[German]On August 20, 2020, Microsoft released several cumulative updates as previews for Windows 10 versions 1809, 1903 and 1909. Was already given as a hint here in the blog. Here are some details about the respective updates.

A list of the updates can be downloaded from this Microsoft website. I have extracted the details below. The update installation requires an existing current Servicing Stack Updates (SSUs). Meanwhile, Microsoft publishes an overview of current Servicing Stack Updates (SSUs) under ADV990001 (if it is not up to date, have it search for Servicing Stack Updates in the Microsoft Update Catalog). 

Important: From July 2020 all Windows updates disable the RemoteFX vGPU function due to the CVE-2020-1036 vulnerability (see also KB4570006). After installing this update, attempts to start virtual machines (VM) with RemoteFX vGPU enabled will fail. More information can be found here.

Update KB4566116 for Windows 10 Version 190x

Preview update KB4566116 is cumulative and is available for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909, and for Windows Server version 1903 and Windows Server version 1909. It raises the OS build to 18362.1049 (Windows 10 V1903) and 18363.1049 (Windows 10 V1909). It includes quality improvements but no new operating system features. Here is the list of improvements, called highlights by Microsoft

• Updates an issue that causes the hard drive to fill up in certain error situations. 
• Updates an issue that prevents Microsoft Gaming Services from starting because of error 15612. 
• Updates time zone information for the Yukon, Canada.
• Updates a visual offset issue on a touchscreen. Edits you make with a pen or finger appear in a different region than expected if the device is connected to an external monitor.
• Updates an issue that causes the Settings page to close unexpectedly, which prevents default applications from being set up properly. 
• Updates an issue that prevents you from unlocking a device if you typed a space before the username when you first signed in to the device. 
• Updates an issue that causes applications to take a long time to open.

Added the following fixes and improvements to Windows 10 version 1909, which are identical to version 1903:

• Addresses an issue with pinned Add-ins that cause Microsoft Outlook to become unresponsive. 
• Provides the ability to sync the Microsoft Edge IE Mode unidirectional session cookie when an administrator configures the session cookie. 
• Addresses an issue that causes the hard drive to fill up in certain error situations. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents Microsoft Gaming Services from starting because of error 15612. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6) applications from using ListView in MSCOMCTL.OCX after upgrading to Windows 10, version 1903 and later. 
• Addresses a runtime error that causes VB6 to stop working when duplicate windows messages are sent to WindowProc().
• Addresses an issue that displays a black screen to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) users when they attempt to sign in. 
• Updates time zone information for the Yukon, Canada.
• Addresses an issue that prevents the deletion of Notification State registries for certain apps even after the user profile is deleted. 
• Addresses an issue that causes an application that uses msctf.dll to stop working, and the 0xc0000005 (Access violation) exception appears. 
• Addresses a visual offset issue on a touchscreen. Edits you make with a pen or finger appear in a different area than expected if the device is connected to an external monitor.  
• Addresses an issue that prevents Cortana Smart lighting from working as expected if you shut down the machine while Fast Shutdown is enabled. 
• Addresses an issue that causes new child windows to flicker and appear as white squares on server devices that are configured for stark visual contrast. 
• Addresses an issue that causes the Settings page to close unexpectedly, which prevents default applications from being set up properly. 
• Addresses an issue with File Explorer’s preview of .msg files when Microsoft Outlook 64-bit is installed. 
• Addresses an issue that causes all open Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps to close unexpectedly. This occurs when their installer calls the Restart Manager to restart File Explorer (explorer.exe). 
• Addresses an issue that prevents Windows 8.1 apps from projecting to a secondary display when those apps use the StartProjectingAsync API. 
• Addresses an issue that causes user profile folder names to get excessively long, which might lead to MAX_PATH issues. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents a delegated user from importing a Group Policy object (GPO) even though the user has the required privilege. 
• Addresses an issue that causes the Event Viewer Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to stop working when the secondary monitor is above the primary monitor. An out of bounds exception appears. 
• Addresses an issue that sends a high volume of events during a real-time session in a short period of time. 
• Addresses an issue with object performance counters. 
• Addresses an issue that causes an error if you open Microsoft OneDrive files on demand when User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) is enabled. To apply this solution, set the following DWORD to 1: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\UEV\Agent\Configuration\ApplyExplorerCompatFix” 
• Addresses an issue that causes the promotion of a server to a domain controller to fail. This occurs when the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) process is set as Protected Process Light (PPL). 
• Addresses an issue in which AppLocker publisher rules might sometimes prevent applications from loading software modules; this can cause partial application failure. 
• Addresses an issue that sometimes prevents AppLocker from running an application whose publisher rule allows it to run. 
• Addresses an issue that generates a “Sync stopped, Can’t encrypt files” error when users attempt to sync their Work Folder. This issue occurs after you configure encrypted Work Folders on the client. 
• Addresses an issue that causes the CryptCATAdminCalcHashFromFileHandle() function to leak memory when it’s called. That memory is not reclaimed until the calling application closes. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents you from unlocking a device if you typed a space before the username when you first signed in to the device. 
• Addresses an issue that causes applications to take a long time to open. 
• Addresses an issue that causes a system to stop working and generates a 7E stop code. 
• Addresses classification failures caused by the wrong User Principal Name (UPN). 
• Addresses an issue with a sleep system call on Glibc-2.31 or later that’s running on a Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 (WSL 1) distribution. 
• Adds support for WSL 2; for more information, see WSL 2 Support is coming to Windows 10 Versions 1903 and 1909.
• Addresses an issue that might display Processor Frequency as zero (0) for certain processors. 
• Addresses an issue that causes delays during shutdown when running the Microsoft Keyboard Filter Service. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents a host’s virtual private network (VPN) connection from sharing with virtual machines (VM) connected to the Default Switch. 
• Addresses an issue with sourcing the root domain directory partition of a global catalog from a child domain controller (DC) when promoting, unhosting, or rehosting the DC. This might cause LSASS to consume all the available memory on the child DC. This issue is specific to Active Directory forests that contain 100 or more domain controllers. 
• Addresses an issue that fails to log events 4732 and 4733 for Domain-Local group membership changes in certain scenarios. This occurs when you use the “Permissive Modify” control; for example, the Active Directory (AD) PowerShell modules use this control. 
• Addresses an issue that might prevent the cluster service from starting and generates the error “2245 (NERR_PasswordTooShort)”. This occurs if you configure the “Minimum Password Length” Group Policy with more than 14 characters. For more information, see KB4557232. 
• Addresses an issue that causes the configuration of the “Minimum Password Length” Group Policy with more than 14 characters to have no effect. For more information, see KB4557232.
• Addresses an issue that causes the loss of written data when an application opens a file and writes to the end of the file in a share folder. 
• Addresses an issue with Server Message Block (SMB). This issue incorrectly logs the Microsoft-Windows-SMBClient 31013 event in the Microsoft-Windows-SMBClient/Security event log of an SMB client when an SMB server returns STATUS_USER_SESSION_DELETED. This issue occurs when SMB client users or applications open multiple SMB sessions using the same set of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections on the same SMB Server. This issue most likely occurs on Remote Desktop Servers.

This update is offered and installed via Windows Update, but is also available in the Microsoft Update Catalog (but not for WSUS). According to Microsoft, the update is optional and can only be found by searching for an update. Microsoft strongly recommends that you install the latest service stack update (SSU) for your operating system before you install the latest cumulative update (LCU). Microsoft states that it is not aware of any known issues that this update causes.

Additionally, Microsoft has released an update directly to the Windows Update client to improve its reliability. This is rolled out outside of Windows Update if the machine is compatible and is not an LTSC variant and updates have not been blocked by GPO.

Update KB4571748 for Windows 10 Version 1809

Cumulative update KB4571748 raises the OS build (according to MS) to 17763.1432 and includes quality improvements but no new operating system features. Here is the list of improvements, called highlights by Microsoft

• Updates time zone information for the Yukon, Canada. 
• Updates an intermittent issue that causes a touchscreen to stop working after several sleep and wake cycles. 
• Updates an issue that causes the Settings page to close unexpectedly, which prevents default applications from being set up properly. 
• Updates an issue that causes applications to take a long time to open. 
• Updates an issue that prevents you from unlocking a device if you typed a space before the username when you first signed in to the device.

Added the following fixes and improvements to Windows 10 version 1909, which are identical to version 1903 (update is also available for the Hololens)

• Provides the ability to sync the Microsoft Edge IE Mode unidirectional session cookie when an administrator configures the session cookie. 
• Addresses an issue that displays a black screen to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) users when they attempt to sign in. 
• Addresses an issue that, in certain scenarios, causes the GetConsoleWindow function to return an unusable value within a process that started with a CREATE_NO_WINDOW flag. 
• Updates time zone information for the Yukon, Canada. 
• Addresses an issue with Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) that causes a memory leak when multiple clients connect to the same server. 
• Addresses an intermittent issue that causes a touchscreen to stop working after several sleep and wake cycles. 
• Addresses an issue that causes new child windows to flicker and appear as white squares on server devices that are configured for stark visual contrast. 
• Addresses an issue with File Explorer’s preview of .msg files when Microsoft Outlook 64-bit is installed. 
• Addresses an issue that causes all open Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps to close unexpectedly. This occurs when their installer calls the Restart Manager to restart File Explorer (explorer.exe). 
• Addresses an issue that causes the Settings page to close unexpectedly, which prevents default applications from being set up properly. 
• Addresses an issue that causes user profile folder names to get excessively long, which might lead to MAX_PATH issues. 
• Addresses an issue with unexpected notifications related to changing default applications settings. 
• Addresses an issue that creates random line breaks in PowerShell’s console error output when the output is redirected. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents a delegated user from importing a Group Policy object (GPO) even though the user has the required privilege. 
• Addresses an issue with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) queries that contain case insensitive names that affect the Patch Management solution for a customer. 
• Addresses an issue with object performance counters. 
• Addresses an issue that causes an error if you open Microsoft OneDrive files on demand when User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) is enabled. To apply this solution, set the following DWORD to 1: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\UEV\Agent\Configuration\ApplyExplorerCompatFix” 
• Addresses an issue that causes applications to take a long time to open. 
• Addresses an issue that sometimes prevents AppLocker from running an application whose publisher rule allows it to run. 
• Addresses an issue in which AppLocker publisher rules might sometimes prevent applications from loading software modules; this can cause partial application failure. 
• Addresses an issue that causes the CryptCATAdminCalcHashFromFileHandle() function to leak memory when it’s called. That memory is not reclaimed until the calling application closes. 
• Addresses an issue that might prevent the cluster service from starting and generates the error “2245 (NERR_PasswordTooShort)”. This occurs if you configure the “Minimum Password Length” Group Policy with more than 14 characters. For more information, see KB4557232.
• Addresses an issue that causes the configuration of the “Minimum Password Length” Group Policy with more than 14 characters to have no effect. For more information, see KB4557232. 
• Addresses an issue that causes a system to stop working and generates a 7E stop code.
• Addresses an issue that prevents you from unlocking a device if you typed a space before the username when you first signed in to the device. 
• Addresses classification failures caused by the wrong User Principal Name (UPN). 
• Addresses an issue that causes a stop error on a Hyper-V host when a virtual machine (VM) issues a specific Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) command. 
• Addresses an issue that might display Processor Frequency as zero (0) for certain processors. 
• Addresses an issue with a sleep system call on Glibc-2.31 or later that’s running on a Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 (WSL 1) distribution. 
• Addresses an issue that causes delays during shutdown when running the Microsoft Keyboard Filter Service. 
• Addresses a transient network disconnection issue that may happen when you enable packet capturing using “netsh start trace capture=yes”. This issue might also occur when you install third-party Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) filter drivers. 
• Addresses an issue in Software Load Balancing scenarios that prevents a connection from being responsive to TCP resets. 
• Introduces support for Direct Server Return (DSR) configuration for container load balancers that are created by the Host Networking Service (HNS). 
• Adds new functionality to the robocopy command. 
• Addresses an issue that fails to log events 4732 and 4733 for Domain-Local group membership changes in certain scenarios. This occurs when you use the “Permissive Modify” control; for example, the Active Directory (AD) PowerShell modules use this control. 
• Addresses a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Scoping support issue in the Active Directory Federation Service (AD FS) that is related to entityID and IDPList. For more information, see section 3.4.1.2 of the SAML Core specification. 
• Addresses an issue that logs incorrect IPs in the audit logs for Windows Transport requests because of missing or outdated data. 
• Addresses an issue that prevents Account activity cmdlets from executing when you specify an identity that is not in a UPN format. 
• Addresses an issue with Server Message Block (SMB). This issue incorrectly logs the Microsoft-Windows-SMBClient 31013 event in the Microsoft-Windows-SMBClient/Security event log of an SMB client when an SMB server returns STATUS_USER_SESSION_DELETED. This issue occurs when SMB client users or applications open multiple SMB sessions using the same set of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections on the same SMB Server. This issue most likely occurs on Remote Desktop Servers. 
• Addresses an issue with the CsvFs driver that prevents the Win32 API from accessing SQL Server Filestream data. This occurs when you store that data on a Cluster Shared Volume in a SQL Server failover cluster instance on Azure VMs. 
• Addresses an issue with the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) that fails to open the Start menu for mandatory profile users.
• Addresses an issue that might cause a stop error (0xC00002E3) at startup. This issue occurs after installing certain Windows Updates that were released on or after April 21, 2020.
• Addresses a runtime error that causes Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6) to stop working when duplicate windows messages are sent to WindowProc().

This update is optionally available through Windows Update, but is also available in the Microsoft Update Catalog. Microsoft strongly recommends that you install the latest service stack update (SSU) for your operating system before you install the latest cumulative update (LCU). Microsoft lists two known issues that this update causes. When you install the update, you may receive the error 0x800f0982 – PSFX_E_MATCHING_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND There are also problems with the Edge Browser, which throws error 0x80704006 and cannot access pages. Details can be found in the KB article. 

Microsoft has also released an update directly to the Windows Update Client to improve its reliability. This will be rolled out outside of Windows Update if the machine is compatible and not an LTSC variant and updates have not been blocked by GPO.

Similar articles:
Microsoft Office Patchday (August 4, 2020)
Microsoft Security Update Summary (August 11, 2020)
Patchday: Windows 10-Updates (August 11, 2020)
Patchday: Windows 8.1/Server 2012-Updates (August 11, 2020)
Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 (August 11, 2020)
Patchday Microsoft Office Updates (August 11, 2020)

Microsoft August 2020 Patchday issues

[German]On August 21, 2020 Microsoft released the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20197 for insiders in the Developer Channel. The announcement with references to the new features was made in the Windows Blog. For example, the disk management has been added to the settings page. Details can be read in the blog post.

[German]Microsoft has now disabled the ability for administrators to disable the Defender included in Windows. This is intended to make it more difficult for malware to turn off the virus protection. At the same time, the registry entries and group policies concerned are rendered ineffective.

I had already noticed the days when colleagues from German site deskmodder.de reported in this article that the entry DisableAntiSpyware in the settings of Microsoft Defender is no longer effective since August 2020. There I couldn’t really catch the sense of it – until I read the article at Bleeping Computer, when I realized that something had changed in Microsoft Defender under Windows 10. Now, blog reader Andreas E. drew my attention to this topic via Facebook (thanks for that):

By the way: The Defender AV can’t be deactivated via GPO on Windows 10 clients anymore. Microsoft has rolled this out to all W10 clients in the current patchday!

This means 3rd Party AVs MUST use the APIs provided by MS to register properly. Otherwise it will come to complications!

Andreas posted the link to the Microsoft support article DisableAntiSpyware. The post was updated on 08/21/2020, and  contains the following note:

DisableAntiSpyware is intended to be used by OEMs and IT Pros to disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus and deploy another antivirus product during deployment. This is a legacy setting that is no longer necessary as Microsoft Defender antivirus automatically turns itself off when it detects another antivirus program. This setting is not intended for consumer devices, and we’ve decided to remove this registry key. This change is included with Microsoft Defender Antimalware platform versions 4.18.2007.8 and higher KB 4052623. Enterprise E3 and E5 editions will be released at a future date. Note that this setting is protected by tamper protection. Tamper protection is available in all Home and Pro editions of Windows 10 version 1903 and higher and is enabled by default. The impact of the DisableAntiSpyware removal is limited to Windows 10 versions prior to 1903 using Microsoft Defender Antivirus. This change does not impact third party antivirus connections to the Windows Security app. Those will still work as expected.

The DisableAntiSpyware option was originally intended for OEMs and IT professionals to disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus when other antivirus products were installed on a Windows 10 client. However, the option was never intended for the consumer platforms (Windows 10 Home and Pro). However, Microsoft has now decided that this option in the registry is unnecessary. This is because Defender detects when other antivirus software registers via the designated API and then turns itself off.

Microsoft has therefore removed the evaluation of the registry key for deactivating Defender from Microsoft Defender Antimalware Platform version 4.18.2007.8 and higher via the update KB4052623. The registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender

and the DisableAntiSpyware value that may be present there is no longer evaluated. Group policies (‘Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus’) that are to deactivate Defender using this value also no longer have any effect. Since Windows 10 version 1903 it has been possible to prevent the Defender from being switched off by malware by means of Tamper Protection.

Bleeping Computer mentioned here, that Malware can set the value DisableAntiSpyware, but this value will be removed by Tamper Protection. But Defender will still be disabled for the current session.

Similar articles:  
Windows 10 V1903 get Windows Defender Tamper-Protection
Tamper Protection ported to older Windows 10 versions
Windows 10 V1903: Microsoft activates Tamper Protection

[German]Would you like to customize your Windows 10 installation after setup with a script? This seems possible, because a guy has released PowerShell scripts for these tasks. Here are some brief information about that.

Dmitry Nefedov has written some PowerShell scripts to customize and fine-tune a Windows 10 installation. These collection of PowerShell scripts are designed to be executed on the first run, after Windows 10 was installed and set up on a system. It allows administrators to customize and fine-tune their system with a single click.

The whole materials has been published for Free as Windows 10 Setup Script on Github. But some preparation need to be done, before you may execute such a script. Its important to download the PowerShell script that fits your Windows 10 version. The script has to be modified, to do the required customization. From the FAQ on Github:

• Due to the fact that the script includes about 150 functions, you must read the entire script and comment out those sections that you do not want to be executed otherwise likely you will enable features that you do not want to be enabled.
• Running the script is best done on a fresh install because running it on tweaked system may result in errors occurring.
• Some third-party antiviruses flag this script or its’ part as malicious one. This is a false positive due to $EncodedScript variable. You can read more about in “Create a Windows cleaning up task in the Task Scheduler” section. You might need to disable tamper protection from your antivirus settings, re-enable it after running the script, and reboot.

The developer offers scripts for Windows 10 version 1903, 1909, 2004 and Windows 10 LTSC 1809. With these scripts you can:

• Set up Privacy & Telemetry;
• Turn off diagnostics tracking scheduled tasks;
• Set up UI & Personalization;
• Uninstall OneDrive “correctly”;

and much more. Details may be found within the readme from Github. Reviews of these scripts my be found at ghacks.net and neowin.net. A discussion may be found on reddit.com.

Just to note: For Enterprise environments, there is Windows Autopilot, that simplifies the way devices get deployed, reset, and repurposed, with an experience that is zero touch for IT. Overview of Windows Autopilot

How can Active Directory (AD) users synchronize Microsoft Edge favorites and settings between computers without connecting to Microsoft cloud services?

Synchronizing user data in Microsoft Edge typically requires either a Microsoft account or an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account and a connection to Microsoft cloud services. With on-premises synchronization, Microsoft Edge stores an Active Directory user’s favorites and settings in a file that can be moved between computers. Local synchronization does not interfere with cloud synchronization for the profiles that enable it.

Docs are now live for our on-prem sync coming in Edge 85 – have a look and let us know what else you need us to talk about in the docs!https://t.co/p3nlcPAxQy

— Chris Jackson (@appcompatguy) August 23, 2020

In the tweet above, Chris Jackson refers to last week’s support article on the topic. Starting with Microsoft Edge version 85, profiles can be linked to Active Directory (AD) accounts. If local synchronization is enabled, the data from the AD profile is stored in a file named profile.pb. By default, this file is stored in %APP_DATA%/Microsoft/Edge. After this file is written, it can be moved between different computers. The saved user data is then read and written on each computer. Please refer to the linked support article for details.

[German]Privatezilla (formerly known as Spydish) is now an open source project. This tool allows a quick check (and control) of the privacy and security settings of Windows 10.

I became aware of this development on Twitter via the following tweet. The developer builtbybel has decided to release the software Spydish as Open Source.

Spydish goes open source as Privatezilla!https://t.co/AEp1hC5tP2

Now, you can really trust me

More infos herehttps://t.co/cQafHEmTr1#privatezilla #Microsoft #Windows10 #privacy

— Belim (@builtbybel) August 22, 2020

At the same time the tool is renamed to Privatezilla and made available as a project on Github. The developer advertises that Privatezilla is the easiest way to check (and of course adjust) Windows 10 privacy and security settings. On Github you can find the following animated picture of how it works.

(Spydish, now Privatezilla, Source: GitHub)

According to the developer, Privatezilla integrates the most critical privacy settings of Windows 10 and allows you to quickly perform a privacy check against these settings. Active settings are marked with the status “Configured”, indicating that privacy is protected. Inactive ones are declared as “Not Configured”. All available settings (currently 60) can be either enabled or disabled.

System requirements

• Windows 10 (supported 1809 – 2004)
• NET-Rahmenwerk 4.5

Download from GitHub: Privatezilla

For advanced users there is also a community package for Privatezilla. This adds support for advanced PowerShell based scripting to Privatezilla. This includes:

• Removal of certain pre-installed applications
• Uninstalling OneDrive
• Unpin Start Menu tiles
• Disable telemetry from third-party applications (e.g. CCleaner, Firefox, Dropbox, Microsoft Office)
• Remove Windows Defender (NOT recommended!)
• Block telemetry via firewall and host files. Rules are provided by crazy-max/WindowsSpyBlocker
  Support for All-in-One-PowerShell-Debloating-Skript Windows10Debloater.ps1
• New automation templates

All included objects (templates and scripts) can be viewed on Github.

Reason for the release as OpenSource

In this blog post the developer reveals the reasons for the release as open source. There have been numerous requests for the source code of SpyDish, because the tool is quite popular 3 months after its release. However, the tool was never written for release as an open source project. Since the developer does not want to disclose some parts of his code (he uses them in internal projects), he removed some features he does not want to make open source and rebuilt the core of the tool in the last weeks. In addition, the code was then transferred to the open source project under the name Privatezilla.

[German]Users of a Surface Laptop 3 sometimes suffer from sporadic restarts of the device. Microsoft seems to have found the cause and is now testing a fix with Windows Insiders for its effectiveness.

What exactly is the problem?

Microsofts Surface Laptop 3 has problems with Windows 10 Version 2004. In my blog post Windows 10 V2004 still blocked on some Surfaces from mid-July 2020 I mentioned, that Microsoft has set an upgrade blocker for the devices. One of the reasons:

On some devices the Always On, Always Connected mode caused errors and spontaneous reboots. This also affected Microsoft’s Surface devices. Here is the error description from the Windows 10 Version 2004 status page.

On Microsoft Answers, a user posted the following error description in the Surface forum.

Surface Laptop 3 Restarting Randomly

I have the power settings set to NOT restart when the power is plugged in and NOT to go into sleep mode. 

Even with these settings the laptop restarts randomly. I’ll be writing code and it restarts. Its random.

Surface Laptop 3 15″

AMD Ryzen 7 Microsoft Surface Edition 2.30 GHz

16.0 GB RAM

Exactly the bug described above, which probably occurs in various surface models.

Microsoft is testing a fix with Insiders

Within the following tweet Barb Bowman pointed out that Microsoft is now testing a fix with Windows Insiders.

9 months after @surface laptop 3 owners reported random restarts https://t.co/Dg1ddW8T7R , Microsoft is testing a fix in Insiders rings https://t.co/qCeEXFkSbv

— Barb Bowman (@barbbowman) August 23, 2020

The Tweet refers to this Microsoft Answers forum thread with the above error description with the spontaneous restarts of the Surface Laptop 3 devices. A moderator writes about this.

Thank you for reporting the issue. We have improved device stability with an update that is currently available through our Windows Insider Program. 

To join the Windows Insider Program go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and select Get Started. You will need to provide a Microsoft Account and when prompted choose Release Preview (learn more about Insider channels). Selecting Release Preview will keep you on the current public release of Windows but provide you the latest Surface updates before they are more broadly available. You can always go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program to opt out of receiving preview updates. 

This fix will be generally available through Windows Update as soon as it completes our quality testing.

[German]Ninjutsu OS was a project of the security expert Hasan A. to increase the security and privacy of  Windows 10 systems by scripts and tools. The project was banned from the public Internet by Microsoft through a DMCA complaint (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

The information has been already present within my German blog since June 15th, 2020, because a blog reader mentioned the topic. He had posted a link to a German site, covering the story, but the original article may be found at torrentfreak. Here is the short version, what it is all about and what happened.

What is Ninjutsu OS?

Ninjutsu OS was a project of the security expert Hasan A., which is currently not publicly continued as a Ninjutsu project, if I interpret the following tweet correctly.

I’m working on New release v3 ,What is your suggestions and features need for next release ?#redteam #PenTest #PenetrationTesting #Ninjutsu_project #ninjutsu_os #blueteam #BugBounty #informationsecurity #windows10pro pic.twitter.com/A6yTPg01nL

— Ninjutsu Project (@ninjutsu_os) August 23, 2020

The project had the goal to modify a Microsoft Windows 10 install using scripts and tools in a way, that security experts could work with it. Through modifications security and privacy of the system should be increased. And there was approaches to can optimize or remove features. Security expert Hasan A. provided two tools for this purpose: Win10-Initial-Setup-Script (I just presented something similar here, but that’s a challenging aproach for experts) and O & O ShutUp10 (the AntiSpy-Tool). Both tools are still available via Github and the O&O page.

The project Ninjutsu OS started on May 7th [2020] to shift Windows 10 modding to a completely new level and turn Windows 10 into a powerful platform for penetration testing. Numerous tools (about 800), including hardware monitoring, VPN manager, Google Chrome and a torrent client, were added for security experts as well as for regular users. It was also designed to remove features that are considered undesirable or unnecessary in such an environment.

What happened to Ninjutsu OS?

I don’t know exactly what happened and what exactly Microsoft was doing. Fact is: The project was available for download on Github from June 6th, 2020 and there were also copies of the ISO file on other sites. Then the Business Software Alliance (BSA) filed a complaint based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), on behalf of Microsoft, to Github and the other sites. It says Ninjutsu OS violates Microsoft’s copyrights and need to be removed.

BSA has determined that GitHub.com (specifically, content made available on GitHub through the link listed below) is providing access to copyrighted, nonpublic, proprietary information of our member Microsoft. The link leads to copyrighted material pertaining to Microsoft. Specifically, the copyrighted material in question can be found at the following link: *ttps://github.com/ninjutsu-project/ninjutsu-project.github.io.

A DCMA complaint always includes a request to the operator of the site to remove the material complained of for copyright infringement. This request has also been complied with by the sites concerned. The github page now shows the following: 

So the material was removed. The same applies to the other pages where the project was located. But since the original tools were still available on the internet, it is unclear to me what exactly was complained by the BSA. Torrentfreak writes that in the DMCA complaint the following was listed as a violation of Microsoft’s rights

• Customize Windows 10 with powerful tweak and optimize.
• Protect your privacy by tweak and customize Windows 10.
• Disable many of the annoying features built into Windows.
• Unwanted Windows components removal.
• Remove/Disable many Windows programs and services.

Would be the hammer, of course, if that were the case. But I’m not sure what exactly was hosted on Github – the statement ‘I downloaded the thick ISO once. Ninjutsu will be tested on occasion’ of a blog reader suggests to me that there were parts or the whole installation image of Windows 10 – which would have justified the DMCA complaint. The security expert Hasan A. rejects the accusations that the project does not violate any rights of Microsoft. Currently, the project is only being continued privately, as can be seen on the Twitter channel.

On August 24, 1995, #Windows95 was launched, introducing the iconic Start menu. Over the past 25 years, Windows has continued to evolve. Join us in taking a look back at this evolution: https://t.co/38EOKpXFGo pic.twitter.com/n1uwmj1XEN

— Windows Insider (@windowsinsider) August 24, 2020

[German]It seems, that Microsoft has changed something in Windows Update on Windows 10 clients in the last few months. Many supposedly optional preview updates are now installed by default without the user being able to refuse. Here is a brief overview, what users has reported and what I recognized.

The update control by the user is (at least for consumers) terrible in Windows 10. There is the possibility to defer updates by 7 days intervals with a possibility to repeat this period up to 35 days. And optional updates should actually be selectable for download and installation by the user via a link. But that doesn’t always seem to work, as I hinted in the article Windows 10 Version 2004: Forced upgrade without user consent in early June 2020. There was a long discussion about this topic.

A reader feedback

Last weekend I received an email from blog reader James L., who reported an observation that he described as:

You like to report on update topics in your blog. Maybe the following topic has already been touched on.
Keyword: update behavior.

I – rather less IT-affine – have the habit of postponing the patchday by 1.5 weeks. Accordingly I set in the update options (Windows 10 Home 1909) a date and usually trigger the update run manually a few days before (button “Search for Updates”).

Since two patchdays the framework preview update is installed when I start the update process (KB4570723). I did not find an Option to uncheck this update, it is not presented as optional. The phenomenon already occurred to me at last patchday.

Parallel to that, the update KB4565351 and a driver update Intel Corp. Display 27.20.100.7990 were running, so a cocktail of updates makes a normal user feel a bit queasy.

Maybe you have some ideas in your blog how to stop such processes – especially preview updates – under Windows 10?

The whole thing fitted perfectly to my own experiences, which I have documented below.

My own experience documented in the screenshot

A few days ago I started my Windows 10 test machine again and had pending updates installed. This is a machine running Windows 10 version 1909. After installing the August 2020 security updates, the Windows Updates dialog box shows me the following page (it’s already in German).

There the dilemma becomes immediately clear. The optional cumulative update KB4566116 must be explicitly triggered via a link to download and install (that’s, what I’m expected). But in the above dialog box there are also two updates where the user can only click the download (Herunterladen) button to trigger the download and installation. However, one entry is a preview update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8, so if the user wants to install the updates, he has no choice but to have the other offered updates installed as well.

The above description of the blog reader indicates that this behavior has been observed only recently. So it is possible that this is a bug, and the behavior is not intended by Microsoft.

The observation of blog reader Karl, who suspects that updates for Windows Defender are blocked if updates in Windows 10 are suspended via Windows Update, also fits the picture. The whole thing has been discussed at askwoody.com but has not yet been fully debated.

And I saw the following tweet indicating another issue with Windows Update and toast notification.

@sudhagart – is this expected? The toast notification prompting to restart before the LCU is finished installing? #Win10 #2004 pic.twitter.com/tncL4caAjA

— Mike Terrill [MVP] (@miketerrill) August 24, 2020

Through Facebook, I have received the following text from someone who is very close to Microsoft in consulting:

They told me that something must have gone wrong with the reactivation of the C- and D-Week updates (they were suspended due to Corona) and that it was not intentional. Next month it would be normal again…

But that doesn’t explain the observation of the blog reader quoted above that the behavior has been occurring for two patchdays. We will have to wait and see what happens.

[German]Microsoft is already beginning to distribute the 20H2 build to enterprise testers and users of the Windows Insider program. However: Is the previous build, Windows 10 version 2004 offered to your machines?

Windows 10 20H2 ready for tests in enterprises

Last week, Thursday, Microsoft explicitly asked companies to test the Windows 10 Build 20H2 – that version will be shipped in autumn 2020. There was this Techcommunity post, where Microsoft announced the availability of Windows 10, version 20H2, for tests in enterprise environments. The goal is to give these customers the opportunity to explore and validate the features before this build is released for general availability. An ISO installation image file for installation can also be downloaded from the Techcommunity article.

But the question that concerns me: Who is the administrator in a company aksing for additional work and testing an unfinished insider preview in order to get the next build in a week? It’s sufficient for enterprise admins to run such a test three months after a build becomes globally available. Or have I misunderstood something?

Windows 10 20H2 in Release Preview-Channel

For Windows Insider,  Microsoft has started to distribute the current build of Windows 10 20H2 in the Release Preview Channel. Windows insiders who have opposed this channel can use it to have a Windows 10 version 2004 updated to the build 20H2.

Technically this is quite simple: Similar to Windows 10 version 1903/1909, the 2004 and 20H2 versions share a common core operating system with an identical set of system files. New features for the 20H2 are included in the monthly quality updates for version 2004 in an inactive state. These new 20H2 features remain dormant until they are enabled via the Enablement Package. Therefore it is sufficient to install the Enablement Update in Windows 10 Version 2004 to change the build from Windows 10 Version 2004 to the 20H2.

This enablement update KB4562830 has been shipped in release preview channel. The colleagues from German site deskmodder.de have provided some information in this article. There is even already the enablement update KB4562830 on the Microsoft servers, as the colleagues of deskmodder.de write in this article. They have published a download link for the respective 32 or 64 bit cab file in this article. 

Did your machine received Windows 10 2004 already?

When I read, hat Microsoft offers Windows 10 20H2 to its enterprise customers as an insider preview, I’m wondering, what the guys in Redmond are thinking. Microsoft has solved most of it’s upgrade blocker issues for Windows 10 2004. But on my test systems, the upgrade from Windows 10 version 1909 to 2004 was blocked on one machine until a day ago. I received the notification, that the feature upgrade to Windows 10, version 2004 isn’t ready. Now I’m installing this upgrade since hours.

On an older Sony Vaio notebook, which surprisingly received the Windows 10 version 1909, I got the notification, that the feature update for Windows 10, version 2004, is ready to download. When I started the download, I got several error messages and finally the install ends with the message that a driver prevents an upgrade. But no details were given.

All in all, I have my doubts whether Microsoft is on the right track with their Windows as a Service approach and their semiaannual feature updates. Since the general availability of the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Version 2004) on May 28, 2020, there have only been reports about upgrade blockers and issues. If you are using an incompatible machine or incompatible software, you are not able to upgrade.

And I personally can’t see such real advantages of the bugged version 2004. In the article Windows 10: Is Microsoft planning yearly feature updates? I mentioned rumors  that Microsoft seems to move away from its semi annual feature updates toward one annual feature upgrade. Due to the above described model of the enablement update for the respective autumn build, an annual upgrade is in fact already realized.

This brings me to the question: What is your situation? Was the feature update to Windows 10, version 2004 offered for installation? Were there any install issues? And how often do you need feature upgrades?

[German]Microsoft released the ISO installation images with the Insider Preview of Windows 10 20H2. That’s the next Windows 10 version awaited for autumn 2020 (September or October). The ISO installation images may be used for a clean/fresh install of Windows 10 20H2 Insider Preview Build 20201.1000.

The ISO installation image file may be downloaded from this Microsoft Windows Insider Preview page – but that requires to be a member of Windows Insider program, because a login is required.

#WIMVP @windowsinsider #WindowsInsiders #AreYouFlightingYet The ISO images of Build 20201 (vNext) and Build 19042 (20H2) are also available for download at https://t.co/lbxk7IAQb1 pic.twitter.com/ztAhsUN5uQ

— Nuno Silva #WIMVP | IT-online (@n_silva) August 26, 2020

As the screenshot from the above tweet shows, there are two ISO builds: 20201 (vNext) for Dev Channel and 19042 (20H2) for Beta Channel. Microsoft also offering the ISO images for build 20201 for Windows Server and Windows 10 Client and Enterprise VL within the Techbench program. Also a Windows Server vhx file, the Server (LTSC) 20201 ISO with and without GUI is offered for download. SDK, ADK and WDK are also available.

Latest 20H2 build is failing to install for me :/ pic.twitter.com/omRWwZ2gig

— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) August 26, 2020

Zac Bowden is facing an install error 0x800f0988, as he tweeted within the post shown above. He wrote also, that Build 20201 still doesn’t have the new Microsoft Edge preinstalled.

Microsoft has also released the Windows Insider Preview Build 20201 for Windows Server vNext on August 26, 2020. This is the variant from the Windows Server vNext Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC). This release includes both the Desktop Experience and Server Core installation options for Datacenter and Standard Editions. The announcement with the details was posted in the Windows-Blog.

[German]Microsoft has released the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20201 for Windows Insider on the Dev Channel on August 26, 2020. The announcement was made in the Windows Blog, where you can read the list of fixes and known issues.

[German]Microsoft has released the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19042.487 (20H2) for Windows Insider on August 26, 2020 on the Beta Channel. The announcement was made in the Windows Blog, where you can read the list of fixes and known issues.

[German]Sometimes Windows users are faced with the problem that the message ‘Explorer has stopped working’ appears. There are several steps to fix that issue. A blog reader contacted me recently and told me a (his) solution for this issue, which I will post here.

Explorer has stopped working

The topic that the message ‘Explorer has stopped working’ has been covered in numerous web posts. Also crashes of the explorer, as a similar cause, has been discussed in blogs. The cause is mostly incompatible software components that register as shell handlers and cause trouble. I refer here to my very old German blog posts Windows Explorer oder die Shell macht Probleme and Startmenü oder Explorer geht nicht mehr/ist langsam, in which I discuss these problems and how to solve them.

A reader’s solution

Blog reader torkel just contacted me by e-mail and told me about his experiences including the solution (thanks for that). Since it might be able to help other affected people, I will post it here. The current post is about a system of the blog-reader with Windows 7 64 Bit – ‘all Winfuture updates installed’, as the reader says. But the solution could also work for newer Windows versions. The blog reader wrote:

A few months ago I started my PC, it booted up and everything looked as usual – but then when trying to move the mouse (over) the taskbar – came the spinner and then a little later the message ‘Explorer has stopped working’ (the application is restarted then by Windows).

I restarted the computer – and then at the 2nd time after starting up everything works again and was fine.

All the tips I found in the internet I have basically implemented (Autostarts and the context menu reduced) – but without success – also sfc
/scannow there are no errors!

I’ll have to use a different “cleanup program namely CleanAfterMe” – not CCleaner – and then the system ran without it for a while, that I had to start the computer always 2 times.

Until a few days ago – when the problem reappeared – and I mean it always happened after updates of programs.

In CleanAfterMe I found this path:

C:\Users\Users\Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

there were 2 folders

AutomaticDestinations

and

CustomDestinations

The former folder was empty and the latter folder contained .customDestinations-ms files with older creation dates. These I saved with 7zip and then deleted the original. Later I changed the path to CCleaner added to custom folders and files. Before I switch off my computer I always let CCleaner clean the “garbage” – now also the .customDestinations-ms files (which, by the way always be created again with CURRENT date).

So far the Explorer has not hung up again ! As said – this is otherwise always done at the first system startup – i.e. startup – spinner on mouse over taskbar (which did not appear) – Error message – Restart the Explorer.

The blog reader says: Maybe this will help others as well. If so, you can leave a comment.

[German]A little surprise for enterprise administrators: Microsoft has just announced that they have extended support for Windows 10 version 1803 for another six months. Support for Enterprise editions of Windows 10 version 1803 ends now in May 2021.

Planned Windows 10 version 1803 support end

Windows 10 version 1803 was released in spring 2018 and received only 18 months support in the Home and Pro versions. The last update for this Windows 10 version was released on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 (Patchday). As of December 2019, this Windows 10 version has been dropped from support for these two SKUs, so no more security vulnerabilities will be closed by updates (see the following figure, taken from the Windows lifecycle information sheet). 

In enterprise environments with Windows 10 Enterprise Version 1803, support should continue until November 10, 2020 according to the table above (see also my article Windows 10 up to V1803: Details for Upgrade to V1903 – Part 2).

Support extension by 6 months

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Microsoft customers seem to have difficulties switching to the newer Windows 10 builds. Perhaps also a hint that it does not run too well with the Windows as a service and the Semi-annual feature updates. And now some customers told Microsoft, that they have to focus on business, instead of upgrading their machine to a newer build of Windows 10.

New end-of-service date for Windows 10, version 1803! Security updates for the Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise editions will continue through May 11, 2021. Get all the details in the Windows IT Pro Blog: https://t.co/ts97Tg4Gzl#Windows10 #v1803 pic.twitter.com/RMfZeXA994

— Windows IT Pro (@MSWindowsITPro) August 26, 2020

At least that’s how I interpret the Techcommunity article Revised end of service date for Windows 10, version 1803: May 11, 2021 by Chris Morrissey (announcement via above tweet). According to Microsoft, they have received ‘feedback’ from customers that they have more important things to do in the face of the SARS Cov-2 pandemic than switching their IT systems to newer Windows 10 builds.

As a result, people at Microsoft have decided to postpone the planned end-of-service date for the Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise editions of Windows 10, version 1803. This means that security updates will continue to be released monthly until May 11, 2021. The last security update for these editions of Windows 10, version 1803 will be released on May 11, 2021 instead of November 10, 2020.

(via)

Similar articles:
Windows 10 Version 1709: Support extended till October 2020
Support extension for Windows 10 V1809 until Nov. 2020
Windows 10 Version 1809 reaches End of Life soon

[German]In Windows 10 version 2004 (and also in the 20H4) there is a bug in the program Defrag, which wants to optimize SSDs and drives constantly. Now there are hints that the update KB4571744, which has just been tested with Windows Insiders, should correct this bug.

Background: The Defrag Bug

I had already mentioned the problem in June 2020 in the blog post Windows 10 2004: Bug defragments SSDs too often. The drive optimization of Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Version 2004) no longer remembers the latest version, but shows ‘Never run, optimization required’. Blog reader Volker had already noted this in this German comment at the end of May 2020.  

This leads to the unpleasant effect that SSDs are optimized more often than necessary. Defrag also wants to perform trims on non-SSD drives and unnecessarily tries to optimize hard drives as well, because the information when a drive was optimized last time is forgotten.

Update KB4571744 for Windows 10 V2004 and 20H2

Currently Microsoft is testing update KB4571744 with Windows Insiders, as I mentioned in the blog post Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19042.487 (20H2). The update is intended for Windows 10 20H2, which is expected in autumn. But since Windows 10 version 2004 gets the same updates, the fixes are applicable for this version as well.

But now Microsoft is testing an update for Windows 10 20H2 with Windows insiders in the Beta Channel as well as in the Release Preview Channel for Windows 10 Version 2004. The announcement of the update KB4571744 for Windows 10 20H2 was made in the Windows Blog, where you can read the extremely long list of fixes. EP already mentioned in this comment (ths) that the optimization bug should be fixed by this update. 

The KB4571744 update for Win10 v2004 & v20H2 includes the defrag/optimization bugfix as mentioned by MS in their blog:

“We fixed an issue that causes the Optimize Drives dialog to incorrectly report that previously optimized drives need to be optimized again.”

Note – the updated DLL files for the ms defrag fix are defragproxy.dll, defragres.dll & defragsvc.dll – all 3 of them with ver. 10.0.19041.487

Woody Leonhard has also mentioned this in a short article. When the update will be released in general is not yet known. I just checked, the update KB4571744 is not listed in any support article yet, so it is not yet generally released.

Similar articles:
Microsoft Office Patchday (August 4, 2020)
Microsoft Security Update Summary (August 11, 2020)
Patchday: Windows 10-Updates (August 11, 2020)
Patchday: Windows 8.1/Server 2012-Updates (August 11, 2020)
Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 (August 11, 2020)
Patchday Microsoft Office Updates (August 11, 2020)

Microsoft August 2020 Patchday issues

[German]Microsoft has updated on 08/28/2020 Reliability update KB4023057 for older Windows 10 versions. The update is intended to ease the transition to Windows 10 May 2020 update (version 2004).

August 2020 Refresh for Update KB4023057

Update KB4023057 is something like a zombie, because it always comes back in revised versions. Reliability update KB4023057 is now available for Windows 10, version 1507 till version 1809. he US KB article was updated on August 28, 2020. Microsoft has updated the preparatory update again and calls it ‘ Update to Windows 10, versions 1507, 1511, 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903 and 1909 for update reliability’.

What does Update KB4023057 do?

For blog readers who are not so familiar with this, here are some explanations. Update KB4023057 s rolled out by Microsoft in an updated version. Microsoft writes in the KB article about the update that it brings improvements regarding the reliability of the Windows Update service: 

This update contains reliability improvements for components of the Windows Update service in home user versions of Windows 10, version 1507, 1511, 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, and 1909. You may have to perform steps to free up disk space on your device if there is not enough disk space to install Windows updates.

This update contains files and resources to troubleshoot issues that affect the update processes in Windows 10 that may prevent you from installing important Windows updates. These improvements help ensure that updates are installed smoothly on your device and improve the reliability and security of devices that run Windows 10.

The text does not change when they release the update again, except that sometimes new version of Windows 10 are supported. Microsoft is probably experimenting with some compatibility rules that prevent or cause problems when updating the home user versions of Windows 10.

The update is available via Windows Update as well as in the Microsoft Update Catalog. There are different versions on Windows Update, depending on the update date, the last version being from August 2020. What I noticed: Microsoft lists the files changed by the update in the KB article. In Windows 10 versions 1507, 1511, 1607, 1703, 1709 and 1803 the update date is June 2020 and much more files are changed than in newer Windows 10 versions.

Please note that Microsoft is not distributing this update in corporate environments, but only to consumers running Windows 10. So this update will never be offered on WSUS. So I interpret it to mean that this update is intended to override any measures that private users take to block updates. Additionally the update may free up enough space on the system drive to run updates and function updates. Microsoft may also test certain things before a Windows 10 update or feature update is rolled out globally.

What you should know about the update

The update intervenes very deeply in the existing Windows 10 installation, cleans up update blockers set by the user, creates free space on the system drive if necessary, resets the network connection and more. More details about this cyclically released update can be found in the article Windows 10: Update KB4023057 re-released (02/14/2019). Another special feature is that this update is installed as an app and may cause installation errors (see my older blog post Windows 10: Update KB4023057 re-released (01/16/2019)).

Similar articles:
Windows 10: Update KB4023057 released (Dec. 7, 2018)
Windows 10 reliability update KB4023057 (02/08/2018)
Windows 10: Update KB4023057 re-released
Windows 10 Updates KB4295110/KB4023057 (08/09/2018)
Windows 10: Update KB4023057
Windows 10: What is REMSH.exe for?
Windows 10: Update KB4023057 released (Sept. 6, 2018)
Windows 10: What are Rempl.exe, Remsh.exe, WaaSMedic.exe?
Windows 10: Update KB4023057 re-released (01/16/2019)

[German]Short message for users of Windows 10 version 2004, who are interested in the upcoming version 20H2 (autumn 2020) Microsoft has updated the so-called Enablement Update KB4562830, which is used to switch to Windows 10 20H2.

Enablement Update KB4562830

The update KB4562830 for Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Version 2004) is a package that unlocks the features of the Windows 10 20H2 expected in autumn. The so-called Enablement Update KB4562830 is not freely available, as it is currently only tested with Windows insiders.

But the colleagues of deskmodder.de have published some information here. The Enablement Package (KB4562830) was updated again on August 26th, 2020. It now contains the new Chromium Microsoft Edge version 84.0.522.52 and the package is based on 19041.479 (10.0.1.2).

If you are using Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Version 2004), you can install the Enablement Package (KB4562830) and get Windows 10 20H2. The Enablement Package (KB4562830) can be downloaded from deskmodder.de here. 

Background: Enablement Updates

For blog readers who are perhaps not so familiar with the subject, here are some explanations. Microsoft publishes two function updates every year, one in spring and one in autumn. In the past, these releases were released as function updates for a long time – with the result that a fat package of several gigabytes had to be downloaded and installed from the Microsoft servers. In the process, Windows 10 was completely replaced.

Since 2019, however, Microsoft has been trying to roll out the autumn update for Windows 10 as a ‘small update’. For the first time, this was done with the 190x versions of Windows 10. The spring update (Windows 10 version 1903) came – in the old familiar manner – as a full function update. But the autumn update (Windows 10 version 1909) was realized as a ‘small function update’. The code for the Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 is the same – even common updates are used. Instead of downloading gigabytes of code for a function update, Windows 10 version 1909 was made available as an ‘enablement update’. A small update package of about 500 kByte simply changes the version.

The same is done with Windows 10 version 2004. With the update KB4562830, Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Version 2004) is changed to the autumn function update, currently called Windows 10 20H2. So the update virtually only releases the 20H2 functions contained in Windows 10 Version 2004.

Similar articles:
Windows 10 V2004: Microsoft started to add 20H2 features
Windows 10: Is Microsoft planning yearly feature updates?
Windows 10: 20H2 Autumn-Update for Insider released
Windows 10: 20H2 offered for Enterpris Insiders and in Release Preview Channel