Category Archives: Insider stuff

Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

24H2 Adopts Energy Saver

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Battery Saver is out, and Energy Saver is in for Windows 11 version 24H2. You can see the new power management capability in Settings > System > Power & Battery in Build 26100 on Copilot+ PCs. For example, see the top elements in the lead-in graphic. When 24H2 adopts Energy Saver, this does come with some behavioral changes, too. Read on for more info and an MS Learn link.

When 24H2 Adopts Energy Saver, Then What?

Good question, and one that MS addresses directly in an MS Learn article entitled Energy Saver (dated 6/24/2024). Basically Energy Saver kicks in at a certain level of remaining battery capacity, and restricts Windows 11’s ordinary behaviors to — wait for it — save energy. Note: here’s a shout-out to Mayank Parmar at Windows Latest for bringing this to my attention.

Energy Saver Particulars

Check out the MS Learn article for all the details, but here’s a thumbnail summary of how Energy Saver works:

1. It kicks in when remaining charge levels dip to a certain level. It’s user-settable, and defaults to 30% (see lead-in graphic).

2. Users can turn Energy Saver on or off via Quick Settings in the system tray as needed. MS recommends enabling Energy Saver all the time. It can even be set to work when a laptop is plugged into AC.

3. When Energy Saver is on, users cannot change power mode in Settings. Display brightness is reduced by 30% (users can toggle this setting, and OEMs can alter this value). Transparency effects for window backgrounds are disabled.

4. For unplugged devices with charge levels below the energy saver threshold, these other behaviors will manifest:

a. MS apps — e.g. OneNote, OneDrive, Phone Link, and so forth — may not sync to save energy.

b. Background apps will not run in the background unless specifically enabled. Certain app categories are exempted (e.g. VoIP) to preserve communications.

c. Non-critical Windows update downloads are blocked, but update scans still occur.

d. Telemetry is (mostly) blocked except for critical items (e.g. census data).

e. Task scheduler ignores IdleSettings and MaintenanceSettings, and runs tasks only if a user is logged on.

For all the details, please consult the MS Learn article. This will change how Windows behaves when PCs update to 24H2 and beyond, so these alterations are worth pondering. For further details on energy saver status tracking see the MS Learn item for SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS. Cheers!

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

First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

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Well, then. A scant few days after I requested access to the business side of Lenovo’s current Copilot+ PCs, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 showed up via FedEx. In fact, the driver was blocking my driveway when I returned home from a visit to the eye doctor on Wednesday. Work life and deadlines being what they are, I’m just now getting around to intake, setup and fooling around with this new machine. That means it’s a first look Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 report.

The First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

I really like how Lenovo has totally minimized packaging. There were two papier-mache molds to cradle the laptop, a single cardboard box for the brick and power cord, and a paper-covered twist-tie for the latter, all inside a small cardboard box. A folded set of start-up instructions occupied less than a typical 8.5×11″ sheet of paper. Plus an environmentally friendly fiber (paper) bag to protect the laptop inside its cradle: 5 items in all. Great!

Lenovo has also completely digitized its user manuals now, and they’re readily available through the Lenovo Vantage app. Here’s a nicely labeled “front view” of the screen and deck of the T14s.

First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6-frontview width=

It’s easy to see what is where in this text-free diagram.

Here’s how this unit came equipped:

  • CPU: Snapdragon X Elite X1378100 3.4 MHz Oryon processor
  • RAM: 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8448MHz memory (soldered)
  • SSD: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2242 (!) NVMe SSD
  • Display: 1920×1280 (Full HD) touchscreeen
  • Windows 11 Pro version 24H2 Build 26100.1150 (after update)
  • Other cool/interesting elements: Windows Hello IR camera, fingerprint sensor, presence sensing, intelligent cooling
  • 2xUSB-C (USB4 40Gbps) ports, 2 USB-A (5Gbps) ports, lock slot, nano-SIM tray, HDMI, mini-RCA audio jack port
  • Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 network adapter (GbE requires USB dongle for wired connection)

Bluetooth on this device works like a champ. Got my Logitech Ultrathin Touch mouse hooked up right away, ditto for the iPhone 12. I used a Thunderbolt 3 dock to link up a recovery disk UFD and an external USB4 NVMe in a fast enclosure. Surprisingly, it shows support for 40Gbps capability all the way down the device chain:

That’s pretty good,  for 4-5 year old Thunderbolt 3 dock. I’ll follow up with throughput and backup times in an upcoming post.

So far, so good…

I’m still getting things set up and configured the way I like them. But this is a sweet little unit, if somewhat chunkier and less vivid that the stunning high-res OLED display on the Yoga Slim 7x it’s replacing. I do like the added RAM, the inclusion of Windows 11 Pro (I had to upgrade from Home on the other unit to use RDP), Wi-Fi 7, and a bigger SSD (1.0 TiB instead of 0.5 TiB). More  will follow as I have time, but I very much like what I see, and what this laptop can do, so far. Stay tuned: more is coming…

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AI, Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

Finally Windows 10 Copilot Is Here

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I’ve been waiting for some time for the Copilot facility to make its way onto my Windows 10 desktops since last November. That’s when MS made the first Preview available to versions 21H2 and 22H2. Since then, I’ve read numerous other announcements of its increasing spread and reach into the dominant Windows desktop OS. But not on my PCs or VMs, it seems. That all changed when Copilot hit the MS Store a couple of months back. Now, finally, Windows 10 Copilot is here for anybody who wants it — including me!

Finally Windows 10 Copilot Is Here
… and RUNNING!

I’m absolutely delighted to be able to interact with Copilot in a clear and well-understood way. That it’s now “just another app in the Store” makes it ever so much more approachable and easy to install and run. The only minor glitch I’ve run into from this Copilot avatar is obtaining version info. There’s supposed to be an about field under the App Settings heading. But I get an Edge page of app info instead, sans version number.

That’s OK though: I can visit the app’s Store page or use WinGet list Copilot to elicit that info. As you can see, the latter command provides that info on demand, no scrolling nor much reading needed:

There it is in clear form: my Win10 production PC is running the latest and greatest 1.0.4.0 version of Copilot (from the MS Store).

Copilot on 10 versus 11

So far, I really can’t tell much (or any) difference between Copilot on the two prevailing Windows OS versions.  Even on the brand-new Copilot+ PC that showed up at my doorstep yesterday: a ThinkPad T14S Gen 6 there aren’t easy, available ways to take advantage of the unit’s AI-oriented CPU, GPU and NPU capabilities just yet. Can’t wait to see how that will all unfold later this year, though, when 24H2 comes out “for real” — and hopefully, with readily usable Copilot+ features and functions. We’ll see: I’m certainly standing by!

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

Fighting MS Phone Link

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It’s been an interesting morning. I’m heading to a medical appointment this afternoon to tackle a recent vision problem. So I’m going through new patient intake for a specialist first visit. Part of that intake asked for photos of my medical insurance cards. So natch, I wanted to transfer them from my iPhone 12. “That’s easy,” I thought, “I’ll use the Phone Link app.” Famous last words: once I got it set up and running, it lacked phone/file access. So I plugged a Lightning-to-USB cable between the P16 and the phone and got it handled. But I found myself fighting MS phone link for much of that way.

Fighting MS Phone Link: One Step Forward,
N Steps Back

Getting the phone link working was a bit more challenging than I’d expected. Because I’d set this phone up with the P16 long, long ago, I struggled to make a connection at first. I ended up scrubbing the device definitions inside Bluetooth on the PC/Windows side, and forgetting the PC on the iOS side. Only then was I able to set up a new, virgin working connection via Phone Link.

Then things got interesting: I could see notifications and phone stuff, plus music files, but no photos (or other file system stuff). I eventually used the USB-A to Lightning charge/data transfer cable to create a file system connection between the two devices. After another round of permissions (let the PC see the iPhone, let the iPhone see the PC), it showed up in File Explorer on the P16. Then I was easily able to move my ID card photos from phone to PC.

Once iPhone shows up as a drive-level volume in Explorer, everything else is just navigation.

Eventually, I got what I needed. But wow! It took me an hour or so longer than I planned to get through all this stuff. And I won’t even bother to mention the weird behavior from the so-called Patient Portal in providing my medical history. That’s a whole ‘nother can of worms altogether. But it’s not Windows related as far as I can tell so I’ll skip those gory details. But hey: it really is just another day in Windows-World. Sigh.

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Win11 Beta Shows Inactive Jump Lists

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Here’s an interesting one: In its latest incarnation in Build 22635.4000, Windows 11 Insider Preview shows new behavior. Here’s what its announcement blog calls this: “showing jump lists when you hover your mouse cursor over apps on the taskbar that have jump lists and are inactive.” That’s quite a mouthful, so I’m compressing that to say that the latest Win11 Beta shows inactive jump lists instead. Hope that makes sense. Take a look at the lead-in graphic…

What Win11 Beta Shows Inactive Jump Lists Means

What you see in the lead-in graphic, from left to right, is the result of hovering the mouse over the following apps on the taskbar:

  • Chrome
  • Edge
  • File Explorer
  • Microsoft Store

As you can see, this approach works for apps that are closed (“inactive”) and gives you access to stuff you’ve visited or used lately, plus standard menu options. I hope that MS decides to keep this capability, because it’s actually quite useful. In other words: I like it.

Don’t Take My Word for It…

If you’re running the latest Beta channel build for Windows 11 Insider Preview, it’s worth checking out for yourself. If not, it may even be worth firing up an instance — perhaps in a VM — to see it in action. Indeed, of all the UI tweaks I’ve seen showing up (and sometimes leaving) various Insider Preview builds in the past year or two, this one is among the most appealing and obviously useful.

If you need to set an instance up to check it out, your best source is UUPdump.net. Here’s its “Latest Beta Channel” page to make that super easy to grab and build. Warning: this process can take up to an hour, including download time and ISO construction time. Cheers!

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog

Intel 13-14 Gen CPU Issues Unfolding

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In tech news over the past 2-3 weeks, there’s been some serious CPU stuff revealed. As updated in this recent Windows Central item, PCs with Intel’s 13th and 14th generation CPUs (Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh, respectively) are prey to a microcode bug. Units with a TDP of 65W or greater can run excessive voltage under some conditions. This can cause crashes and BSODs. On July 26, in fact, Tom’s Hardware reported a scary observation. It said “13th Generation Raptor Lake processors have a return rate [4X] higher than … the previous generation”  (copy abbreviated). There’s the basis for my claim to see Intel 13th-14th Gen CPU issues unfolding.

What Intel 13-14 Gen CPU Issues Unfolding Means

If you’ve got PCs or laptops with such CPUs inside, you’ll need to keep an eye on them. Intel plans to issue a microcode fix sometime soon. When it’s available, you’ll want to schedule that update sooner rather than later. I’d also recommend that owners think about  underclocking as a form of insurance against possible problems that normal voltage level operations might otherwise cause.

Indeed, for those with 13th Gen Raptor Lake devices, you’ve been dodging trouble for some time now. The already-cited Tom’s Hardware story, mentions that “the first sporadic reports of CPU crashing errors surfaced in December 2022 and grew to a crescendo by the end of 2023.” You’ve been warned!

For more info on underclocking, this wikiHow Tech story “Underclock Your Computer Hardware: 2 Easy Ways” looks like a good place to start.

No Raptor Lake Exposure Here…

I have to chuckle as I report that the PCs and Laptops at Chez Tittel aren’t subject to this reported exposure. Because its worst-case consequences could require replacing a CPU, that’s a very, very good thing. I was concerned about my workhorse test PC, a well-equipped Lenovo P16 Mobile Workstation Gen 1. But a quick trip to CPU-Z (which you can use on your PCs to suss out relevant details) showed it running an Alder Lake 12th Gen Intel CPU. I was totally relieved to see that this morning (see lead-in graphic).

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Insider stuff, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11

Chrome Makes MS Catalog Get Weird

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Here’s something I’ve never run into before. It’s quite interesting, actually.  This morning I read about a new update –KB5040527 — for both Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 versions. When WU failed to produce same upon an update check, I followed the link in the Windows Latest story that caught my eye, and tried to download the update via Chrome. First up: Dutch, next French, and then Spanish on a third try. Edge showed it to me in en-US (English – United States) right away. Thus I couldn’t help but aver that Chrome makes MS Catalog get weird. You can see the French version in the lead-in graphic.

We are from France: Chrome Makes
MS Catalog Get Weird

I wasn’t sure what could happen if I were to install an update for some language with no corresponding language pack present. Now that I write out those words: I’ll probably make an experiment on another test PC to see what happens. Hoping to avoid language issues, I instead used the English-United States version (en-us) that Edge handed me for the update. In passing, I’ll observe it took some while for this to finish, both in download and install phases (about 15 minutes in all, longer than a typical WU update by 10 minutes or more).

Further adding to the mystery, I can’t replicate this behavior on any of my other production-line Windows 11 test machines. I guess I can try on my wife’s and son’s PCs later today to see if I can provoke multiple languages again. If it is truly a one-off, I blame cosmic rays!! One must’ve crashed through my PC recently and flipped an important bit. If you’re not laughing yet, too bad you can’t hear me carrying on. IMO, this is hysterical…

 

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

WinGet Updates PowerShell, Error Aside

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I have to chuckle. There’s a new PowerShell 7.4.4 out. I just used WinGet to update my production PC and it applied the update package. But when it got the end of the update, it reported “Installation abandoned” and ended the WinGet update session. Because 7.4.4 came when I closed, then re-opened, Windows Terminal it looks like WinGet updates PowerShell, error aside. You can see the sequence in the lead-in graphic.

WinGet Updates PowerShell, Error Aside

Notice that a “Cancelled” item shows up below the “Installation abandoned” notification. I’m guessing this last item refers to jumping out of the WinGet update sequence, because you see a normal command line prompt (spiffed up, thanks to Oh-My-Posh).

And sure enough, running WinGet upgrade –all –include-unknown finishes up the remaining items that appeared below PowerShell in the update list. In the next screencap I show a two-pane Windows Terminal session. On the left, you see the sequence of update packages installed; on the right, you see the PS Version is now 7.4.4.

To the left you see WinGet at work; to the right a newly-opened PS session says it’s v7.4.4. [Click image for full-sized view.]

One more thing: the final item in the upgrade sequence on the X1 Extreme was Winget itself (which appears as Microsoft.AppInstaller inside the upgrade list). At its conclusion, WinGet closes things out a bit more reasonably. It says:

Successfully installed. Restart the application to complete the upgrade.

Cancelled

I think that confirms my suspicion that the cancelled item refers to the WinGet session itself. It even throws a couple of Ctrl-C (^C) characters to make sure things get closed out. Here’s a screencap:

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Cool Tools, Device drivers, Insider stuff, Remote Desktop (RDP), Security, Thoughts & concerns, WED Blog

Getting Past Crowdstruck Requires Access

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Last Friday (July 19), cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike pushed an update to its threat sensors. Ultimately, that ended up with over 8 million Windows PC unable to boot, stuck on a BSOD for invalid references in a kernel-mode driver. Behind the scenes, all kinds of companies from hospitals, to government agencies, to airlines, and more, found themselves unable to use updates machines after a post-update reboot. What really caused the heartburn? Getting past Crowdstruck requires access to affected machines on a one-at-a-time basis.

If you look at the BSOD screencap at the head of this blog post, you’ll see a driver named csagent.sys. This is the CrowdStrike Agent driver which runs at kernel mode by design. That ensures it can’t be easily accessed or tampered with by hackers. But when something runs as a kernel mode driver it must be rigorously and thoroughly tested and vetted, or it can crash any PC on which it runs. Errors, in short, cannot be tolerated. Oops!

Why Getting Past Crowdstruck Requires Access

Part of the Crowdstrike software run as a Windows kernel-mode driver. That means it has the same level of access as privileged parts of the OS itself. If any of this code throws an error — as Crowdstrike has publicly admitted its update did — Windows crashes itself. That’s by design,  out of an abundance of caution to avoid loss of data or other damage to affected systems.

Here’s where things get interesting. Windows can’t boot and run until the offending driver is removed. In turn, the affected PCs must boot into safe mode or a recovery image. Either can operate on the damaged Windows image, remove the bad driver, and stand Windows back up again. This is easy when admins or IT pros have physical access to affected PCs. Indeed, Copilot recommends using the “three strikes” method to get into Windows recovery. (Three consecutive boot failures autoomatically triggers Windows alternate boot.) Then, using WinRE (or Windows itself in safe mode, from the Advanced Boot Options), repairs can go forward.

The problem is that many, if not virtually all, of the affected machines stayed down, stuck in a “boot loop.” They remained that way because their operators DIDN’T have physical access to those PCs. I’ll bet that most of them had to be teleoperated through a KVM device that can work around PC  problems that extend all the way down to the hardware level (outside the scope of normal remote access and RDP). This kind of thing doesn’t scale well, either, so it takes time to work through hundreds to thousands of remote PCs (think of the PC behind the counter at AA or Delta, where the gate or ticket agent is completely clueless about boot-level Windows repairs).

An “Interesting” Problem, Indeed!

Far too many cybersecurity and IT pros found themselves in the grip of the old Chinese curse (“May you live in interesting times”) after the *291* driver for Crowdstrike  tried to run on Friday. Organizations that prepare and drill for these kinds of outages were doubtless at an advantage in already knowing how to broker and run boot repairs remotely. I can only imagine the hair-pulling that went on at other outfits less well-equipped to handle this outage.

Here’s a moral to ponder for those who run remote Windows PCs where physical access is impossible, difficult or impractical: Can your remote management infrastructure and automation work with a Windows PC that’s not booting, and won’t boot until it’s restarted in some special way? If your answer is “yes,” you’re probably over the Crowdstruck hump already. If your answer is “no,” you’ll probably make that a top priority as soon as you can kick-start and repair all remaining affected Windows nodes. In the meantime, my deepest sympathies…

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

Copilot+ PCs Bring Better USB4 Support

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When I went to build recovery media for the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Copilot+ PC last week, I dropped a Belkin TB3 dock into one of its 3 USB-C ports. Why? Because I needed a USB-A port into which to plug the Mushkin Atom UFD I targeted for that purpose. The lead-in graphic shows the dock at the “other end” of USB4 host router 1 (right-click the graphic and open in its own tab to see the whole thing). The next screencap shows the Hardware tab from Properties for that recovery drive (E:). Thus, I claim that Copilot+ PCs bring better USB4 support because until USB4 hubs and devices appeared in settings, users had to run a separate (and less informative) Thunderbolt app from Intel to see what was what. This has improved!

Copilot+ PCs Bring Better USB4 Support.e-drive-hwprops

The Mushkin E: drive is an older USB 3.0 Atom device.

So What If Copilot+ PCs Bring Better USB4 Support?

Though I’ve yet to see any laptops or PCs endowed with USB 4 2.0 (you can see version 1.0 in the lead-in graphic) this is now part and parcel of Windows 11 as well. It will also allow channel speeds to double from 40 Gbps (which 1.0 supports) to 80 Gbps (2.0 only, and primarily limited to video links). This probably doesn’t matter much right now, given that these top-of-the-line versions aren’t yet widely available. But for those who need the speed, this will matter once the peripherals and docks gain USB4 2.0 support.

I’ve got a Qualcomm Copilot+ Developer Kit SFF PC showing up here at Chez Tittel in the next day or two (today, even, maybe). I’ll be quite curious to see what Settings > Bluetooth & devices > USB > USB4 hubs and devices has to tell me about what’s inside and the docks and other devices I plan to hook up. Indeed, I’m going to start with a Lenovo P27u20 monitor, with its integrated TB4 docking capability. Hopefully, it will not only provide a great display, but also the means to hook up my keyboard and mouse. Stay tuned! These USB4 adventures will continue…

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