OK, then. We knew it was coming. And with yesterday’s release of  KB5019509 it’s here. That’s right: with this out-of-band  update, the first Windows 11 22H2 moment arrives. This time, it includes the tabbed version of File Explorer, which wasn’t quite ready for release when 22H2 made its debut on September 20.  This new, snazzed-up File Explorer version provides the lead-in graphic for this story, shot from my just-updated P16 laptop.

What First Windows 11 22H2 Moment Arrives Means

I guess it helps to understand that a moment is shorthand for what ComputerWorld (CW) describes as “small, quarterly feature updates” in a September 14 story. (This story in turn relies on a July Windows Central hearsay report about the terminology.) And indeed, support for tabs in File Explorer makes a perfect illustration of what such a “moment” could bring to users.

But there’s more to KB5019509 than File Explorer tabs. Here are  descriptions of two other new features, straight from that update announcement (blue text emphasis mine for ease of identification):

• New!It adds a feature called Suggested Actions for items that you copy. This is available for customers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. For example, when you copy phone numbers or future dates, we provide suggestions, such as make a call with Teams or Skype or add an event in the Calendar app.
• New! It adds a taskbar overflow menu. The taskbar will offer an entry point to a menu that shows you all your overflowed apps in one space.

We’ll Have These Moments to Remember…

If the CW description is correct, this is just the first of a series of such moments that will pop up from time to time. I can’t tell if MS will itself use the “moment” terminology or not. In fact, KB5109509 calls the aforementioned introductions “quality improvements” instead. A search on the word “moment” turns it up nowhere in this text.

Other new quality improvements in the update include using nearby sharing to “discover and share more devices, including desktops,” a switchover to Windows Settings from Control Panel to “uninstall, repair and modify all apps,” and improved “performance of federated authentication.” All told, KB5109509 appears to offer some interesting stuff.

But if a quality improvement isn’t explicitly called out as a “moment,” why bother with this terminology? Good question! I wish I had an equally good answer. We’ll have to see how this all unrolls. In the meantime, I’m just going to savor this particular moment…

I just learned something I didn’t really want to know. I “oopsed” my way into pausing updates on a Dev Channel test PC this morning. As I did so, the download for Build 25201 was underway, as was the install for KB5017257 (CU for .NET 3.5 and 4.8.1). Alas, this accidental pause kills in-process updates. Thus, I had to restart to apply all the other stuff that had finished, then un-pause updates. Next, I had to redownload Build 25201. Both installed correctly, and another reboot finished the job.

Living with Accidental Pause Kills In-Process Updates

Oh well. If that’s the worst thing that happens to me today, it will still be a good day. What I didn’t know was that in-process items would come to a screeching halt. That’s because I’d never accidentally clicked “Pause for 1 week” during the update process before. Sigh.

Hopefully, alert readers can profit from my mistake without having to learn the hard way for themselves. Tip: stay away from the “Pause…” button while updates are in process. That’s the best way I can think of to skip the whole learning experience entirely.

Compounding the Mistake…

Because I hadn’t yet applied last week’s Patch Tuesday updates to the affected machine, as well as pending Dev Channel build 25201, this was a pretty big update cycle for that machine. I count 1 driver update, 2 Definition updates, and 3 “Other” updates among that number, as well as the items already recited.

But alas, that’s the way things sometimes go in Windows World. Fumble fingers got me pretty good this time. Hopefully, we’ll all be exempt from this particular gotcha going forward. Sigh.

Here’s an interesting item. Turns out that MS has made KB5015684 available through its update servers. Thanks to the team at DeskModder.de you can find x86, x64 and ARM64 versions of either .CAB or .MSU files. All have links of the form https://catalog.s.download.windowsupdate.com/c/upgr/2022/07/windows10.0-kb5015684-xxx.cab or .msu. They must be legit, right? Hence my claim that KB501864 provides quick Windows 10 22H2 upgrade.

I just ran it on my production Windows 10 PC, and it went through without hitch or glitch. Completed in under 2 minutes, including download, install and reboot time, too. May be worth a try for those with Windows 10 PCs not expected to elevate to Windows 11 soon (or ever). So far, I see no discernable changes in look, feel, or behavior — just a new Build number 19045 (vs. 19044). Same minor extension as before, in fact: 1826.

What KB501864 Provides Quick Windows 10 22H2 Upgrade Really Means

Two things:
1. MS is getting close enough to a 22H2 public release for a preview to go out.
2. The code for the 22H2 release is stable enough to start it through the Windows Insider program.
Note: I didn’t have to join the Insider program to install this update, which appears as a “Quality Update” in Update History. The Windows Insider Program page on this PC, post-update, does NOT show itself as “joined-up” either. So one need not be concerned that applying the update automagically changes the PC’s status to that of an Insider machine. That’s a relief!

I ran the .MSU x64 version of the upgrade, simply because a self-installing update file is a little easier to apply than CAB files can sometimes be. You can find all links in the original Deskmodder.de article (6 files in all). It might be a good idea to apply this upgrade to test machines with some caution, if you’re concerned about possible unwanted side effects. That didn’t stop (or hurt) me on this PC, though…

If you’re interested, have at it. Cheers!