Category Archives: Troubleshooting

Hyper-V and VMs, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

Forced Win10VM Upgrade Gets Stuck

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This is pretty strange. I checked in on one of my Windows 10 VMs this morning, and found WU stuck part-way through a Windows 11 upgrade. This popped up, courtesy of toggling the familiar “Get the latest updates…” option in Settings > Windows Update. Alas, this forced Win10VM upgrade gets stuck. I’m trying some things to undo that state. Bear with me, as I report on what things I try…

Before I start introducing repair maneuvers and upgrade counters, let me explain I’m running this VM deliberately to check and test Windows 10 stuff.  Thus, I have ZERO desire to upgrade it to Windows 11, even though I know full well that I could if I wanted to.

Fixing Forced Win10VM Upgrade Gets Stuck

The excellent and usually reliable batch file from TenForums.com “Reset_Reregister_Windows_Update_Components….bat” returned WU in the VM to a normal appearance. Then I ran “Check for updates…” While watching the sliding balls, I wondered if I’d find this VM in the same situation as before. Not yet: it offered a routine Defender update, plus KB5037849. I let things roll.

Interesting results ensued. Defender download threw a 0x80070643 error.  A quick jump into Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Check for updates showed that everything was already up-to-date. Subsequent “Retry” attempt dropped the same error anyway. Odd…

Back in WU, KB5037849 went through download and install. Eventually it got to the “Restart now” button, which I pressed. I’m pretty sure the Security Update error was bogus because of internal status in Windows Security, so off it went…

Beta Channel Sign-Up Effected!

When I got back into Windows Update, I found a successful transition to the CU, but an error report on the Security Update, to wit:

But because another visit to Windows Security showed the same update was still current, I’m seeing this as a Windows Update problem, not as an issue with security updates on this VM. So I jumped over to Windows Insider Program and signed up for the newly re-opened Beta Channel for Windows 10. Indeed, that was the whole reason I started down this rockier-than-expected road.

Then I restarted again, to see what would happen on the next go-round. WU came back clean, and I’m opted into the Beta Channel. Success, but without some oddities along the way. Another magic day in Windows-World…

 

 

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog

Hub Disconnect Breaks IP Lease

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I should have known. I took my Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Hybrid tablet upstairs with me on Saturday night for some couch-based reading. Perforce, I unhooked the device from its usual home: a CalDigit ThunderBolt 4 (TS4) hub. When I hooked it back in the next morning, the device threw an error when I tried to RDP in from my desktop. Why? It seems that a hub disconnect breaks IP lease, and forces the resumed connection to pick up a new and different IP address. It takes 24 hours or so for the machine name table to catch up with reality.

Proving That Hub Disconnect Breaks IP Lease

Open the lead-in graphic in its own window (right-click, then “Open image in new tab” or equivalent). Up top, it shows the results for 2 similar nslookup commands: one for the current IP address (ends in .41) and the other for the old, out-of-date IP address (ends in .22). You can see that the name in Remote Desktop Connection (X12Hybrid.lan, aka X12Hybrid) resolves to 192.168.1.22. Alas, as you can see in the lower part of the intro image, Advanced IP Scanner reports the current active IP address for the device as 192.168.1.41. Right now, that resolves to X12Hybrid-423.lan.

So, while I’m waiting for the name table to catch up, I’m using the actual current  IP address for the X12Hybrid to make an RDP connection. That still works, thank goodness. This is just one of the little quirks that makes Windows networking interesting from time to time. Fortunately, I have enough miles on me to recognize this when it happens.

That’ll teach me to take the laptop upstairs with me on a Saturday night, right? More fun, more fun, more fun in Windows-World!

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

PowerToys Throws One-Time 24H2 RunDLL Error

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When I logged into my newly-upgraded Windows 11 24H2 laptop this morning, I couldn’t help but notice something new. It’s reproduced as the lead-in graphic: it shows a missing app as the focus of a scheduled task. Upon digging into Task Scheduler, I learned that PowerToys throws one-time 24H2 RunDLL error as shown. But after ending the task, then rebooting, it doesn’t come up again. Weird!

Fixing PowerToys Throws One-Time 24H2 RunDLL Error

I right-clicked on the PowerToys entry, then right-clicked the PcaWallpaperAppDetect Task in the “All Running Tasks” pane overlaid at center right. Now, I can’t make it come back, so I can only show you where it was (I swear!). You can, however, find discussion and examples at Microsoft Answers, where I also posted info about the very fix I’ve just explained.

PowerToys Throws One-Time 24H2 RunDLL Error.Task Scheduler

I right-clicked the PcaWallpaperAppDetect task, then select “End task” from the pop-up.[Click image for full-size view.]

I was a little surprised by the outcome of my exercise. I’d expected the task to return after a reboot. But it did not, as you can see from the preceding screencap, captured after I rebooted the only 24H2 Preview PC I’ve currently got running. Go figure!

Given MS Answers Action, Going Thru Channels

Because numerous other folks are reporting the same RunDLL error online, I’m letting @ClintRutkas know about this. He’s the leader of the PowerToys dev team. That teamshas shown itself extraordinarily responsive to such reports in the past. My best guess is that they’ll fix it pronto!

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Black Screen Says “Welcome Back!”

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OK, then. I’ve been away from the office on a family vacation to Nashville, TN, since May 6. When I sat down at my desk this morning to reboot my work routine, I  found myself literally rebooting my production desktop to regain access to Windows. With tongue planted firmly in my cheek I’ll describe this as black screen says “Welcome Back!”

Recovering from Black Screen Says “Welcome Back!”

Now that I think about it, I probably should have tried the old graphics driver restart key combo Winkey+CTRL+Shift+B before rebooting the system. Why do I  say this? As you can see in the lead-in graphic, Reliability Monitor shows that forced restart as an “Unexpected shutdown…” This means Windows itself was still working on that PC.

Had I simply restarted the graphics driver, chances are thus pretty good that my desktop would’ve returned to normal operation without a reboot. But, after leaving the machine alone for 8 days, I wasn’t worried about impacts on open files or the like.

Thus, I just went for the hammer when a pair of tweezers might have done the trick. Yet another way of observing that I’m back at work, and ready to tackle the joys and trials of getting things done here in Windows-World.

What Have I Missed?

That’s the question I’ll be seeking to answer over the next couple of days as I ease back into my daily routine. I’m happy to say that I see only a couple of “burning issues” in my inbox this morning. I’m also happy to say that the rest of the PC fleet is still working like it should. Thus I should be able to get back into the groove without further delays or disruptions.

Stay tuned, though. I could always be wrong, and have to hare off after other Windows issues. Should that happen I’ll report back here…

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

IPRI Spawns Desktop Oddities

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OK, then.  I had to try it again after Windows 11 Insider Preview, Beta Channel, went to Build 22635.3566. DISM … /analyzecomponentstore was showing what’s become a “typical” 13 reclaimable packages that really weren’t there. (Note: I blogged about this back on April 4 for an earlier such build.) Last time, an in-place repair install (IPRI) fixed the issue. So I tried again, but observed that IPRI spawns desktop oddities even as it fixes the bogus reclaimables issue. That required some cleanup. Sigh: let me explain…

What IPRI Spawns Desktop Oddities Means

After the initial reboot following the IPRI, the taskbar and its icons failed to appear at the bottom of the display. That meant I had to open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Esc did the trick), click on Run task, then type explorer.exe into the input box. That set my desktop mostly back to rights, with icons on taskbar in their usual places and positions.

But there was one more thing: icon spacing on my desktop was totally bizarre. I only allow 7 items on my desktop as a matter of routine, mostly repair stuff and default stuff — e.g. Recycle Bin and the two desktop.ini items that show up because of my folder settings choices. But icons were spaced about 2″ apart horizontally and vertically. Ultimately, I resorted to WinAero Tweaker to establish minimum horizontal and vertical spacing between icons (32 pixels’ worth, as it happens). And BTW, I had to reboot to get those settings to “take.”

All’s Well That Ends Well

I can’t remember even niggling issues at the desktop in the wake of an IPRI before this matter of the bogus reclaimables started showing up in the Beta Channel releases about two months ago. But since then, I’ve sometimes had to choose between cleaning those bogus items out and a working desktop. Because the former doesn’t really seem to cause any problems, while the latter is definitely a productivity buster, it’s not a hard choice to make.

But gosh, I’m still glad when I can clean up a mess AND get to a working desktop. I’d love to know what’s causing this to occur, and why the number of bogus reclaimables has so far been “Lucky 13.” But such minor mysteries are part of the allure when one lives in Windows-World. Cheers!

IPRI Spawns Desktop Oddities.nobogus

Number of reclaimable packages: 0! And a working desktop, too… [Double-click image to display in own window.]

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Varying Office Visions for Up-to-date

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Here’s an odd one: I find myself trying to reconcile varying office visions for up-to-date. I’ve got a Microsoft 365 Subscription on the one hand, and the Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise – en-us on the other. Both currently stand at version 16.0.17425.20176. The update checker in the application version (top of lead-in graphic) says it’s up to date. WinGet, however, wants to update the apps version to 16.0.17531.20046, says it’s succeeding, but not getting anywhere. What to do: yikes!

Reconciling Varying Office Visions for Up-to-date

I blogged about a similar gotcha last month (Office Update Hiccup Is Easily Fixed: March 11). Alas, this time the same fix (Repair the office install, then try again) does NOT appear to resolve the issue. Indeed, even though I tell it to fix the apps version, the repair tool works on the subscription version anyway.

Despite some interesting discussion and suggestions at Microsoft.Answers, I can’t get any of their proposed “other fixes” to work, either. Sometimes, when updates get wonky, you just have to wait for MS to get the picture and provide fixes from their side. Methinks this could be one of those times. Indeed, I’ve spent enough time trying to handle this myself, so I’ve decided to wait for a next update and see if that fixes things.

Ain’t that just the way things go from time to time, here in Windows-World? Rhetorical question, I know, but my answer is “Yes!”

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

Beta Channel Rollback Follies

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Found myself in an interesting pickle after running an in-place repair install on the 2018 vintage X380 Yoga for Build 22635.3495. Before the repair, DISM . . .  /AnalyzeComponentStore was showing me bogus reclaimable packages (see lead-in graphic). After the repair install, those bogus packages were gone — but alas, so were my start menu and task bar icons. Thus, I found myself engaged in Beta Channel rollback follies as I returned to the earlier status quo.

Before Beta Channel Rollback Follies, Some Flailing Around

Before I went to System > Recovery > Go Back to return to the previous status quo, I tried a bunch of repairs on the affected PC. None of the traditional usual suspects gave up the goods:

  1. Turned off Start 11v2 and went back to default Start menu
  2. Tried jacking around with Start11v2 settings galore
  3. Ran explorer.exe from Run box/Task Manager run

Whatever I tried, I was stuck with an invisible Start menu and no visible Taskbar icons. In the end it proved to be more trouble to run Windows without easy menu access than to put up with those bogus reclaimable packages.

Follies, Enumerated and Excoriated

Along the way back to where I started, I had a few bumps in the road. Because I typically run my test PCs through an RDP window on my main desktop, I had to remember “Oh yeah, you have to run Recovery options from the physical desktop.” I also stumbled around numerous Start11 menu settings that didn’t work as they’re supposed to — simply because the underlying Start menu was itself out of order.

Once I realized local repairs weren’t getting me anywhere, I knew enough to say, “Time to roll back.” I’ll stand pat on my current situation until MS comes out with a new Beta update (it usually happens once every week or two). Then, I’ll try again. Hopefully the next one will work properly and not show a bunch of spurious reclaimable packages, either. We’ll see…

A Terrible Trade-Off

Normally, running an in-place repair install results in a Windows image that’s pristine and works well. This is the first time I can ever recall that such a repair took a mildly bollixed image and left it unable to work properly after it was applied. As I’ve been thinking about what this might mean, I’m pondering a clean install on this test PC as an alternative to waiting for the next Beta Channel release. It will probably depend on how much free time I have this week. Stay tuned! I’ll keep reporting on this one…

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Cool Tools, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Recent Windows 10 Uncommonly Reliable

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It’s my habit to drop in on the built-in Reliability Monitor tool in Windows from time to time. That gives me a rough and ready read on how well — or badly — the focus system is doing. I usually launch this tool by typing “Reli” into the search box, but you can launch it from the Run box or the command line by typing perfmon /rel. If you examine recent history from my production PC, it should be obvious why I  say “Recent Windows 10 uncommonly reliable.” In other words, nothing to see here, folks. That’s good!

Fingers Crossed: Recent Windows 10 Uncommonly Reliable

Noticing that things are going smoothly is one thing. Talking about it — and risking some kind of jinx — is entirely another. So I’m tempting fate here, but I must also observe that:

  • I actively run the target system at least 9 hours a day (weekdays) and at least 6 hours on off days
  • I’m not hesitant about installing or changing stuff around as I’m researching software, tools, scripting, and OS configurations
  • I take a complete image backup at 9 AM every morning (7 days a week) so I’m always prepared to restore same should I shoot myself (or my PC) in the foot
  • It’s been a busy 18 days since my last critical error on March 28. I replaced the CyberPower UPS software that day because the old version kept crashing. The replacement has been quiet since.

Gosh, it’s nice to see my trusty old (closing in on 8 years: i7-6700 Skylake, Z170 mobo, 32 GB RAM, NVIDIA RTX 3070Ti GPU) desktop still chugging along so well. I know I’ll need to replace it soon, but I feel little pressure or need to do so immediately, in the face of these recent Relimon results. Jinx factor aside, that is…

Alas, as I know only too well, this could change in a moment. Good thing I’ve got a 2021 vintage B550 mobo with 5800X Ryzen CPU, 64 GB RAM, and so forth, already put together and ready to drop in should the need arise. But I still don’t feel a pressing need to migrate just yet. Stay tuned…that will no doubt change!

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, USB devices, WED Blog

So Long Syba DUAL mSATA

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I guess it was inevitable. I purchased a Syba Dual mSATA SSD adapter (model SD-ADA40107) back in 2015 or thereabouts. Yesterday, I plugged it into multiple PCs and laptops inside a USB 3.0 SATA drive caddy and … nothing doing. It’s resisted all resuscitation attempts, including the maker’s own hardware utility, as shown in the lead-in graphic. Thus, I must say “So long, SYBA Dual mSATA” and consign it to my Goodwill safe e-waste disposal bag. It was nice while it lasted.

After So Long Syba DUAL mSATA, Then What?

I’ve had trouble with this and other similar devices. It cost perhaps US$45 when I bought it back when, so it’s no great loss. The real question is: do I buy more hardware to house those still-usable Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB SSDs the now-failed adapter houses? I can now buy the same Sabrent USB 3.0 mSATA enclosure that used to cost US$30 or more for about $15. That’s pretty cheap.

“Why bother?” you ask. Because even an mSATA SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure is still 8 or more time faster than an equivalent flash drive or a conventional HDD. But because I have 3 of them already (250, 500 and 1000 MB in size) it may be a simple case of overkill. I’ll have to ponder the state of the exchequer and think about this for a while. As I’m thinking you can see what CystalDiskMark says about the 500 MiB mSATA device I just plugged in:

So Long Syba DUAL mSATA.850-500

This is still 4-8X faster than UFDs or HDDs (same port, same PC).

As I do, I’ll bid adieu to the non-functional Syba adapter. It was a useful bit of hardware. I’ve still got another one (also with 2x250GB Samsung EVO SSDs) ensconced in a drive caddy where it serves as my M: drive on the production PC. I guess I should start planning to replace that, too. It’s just a matter of time…

 

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Office Update Hiccup Is Easily Fixed

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Last Friday, WingetUI informed me that Microsoft Office needed an update on my production PC. When I tried to update it, however, it failed inside the tool and running winget inside PowerShell. Then, it did nothing inside Outlook when I clicked Files > Account > Update Options > Update Now. Obviously, something was hinky about Office itself, or perhaps the update package. I got an error message that read “Installer failed with exit code: 4294967295.” Fortunately, this Office update hiccup is easily fixed.

How Office Update Hiccup Is Easily Fixed

As it happens, I wrote a story for ComputerWorld back in April 2021. It’s entitled “4 steps to repair Microsoft Office.” I only had to go to Step 1 “Run the Office Quick Repair tool.” You can see the steps to get there, and the Repair button to run it, in the following screencap:

Here’s how to get to the embedded repair info: Settings > Apps > Apps & features > click on Microsoft 365 Apps (for enterprise in my case, YMMV by version). If you click Quick Repair it uses local windows files from your PC. If that doesn’t work, you can try Online Repair and use files from the MS Office download page instead.

I didn’t have to, because the first try did the trick. After the repair completed the update ran without further difficulties. Darn! It’s nice when an easy repair succeeds. Read the rest of the CW story to see what other steps might be required if the Repair tools shown above don’t work. Things can get interesting in a hurry, so I’m just as glad they did not. As Sinatra famously sang “…nice and easy does it every time!”

 

 

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