breaking in the Lenovo P1 Gen 6 Mobile Workstation here at Chez Tittel. It’s pretty much where I want it right now. Indeed, its 13th-gen Intel i7-13800H 20-core CPU is nothing less than awe-inspiring. This week I had enough spare bandwidth to notice that while I could easily remote into the unit right after a reboot, it became unavailable to RDP after falling asleep. As soon as I disabled sleep while plugged into A/C power, I found this P1 Gen6 post-sleep RDP fail fixed. The corresponding Power & Battery Setting shows in the lead-in graphic above.

Getting to P1 Gen 6 Post-Sleep RDP Fail Fixed

Fixing things was the easy part. Figuring out what was wrong took a while. I was able to ping the unit’s LAN address, but Remote Desktop Connection (and the Remote Desktop app) stubbornly refused to let me access the PC.

Having been down this road before with other PCs, I soon realized that:
(a) RDP connections worked right after any reboot
(b) those same connections quit working after waking from sleep
I don’t know what it is about PC sleep behaviors but they can sometimes be mysterious and opaque. I’m just glad the simple, obvious solution — disabling sleep on A/C power — does the trick.

What About PowerToys Awake?

This situation actually reminded me that I hadn’t yet installed PowerToys on the P1 Gen6 laptop. Having now done so, I have to believe my access issues are over with Awake enabled and on the job. Just to be doubly darn sure I set it to “Keep awake indefinitely.” Now when I try to RDP into this laptop, it should be ready, willing and able to accept that connection. Let’s see!

P1 Gen 6 Post-Sleep RDP Fail Fixed.powertoys-awake
Note added 2 Days Later: I’ve been running the P1 Gen 6 for a couple of days now without further remote access issues. Looks like the fix really is in. Good!

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Cool Tools, Insider stuff, PowerShell, Updates, WED Blog

Update Trick Delivers Clean PS 7.3.7 Install

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OK, then, Here’s an interesting way to handle the September 19 update for PowerShell, from 7.3.6 to 7.3.7. Indeed this specific update trick delivers clean PS 7.3.7 install. I’ve run into minor glitches on previous up-versions, because I was using PowerShell to update itself. It would show cancelled as its final update status, as the old runtime had to fall over to get itself out of the way for the new one.

You can see this at work in the lead-in graphic. It shows the Installer running to update PowerShell as a pop-up within the PS windows itself. In fact, it runs to completion without issues. Why? Because I closed the open default PS session and ran the PS update inside an Administrative Command Prompt session instead.

Which Update Trick Delivers Clean PS 7.3.7 Install?

Because PS essentially interferes with itself if it runs the upgrade from one version to the next, the trick is NOT to use PowerShell. That’s why I switched to Command Prompt instead, and ran the upgrade there. No strange behavior, no “Cancelled” status at the end, nothing weird at all, in fact. You can see a new PS session window at right here with the new 7.3.7 version clearly identified (the left-hand side shows the complete PS upgrade in Command Prompt):

Update Trick Delivers Clean PS 7.3.7 Install.split-window

Once the update is finished I used the Command Palette to open a PS session split-right, which shows the new version running.

I’ll have to remember this for future PS updates. I’ve just used this technique on a half-dozen test PCs and it works like a charm!

 

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

Latest Soonest Windows Update Benefits

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Hmmmm. When I started reading through a discussion of an upcoming Windows11 23H2 release on WindowsLatest this morning, I soon realized there was more going on than I had thought. Seems like opting into the “latest updates” option shown in the lead-in graphic does more than I had thought. In fact, one gets unexpected latest soonest Windows Update benefits. Let me explain…

What Are Latest Soonest Windows Update Benefits?

As a pretty passionate Windows Insider, I’m always after the latest and greatest that Windows Insider Previews have to offer. Sure they can be occasionally gnarly, or even troublesome. But that’s a big part of what I signed up for when I joined the program.

And until recently, I had too often felt left out when MS started A/B testing new features, and I wound up on the “B fork” (the one that doesn’t get the new stuff). That’s why I was hornswoggled to read these sentences in the afore-linked WindowsLatest story:

All Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge updates now use Controlled Feature Rollouts (CFR) technology, gradually introducing new features. Users can choose to get these features immediately by enabling a specific toggle in Windows 11 22H2 or later.

Yowza! That’s just what I’ve always wanted. Not realizing this would forcibly put me on the “A fork” for all CFRs, I had opted in anyway. I did so just because I think that’s my job as a serious Insider (and WIMVP).

How nice to learn I’m getting what I really wanted without having know that’s the way this toggle (or slider) really works. I’m jazzed: thanks Microsoft!

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

Snipping Tool Gains OCR Text Grab

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Here’s a good one. In the latest builds of Windows 11 Canary and Dev (25951.1010 and 23545.1000, respectively) Snipping Tool gains new functionality that’s both interesting and useful. In those versions Snipping Tool gains OCR text grab capability. You can see it at work in the lead-in graphic.

Exploring How Snipping Tool Gains OCR Text Grab

The secret to this functionality is the text grab button at the top of the toolbar (center of image, lightly highlighted in off-pink). It looks like several lines of text inside a box, to wit:

Snipping Tool Gains OCR Text Grab.button

Not as pretty when magnified, but the intent is pretty clear.

When you use the text grab function in Snipping Tool, you get buttons to “Copy all text: and “Quick redact” (blocks out sections of text with dark overlays). OTOH, if you right-click inside the selected text area inside such a snip you get a pop-up menu with Copy text, Select all and Redact text buttons.

It’s all good, and this capability is quite welcome. Indeed, I have to ask: why didn’t MS add this years and years ago? I’ve had to turn to other tools for this capability in the past. Nice to have it built right into Snipping Tool now. Good stuff!

It’ll be a while before this goes into general availability, though. I’m guessing this won’t make it into production until the 24H2 release comes out next year. We’ll see: I’ll track this and keep you posted.

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

Interesting OMP Winget Gotcha Is Easily Fixed

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I have to laugh. When I opened Windows Terminal/PowerShell yesterday morning, I got a notification that a new version of OhMyPosh (OMP) was available. So naturally, I tried to see the update. When that failed, I tried to update OMP directly, and that failed, too. But thankfully, this interesting OMP gotcha is easily fixed. I’ll explain …

But first take a look at the lead-in graphic above. It starts with the notification. That happens when loading PS causes the OMP environment to start up, too. But running winget upgrade shows an issue with accessing the winget database. Ditto for trying an explicit, directed upgrade on the string “Oh My Posh.” What to do?

OK, Here’s How Interesting OMP Winget Gotcha Is Easily Fixed

First, the fix: I went to GitHub, where developer Jan DeDobbeleer always maintains a current version under its “Latest” link. For the record, I downloaded and installed his install-amd64.exe file there and the upgrade completed without a hitch.

But what went wrong with OMP in the first place? I sent Jan a Twitter (X) message and he replied: “Yes, unfortunately winget, just like the Store, is slower in processing new versions.” I took this to mean the changes were already posted to the manifest database, but that those changes had not yet been committed.

It’s Just a Matter of Time

And indeed, I just checked one of my other test PCs with OMP installed. Running winget just now, it shows — and stands ready to — upgrade OMP to the latest version. Looks like the notification beat the update yesterday, but they’re now back in synch. Here’s visual proof:

Interesting OMP Winget Gotcha Is Easily Fixed.next-check

This morning’s check works as expected. Database is caught up!

And boy howdy, as we say here in Texas, isn’t that just the way things sometimes go, here in Windows-World. You bet!

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Registry Hack Cleans Out Stale RDC Items

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Wow! I guess there have been more changes in the PC fleet here at Chez Tittel than I thought lately. I kept seeing stale entries in the drop-down list from Remote Desktop Connection. So I found a Microsoft Learn article that explains how to remove or replace them. It’s entitled How to remove entries from the Remote Desktop Connection Computer box. Its registry hack cleans out stale RDC items. Let me explain…

More Info: Registry Hack Cleans Out Stale RDC Items

Visit the following registry key inside Registry Editor (regedit.exe):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default

Indeed, you can cut’n’paste this string into the address line in regedit, and save yourself the toil and trouble of typing it in. When you get to that key, you should see something like the lead-in graphic underneath the leaf-node (…\Default).

As you can see it includes 10 values named MRU0 through MRU9. To remove any such value, right-click and select ‘Delete’ from the resulting pop-up menu. In my case, I had old values that kept showing up, but also new values I wanted to include. So instead of deleting stale values, I right-clicked their keys, and modified the associated string values to match the machine names of new machines I’d added. As shown in the lead-in graphic that meant adding P1Gen6. Next, I deleted lenyog7i (MRU7) because I’ve returned that unit to Lenovo.

To see what registry changes look like, you must close and then re-open regedit. Here’s what it looks like now (notice that MRU7 is now missing):

Registry Hack Cleans Out Stale RDC Items.updated

Note that MRU7 is missing, now that it’s deleted.

As you add and remove items using this hack, the registry automatically renumbers them. But unless you change the number of items from the default count of 10, you’ll only ever see items MRU0 through MRU9 (10 items, all told). Great fun!

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Interesting PatchMyPC Download Affects Winget

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Here’s an interesting gotcha. On September 5, I wrote about uptake and intake of a new Lenovo loaner/review PC. It’s a nifty new Intel Gen13 P1 Mobile Workstation. I described using PatchMyPC to install a bunch of follow-on applications, including CrystalDiskMark. Yesterday, I figured out that an “interesting” PatchMyPC download affects winget updates thereafter. The lead-in graphic provides an important clue. Can you see it?

How an “Interesting” PatchMyPC Download Affects Winget

The output line from winget tells the story. It finds a CrystalDiskMark version (I’ll abbreviate this as CDM going forward for convenience) that differs from the one in its database. Note the line that shows version 8.0.4c installed, but 8.0.4 available. This is what causes the “unexpected error” report later in the lead-in screenshot.

As best I can interpret what’s going on is this: 8.0.4c is treated as a different version from 8.0.4. Winget doesn’t know what to do with this odd duck named 8.0.4c when it wants to install (and see) 8.0.4. Its MO is to avoid changing stuff that doesn’t match its search criteria, so the download request fails along with the update. Sigh.

Where Does PatchMyPC Come Into Play?

You’ll recall I mentioned using PatchMyPC to install a bunch of applications on the P1 Workstation in the opening paragraphs. So I fired up that program and sure enough it shows the installed (and current) version of CDM on the target PC as — you guessed it — 8.0.4c. Here’s a screencap:

Interesting PatchMyPC Download Affects Winget.pmp-versions

Note the version number for CDM (line 6 in sage green text in right column): 8.0.4c. Eureka!

So here’s how I “fixed” this non-issue. As you might expect, winget won’t uninstall this odd duck CDM version any more than it will upgrade it. So first, I used Revo Uninstall to remove the existing CDM installation.Then I ran the winget command to install CDM — namely winget install CrystalDewWorld.CystalDiskMark as shown in the following screencap. A subsequent winget upgrade command shows it no longer balks at the odd duck (and now absent) 8.0.4c version number (I had to clear an Edge update in the meantime, so the bottom line that starts “No installed package” is the one that proves CDM is no longer throwing an update notification).

Ultimately, I’m guessing this issue originates with the developer failing to provide a new winget manifest for version 8.0.4c to the winget database. That’s the explanation that best fits these observations, IMHO. And FWIW, the download also took forever to complete (more than 3 minutes for a mere 3.87 MB package). Go figure!

When winget upgrade reports “No installed package…” it means no updates are needed, including CDM. Fixed!

Of course, I had to back off the real most current version to clear this error. But that means it wasn’t really an error, doesn’t it? That’s one of the many ways I keep myself entertained, here in Windows-World!

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

Upcoming Windows Imperative: Get Help!

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OK, then. Troubleshooters are on their way out of newer Windows versions. Instead a series of “Get Help” tools will replace that functionality. That’s the message I take from this February 2023 dated MS Support note entitled “Deprecation of Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) and MSDT Troubleshooters. A closer look at the story is where I find this new and upcoming Windows imperative: Get Help! You can see it, too, in the lead-in graphic.

Identifying the Upcoming Windows Imperative: Get Help!

If you look at the “redirected” Troubleshooters list above, you’lll see that each one begins with the string “Open Get Help” tied to a related Windows facility, program, or device. Closer reading of this document also explains that the Microsoft Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) is to be retired. Also, numerous “legacy inbox troubleshooters” will be removed from the upcoming next release of Windows 11:

Connection to a Workplace using DirectAccess
Devices and Printers
Hardware and Devices
HomeGroup
Incoming Connections
Internet Explorer Performance
Internet Explorer Safety
Keyboard
Power
Search and Indexing
Speech
System Maintenance
Shared Folders
Windows Store Apps

Some of these removals make perfect sense — like those related to the now-obsolete Windows Explorer and HomeGroup facilities. Others are somewhat more mysterious — such as Devices and Printers, Hardware and Devices, Keyboard, Power, Search and Indexing and so forth.

The apparent timetable is to get through this transition by this time next year. Thus, I presume Windows 11 24H2 could be the release in which these changes probably manifest. Presumably, they’ll show up sooner in Canary and Dev channel Insider Previews, and then on down the chain from there as the release date approaches.

Relax: Older Versions Are Not Affected

Here’s an important verbatim quote from this Support Note which should calm any concerns about Windows 10 and current Windows 11 versions:

If you’re running Windows 11 version 22H2 and older, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 or any other earlier OS version, your device will not be affected by the MSDT Troubleshooter retirement. Earlier OS systems will continue to run the legacy inbox troubleshooters.

This definition, also quoted verbatim, should further clarify things:

…legacy inbox Windows Troubleshooters are built-in tools that, when launched, automatically diagnose and correct common problems for a variety of Windows features. MSDT Troubleshooters will be deprecated in the next Windows 11 release, with the date to be determined.

Here’s what I really find interesting about this. It will expose a pretty major fork in the road between the  next major Windows 11 release and the mostly-common code base that Windows 10 and 11 still share. I’ll be fascinated to learn about and understand what Get Help! really means in this context. Stay tuned…

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