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Microsoft Windows IT

Microsoft Begins Forcing Windows 24H2 Updates on PCs (pcworld.com) 55

Posted by msmash from the nowhere-to-hide dept.
Microsoft began mandatory rollouts of the Windows 11 2024 Update (24H2) for eligible devices running Home and Pro editions, the company announced on its Windows 11 issues page. The update, which Microsoft describes as a "full code swap," requires longer installation times, with users reporting processes exceeding an hour.

While users can briefly postpone the installation, the company is now pushing updates to mainstream users not managed by IT departments. The 24H2 update introduces USB4's 80Gbps support, Bluetooth LE Audio for hearing aids, and enhanced Energy Saver controls.

Microsoft Begins Forcing Windows 24H2 Updates on PCs More | Reply

Microsoft Begins Forcing Windows 24H2 Updates on PCs

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  • Thankfully no forced upgrade of my win10 device. Guess not being able to install win11 is more of a feature than a bug!

  • Does Starkey know about this? I have an app on my (Android) phone for them, but they aren't recognised by my (Win11) PC

    Oh, apparantly I am only running 23H2

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rossdee ( 243626 )

      While we are talking about it, what crap is in 24H2 that we don't want (Recall? CoPilot?)

      • No to either, the former requires specific hardware and opt in, and the latter is an app. Keep looking, I'm sure you'll find some reason you want to block the upgrade.

        • Keep looking, I'm sure you'll find some reason you want to block the upgrade.

          Because it's Windows. 24H2 has a mountain of bugs in it which are not fixed. Microsoft is shoving it out onto people and letting them be the guine pigs. That's reason enough to block it.

  • Not Me (Score:2)

    by JBMcB ( 73720 )

    I saw 24H2 was available a couple of months ago on the update page, but then went away. I'm guessing because it's I have a scanner, and apparently something broke scanners in H2. Still not showing available.

  • Windows 11 is getting constant updates, while Windows 10 gets abandoned and left to rot in October unless you pay for ESU or LTSC.

    • Re:The two update tracks (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Calydor ( 739835 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @02:51PM (#65097343)

      Windows 11 gets hour-long updates while Windows 10 lets you just do your shit (mostly) uninterrupted.

      • Windows 11 gets hour-long updates while Windows 10 lets you just do your shit (mostly) uninterrupted.

        Errr I'm not sure what kind of broken drive you have, but I've never seen a Windows 11 update last more than about 5 minutes. Windows 11's update system is identical to Windows 10's. Most of the changes are made in the background of a running system with minimal changes pending a reboot. It was a scheme introduced about half way through Windows 10's life.

        Even the switch from Windows 10 to Windows 11 only took a few minutes. I'd be running some serious tests on your storage if I were you. It sounds like some

    • Except that the way versions work, Windows 11 *is* the update to Windows 10. You may not like it because someone slapped an arbitrary name on it and defaulted the task bar to centre-justified, but Windows 10 received only one final update after Windows 11 was released, and that only because that update cleared out the backlog of changes from the insider version.

  • Microsoft Begins Forcing Windows 24H2 Updates on PCs

    Um, who owns the PC?

    I get it's their OS, but people should be able to decide if they want to upgrade, etc... and MS is then free to not support them until they do.

    Luckily, my PCs won't (officially) run Windows 11, even if I wanted that, which I don't.
    Am in the process of switching from my Windows 10 system to my Linux Mint 22 (Cinnamon) system full time...

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

      Hopefully not the idiot running outdated insecure software.

      Look I get it, you want full control. But the early 00s showed us exactly what that looks like, and from a security perspective it was a disaster. Mandatory updates and security patches have all but eliminated wormable malware. Forget lack of support, software should have a kill switch which blasts it off the internet if you decide to not update it for a while.

      But then I also think anti-vaxxers should be ejected from society and forced to live on an

      • ...software should have a kill switch which blasts it off the internet...

        CrowdStrike had a pretty good kill switch to blast devices off the internet! ;)

      • I remember those days.

        Unpatched PCs infected with a certain worm (ILOVEYOU). Booting into safe mode, logging in as the local Administrator, copying the patch file from the CD, applying it, rebooting into user mode... for each of the thousands of PCs in the company...one...at...a...time.

        There is a reason automated updates are pushed so hard in modern systems. Users do not want to interrupt what they are doing to update -so they don't, until the whole thing crashes down on them and takes out everyone nearby

        • Both extremes are problematic.

          Those who never update and never will do serve as attack vectors and the masses for bot networks.

          Forced updates, interrupting long-running processes, and incompatible systems also cost the world many billion dollars every year.

          Microsoft gives the option to bigger corporations since they know the masters of their income. Companies with sufficiently expensive licenses can pick among updates, disable them for certain machines, schedule updates to use manually selected times on

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by HiThere ( 15173 )

            Around 1998 I decided my extreme option was to switch to Red Hat. Unfortunately they cancelled the professional edition so I switched to Debian potato. I've been (mostly) on Debian ever since (with occasional trials of other distributions).

            OTOH, I do upgrade my system quite regularly. But not with MSWindows.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ebunga ( 95613 )

      The companies that pay microsoft to install shovelware or at least links in your start menu own the PC, which includes Microsoft's 365 division.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by azander ( 786903 )

      Wish I could. I have a "RSA Security Plugin" for Edge, from one of my service lookup partners that ONLY, and I do mean ONLY, supports Windows 11. I normally run Linux Mint as well (Currently on 21.x while I fight with Windows 11). I told them I prefer Linux or Mac. They don't support either as they "are not secure." I don't know what they are thinking, but they are much more secure, out of the box, than Windows 11.

      I even tried it on Windows 11 in a VirtualBox VM on Linux and it said no, it won't run as

  • Upgrade Failures for 24H2 Widespread (Score:3)

    by JakFrost ( 139885 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @02:41PM (#65097311)

    I've been trying to upgrade on my new work laptop for about 2-months now and the upgrade fails for various reasons. Corrupt upgrade files, update service is shutting down, Dell Protection Engine (DPE) unsupported v11.7 and needs v11.10.1.1, upgrade rolling back automatically after reboot, error codes up the wazzu requiring manual intervention and remediations.

    Carbon Black (formerly Bit9) antivirus that the organization chose with it's crowd-sourced inter-client file hash value detection and approval model keep blocking critical update files in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribition folder or the C:\~Windows.bt\ temporary install folder like DismHistory.exe and other files. Bad product, too slow to learn about new files. Badly configured in-house by Junior Cyber In-Security _anal_c_ysts [sic].

    It's a shit-show trying to even get this to work. It'll be a shit-show after it's installed to all the things it breaks or changes.

    Microsoft's Quality Assurance and testing now sucks so bad and getting worse, that every few updates we deal with regressions at work and we carefully push out updates in a tiered mode for computers and servers especially because we still catch breakages a few times a year affecting our environments.

    Microsoft is pushing AI now on every product instead of Security so we're about to get shafted with more Artificial Stupidity.

    Windows 11 forced updates in October will push a lot of people off Windows at home, but Microsoft doesn't care because corporate is their real environment now after 30-years of vendor lock-in and OS monopoly.

    • We got a new machine last year, before 24H2 came out. Installed Win11 from USB, all per Microsoft. Trying to install 24H2, it says it cannot update the system reserved partition. Microsoft's advice is to mount the reserved partition and remove some font files. WTF? Why doesn't your default install do the right thing rather than leave one in a bad spot for next time? How could I possibly know to make my reserved partition and make it bigger?

  • "The update, which Microsoft describes as a "full code swap," requires longer installation times, with users reporting processes exceeding an hour."

    I can update my Linux system completely in half an hour or less. Usually it's under 20 minutes.

    How does Microsoft make it take so long?

  • antiX Linux [antixlinux.com]: “Proudly anti-fascist "antiX Magic" in an environment suitable for old and new computers.”

  • >"The update, which Microsoft describes as a "full code swap," requires longer installation times, with users reporting processes exceeding an hour."

    Wow.

    Ironically, I just today updated my home desktop from Linux Mint 20.0 to 20.1 with "only" 300Mb/s internet. It took exactly 2 minutes. Although I did have to reboot for the new kernel and drivers, which added another 12 seconds.

    I did my laptop last night, on WiFi- I didn't time that one, but I think it took about 3 minutes.

  • Win7 Forever! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by abulafia ( 7826 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @03:49PM (#65097499)
    The only copy of Windows I have at home is Windows 7.

    It runs in a VM, and has (perpetual licensed) copies of design and machining software I use. It gets no network access.

    Running modern versions of that stuff costs over $1k/year in subscriptions. I keep a pristine copy of the image that hasn't booted since sometime around 2012, just in case.

  • Still struggling to get Bluetooth LE audio working with hearing aids despite this update. Intel AX211 Wifi/bluetooth.

  • This might actually constitute a legal offence, as you are forbidden from doing things which interfere with the lawful use by lawful users of the system.

    If it bricks the computer, it would unmistakably meet the technical requirements.

    Whether the courts would agree is another matter, given the EULA, but it would make for an interesting test case.

    • I'd like to see anyone try and make that case. Sure rights and all, but it would sound incredibly stupid, especially given that mandatory security updates have been a thing for a decade now, not just on Windows, but on mobile platforms as well.

    • Your computer is not bricked if the operating system refuses to load. Your computer is bricked when you turn it on and and it won't POST.

  • long ago (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Long ago I forced myself on your mom. Now look at you.

  • The HP Reverb G2 being one of them. Users have to stay on the old version of Windows or their headsets will stop working due to Windows Mixed Reality being killed off,

    This forced thing should be interesting,

  • I know of devices at my work where they still can't print due to usb issues with it, along with also connecting to smart boards that version windows machines can't drive a image, sound or touch. Fall update is still broken, which is why our tech team blocked it, after it started to run problems yet many devices were not rolled back, so they still have issues.

  • Win 11 24H2 is *still* highly problematic. I strongly recommend that if you install Win 11, install 23H2 instead of 24H2.

    And here's a batch script to lock your Windows release (23H2 or even older releases) and block Microsoft from auto-updating to a new release.

    Just change the line:

    set release-level=23H2

    To whatever release level you want to "lock".

    Someone else here mentioned disabling your TPM module in your BIOS as well -- that should work in theory. (It certainly will block any Win

    • Someone else here mentioned disabling your TPM module in your BIOS as well -- that should work in theory. (It certainly will block any Windows 10 --> 11 upgrades.)

      Make sure you do everything as Administrator, unauthenticated too as well. I can send you instructions if you like.

  • After getting Win11 for Arm on an M4 Max Macbook and the development environment working, the shoved this in my mouth.

    Result was over an hour load time for my dev environment. I uninstalled and, eventually, the load time took 15 minutes. Then, it loaded almost immediately.

    Backed up the VM.

    Next day, they shoved it down my throat again.
    Another serious load time issue. But, now its running fine.

    Wonder if its their Antivirus scanning everything before first run!

    Andâ¦noâ¦.i did not enjoy h

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