Windows 10/11 Download

[harshness]

Looking more like I may just s**t can Windowz 11 and ride 10 into the sunset.

At the current rate of adoption, Microsoft may be forced to extend the sunset.

According to statcounter.com, Windows 11 is currently hovering near 38% of the installed Windows base.

statista.com puts the worldwide adoption at about 31%.

 

[HipKat]

Another "feature" that Microsoft decided we will all use without asking us is BitLocker file encryption. The problem is that during a fresh Win 11 install it encrypts the whole Hard Drive or SSD. If you dual boot like me that makes installing Linux in a dual boot configuration impossible. Yes, you can disable BitLocker and decrypt the drive after installation but why? I'd rather have the option up front. I found out that the USB creator, Rufus allows you to do just that. It also allows to you to disable some other annoying Microsoft "features." Read the tutorial in the link below if you want more information.

How to stop automatic BitLocker Device Encryption during install on Windows 11 - Pureinfotech

I pseudo-solved the dual boot issue by installing Windows on an SSD and Arch on an M2 drive. I say pseudo because I have to F8 on a reboot if I want to boot the Windows drive

 

[TRG]

I pseudo-solved the dual boot issue by installing Windows on an SSD and Arch on an M2 drive. I say pseudo because I have to F8 on a reboot if I want to boot the Windows drive

That's another way around it. I only have a single 1 Tb M.2 NVMe drive. I could have decrypted the drive and used Disc Manager to "Shrink" the partition. Then the Linux installer would have been satisfied. I thought the Rufus USB creator was a cleaner and less time consuming option.

95+ percent of what I use my home computer for is done in Linux. Unfortunately, I have a couple of Windows programs that aren't happy running in the WINE compatibility layer. If it weren't for them I'd dump Microsoft completely.

 

[HipKat]

That's another way around it. I only have a single 1 Tb M.2 NVMe drive. I could have decrypted the drive and used Disc Manager to "Shrink" the partition. Then the Linux installer would have been satisfied. I thought the Rufus USB creator was a cleaner and less time consuming option.

95+ percent of what I use my home computer for is done in Linux. Unfortunately, I have a couple of Windows programs that aren't happy running in the WINE compatibility layer. If it weren't for them I'd dump Microsoft completely.

I'm with you, for me, Windows is still just better for most of the games I play.

 

[harshness]

The dual boot scheme is another "issue" with Windows 11 that seems to keep rearing its ugly head. Forcing the BBS keypress isn't Microsoft's first knock at damaging the concept.

 

["MysteryMan"]

2024-10 .NET 6.0.35 Security Update for x64 Client (KB5045998) and 2024-10 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11 Version 23H2 for x64 (KB5044033) and 2024-10 Cumulative Update foe Windows 11 Version 23H2 Builds: 22621.4317 and 22631.4317 for x64- based Systems (KB5044285) have been released. Moderate time needed for those wishing to perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new operating system features.

 

[harshness]

Five(5!) zero-days and 113 other issues (many no directly related to Windows itself) taken a stab at.

Microsoft October 2024 Patch Tuesday fixes 5 zero-days, 118 flaws

Today is Microsoft's October 2024 Patch Tuesday, which includes security updates for 118 flaws, including five publicly disclosed zero-days, two of which are actively exploited.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[TRG]

It's hard to believe that after all these years Microsoft still uses us as beta testers.

 

[harshness]

It's hard to believe that after all these years Microsoft still uses us as beta testers.

A lot of these bugs have been there all along. Most of these issues can only be prevented by a much more stringent development process. C++ and C# only go so far as to checking if parameters actually match up. This is one of the downsides with OOP.

 

[EarDemon]

Last week Saturday I did clean installs of 24H2 on all four of my Windows 11 devices. No issues at all, install went smoothly and everything is running smoothly. I was thrown for a loop initially when I saw the install screens were a little different, when prompted, I opted to use the previous method on my first three installs, on the fourth I used the new way.

The only minor problem I’m having is Detector Tools Pro, the update utility for Escort radar detectors is crashing when I attempt to update the Defender (Red light cam/speed cam) database. But it’s probably an Escort problem. I only have that installed on one laptop, works fine on my Windows 10 desktop, but Escort’s stuff can be iffy at times. One nice thing, unlike with 22H2 and 23H2, for my two 2 in 1s, as soon as I paired the pens for each device the Pen Settings app installed immediately. In the past would have had to manually run the SP installer from HP for Wacom pen support and sometimes that wouldn’t work right the first time or two.

I’m still not sold on the Widows 11 taskbar, although better since 23H2 that you can uncombine and show labels but many thanks to the ExplorerPatcher folks for coming up with a Windows 10 style taskbar after MS removed the code in 24H2. I will be throwing them a 50 EUR donation in the coming days.

Can’t comment on the BitLocker stuff. I’ve been using BitLocker for years on everything and I don’t dual boot. For what I do in older versions of Windows and Linux, running them in VMWare is more than suitable for me. Just to minimize the risk of problems, I always unencrypt the boot drive prior to reformatting and reinstalling and then re-encrypt after everything is complete.

I did notice the just under 9 GB of Windows update files that won’t delete almost right off that bat. I have a very very specific routine when installing Windows and doing a Disk Cleanup after everything is installed and configured is one of my final steps. I ran Disk Cleanup 3 or 4 times on the first computer that finished and when it wouldn’t delete I did it on the next computer and same thing so figured it was a bug. After a Disk Clean up using the GUI, I run this cmd for good measure, and what usually takes a few minutes to complete, completed almost instantly, so I doubt it did anything. Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup.

A few of the articles I've read on this issue, make it seem like this is a problem if you do an in place update or get 24H2 via Windows Update, but it is also a problem if you do a clean install.

I have had no BSODs, disappearing mouse cursors or networks issues.

 

[harshness]

Half a step forward and two steps back.

 

[Tweek]

Got offered 24H2 this week as have many others. I like many others online are reporting errors installing. The error states: "We couldn't update the system reserved partition" and stops there and you have to cancel it. Then the past several days I get a notification that there was a problem installing an update. Hope they figure it out soon. Anyone else seen this?

 

[HipKat]

Got offered 24H2 this week as have many others. I like many others online are reporting errors installing. The error states: "We couldn't update the system reserved partition" and stops there and you have to cancel it. Then the past several days I get a notification that there was a problem installing an update. Hope they figure it out soon. Anyone else seen this?

Mine installed without issue on my Desktop and Laptop and so far no issues

 

[Foxbat]

Back in the day we had a number of Corporate-Image builds that configured the Reserved Partition at what was assumed to be a reasonable size, and years later these systems had to be re-imaged because certain Patches failed due to insufficient space in the System Reserved Partition (might have needed it to be contiguous?) Fortunately, the newer IT team had deployed PXE servers into the environment so this simplified the re-imaging process.

Anyway, as several folks here will attest, it’s usually best to clean-sheet install (nuke from orbit) Windows from time to time.

 

["MysteryMan"]

2024-10 Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11 Version 23H2 for x64 (KB50459350 and 2024-10 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 11 Version 23H2 Builds: 22621.4391 and 22631.4391 for x64-based Systems (KB5044380) have been released. Moderate time needed for those wishing to perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new operating system features.

 

[EarDemon]

Back in the day we had a number of Corporate-Image builds that configured the Reserved Partition at what was assumed to be a reasonable size, and years later these systems had to be re-imaged because certain Patches failed due to insufficient space in the System Reserved Partition (might have needed it to be contiguous?) Fortunately, the newer IT team had deployed PXE servers into the environment so this simplified the re-imaging process.

Anyway, as several folks here will attest, it’s usually best to clean-sheet install (nuke from orbit) Windows from time to time.

It’s been my SOP to do a full drive format and reinstall of Windows at least once a year every year since roughly 1998. Twice a year during 2015 through 2021 (sans 2016) for the Spring and Fall releases of Windows 10. I’ve done at least 70 clean Windows 10 installs on my own personal devices (5 devices x 14 WIN 10 releases).

Is it fun? Not really, but kinda. With the speed of SSDs it’s much quicker than it used to be and it’s all muscle memory. I credit it as one of the main reasons why I have next to zero problems with the Windows OS.

Do the same thing with other devices actually. After downloading and installing the Android 15 update on my phone and tablet last week, I did a factory reset and set everything up from scratch.

 

[harshness]

With the speed of SSDs it’s much quicker than it used to be and it’s all muscle memory.

Muscle memory only extends so far and the gauntlet of tracking stuff you must opt out of seems to grow with each minor release.

It can also be a serious pain if you have a lot of drives installed (not an option these days as most cases don't support additional drives).

 

[Foxbat]

And, of course, each new install creates a new System GUID, so any NTFS Security Identities you create and have on those drives (past the Built-in Identifiers) need to be redone. Unless you have a Domain and are using that to control your security.

 

[harshness]

Unless you have a Domain and are using that to control your security.

That's pretty hard core for a home setup.

Then again, most of us have only one user on our system.

It would help immensely if there was a single tool built into windows that could replace an "unknown" user with a known user system-wide. Such a tool would need to be locked down pretty tightly.

 

[EarDemon]

Muscle memory only extends so far and the gauntlet of tracking stuff you must opt out of seems to grow with each minor release.

It can also be a serious pain if you have a lot of drives installed (not an option these days as most cases don't support additional drives).

Since I have never done and in place upgrade of Windows 10 or Windows 11 for the annual/semi annual updates, I can't speak for certainty, but from various comments and articles I've read, some of the privacy settings get reverted back to default after the update, so you have to reset them anyways. If I'm wrong, let me know.

In WIN 11, I just go to Settings -> Privacy & Security, go down the list one by one and turn just about everything off that I can and I disable all applications and services on start up, except for those absolutely necessary. Takes 90 seconds top per computer. I do nothing with the Start Menu or taskbar settings since I use OpenShell and ExplorerPatcher and import the configurations for each. Once OpenShell is installed, I then can remove the vast majority of metro apps that come preinstalled and can run in the background that you typically can't uninstall unless you run PS commands.

Then I load the latest Admistrative Templates for MS Office, make the changes I desire with those, which is pretty much blocking macros and the legacy Office file formats, make a few other changes in GP Editor, make a couple changes in Secpol and move on. Takes 2 -3 minutes per device. I used to do a lot of registry modications, but I don't do much anymore

I don't understand why you say it can be a serious pain if you have a lot of drives installed. Do you mean HDDs/SSDs, optical media drives, etc? Not sure what you consider a lot but, my laptop has 3 SSDs and a BD ROM drive, my desktop has 4 SSDs and two BD burners. Prior to the reformat, I disconnect all SSDs except for the boot drive so I don't format the wrong one by mistake and then plug them back in afterwards. Never had an issue and don't find it to be much of a pain. Just have to enter the BitLocker Recovery key and change the drive letters.