Windows 10 Update Mandatory
Windows 10 home 1511 mandatory upgrade This upgrade, that is unstoppable, keeps failing every time it runs (just says something went wrong!)- so far it has failed. Hello, I have issues getting the Windows 10 servicing to work from SCCM. Same problem in both my test and production environment. Producion = SCCM 1602 Test = SCCM 1606 Issue is that all of the updates listed under 'Software Library Windows 10 Servicing All Windows 10 Updates' have Required = 0. Thanks alot Jack! This was the cause of the problem.
It's a week where Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away. On the plus side, it has caved on the mandatory app updates for home users and will allow them to opt out. On the down side, it has back-rolled some of the privacy-intrusive parts of Windows 10 to its older operating systems.
The mandatory updates were for both the OS and hardware drivers as well as Windows Store app updates. This only applied to home users, business users were exempt. It wasn't really an unheard-of move. Gamers live with that constantly, especially online gamers. You're getting the update whether you want it or not.
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Plus, you couldn't blame Microsoft for forcing people because unpatched Windows systems were usually where all the botnets and other malware were found, so they grew impatient with counting on Windows Update to do it for people.
But there were downsides, like the endless reboot loops people became stuck in when applying a bad patch. So Microsoft relented, but curiously it didn't tell anyone. Paul Thurrott went digging through a patch (which Microsoft does not detail any more) and found KB3081448, which said only that it 'includes improvements to enhance the functionality of Windows 10.'
Thurrott noticed that there was a toggle for turning automatic app updates on and off. The On/Off toggle was grayed-out prior to the fix. He theorized that maybe it was simply a bug that was supposed to be working in prior builds.
Not all the news is positive. GHacks.net discovered three recent updates to Windows 7 and 8 that add the same kind of information and data gathering found on Windows 10 to those older operating systems. There was a fourth, but it was replaced by one of the three. They are:
- KB3068708: Described as 'This update introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices. By applying this service, you can add benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded. The update also supports applications that are subscribed to Visual Studio Application Insights.'
- KB3075249: Described as 'This article describes an update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.' Consent.exe is the User Account Control (UAC) feature that asks your approval for disk access.
- KB3080149: Described as 'This package updates the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices. This service provides benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded. The update also supports applications that are subscribed to Visual Studio Application Insights.'
Brad Chacos over at PC World has a very good deep dive on what they do and how to disable them, which is not easy.
It's rather telling that these updates are a priority for Windows 7, which is six years old and has not had any significant additions in years. Of all the things to add to Windows 7, they chose this. And if you look at Chacos' piece, it's clear this was done surreptitiously and without any attention.
A Microsoft spokesperson issued a statement, but it didn't tell us much.
'This KB was posted in May related to updates to the diagnostics service for Windows 7 & 8.1 systems that participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), which is an opt-in, optional program. Our use of CEIP data to help improve and diagnose Windows 7 and 8.1 products has not changed from what is described in the privacy statements for those versions of the operating system. For Windows 8.1, CEIP is described in the Feature Supplement in the 'Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program' section.'
Stop Windows 10 Mandatory Update
If you want to run Windows 10 Home then you will have to agree to Microsoft's terms, and those now state that you agree to have updates automatically installed on your system.
Windows 10 Update Problems
You're agreeing to this when you accept the terms of the licensing agreement (you do read the EULA, right? Right?). Specifically [emphasis added]:
More Windows 10
'Updates. The software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice.'
In fact, the only say in the matter you'll get is when your system is rebooted -- you'll be able to choose between an automatic reboot, or a reboot at a time that's convenient for you.
On the whole, I think that this is a great idea. Timely installation of operating system updates is one of the cornerstones to keeping a system safe and secure. The longer a system goes without receiving updates, the more at risk it becomes. Given that the default option for Windows is to download and install updates automatically, it's a safe bet to say that this is how most 'Joe and Jane Average' users have their systems configured, so most people will never notice the change.
That said, it's nice to have an option. After all, Microsoft has been known to push out havoc-inducing updates. Two updates that I remember causing me grief over the past year or so were KB3033929 and KB3004394. Toxic updates have a special knack of making you hate your life, and it was nice to have the ability to quarantine problematic updates and prevent them from being installed onto all the machines over at the PC Doc HQ. For the most important PCs I like to let others shake out the update bugs for a few days before I apply the patches, just in case.
Under Windows 10 Home, that won't be an option.
Another problem I have with automatic updating is that it could become a conduit for offloading junkware onto users.
Microsoft does have some history with regards to this practice. Gmail keeps freezing 2019. Take, for example, KB2673774 which delivered a Bing toolbar to users, and KB2876229 which pushed Skype to users. Both were packaged as 'optional' updates, which means that they weren't downloaded and installed automatically, but both are examples of what Microsoft has in the past tried to push to users via Windows Update.
More recently, Microsoft used KB3035583, first released as an 'optional' update before being rereleased as 'important,' to push Windows 10 update nag messages to users. Microsoft reserves the 'important' category for updates that 'help keep your computer more secure and reliable, protecting your computer and your privacy,' claiming that '[t]hese updates include security and critical updates, as well as reliability improvements.' It's certainly debatable whether KB3035583 fell into that category.
Since it's not just security updates that Microsoft is going to be pushing out to Windows 10 users but feature updates too, users will have to trust Microsoft to exercise good judgment as to what it pushes down the pipes to end users.
Home Updates
Windows 10 Pro users get a bit more control over their systems, and will be able to switch over to the Current Branch for Business (CBB) version of Windows 10, which will allow them to delay feature updates. However, delaying for too long will result in security updates also being blocked.
The only Windows 10 users who will get complete control over updates are those running Windows 10 Enterprise who opt for Long Term Servicing (LTS).
VR and AR
I want to reiterate that I'm not saying that automatic updates are a bad thing. On the whole this is a good move that will help to make us all safer, regardless of what team colors we support. I'm also not accusing Microsoft of changing the EULA so it can be shady and push endless junkware at users. However, I am hoping that:
- The testing of patches has been improved given that many hundreds of millions of users won't be able to opt out or block a toxic update.
- Microsoft will show restraint in what it pushes down the pipes to users. Toolbars and similar assorted junk are not cool.
- Microsoft will be conscious of those on bandwidth-limited connections.
I know that 'Windows-as-a-service' is Microsoft's latest thing, but as we saw with Windows 8, trying to shoehorn ideology ahead of the end user experience (in that instance it was the touch-first user interface) is a recipe for unhappy users. And unhappy users wouldn't be good for Microsoft's ambitions to have Windows 10 on a billion devices within a few years.
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