Networking, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10

NirSoft Adds Winning ManageWirelessNetworks Tool

May 24, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Anybody who’s been reading my stuff for a while knows I like the work of Israeli developer Nir Sofer. His company, NirSoft adds winning ManageWirelessNetworks tool to its lineup. If you take a look at the lead-in graphic above, you can see some of my traveling history enshrined in the profile names in the left-hand column. There, you’ll see names for hotels, law firms, and more amidst that list.

If NirSoft Adds Winning ManageWirelessNetworks Tool, Use It!

Many — nay, most — of the names in that list I will never need or use again. If you choose “Run as Administrator…” when you launch this tool, you can select obsolete or unneeded profiles in the UI. (Ctrl-click works to select multiple individual items; Shift-click works for ranges.) If you then click the red X in the icon bar above, they’ll all be deleted.

Here’s what my current list of active, valid Profile Names looks like after pruning, in fact:

After clean-up, the item count in the list drops from 26 to 6. Easily done, too!

Sure, you can remove stale entries for Wi-Fi networks at the command line. I wrote a post about this for the TechTarget incarnation of this blog back in 2017 “Clean Up Old Wireless Profiles in Windows 10.” But the NirSoft tool beats that method cold: it’s visual, lets you handle all stale entries in one go, and works like a champ. I’d long wondered why the NirSoft collection didn’t have such a tool already. Well now it does: and I’m glad!

As the old advertisement said: “Try it, you’ll like it!” I did, and I do. You can do likewise.

Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

Is Forcing Win10 Upgrades Good?

May 21, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

After my amazing experience in forcibly upgrading the Lenovo X12 hybrid tablet yesterday I’m pondering upgrade strategies. Indeed, 2004 and 20H2 Windows 10 PCs are in line for the 21H1 upgrade. But Microsoft’s criteria for offering that upgrade — and thus also, its timing — are unclear. Hence my question: “Is forcing Win10 upgrades good?” As is the case with most good questions, the answer starts with a predictable phrase: “That depends…”

Answering “Is Forcing Win10 Upgrades Good?”

I got to 21H1 on the X12 by downloading a self-installing upgrade file (.MSU) from a link at TenForums.com. Here’s what that info looks like on that page (links are not live, and you’ll soon understand why):

These catalog downloads no longer show up when you search the catalog, but they’re still live.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Those links do work (I’ve checked) and they come from download.microsoft.com, which is indeed the Update Catalog’s home. But a search on KB5000736 comes up dry. So MS is not offering this enablement package directly from the catalog anymore. That does suggest that the answer to this article’s main question is “If it works, then it’s good; if not, then it’s not.”

Expect the Best, But Prepare for the Worst

Because MS isn’t providing the enablement package directly as a catalog download, that means MS wants you to wait for Windows Update to make the offer. If you choose (as I did) to skip the wait and grab the enablement package from an alternate source (ditto), you should follow the sub-title’s advice. That is, I’d recommend making an image backup before applying the MSU file. Then, if the upgrade fails, you can boot to repair/recovery media and replace the current, suspect image with a current, known good working replacement.

The ISO files for 21H1 are also available. The great appeal of the enablement package is that it’s blazing fast. If you do the ISO route, you’ll run setup.exe from its root folder and it will be a typical upgrade. The experience takes at least 15 minutes to complete, and leaves the Windows.old folder hierarchy around so you can roll back to 20H2 or 2004 as you might like. In that way, it may be “safer” than forcing the enablement package onto a PC. That’s because recovery from failure will be automatic, and you can even elect to roll back up to 10 days afterward if you decide you don’t like where 21H2 takes your PC.

Same Question, Different Answer

Another way to ponder the question “Is Forcing Win10 Upgrades Good?” is to try it, and see what happens. If it works, then yes. If it doesn’t, not only is the answer no, but your subsequent experience will depend on whether or not your pre-planning includes a recovery path. If it doesn’t the answer is “No, and it’s a PITA;” if it does, the answer is “No, but it didn’t take too long or hurt too much.”

And that, dear readers, is the way things sometimes go here in Windows World. it also explains why I still haven’t forced the enablement package onto my production PC just yet. I’m still thinking…

Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

Stunning ThinkPad X12 21H1 Upgrade

May 20, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. I’ve got an eval unit of the sturdy, stellar little Lenovo X12 hybrid tablet PC here in the office. I just had a simply stunning ThinkPad X12 21H1 upgrade experience. I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but. I copied the self-installing upgrade (.MSU) file over from my production PC, and the whole thing ran to completion in under a minute. Maybe under 40 seconds. It was FAST!

Wow! Truly Stunning ThinkPad X12 21H1 Upgrade

Given that this PC is probably less than two months old, I’d wondered why MS hadn’t offered the 21H1 enablement package automatically. So I decided to push my luck, and use the self-installing upgrade file on that machine instead.

That file comes burdened with this incredibly long name:

windows10.0-kb5000736-x64_880844224a175033802b3d7a1f40ec304c0548dd.msu

A real mouthful, eh? But after right-clicking the name, and selecting Open from the resulting pop-up menu, the results proceeded to astonish and delight. It took less than 10 seconds to install, got to the reboot less than 10 seconds after that, and took less than 20 seconds to get to the desktop once the boot sequence got underway.

I’ve never seen anything like it before. Sure, enablement packages are meant to short-circuit the upgrade process, and speed it through to completion. But gosh, this is ridiculous! I’m pretty sure the whole thing took less than a minute, and perhaps under 40 seconds to complete and let me run the winver command that produced the lead-in graphic for this story. So far, this eclipses any enablement package I’ve ever installed by at least a binary (if not decimal) order of magnitude.

I’ve been dealing with enablement packages for Windows 10 since the 1909 version came out in September, 2019. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Frankly, given that WU didn’t offer the enablement package to the X12 on its own, I was more than a little apprehensive about the resulting outcome. I shouldn’t have worried: it’s amazing!

Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

21H1 ISO Files Are Download-ready

May 19, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Holy moly! MS is really on the ball this time. I just started updating a select few of my 20H2 PCs to 21H1 through the enablement package yesterday. Today, 21H1 ISO files are download-ready. I used the Media Creation Tool (MCT) to grab a copy, straight from the Download Windows 10 page. You can see the resulting final screen from MCT as this story’s lead-in graphic.

Because 21H1 ISO Files Are Download-ready, You Can Grab One

There’s another story on this same topic at Windows Latest that explains how to reset the user agent in Chrome to do a direct download. It will come from the Microsoft Software Download facility (same thing that UUPdump.net and HeiDoc.net use for their far-ranging download tools). As for me, MCT is easy and straightforward enough to use that I just jumped on it instead.

Here are some timings from my personal experience, using my nominal GbE Internet connection from Spectrum at Chez Tittel (all times are approximate, not stopwatch level):

Download time: 2:00
Verify download: 0:20
Create ISO media: 1:15

Thus, the whole thing took under 4:00 to complete. The file itself is 4.24 GB in size. It mounts in File Explorer with a volume name of ESD-ISO. And sure enough, the Sources directory includes an install.esd file not install.wim. Here’s what DISM tells me about that file, by way of inspection. (Note: Windows 10 Home usually shows up as Index 1 in most multi-part image files. This is NOT a surprise.)

Note the version shows up as 19041.928.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Just for the record, here’s what I found in that image file for other indexes until they stopped working:
2: Windows 10 Home N
3: Windows 10 Home Single Language
4: Windows 10 Education
5: Windows 10 Education N
6: Windows 10 Pro
7: Windows 10 Pro N
A value of 8 returned an error message, so I assume that means that 1-7 are the only legal indices. An interesting collection, to be sure! Check it out for yourself, if you need a 21H1 ISO from this list. As you can tell from the destination directory, I’ll be copying it onto my Ventoy drive sooner, rather than later. Cheers!

Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

21H1 Enablement Package Trickleout Begins

May 18, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK then. For a minute or three, I thought that MS had let go of the 21H1 enablement package without any of my machines being eligible. Surprisingly the brand-new ThinkPad X12 (11th generation i7) convertible tablet isn’t getting the offer. Nor is my 7th generation (SkyLake) i7 desktop. But the X1 Extreme (8th generation Coffee Lake CPU) did get the offer, as the 21H1 enablement package trickleout begins. See the “optional update” offer from WU in this story’s lead-in graphic above.

As 21H1 Enablement Package Trickleout Begins, Then What?

All you can do is try on your production (2004 or 20H2) Windows 10 PCs to see if WU will offer up the update. As usual, MS isn’t terribly explicit about the criteria it uses to decide if the offer will go to a specific PC or otherwise. I haven’t tried the 10th generation Dell 7080 Optiplex yet, but it seems a likely candidate.

OTOH, if you don’t want to wait for MS to extend the offer, uber-Windows guru Shawn Brink includes download links for self-installing Microsoft Update Catalog files in his TenForums post on KB500736. I’ve already downloaded it on my production PC and will install that later this evening or first thing tomorrow.

The X1 Extreme Experience

Download took about 20 seconds. Install sat at 0% for over a minute, then jumped immediately to “Restart now” (total elapsed time, about 1:20). Weird.

It took another 2:20 before the restart display shifted to “Getting Windows ready.” Then it took another 20 seconds to get to the first reboot. Another 30 seconds to get to “Getting Windows ready,” part 2 and another 15 seconds to the desktop. This sucker is fast!

And it’s now upgraded. Here’s the Winver.exe output after the desktop came up:

Done! I’ll start working my way around the other 5 eligible machines over the next day or two. This first go-round was a stunner.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

Notepad Makes Microsoft Store Debut

May 17, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting item. The venerable Notepad plain text editor has moved out of the basic install image for Windows. In fact, Notepad makes Microsoft Store debut as an app, from whence it can be updated easily and more frequently. The lead-in graphic shows the Store entry for Notepad (left) and its About window (right).

The full text description for Notepad in Store reads:

Notepad has been the fast and simple text editor on Windows for over 30 years, and now it’s available in the Microsoft Store! View, edit and search through plain text documents and source code files instantly.

If Notepad Makes Microsoft Store Debut, Then What?

The requirements section in the app says users must be running Windows version 19541.0 or higher. Current versions of 20H2 or Release Preview/Beta Channel run Builds 19042 and 19043, respectively, so they don’t qualify. But Dev Channel certainly does: that’s where I generated the foregoing screenshots.

19541 emerged on January 20, 2020 (nearly 16 months ago). I don’t remember seeing Notepad in the Store earlier, or hearing about its distribution through that app channel. In fact, I learned about it in a Windows Latest story dated May 16, 2021. That makes me wonder if the Store-based version has been on internal beta until 21382.1 hit last Friday — a typical MS release practice — and is just now making its way into Insider Preview Dev Channel releases. Such would be my guess.

Looking through update history in the Store, I don’t see any updates to Notepad in there just yet. That said, the “All Owned” apps list in the Store itself says that Notepad was last modified on 4/3/2021, which puts it into Build 21343 at the time (Flight Hub). Indeed, that could mean it made its way to the store on or before April 3. Because I didn’t notice and can’t find earlier reports about Notepad in the Store, I just can’t say for sure.

And boy, isn’t that just the way things go sometimes, here in Windows-World? Whenever it showed up in the Store, it’s good news for those who use Notepad and want quick access to new features, fixes and so forth.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

SetupDiag Illuminates Updates Too

May 14, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

About three months ago I wrote about the Microsoft SetupDiag.exe tool. In that February 17 post, I explained how it provides info about upgrade errors and gotchas. Although the Microsoft Docs article doesn’t really say so, SetupDiag Illuminates Updates too. That is: you can use it to gather information and intelligence about update errors, failures, and so forth. Because those occur more frequently than upgrades, this capability is perhaps even more valuable.

If SetupDiag Illuminates Updates Too, Then What?

A failed Windows Upgrade leaves a copy of SetupDiag.exe behind, in the $Windows.~BT/Sources folder. Windows Update does no such thing. Thus, would-be investigators should bookmark this link, from whence the latest and greatest version may always be downloaded:

Once you have this tool in hand, open an administrative Command Prompt or PowerShell session, then enter its full path specification. I found one in the Windows.old folder hierarchy on a recently-upgraded Dev Channel test PC, and it produced the following (partial) output:

Run a local copy of the program if you’ve got one, though it’s best to download a current version instead.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Once SetupDiag runs through all of its log searches and processing rules, it will produce a report that provides the error code and error string (aka “bug check code” and “bug check string,” respectively). This is usually enough information to lead affected users to possible solutions. Just today, in fact, I read a story about update failures for the May 11 KB5003173 that used such data to diagnose possible issues with manual Microsoft Edge removals. It seems that leaving old directories behind will stymie the update. See this Windows Latest story for details.

The Consummation You Should Seek

Be it upgrade or update, you’ll eventually want SetupDiag to show you something like this to indicate a successful outcome:

Once you’ve finished troubleshooting, and fixed things, SetupDiag should tell you something like this.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Cheers!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

KB5003173 Brings Critical Security Updates

May 13, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

This month’s “Patch Tuesday” fell on May 11. Windows versions 20H2 and 21H1 went to Build Numbers 19041/42.985. The delivery vehicle KB5003173 brings critical security updates to users, including fixes for three zero-day attacks labeled “critical:”

CVE-2021-31204 – .NET and Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Affects Visual Studio 2019 version 16.0-16.9, .NET 5.0 and .NET Core 3.1 (reported straight from MS).
CVE-2021-31207 – Microsoft Exchange Server Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability. A Microsoft Exchange vulnerability previously used in the 2021 Pwn2Own hacking challenge, attributable to either Devcore or Team Viettel.
CVE-2021-31200 – Common Utilities Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (affects Microsoft’s Neural Network Intelligence (NNI) toolkit, and comes courtesy of Abhiram V/Resec System via Github.

Experts Urge Installing KB5003173 Brings Critical Security Updates

Most discussion of the new CU from security experts strongly recommends installing this update (see, for example, this BleepingComputer item). In addition to the 3 critical items already cited, this update fixes 55 vulnerabilities overall, one more of which is also labeled “critical”. 50 are designated “important” and one “Moderate.” To most people in the know, this makes the update worth installing, even though the three afore-mentioned vulnerabilities are not yet known to be exploited in the wild.

What Else Ya Got?

In the KB overview info, MS specifically calls out the following highlights (quoted verbatim from that source):

Updates to improve security when Windows performs basic operations.
~Updates to improve Windows OLE (compound documents) security.
Updates security for Bluetooth drivers.

That document also mentions security updates to the Windows App Platform and Frameworks, the Windows Kernel, Windows Media, the Microsoft Scripting Engine, and the Windows Silicon Platform. A little bit of everything, in other words. For further details on all 55 items covered in this update, check the May entries in the Security Update Guide from MS.

I concur with the experts: this update is worth installing. Check it out, and make the call for yourself. For the record, I had no trouble with it on any of the half-dozen machines eligible for the update. No issues during install, and nothing noticeable afterwards. So far, anyway…

Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

First Look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC

May 12, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I’ve owned a Surface Pro 3 since 2014. Before that I owned a Fujitsu Q704. Both were small, powerful, somewhat loaded i7 tablets. I also had a Dell Venue Pro 11 with an i5 CPU. I liked all of those machines. Indeed, I appreciate a moderately powerful tablet PC that’s compact and can handle office/productivity work. That’s why I requested “something similar” from Lenovo. They sent me their latest detachable 11th Gen (Tiger Lake) ThinkPad X12 last week. This is my first look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC introduction and overview.

Speccy lists basic componentry: 4-core 11th-gen i7, 16 GB RAM, Iris Xe graphics, 1 TB WD SSD, Intel AX201 Wi-Fi.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Taking a First Look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC

Lenovo also sent me a full-sized wired keyboard and a ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2 (PN: 40AN0135US). I wouldn’t recommend attempting serious use of this device without a USB3 or Thunderbolt 3/4 dock, because it needs backup storage at a minimum. The ability to add one or two monitors via HDMI or DisplayPort is nice, as is wired GbE and a bunch of USB3 ports (4 on the back, 1 on the front). The unit I received MSRP is over US$2,500 but you won’t pay Lenovo more than US$1,700 to actually take it home (not including wired keyboard and Thunderbolt dock).

In the connectivity vein, the X12 features a Thunderbolt 4 controller for its USB-C ports. AFAIK, this is the first time I’ve worked with a PC that has Thunderbolt 4 support, rather than the preceding version. It picked up my Belkin dock immediately (though it’s a Tbolt 3 version device). It just happened to be sitting on the same desk, and immediately brought up the Seagate 5TB and a 16 GB Mushkin USB3 UFD, as you can see in the Speccy screencap above.

My first time to see Thunderbolt 4 come up in the eponymous control center app.

Basics Stats, Look and Feel

The tablet is thin and light (1.67 lbs sans keyboard; 2.4 lbs with). Dimensions are petite at 11.15 x 8.01 x 0.34″ (sans keyboard) or 0.57″ (with keyboard) (in mm that’s 283 x 204 x 8.6 or 14.5). Nevertheless, it feels pretty sturdy in the hand and on the lap (though I don’t much care for the lapabilty of this kind of PC ). If I’m not at a desk or table, I prefer to use the tablet by itself sans keyboard.

It’s got a full HD panel (1920×1280 pixels) that’s rated at around 400 nits of brightness. So far, I’ve found it fine for reading, surfing and handling email (but I really haven’t put it through too many of its paces just yet). I’m not quite familiar enough to rate its battery life yet, either. That said, it’s never flagged while I’ve used it, though I’ve yet to use it for longer than 4 hours.

More to Come … Soon

That’s it for today’s first look. I am impressed enough with the X12 to be considering a purchase of my own such unit. I will take more time to play, measure, and experiment. Then, I’ll know better if my desire to own this beast is merely a passing case of techno-lust, or a genuine desire to own another tablet to replace my aging Surface Pro 3. Stay tuned!

Networking, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Resenting Mobile-Only Network UIs

May 11, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

In the process of troubleshooting the LAN here at the Tittel household recently, I replaced a Gen 1 Router/Switch/WAP device with its Gen 2 counterpart. Spectrum provides that equipment for something like $7 a month. I don’t resent that charge. But what has me considering a switch to my own equipment is resenting mobile-only network UIs now forced upon me.

What does that mean? It means I can’t log into the gateway’s TCP/IP address in a Web browser any more to access and manage setup and configuration. No! I must now use the MySpectrum app on a cellphone instead. That’s a problem for all kinds of reasons, some good ones, and some that may sound whiny. Apologies in advance.

Why I’m Resenting Mobile-Only Network UIs

Because I MUST run the device UI through a smartphone app, I’m limited to its tiny screen, virtual touch keyboard, and limited silicon. Basically, that means my 100 wpm typing speed on a keyboard falls off a cliff when I switch to a screen-based layout. This gives my facility and productivity a massive knock, and earns my displeasure.

And alas, I’m no spring chicken anymore either. At 68, I am already in the habit of viewing web pages at 125% magnification to make things easier on my eyeballs. I’ve been known to bump that to 150% or higher when faced with lots of fine print. Forcing me onto a 750×1334 screen goes against my preferences, and hurts my eyes.

And then there are the UI exigencies that small screens dictate. I checked, and I have to work through 7 screens to reserve an IP address within the new app. It used to be a lot faster and easier under the old, Web-based UI. Sigh.

Now that my rant is ended, I’d like to remind Spectrum that good customer service is about providing accessible alternatives. C’mon guys: if a late middle-aged, early geriatric has mild usability issues, what about others with more severe access or vision impediments? Is a cellphone-only approach really workable for everybody?

Exploring Technology Alternatives

I won’t let this slow me down too much. First, I plan to see if I can get MySpectrum to run on my iPad. I do have a Bluetooth keyboard for that device, and can put it to work for configuration jobs. I also see that long-time high-value remote access app TeamViewer lets users run a cellphone app from a PC desktop. That’s not the usual path for remote access between such devices, but it might be just what I need.

Stay tuned. Once my current fit of pique subsides, I may find some kind of workable alternative or usage scenario. If I do, I’ll report back with more info.