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Posted on 10/09/2018 10:23:42 AM PDT by dayglored
Day four exceeds all expectations as Microsoft steps back from brink
Microsoft has taken the unprecedented step of pulling a Windows 10 release a mere four days after its arrival amid a clamour of users complaining about files not being where they had left them.
Windows Insider supremo Dona Sarkar took to Twitter to announce that Windows fans would no longer be able to get their hands on the afflicted build. Redmond said the automatic rollout would also be paused until it works out just what in blue blazes is going on.
#WindowsInsiders If you've run into the "missing files after update" issue for 1809/October 2018 Fall update, please call our support line. They have the tools to get you back to a good state. This build is no longer available to download manually: https://t.co/Ce9WVILknp pic.twitter.com/fvisQi1c8g — Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) October 6, 2018
Microsoft's advice to those who have downloaded the build is: for goodness' sake, don't install the thing. However, if you have gone ahead and allowed the update to do its stuff and been hit by the missing files issue, leave your PC alone and give Microsoft a telephone call for help.
The update made an appearance on 2 October, having gone directly into the hands of users rather than spending some time in the Windows Insider Release Preview ring first. If you have installed it, and everything is hunky dory (as it is for us), then there is no need to worry.
In her tweet, Sarkar said the person at the other end of the phone will have "the tools to get you back to a good state". Presumably either a file recovery application or a handy install of Linux. At this point we don't know. We contacted our local Microsoft support office and found it was closed. Because, hey, who installs this stuff outside of office hours, right?
Users in Canada have reported being instructed to take their afflicted PCs to a Microsoft store in the hope that some of their files can be restored. How that will work in regions that lack a Microsoft retail presence is unclear. Perhaps Honest Bob's Backstreet Windows Wrangler?
Called your support line for Canada. His best solution was "Take it to my nearest Microsoft Store". I'm in Ottawa Ontario. Nearest store in Canada is Toronto. I do not drive. There has GOT to be a better solution than that. As an Insider, it pains me. Beyond belief. — Abby Jane Hicks (@AbbyJaneHicks64) October 6, 2018
It is not a good look for the Windows Insider programme. Its more light-hearted tone has come in for some flack over the last year or so. One Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the programme, Kari Finn, went public after being defrocked following criticism of the way things were going.
In his July post, Finn reckoned the programme had "turned into a playground", commenting that: "Developing Windows and getting serious feedback is hidden under a coat of ninja cat and taco hat jokes."
Finn, who described himself to The Register as a "Microsoft and Windows 10 fan boy" expressed concern that feedback was going unanswered and "professionalism is now forgotten".
Preaching to converted. I lost believe in insider programme a year ago. Too much "fun" and ninja cat and not enough hard graft and data. — Stephen (@StephenCWLL) October 6, 2018
Some would say those concerns have come home to roost as the current woes had been reported in the Windows Insider hub, and yet the release proceeded regardless.
The Reg has dropped Microsoft a line to find out what the recovery process is going to be and where Windows 10 goes from here. If you've had to pick up the phone to one of Redmond's support team, let us know how you got on in the comments below. ®
Although there haven't been a huge number of reports of file damage yet, the situation appears serious enough to warrant its own fresh warning thread.
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What a polite PC way of saying they were permanently clobbered with no ability to recover them.
Micro$haft should yank Windows 10 back so far it becomes Windows 7.
Don’t the software people check out updates before sending them out?
My main computer is a VISTA.
I will upgrade when it dies.
As I understood disabling TCP/IP v6 causes the problem?
MS OneDrive is free. I always send a copy of all documents to OneDrive incase my hard drive craps. You can do it automatically.
I am getting a new computer, soon-ish.🙂
Is that the reason?
My win10 tablet rebooted about 4 different times yesterday.
MS does NOT have a stellar history with updates; thus its forcing win10 updates always causes me to wonder which update will crash the tablet.
Interesting, I haven't seen that yet. Gotta link?
Most of the world is still using IPv4 successfully, but Microsoft decided that Windows 10 -defaults- to IPv6, so a lot of networks (my workplace included) disable IPv6 to avoid confusion after a reboot. Maybe this update is Microsoft's attempt to convince the rest of the world that IPv6 MUST be used, practicality be damned.
If so, best of luck with that, MS. IPv6 is slowly catching on in places where it makes sense (cell-data IPs for example), but IPv4 is still humming along just fine in its little 32-bit spaces, using NATs and such. Sometimes the "IPv4 IS RUNNING OUT OF ADDRESSES!!" doom-sayers sound like the Global Warming doom-sayers.
What, are you hiring Antifa arson boys? Chinese Feinstein spies? Russian Putin poisoners?
I think this might also have affected my Win7 machine. I use Microsoft Office online version and this morning all my pdf file icons were different and files were missing. Not enough time this morning to sort it out though.
They do, but there are limits on how many combinations of computers, devices, and environments they can test, and still make the release date. And when it comes down to the wire, the release date usually wins.
In this case MS clearly screwed the pooch, cutting corners.
Yes, believe it. Didn't you back them up?
I was on a tightly metered connection for about a year and four times a year I would have to decide which of my (then) four computers I could allow to talk to the Internet at all, lest they be hijacked by the mandatory update process and my monthly allowance used up in a single download. Allowing the user to say No to this (it's in networks/metered connections) only means that the user will be running without a possibly vital security update. This system simply isn't flexible enough and it ought to be redesigned from the ground up. IMHO.
Win 7 Pro x64 forever user here. {Chuckle.}
You can't fix stupid. "Backup" software has been around since, oh, 1960-something.
Maybe he has backups, but he just doesn't like the idea of restoring them. Yes, that's the ticket...
.
>> “files not being where they had left them. <<
That was what bugged me about win 7.
They mess with the directory structure.
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