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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Windows 11 Health Check Details

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Now that MS has done the big reveal, I can affirm the rumors — and the existence — of Windows 11. So without further ado, I downloaded the new PC Health Check tool (find a link in the final paragraph of this story). It comes in .MSI (Microsoft Installer) format and installs quickly and easily on most PCs. Digging into the Windows 11 Health Check details, though, I fell victim to at least two rude surprises. Maybe more: read my story, then you tell me…

First surprise: my 6-year-old production PC won’t run Windows 11.

Good/Bad News from Windows 11 Health Check Details

In his story about this tool, WinAero.com principal Sergey Tkachenko lists the Windows 11 hardware requirements as follows (quoted verbatim):

  • A 64-bit dual-core 1Ghz CPU or better.
  • 4GB of RAM or better.
  • 64GB of storage or better.
  • A 9-inch display with a minimum 1366×768 resolution.
  • A motherboard with UEFI, Secure Boot, and Trusted Platform Module 2.0.
  • A discrete or integrated GPU with DirectX 12 support and WWDM 2.X.

Actually there’s a bit more to it than that. Interested parties are advised to check these official MS items: Find Windows 11 specs, features and computer requirements and Windows Processor Requirements. They led me to some interesting but depressing realizations, including:

1. Windows 11 PCs must include TPM 2.0 support, along with UEFI and Secure Boot
2. Windows 11 PCs won’t run on 7th generation Intel processors or older: 8th generation is “as low as they go.” On the AMD side, processors number 29xx or higher are compatible with 11. I still have 4 systems with older CPUs here at Chez Tittel.

My production PC, which I’d been planning to refresh, is ineligible because it runs an i7-6700 CPU and has no TPM chip. My son’s desktop is in the exact same boat. Then there’s the Surface Pro 3, which runs a 4th Gen Intel CPU (i74650U). And of course, I’m waiting to give away the Ivy Bridge (2nd Gen Intel i7-2650M) to Reglue.org as soon as they can send somebody by to pick it up.

Change Is Coming, Sooner Not Later

Looks like I need to refresh two desktops before the holidays (when Window 11 is scheduled to go public). I’m guessing October, to give shoppers time to buy Windows 11 equipped PCs before Xmas. Looks like I will also give the Surface Pro 3 (with dock, alternate keyboard, and other accessories) to ReGlue, too.  Time to revisit my bill of materials for those builds, and get the orders flying! I’d hoped to wait until GPU prices came down, but will just re-use the GeForce 1070 Ti cards in those two desktops in the meantime.

Note added June 26 (1 day later)

In response to feedback from users that PC Health Check’s info was insufficiently detailed, the company has already released a new version. It’s much more informative. Thus for example, it now spells out what I had to visit several tables to figure out on my own — namely, that the 6th gen i7 in my production PC is not supported:

Windows 11 Health Check Details.cpu-reject

Now, the tool spells out specific causes for incompatibility.

Thus, interested readers should be sure to grab the latest version of the tool, available at https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckApp. I’ve turned off the out-of-date link at the head of the story to help readers avoid confusion. Kudos to MS for responding to useful user input so quickly and effectively!

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Pondering Free Windows Upgrades

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The world is expecting information about a new major Windows release on June 24. I’ve been watching the byplay and discussion of what could be new, and what might be next. For me, one question is paramount. Will the next upgrade be free? Or, will users have to pay for that privilege? That’s what has me pondering free Windows upgrades, as the Microsoft event comes in a just a few more days.

History  Guides Me, In Pondering Free Windows Upgrades

Let me think back on my own personal Windows history. I remember most early upgrades to Windows were neither free (because they came on “official media”) nor terribly expensive (because MS wanted users to stay current). If I remember correctly, upgrades cost US$50 to $99 for Windows 3.0 and 3.1. Windows 95 upgrades listed for US$109.95, but deals were sometimes available. Ditto for Windows 98, which also offered a pre-order price of $94.99 for upgrades to those willing to spend less sooner and get the media later. Windows Vista is the last version that I remember Microsoft charging a fee to upgrade and it cost more: US$120 (Home), US$200 (Business) and US$220 (Ultimate).

Since then, upgrades to 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 have pretty much all been free to those with legit, valid Windows licenses for previous (and sometimes older) versions. To my way of thinking, this says that recent history argues that a “next upgrade” should be free for Windows 10 licensees. OTOH, there’s plenty of older history that argues directly to the contrary.

Time Will Tell … and Soon, I Hope!

With a major announcement coming up on Thursday, June 24, we may soon be finding out what any upgrade deal will be for Windows 10 licensees. Because I have 10 PCs here at Chez Tittel, I’m more than a little interested in (and apprehensive) about the upcoming upgrade policy. In the meantime, I’ve got my fingers crossed that recent history trumps ancient history now that physical media are seldom needed, and OS downloads represent the most common and widely used distribution channel for Windows install files.

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Tom Petty Got Windows Wait Right

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As the community of Windows Insiders, journalists, watchers and hangers-on collectively holds its breath for June 24, I’m thinking about an old Tom Petty song. The name of the song, of course, is the 1981 classic “The Waiting.” The lyric runs “The waiting is the hardest part.” And wow, how true is that as time marches toward Microsoft’s next generation Windows event on June 24. For me — and I imagine, many others — Tom Petty got Windows wait right.

Because Tom Petty Got Windows Wait Right, Hang In There!

Earlier this week, a leaked version of what purports to be the next Windows release appeared online. Since then, all the usual Windows news outlets are abuzz.  These include WinAero, Windows Latest, Windows Central, OnMSFT, Thurrott, and countless others. All are awash in exposition and analysis of “what’s in there.”

Visit one or more of the widely read third-party Windows sites to see what I mean. On every one, stories about the leaked version dominate their home pages.  Here’s a quick “count analysis” of what I see. In fact, most of them have devoted over half their line items to this topic. Some go as high as 90 percent.

When the Hardest Part Is Over, Then What?

I’m crossing my fingers that MS will indeed release an official next-gen version during or after the June 24 event. Because I’m an Insider MVP I’m not allowed to write about details regarding leaks and unofficial releases, hacks and other similar stuff. That probably explains why I’m a little frustrated that there’s so much activity already underway that I can’t dive into just yet.

In the meantime, I’ll keep humming Mr. Petty’s tune and watching the clock. There’s really not much else I can do right now — except, of course, to keep plugging away at all the real work I actually get paid for. Do stay tuned: as soon as I can, I’ll start covering this next big Windows thing, whatever it turns out to be.

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Forcibly Upgrading 20H2 PCs Many Ways

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OK, I’ll admit it. I got tired of waiting. This weekend, I forcibly upgraded my 20H2 production desktop to 21H1. As it happens, when forcibly upgrading 20H2 PCs many ways to the new version are open. I took one of the easiest: installing the enablement package. Links for x32, x64 and ARM64 versions are available at TenForums, via KB5000736 self-installing update files.

Forcibly Upgrading 20H2 PCs Many Ways Requires Follow-up

Of course, it’s been a while since KB5000736 first appeared on May 18. After I got through that install — which took under 2 minutes on my SkyLake i7-6700 PC — I had additional updates to install:

  • KB4023057: Update for Windows 10 Update Service Components
  • KB5004476 Out-of-band MS Store fix for Xbox Game Pass games

These took MUCH longer to download and install than the enablement package for 21H1, much to my surprise. Not all updates, apparently, can happen as quickly or easily as its minimalist changes (which mostly involve flipping switches for stuff already in the 20H2 OS).

Other Ways to Forcibly Upgrade from 20H2 to 21H1

Though it may be the fastest way to get from 20H2 to 21H1, other methods are also available. The Microsoft Update Assistant and an in-place upgrade install from mounted 21H1 ISO (both available on the Download Windows 10 page) will do the trick as well. But not only do these methods take longer, they also leave Windows.old and related cruft behind. That’s why I use the enablement package whenever possible. If you run out of patience like I did, I suggest you take the same route to get to 21H1 yourself. Enjoy!

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Windows 10 Retirement Date Is 2025

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The exact date is October 14, 2025 to be more precise. This information comes from the Windows Lifecycle page for Windows 10 Home and Pro. Other online sources brought it to my attention last week. After earlier statements from MS that Windows 10 would be the last version, ever, this comes as something of a surprise (here’s a BBC story that reports this same observation). Notice, though that this statement — namely, Windows 10 retirement date is 2025 — covers only Home, Pro, Pro Education and Pro Workstation versions in the intro screencap. But if you visit the corresponding Lifecycle Page for Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, you’ll see that same date there also:

Windows 10 Retirement is 2025--including Enterprise and Education, too.
Windows 10 Retirement is 2025–including Enterprise and Education, too.

EOL = Windows 10 Retirement Date is 2025

This information certainly adds some frisson to the upcoming June 24 announcement of what’s next for Windows. Indeed, the current reigning version has always had this expiration date, according to Microsoft internal sources. Frankly, I just hadn’t looked closely at the Lifecyle data in quite some time.

Given that a 10-year life for Windows versions is more or less standard, that means a new, replacement version is more or less obligatory.  The next generation’s name, content and release details still remain a cipher. however, as the June 24 event day draws ever closer.

Gosh! I find myself a whole lot more interested in the upcoming event than I had been. I suspect a great many Windows watchers, reporters, and professionals my share that feeling. And with Windows Cloud PC now apparently working I find myself wondering if that version won’t also switch over to “the next big thing” sooner,  rather than later.

Up until last week, Windows 10 versions (e.g. 2004, 20H2, and 21H1) all came with expiration dates. I mistakenly thought that Windows 10 itself never had a retirement date of its own. In fact, it always had been slated for a 2025 end date, and I somehow missed that boat. I’m reminded of Donkey’s line in Shrek I: “Of course you’re a girl dragon!” In that vein, of course we should have known something must succeed Windows 10. Perhaps on June 24 we’ll find out more about what that could be.

I Must Apologize for Misunderstanding…

Note:  This item was substantially revised on June 15, when I learned from sources within Microsoft that the retirement date has been published and present for some time. Indeed I can find this information in the Wayback Machine as far back as September 22, 2020. My apologies for any suggestions that this is a big change or that it is of more than ordinary significance. It’s just the normal working out of the software lifecycle.

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My Personal 13.3″ ThinkPad History

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As I wrote in yesterday’s blog post X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet, my trusty old ThinkPad X220 Tablet is aging out of useful Windows test machine status. This got me to thinking about my personal 13.3″ ThinkPad history. In fact, all of those PCs are still in the room here with me and I’d like to run through them in today’s disquisition. Let’s tackle the series in chronological order.

My Personal 13.3″ ThinkPad History Begins

It all started in 2012, when Que (Part of Pearson Publishing) asked me to help revise Windows 7 in Depth for the upcoming release of Windows 8. Its beta release occurred in February, and I started looking for a pair of suitable test PCs at that time. Because touch was integral to Windows 8, but still rare and expensive, one of those two units HAD to include a touchscreen. That’s what led me to the ThinkPad X220 Tablet (and a ThinkPad T420 laptop) both with i7-2650M CPUs, 8 GB RAM, and (if memory serves) 500MB 2.5″ spinning disk drives. Read more about the ThinkPad X Series at Wikipedia.

Changes and Upgrades Follow

Over the next few years, I made many changes to those two laptops. SSDs emerged and I endowed each of them with Plextor mSATA 256 drives. This let me take advantage of their empty M.2 slots, which were designed to handle either cellular wireless access or storage. I also upgraded the HDDs to OCZ SATA-III SSDs, doubled up RAM on both machines to 16 GB, and purchased a PCIe card with 2 USB 3 ports to include higher-speed USB access on those PCs (both include only USB 2 ports built-in).

Over the years, these machines served me faithfully and well. I took them on the road for many legal and consulting jobs, not to mention family trips. Last year, the T420 proved increasingly difficult to upgrade to production Windows 10 versions. But the X220 Tablet kept chugging along until about 4 months ago, when a new Intel Management Engine upgrade failed, and left that firmware in a perpetual error state. Since then, it too, has proved increasingly difficult to upgrade to the latest Dev Channel Insider updates and upgrades. That said, the machine was designed in 2011 and purchased in 2012, so I would have to say it’s had a long and productive go here at Chez Tittel.

Phase 2: X380 Yoga Comes Aboard (2018)

In 2018, I actually acquired 2 X380 Yogas, both more or less identically configured. Each includes an i7-8650U Intel 7th generation (codename Kaby Lake) CPU, 16 GB DDR4 soldered RAM, and a 1 TB NVMe OEM SSD. (One  has a slower Toshiba, and the other a faster Samsung model.) I use one for the production version of Windows 10 (currently 20H2 awaiting the 21H1 enablement package offer from WU). The other one runs Windows 10 Dev Channel Insider Preview release (currently at Build 21390.1010).

The X380 has proved an excellent bring-along family/entertainment PC, when I’ve also carried a “work machine” on family trips and vacations. It’s got the right combination of size, display, computing capabilities, and battery life to make a great media platform.

Phase 3: X390 Yoga Joins the Party (2019)

As my wife’s ancient Mini-ITX PC (Ivy Bridge i7) started showing signs of age, I decided to buy an X-series ThinkPad for her as a main machine, hooked up to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard using a Belkin USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 dock. That didn’t pan out, so I got her a Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro in 2020 instead. I’m using the X390 as a test machine for Insider Preview releases, and have also taken it on the road. It’s pretty much identical to the two X380s except for some minor port differences. (The X390 has two USB-C ports one of which is Thunderbolt 3 capable; the X380s have more USB-A ports and fewer USB-C).

Phase 4: ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 Gets a Look-See (2021)

Because of my long and productive history with this particular ThinkPad series, I contacted Lenovo to see if the might send me the latest 11th Generation (Tiger Lake) version of this PC. They did: it arrived here yesterday. Known as X1 Yoga Gen 6, the unit has an i7-1185G7 CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR4x 4266MHz RAM, and a 500GB Hynix SSD (an OEM model I’ve never come across before). It’s got enough interesting bells and whistles that I’m looking forward to writing up a first look on this nice little laptop. Also, this machine is my first exposure to Lenovo in some color other than black (it’s  a mat and muted steel grey all over as you can see in the photo).

It’s too early to tell much about this PC. So far, I’ve turned it on, hooked it up to Wi-Fi, set up my Microsoft account, and installed a few apps (mostly for testing and benchmarking). You can see its publicity photo, however, as the lead-in graphic for this story. I’m planning to write a first look piece about it next week.  Stay tuned!

 

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X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet

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With the 2012 vintage Lenovo X220 Tablet going into a well-earned retirement, I need a replacement Dev Channel test machine. I’ve decided to call upon my 2019 vintage Lenovo X390 Yoga to fill that role. As the X390 Yoga replaces X220 Tablet, I’m sure I’ll be learning a lot more about this machine, even though it’s been around for 16 months or so.

More About X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet

Originally, I purchased this laptop to replace my wife’s aging Ivy Bridge mini-ITX PC. I ended up going for a Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro instead. Since I bought the machine in December 2019, I’ve been using it to test the current GA version of Windows 10. Now, it’ll switch over to following the latest bleeding-edge Dev Channel releases.

Here’s how that PC is equipped:

  • 8th Generation (Whiskey Lake) i7-8565U CPU
  • 16 GB RAM (2×8 GB, soldered, DDR4 2400 MHz)
  • Intel UHD Graphics 620
  • SSDPEKKF512G8L Intel 1TB NVMe SSD
  • Intel Wireless-AC 9560 160Mhz Wi-Fi adapter
  • 13.3″ FHD (1920×1080) touchscreen
  • Fingerprint reader, Windows Hello camera
  • 2xUSB 3.1 Gen 1; 1xUSB-C; 1xUSB-C/Thunderbolt 3
  • MicroSD card slot
  • ThinkPad Pen Pro stylus included
  • Dimensions: 12.2″ x 8.6″ x 0.63″ / 310.4 x 219 x 15.95 (mm)
  • Weight: 2.85 lbs (1.29 kg)

Lenovo’s port map graphic that follows shows where everything is, on the unit’s right and left sides. It’s been a treat to work with and use.

X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet.portmap
X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet.portmap (click image for full-sized view).

Backup and Restore

Any test machine has to have backup/restore capability. That’s because there’s always the chance that updates, upgrades, or fiddling about will cause trouble. That’s what beta testing is about. I’m also prone to occasional “what-ifs” that have landed my PCs in trouble. Thus, it pays to be prepared.

I’ve got a speedy SATA-III SSD (Sabrent enclosure, Samsung EVO 500 nominal/465 GB actual) plugged into the USB-A port for backup. It takes about 6.5 minutes to do a complete image backup of the boot/system (and only current) drive. I’ll need to pop for a microSD card for this machine, now that’s it’s moving into a more active test role. I’ve also got a Macrium Reflect bootable Rescue Media USB Flash device ready to run restore as and when I need it.

How I Work with Test Machines

I don’t work directly on my test PCs, unless there’s some activity or utility that won’t work remotely. Frankly, I use RDP from my primary desktop for most interactions. That’s because I can do everything from my comfortable desk chair working on 2 Dell 2717 monitors. Almost everything works well that way. And if I do need to access the X390, I need only rotate my office chair to the left to access the unit. It’s situated atop a rolling file cabinet right next to my desktop case.

As time goes by, I’ll be writing about this nifty little laptop more and more in dealing with Windows 10 Dev Channel releases and related topics. Keep an eye out, and you’ll soon see evidence to support this prediction. Cheers!

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21H1 Upgrade Offer Frequency Is Increasing

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OK, then. This story’s lead-in graphic is showing up on more and more of my production-level Windows 10 PCs. That is, within Windows Update the 21H1 upgrade offer frequency is increasing. My measurements are more subjective than empirical, but it seems like the pace of the trickle-out is a little faster than the transition from 2004 to 20H2.

And given that it’s an enablement package upgrade, the offer is worth waiting on. Before I exercised the offer on my Lenovo X390 Yoga, I worked through the following updates:

All told, that took about 3 minutes to complete. That said, running the MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool) always takes a while because it has many checks to perform. In stark contrast, the whole 21H1 process took well under two minutes (about 93 seconds) from start to finish.

If  21H1 Upgrade Offer Frequency Is Increasing, Then What?

That’s up to you, dear reader. For IT pros keeping an eye on new Windows 10 releases for eventual deployment, this one’s worth grabbing and putting through its paces. For home and home office users tracking the current Windows 10 version, ditto. Otherwise, most business users seem content to trail one or two upgrades behind the leading edge. That means they’re thinking about upgrading from 2004 to 20H2, with 21H1 still some ways down the road.

Nevertheless, I’m pleased to see Microsoft picking up the pace on its upgrade offers to 21H1. The last time around, it wasn’t until 90 or 120 days that a more general distribution of the upgrade started happening. I recall reading about “full availability” for 20H2 only last month (May 2021, 5 months after initial general release). This time around it seems that the transition may be quicker and more vigorous.

So far, I still have two machines with the offer yet pending. We’ll see when MS gets around to making those offers. Stay tuned!

 

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Goodbye Lenovo X220 Tablet PC

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I’ve just learned something potentially useful. As a Windows PC ages, it tends to lose vendor support somewhere along the way. And with that comes missing or incompatible drivers and firmware updates. I’ve hit that point now with my Lenovo X220 Tablet, which was built and purchased in 2012. It was my first-ever touchscreen PC bought to learn touch interaction in Windows 8. But because of increasing decrepitude, I must now say goodbye Lenovo X220 Tablet PC.

Why Say Goodbye Lenovo X220 Tablet PC?

Why? Because it takes longer for me to get the device update ready than it does to apply pending updates. As it’s been a Dev Channel test machine, that’s a lotta updates. Because this phenom includes Defender updates, it’s become a daily thing. Sigh.

I’ve developed a “workaround ritual” to keep the machine updated. First, I try WU by itself. Sometimes, it works. When only Defender updates fail, I next go to the updates button in Windows Security/Virus & Threat protection. If that doesn’t work, I manually download the latest update file and install it “by hand.”

If other updates are involved, I try WUMT. It often succeeds when WU hangs during either download or install phases. Sometimes, I have to reset the entire update environment using Shawn Brink’s Reset_Reregister_Windows_Update_Components.bat file. It’s nearly infallible.

Another problem that’s cropped up is the outright failure of the Intel Management Engine on that PC. I’m not especially worried about that, per se, but this does mean that I must remember to manually strike a key each time the system reboots (and it does so 3 or more times each time any upgrade is installed, which happens weekly on a Dev Channel test machine). Otherwise the system just waits for input before it can proceed further.

When It’s Time, It’s Time…

Long story short, it’s become too time-consuming to work around the X220 Tablet’s limitations and gotchas. I still love this machine, but as a freelancer I always have to keep one eye on the clock and manage my time carefully. This laptop is now more trouble than it’s worth, so I’ll be passing it onto the folks at ReGlue for a wipe and a LInux install. Some schoolkid will still get good use out of its 4-core/8 thread i7 2640M CPU, dual (small) SSDs, and 16 GB RAM.

 

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Pondering IME Recovery State Issues

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OK, then. First let me explain that IME is short for Intel Management Engine. This firmware component is present on all modern PCs with Intel CPUs since 2008. It operates while the OS is active, and IME also runs during boot-up. In fact, IME is accessible even when a PC is shut down or sleeping, as long as power is available. I’m pondering IME recovery state issues for one reason. My 2012-vintage Lenovo X220 Tablet hangs at every restart to report that “ME is in a recovery state.” I must enter a keystroke before boot-up continues.

I’m learning that IME has deep access on any Windows PC where it resides. For more details, check out the Wikipedia article Intel Management Engine.

Why I’m Pondering IME Recovery State Issues

Fixing this issue on my old Lenovo touchscreen PC is proving nearly impossible. Check out this Win-RAID forum thread on ME Cleaner (a management engine cleanup tool). Hopefully, you’ll get a sense of what contortions removing IME entail. Long story short: some real BIOS hacking, with no guarantee of success, is required to disable (or remove) IME at the BIOS level. Sheesh!

The lead-in graphic for this story comes from Intel’s Converged Security and Management Engine Version Detection Tool (CSMEVDT). For the X220 Tablet, it shows that the system is no longer supported (no surprise there, considering its age). No new releases planned, either…

Increasing Horror Results When Pondering IME

In fact, the more I learn about the Intel Management Engine, the more disturbed I become. The Wikipedia article (cited above) does a good job of hitting the high points. What I learned from direct experience on my X220 Tablet is also scary. It goes so far as to speculate that state-level threat actors have been actively seeking out IME exploits for over a decade.

But alas, even after disabling IME in BIOS, the Recovery State error continues. At least the related driver error for “Serial Over LAN” (SOL) access no longer appears in Device Manager.

For the moment, I’m against making BIOS hacks. I’m pretty sure that the absence the SOL driver means IME can no longer access the network. But gosh, this is a scary set of security vulnerabilities to contemplate. Indeed, the rest of my Intel-based systems have IME “working properly.” That’s where my real concerns begin. I’ll have to make sure to patch them all, pronto!

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