You and Me drinking 1803 Windows

[Geek-9pm]

Did you drink it? I did and my PC got very sick.

Mind you, I am bad about makings notes. But this is how I remember it.

I tried several times to put the April Windows 10 version on two PCs I own. It was a disaster and I got to thinking it must be my own fault. Surely Microsoft would not release something so buggy and unable to fix itself.

After a lot of effort, I did get 1803 to work. Only to get a note that it was already out of date and had to be upgraded. Strange, how can a new version need an update?

The bad thing is that I did not write down the exact build number. In a state of panic I got an old version called the 1709 and it worked just fine.  That night be what I had earlier. I am not sure, in my push to eliminate things I wiped a spare HDD and did a fresh install.

So now I am in June 2018 and installed used a version of Windows 10 from last year,  the 1709. It seemed to be stable. It got some updates and was working fine.

Guess what? Everything was fin on Sunday night. It said I am up to date.

On Monday I  turned on the PC  and after some surfing and shut is down. The I turned it back on and did some research and left the PC on while I took a nap. I had to leave the house for a netting, but could not turn off the PC because there was another update coming. A big one.

Well, when I came back home and checked my PC,it now has 1803. But a new build of 1803. Yes, while I was not looking Microsoft overwrote my 1709 with a new version of 1803. I was somewhat confused.

Now you tell me your story. Did you try 1803? Was it good? 

[BC_Programmer]

If you don't want the latest Insider builds, you should leave Insider Preview. You frequently complain that your system keeps getting upgraded but the only reason you would get "upgraded" beyond 1803 is because you are part of an insider channel.

Leaving the Insider Channel requires turning it off, then reinstalling a Consumer release of Windows. You've managed the latter something like 6 times but somehow you've seemingly overlooked the former each time, resulting in your system eventually being "caught up" with insider leaving you to your complaints.

I have 1803 on two computers and another two systems running the Insider Preview and all of them have worked more or less fine across all four of them.

[Mark.]

A couple of weekends ago I got the ISO image for 1803 and installed it on 4 of the desktops in the house, 4 laptops and 4 test rigs I have.
only mine gave me grief due to the unsupported Intel 600P NVMe SSD it has, so instead of waiting on either Intel or MS to figure that one out, I swapped it to a Samsung EVO SSD and all went well.
so 12 PC's over two days without any installation hurdles, just one hardware incompatibility - pretty happy with that.

[Salmon Trout]

You don't have to submit to any Windows upgrade or update if you don't want to, I thought. Insider or not. You can adjust your settings, isn't that right?

[DaveLembke]

1803 on 2 systems and no issues found yet and running a mixture of new and old hardware in the 2 builds.

- AMD Athlon 64 4450B 2.3Ghz Dual Core overclocked to 2.53Ghz and 4GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM with a Toshiba 120GB SATA II SSD with Biostar AM2+ motherboard and Geforce 9800 GT 512MB video card.

- AMD A8-5545m 1.7Ghz Quad Core with 2.7Ghz turbo 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz with Maxtor 500GB HDD and Biostar ITX motherboard with integrated GPU in the A8's APU.

[soybean]

You don't have to submit to any Windows upgrade or update if you don't want to, I thought. Insider or not. You can adjust your settings, isn't that right?

Windows Insiders have some control over updates.  You can choose whether to get them at a Slow pace or a Fast pace.  You also have a choice of 3 options for what is actually contained in updates: 1) Just fixes, apps, and drivers, 2) Active development of Windows, or 3) Skip ahead to the next Windows release. 

[Salmon Trout]

I have been in the Insider program since 2015, before the Windows 10 public release, and I have had upwards of 12 builds on my Dell laptop and I have never, ever had a build install except when I chose to. Likewise Windows Updates on mainstream retail Windows.

[BC_Programmer]

Windows 10 Pro has Group Policies that allow you to decide when Updates and upgrades occur. If you set "Configure Windows Updates" then you still have control over specifically when, or even if, a system get's upgrades, even on insider. I use the setting to prevent surprises. The setting is more or less equivalent to what was available in previous releases of Windows.


Windows 10 Home is far more limited in the control is gives the user. And leaves only a few options in terms of preventing updates. You can defer for up to 35 days, set your connection as metered to trick windows into not updating, Disable the Windows Update Service - etc. However, Microsoft has gone out of their way to make it quite an ordeal- without exhaustively disabling scheduled tasks and services, a Home system will eventually update and upgrade itself, as there are several scheduled tasks for "Server initiated healing" which effectively 'repair' things like services services and other tasks being disabled, Windows Update among them. It performs these repairs slowly, over time, seemingly in order to avoid detection, as well. The Tasks themselves typically have very high privileges and cannot always be edited even with administrator permissions. I had a heck of a time removing many of them even on Pro.

[Geek-9pm]

Thanks. I would never have thought the Home version was less controllable.
This issues were with the home version.

[Salmon Trout]

I would never have thought the Home version was less controllable.

Home or 'starter' versions tend to be severely cut-down or restricted in a number of areas. For one thing, they are intended for new users, who may be intimidated by too many configuration options, and for another, Microsoft wants your upgrade license money.

[patio]

only mine gave me grief due to the unsupported Intel 600P NVMe SSD it has, so instead of waiting on either Intel or MS to figure that one out, I swapped it to a Samsung EVO SSD and all went well.
so 12 PC's over two days without any installation hurdles, just one hardware incompatibility - pretty happy with that.
Modify message

This is the last thing Geek has to worry about...newer equipment...just sayin.

[Geek-9pm]

This is the last thing Geek has to worry about...newer equipment...just sayin.

Right! I may never, ever buy a SSD after reading about other people's horror stories. Maybe in seven years Microsoft will be up to speed. 

[patio]

Nothin wrong with SSD's...nothin MS is to blame for...as per usual.

[Salmon Trout]

I have been using 2 SSDs in 2 PCs for the last 3 years. No problems at all. One Samsung Evo, one Sandisk Ultra.

[patio]

Not sure who i'm quoting but..."it ain't the equipment...it's the operator"...

[BC_Programmer]

Right! I may never, ever buy a SSD after reading about other people's horror stories. Maybe in seven years Microsoft will be up to speed. 

You can find "horror stories" about pretty much any device. Your own posts are arguably a "horror story" with regards to trying to use a Dell Optiplex 755.

Besides, the issues with the SSD drives were with the latest generation of NVMe storage drives. Even then, it only affected a few specific models.

"Horror Stories" exist because they make a good story, and that is because they are the exception. There weren't articles written for the countless models, brands, and types of SSD drives that have no issues with Win10 because that's the expected behaviour. "Man buys SanDisk SSD and it works as expected and to his satisfaction" just isn't an eye-catching tech headline.