Deployment – Win10.Guru

Create a custom Windows ISO image

November 4, 2020, Comments Off

I wrote last week about adding / enabling or removing / disabling Windows optional features on USB-based install media. You can read that story here: PS Scripting – USB install media: Add or Remove Windows Features But, what to do when you wish to do the same using an ISO image? No problem: simply mount…

The Jetway NF9G-QM77 is surprisingly robust and capable

Where 1909 Failed, 20H2 Succeeds

October 22, 2020, 3 Comments

Having tried and failed to upgrade my 2012 vintage mini-ITX PC (Jetway NF9G-QM77 mobo, intel i7 2630QM CPU, etc.) from 1909 to 2004, I expected a forced upgrade to 20H2 to fail. To my surprise and delight, it worked! Here’s the story…

Front & rear views, with all ports labelled.

New PC Coming to Chez Tittel

October 21, 2020, Comments Off

As my oldest PC starts going a little wonky on me (I’ve not been able to upgrade it since Version 1909), I order a replacement for delivery on November 10. It’s a Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro with an i7, 16 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD. Should make a nice compact desktop for everyday computing.

Getting to this version via WU isn't happening on any of my 5 production PCs right now.

20H2 Update Is Out … Sort Of …

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When news emerges that the official 20H2 release is available through Windows Update, I figure that at least ONE of my 5 version 2004 PCs will get the update offer. None of them qualify, to my great frustration. For me, it’s now a waiting game…

For most most update history items, there's an associated KB article.

Interesting New Way to Access MS KB Articles

October 16, 2020, Comments Off

Microsoft creates a new, regular and predictable URL structure to let admins and users jump straight to any Knowledge Base (KB) item online. Here are the details…

To get RDP to work, I must turn on public folder sharing and turn off password protected sharing.

Intermittent Win10 Issues Pose Challenges to Everybody

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For the past six months, each new Dev Channel release has me asking “Will RDP work for this release on my Lenovo X220 Tablet?” Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. Let me explain (and share a quick fix)…

On Patch Tuesday, we get a CU but no 20H2 GA release.

Where’s the 20H2 GA Release?

October 14, 2020, Comments Off

Patch Tuesday comes and goes without a generally available 20H2 upgrade. This raises the questions: Where is it? When will it drop? Only time will tell, because Microsoft isn’t saying…

It took three tries before this Dev Channel install updated to minor build 1005.

Interesting Issues Getting Dev Channel to Build 1005

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Weird! Though Reliability Monitor tells me my first two update attempts with KB4586238 succeeded, the minor build number fails to increment. Only after running the Update Troubleshooter and trying again, does the build increase to 20231.1005. Truly, third time’s the charm!

Optional Updates offers KB4577063 which takes 2004 to build 19041.546

Other Optional Updates: Worth Grabbing?

October 2, 2020, 1 Comment

One day after I caution against installer Optional driver updates that WU may offer, I learn that other optional updates cannot be reasonably disregarded. These “other updates” are worth watching, and at least some are worth installing, too.

How to make a custom WinPE

September 30, 2020, Comments Off

Quoting from the Microsoft Docs, the Windows Preinstallatation Environment, aka WinPE for short, is “a small operating system used to install, deploy, and repair Windows 10 for desktop editions (Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education), Windows Server, and other Windows operating systems.” Yesterday (September 29, 2020), I wrote about a WinPE based Windows installation / deployment…