chrisinth

Well, if you don't know yet, Microsoft have taken this a step further and released their first official preview version of Windows 11, build 22000.51 (the leaked version was build 21996.1) in their Windows Insider program. This has a lot of additional changes to the leaked version, but is still not the complete package. It hasn't got the ability to run .apks as yet for example. When running winver on this, the version comes up as 21H2 (which is a W10 reference) even though it shows as W11.

No doubt this build will be available for download in the usual places soon, and if you are in the Insider program, it is possible to download the ISO from there. The link below is to an updated tour of the latest features in this build:

Again, as I said in an earlier post, run this on a virtual platform or on a spare computer/laptop as it will be buggy.

Just as a note, I downloaded the ISO last night and have installed it in VMWare without a problem. Even got it activated and setup with a local account instead of the MS account they want you to use for login. The only thing that I see that is affected by the local account is that you can't use the wigets button on the taskbar (I just unpinned it), but there are probably more functions that need the MS sign-on to run. Installed all my usual software (Office 2019, Foxit Phantom, CorelDraw, etc) to confirm they would install and activate; no problems at all.

Regarding VMWare, when installing, if anyone is planning to do this, for operating type use Windows 10 x64, that works. There is obviously no W11 to chose, and I'm not sure if selecting Other would work.

In all honesty, I'm pretty sure this (very early) release is still on W10 code and is only showing the new planned UI. Based on this experience, I won't be upgrading for quite a while, probably September 2025 just before the end of support on W10.

1 hour ago, shdmn said:

There is no money to be made in that.  I was always very skeptical of the Win10 forever idea. I figured the bean counters would try get that changed eventually.

I have a feeling that Windows 11 (if that is indeed what they call it) will roll out like Win 10; free upgrades to previous operating systems. Even though the 'leaked' version is marked as Dev, some people have already upgraded W7 to W11 from the ISO.

The official announcement is on the 24th June (this Thursday), so they should have something to say then. They have already marked Windows 10 end of support as October 2025, so something is going to happen.

This is apparently a leaked version from MS. Even if it wasn't only available through the regular torrent sites, I would advise running this either on a virtual platform or a spare computer; definitely not your go-to machine.

Looking at some reviews, this "restricted" release has mostly UI changes/improvements that would change it from the latest W10 21H1 version. There are more changes to come before release.

1 hour ago, lelapin said:

Switched on laptop this morning and screen showed that there was an update taking place. Lasted more than an hour and removed all my various passwords that had been saved. I must have entered or remembered my hotmail password incorrectly, as after trying a few times it has blocked  me and said I must try again tomorrow.

Anyone else had a similar experience recently.

Hi OP, a bit more information is needed. Which version of W10 are you running and what was the KB number of the update/upgrade? To find the version, open Search, type in winver and enter. You will get a screen like this, Fig.01:

To find a list of updates, go into Control Panel\Programs and Features and click on installed updates. You will see something like this, Fig.02 (boxed KB for later reference):

You can also see your updates through: Settings\Update & Security\Windows Update and click on View Update History; you will see something like this, Fig.03:

Both these locations give you the option of uninstalling updates (once they have been identified as problem causing). Note there is a difference between updates and Feature updates.

Quick heads-up for anyone running W10 21H1 and have come across problems after recent updates.

Problem 1: After installing KB5003637 (this installs the new feature "News and Interests" in the system icons on the taskbar) and rebooting (on two of my notebooks) I lost all the system icons on the taskbar when opening any application. This happened everytime even with the new feature turned off.

Problem 2: One of the staff asked me to look at her PC where her Office 365 Outlook couldn't open any previewers (neither office or pdf previewers) for her attachments, nor could she save the attachments to either local disk, network or NAS locations. I managed to resolve this for her by running a script to change registry entries, but after reboot, even though her Outlook was running normally, her taskbar had now frozen. Before starting troubleshooting with sfc /scannow, I decided to look at her updates, as she had mentioned an update the previous evening when shutting down.

In both cases, uninstalling KB5003637 worked and all machines are running normally. I have also paused updates for 7 days on these machines to let MS get their act together. I know this isn't ideal, but I would like to relay this as a heads up.

While quickly researching this on different forums, I saw reference to different KB's being uninstalled and working for them; uninstalling KB5003637 worked for me.

1 minute ago, KannikaP said:

Slow machines then. Mine took less than 5 minutes with re-boot. i5, 8GB RAM, SSD.

I should have added the coffee time with that as well as the reboots.....................

6 minutes ago, Excel said:

Has this upgrade for a while now

Yep, a few people already have it. 20H2 was released (I think) in about October last year, but the quality update section on most computers for it were inactive. Microsoft have now lifted the blocks to this.

This is a "just for info" post. Microsoft this week have lifted all the blocks for the 20H2 upgrade for W10. This means that the upgrade is available to everybody with a machine that has compatible hardware and more importantly, wants to do the upgrade. I believe this rollout started a couple of days ago.

Note that it isn't a necessary requirement at the minute to do this, and is probably better if you delay for a while until any bugs that weren't sorted through the insider release(s), are. As said, the post is just FYI.

You will find it in Settings\Update & Security\Windows Update, in the feature update section. I have upgraded 8 machines today, 4 on the company network and 4 at home and haven't come across any issues (yet!). It isn't a big upgrade and I was averaging about 15/20 minutes for each machine, including reboot times. Obviously install times will differ depending on specs of individual machines.

If you're going for it, enjoy.

On 5/3/2021 at 11:27 PM, connda said:

Thanks much for the detailed instructions.  Just as an FYI, I was a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and technical lead for a Window server farm for a company with about 4000 employees before I retired.  I have 24 years in IT - 16 year of that working on Microsoft products.  I actually have a clue as to what I'm doing.  And in the last month I've done everything that everyone has mentioned plus more.

Being Ex-IT I like a Lessons Learned session for anyone who may have a similar problem in the future:
Epilogue:
I did get WIndows 10 20H2 installed.  On my Linux laptop running a VirtualBox VM. 
And, I'm pretty sure I now know what the primary issue was now too.  It always boiled down to failures during the reboot/restart/power-ups - just like the inability to boot to a USB containing Windows 10 20H2 whether on a FAT partition (Windows 10 Media Creator) or an NFTS partition (Rufus).  But I have about 15 other bootable efi USB that all boot without a problem.  So my SWAG (Scientific Wild-a**ed Guess) is that the Acer/InsydeH20/AMD combination isn't compatible with Windows 10 20H2, as I could upgrade to Win10 Feature upgrade 1909, but 20H2 was a feature too far.  However - with the hardware abstraction that can be accomplished with a VM managers (VirtualBox) it's a different story.  To make a long story short, the InsydeH20 is pre-set for VM optimization.
Ohhhh....s**t!
And stop.  I've just had an epiphany.  I've haven't been able to find much about the configuration setting in the Insyde Bios.  But I just stumbled across a clue.  I could get Win10_20H2 installed in a VM by disabling VM optimization.  In Intel the Bios has a switch like VTx/VTm/IVT or something like that.  In AMD it's VT-x/AMD-V - and the BIOS switch is "SVM" enabled/disabled (Found that clue in a BIOS configuration web-page that didn't even talk about the InsydeH20 v1.2 but a comment about virtualization in an AMD CPU).
So I reboot the Acer and looked at the BIOS.  Sure enough: SVM enabled.
So, disabled it, saved changes, and suddenly I can see all my Win10 20H2 efi USB that were not showing up before in the InsydeH20 Setup Utility under boot order.  I move the USB to the top and rebooted.  The USB is the one created using Windows Media Creator.  That one fits on a FAT (I believe) formatted USB as the installation for the various installations (Home/Pro - x32/x64 reside in the "install.esd" file which is "just" 4GB.  To do a DISM /RestoreHealth that doesn't work /Online, then you need to extract your versions/architecture from the "install.esd" file.  The USB booted, got some text indicating it was firing up the bootx64.efi bootloader but is now displaying the ACER splash-screen.  I kissed it good-night and I'm letting it grind.  If it's extracting the install.esd file it's gonna take awhile.  I'll check it in the morning.

I'm mildly optimistic.  This is more info than I've been working with in the last month of troubleshooting this problem.  I'll try a few more things and write them up, like another update from 1607 to 20H0 (I'll have to check if that's possible).  Gonna call it a night.

Glad to see you are making some progress with this. I assume you are doing (or at least trying to) a clean install?

One other thing you could try is to convert your install.esd to install.wim from your installation media and try it that way. Get rid of the versions you don't need as well. DISM is your go-to command path for the convert (or any numerous third party tools if you want to go that way). Whereas I haven't had an Intel/AMD issue (that I recognized) when doing a clean install, I have found that going back to .wim sometimes works. Another adventure you could try.

Hi Connda, just reading the comments on your thread, here is my tuppence worth (for what it's worth).

Comment from @eindhoven: "If you are simply running an upgrade install, there is no need to create installation media at all".

Correct, but an easier path to an upgrade is to go to https://www.microsoft.com/th-th/software-download/windows10 (translate this to English) and download the Update Wizard/Assistant from this link:

This will download Windows10Upgrade9252.exe (run this as Administrator)

Comment from @eindhoven: "I strongly suggest, before running any further upgrades to the device, to fix an SSD".

IMO, absolutely correct. There should be no reason to endure any sort of upgrade/install lasting as long as you are experiencing in 2021! With an SSD installed, it will take a fraction of this time for this task and all other tasks you perform.

My suggestions would be as follows:

1/ Make sure that you have backed up any data you want to keep (on all partitions). This should include your bookmarks in your browsers, etc if you aren't using a cloud sync system.

2/ Upgrade: as suggested above.

3/ Changing from HDD to SSD: You have the choice here to clone your HDD to your new SSD, or to just do a straight changeout and do a clean install to the SSD. If you are cloning, I would suggest using either Macrium Reflect or EaseUS software as these are fairly straigh forward. Just remember to resize your partitions if using different size drives!

4/Format and clean install: Go to the same Microsoft site, https://www.microsoft.com/th-th/software-download/windows10 but this time download the creation tool (this will be MediaCreationTool20H2.exe) from this link: 

When the tool has downloaded, run this as Administrator and follow the below snaps to let Microsoft write the USB according to your system. You also have the choice of downloading the ISO file if you wish and make your own USB using Rufus or similar software if you want to modify the ISO or slipstream updates drivers or additional software.

Couple of final points Connda on your machine, assuming it is an Aspire 3 A315-31-COA7 (or similar)

a/ The BIOS shouldn't be a problem, however it is advisable to update to the latest release if you can.

b/ Shortcut keys should be F2 for the BIOS and F12 for the boot menu when you need them.

c/ With your laptop shutdown, If you are planning to do a clean install and want to get the boot order correct, plug in the "install USB" you have created, start your laptop and repeatedly press F2 on boot to get into the BIOS. Once the BIOS opens, navigate to the Boot tab and make sure the USB is showing. Using the F5/F6 keys, move the USB to the No.1 position, Save & Exit.

d/ If the USB is not showing, make sure secure boot is disabled.

e/ If the secure boot option is greyed out, you may have to password protect the BIOS; this is done through the Security tab. Once the BIOS is password protected, this will give you full control of the BIOS. This may not be necessary, but it is a nice tip if ever you have trouble making changes in the future....????   

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

People aged under 30 help caused the spike in COVID-19 cases Thailand is currently experiencing.

 

According to Department of Disease Control (DDC) chief Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, people aged between 20-29 who have active social lives and were in contact with lots of other people sparked the latest wave of infections.

 

Dr Opas also  said that increasingly members of entire families are becoming infected. 

I would agree that people under 30 probably had an input into the Covid hot-spots being created; this is generally the age group of those that enjoy partying. But to blame this group for the spike, is that correct?

It seems that some sort of deflection of blame is taking place here. It was not the under 30's that not only permitted Songkran travel but openly encouraged it, dispite the fact that the hot-spots were appearing all over the place (in containable areas).

So, IMHO, those that are pointing fingers & stating facts about a certain age group being responsible for the spike should take themselves into a dark room and have a serious conversation with themselves about who allowed the spread from containable areas to the rest of the kingdom.

When I read advice, from government, that those that have travelled to their original homes should stay there and work from that location, rather than travel back to their places of employment, says to me that someone has realized their mistakes and are now clutching at straws.

11 hours ago, prophet01 said:

@chrisinth

Appreciate your efforts. Unfortunately it was a non-starter as the starting point "Open Outlook" wasn't happening. All I could get onscreen was as above, shown below.

 

 

However, your mention of setting up a new profile prompted me to click on Options which asked me if I wanted to set up a new profile.

After that I was prompted for the email address and then password et voila. I can now access email via Outlook 365 on my lovely Surface Pro.

 

So thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

Yep, in hindsight I should have sent you direct to control panel/mail to set the new profile. Glad you got it done though.

The reason the initial reply was so long was to help yourself and others set up a new profile in Outlook as it is not commonly known (or rather used) as a troubleshooting step to rectify these sort of problems.

Again, glad I was of some help.

4 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

After all the above, I've just found the pdf and amended this for your reference.

Edit: just amended "ammended" (couldn't find the edit function hence the double post).

Quote

 

Create an Outlook profile.pdf 261.69 kB · 0 downloads

After all the above, I've just found the pdf and ammended this for your reference.

Create an Outlook profile.pdf

What the message is telling you is that Outlook cannot find your .ost (Profile). The easiest way to remedy this is to setup a new profile. If your not sure, I will try to give you a step-by-step (these are the same steps I gave to one of my users recently).

Hopefully this will talk you through setting up a new profile in Outlook.

Read your way through this procedure before changing anything so you understand (especially the last part). Might be an idea to do a System Restore before starting, up to you.

Step 1 - Open Outlook and click on File. Click on Account Settings.

Step 2 - From the dropdown, click on Manage Profiles at the bottom. (Alternatively, you can go straight to the Control Panel and open the Mail (Microsoft Outlook) module)

Step 3 - If your User Account Control is set the same as mine you will get this permission box pop up; click Yes.

Step 4 - The Mail setup box will appear, click on Show Profiles in Profiles.

Step 5 - Click Add to add a new profile.

Step 6 - As an example I am using Outlook-1 as the new profile name. once written, click OK.

Step 7 - The Add Account box will appear, fill in as shown below. Just complete the procedure and click Next until finished.

Step 8 - I'm not sure if you can do this already in Step 6, but if not go back to Manage Profiles and make sure that the new profile is in the "Always use this profile" selection. Click Apply, OK and restart Outlook.

20 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Back in July it was reported that Thailand had 209 test centres throughout the country. Should we reach the projected level of 18,000 per day, which I very much doubt, that will average out at 82 tests per centre per day.

 

I'm sure they can cope.

 

Sorry, I can't post the reference of the source because it was in the Bangkok Post, but it's easy enough to find.

Thats assuming that the infections will be equal throughout the nation. Thats not the way this virus works. The test centres in the hot zones will be maxed out.

On 10/22/2020 at 10:49 AM, david555 said:

i rolled back to previous and ethernet USB-C working again  in H2 was not  working ....

And after i installed new Edge separately and needed update some programs to work in extension in Edge , but working now  as in the Legacy Edge version they could not be installed as extension

Just as a side note reference the new Edge, they have removed the e-book reader from it. I know it probably doesn't affect many, but I did use it for some reference manuals in the .epub format (on the rare occasion).

1 hour ago, PFMills said:

Test is 95% accurate, 120 people, means 6 people could get the wrong result ... <deleted>

I don't know but a 95% accuracy with a result within 2 hours seems to be a bit of a reach.

That would be the pessimist in me though.

1 hour ago, Patts said:

Not a waste of time at all. If they simply assume the dogs have rabies the 6 children and 3 adults bitten by the dogs will have to go through a course very painful injections,,,,,,,possibly needlessly 

Regardless if the dog is suspected of having rabies or not, it is highly advised that anyone bitten by a soi (any) dog starts the anti-rabies course within 24 hours of being bitten. You really don't want to take the chance and end up dying from rabies, certainly not a pleasant way to go.