Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   windowscentral[.]com/microsoft/microsofts-surface-and-ai-event-a-massive-blunder-and-missed-opportunity

   neowin[.]net/news/microsoft-details-all-windows-11-23h2-features-it-starts-delivering-early-in-22h2-itself/

   At an event this week Microsoft announced a bunch of new features coming to Win11 on the 26th. Since many of these new features had been advertised as being part of the next version of Win11 [23H2], nearly everyone thought that meant Win11 23H2 would be released next Tuesday. It's Not. Microsoft's adding those features to existing copies of Win11 in an optional, 2nd update this month, and including them in the next Patch Tuesday update for anyone skipping the update next week. Why roll out the features a month early? According to Zac Bowden, it's because the Win11 version update expected in October is optional, while the next cumulative update is not. Microsoft is apparently eager to get their AI, and possibly [probably?] some new builtin advertising on *everyone's* PCs & laptops.

   Posted 7 months ago #
2. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   windowscentral[.]com/software-apps/windows-11/windows-11-version-23h2-new-features-release-date-changelog-2023-update

   windowscentral[.]com/software-apps/windows-11/is-your-device-getting-the-windows-11-2023-update-on-september-26-2023

   neowin[.]net/news/microsoft-releases-windows-11-kb5030310-build-226212361-moment-4-update/

   neowin[.]]net/news/windows-11-moment-4-update-is-now-available-for-download/

   The update is now available if you check for updates. You may not see all of the new Windows features initially -- they're all installed, but some portion is turned off until Microsoft activates them in the future. This is supposed to allow Microsoft to hold back or even revert changes based on compatibility issues with different hardware and software that show up in the telemetry data Win11 sends home. If you flip the switch on the Windows Update page to Get the latest updates... however, you should get most if not all the new features turned on. Caution -- when that switch is turned on Windows will automatically install the 2nd, optional update every month, so in the future you might want to turn it back off if you don't want to be bothered. The actual update to Win11 23H2 later this year *may* just turn on any remaining new features that haven't been activated yet, and increase the Windows version number, but there aren't many [& AFAIK no official] details. Win11 22H2 shows version 22621.2361 after the update -- 23H2's version = 22631.2261.

   A Win11 23H2 ISO is available to biz and Preview Version Insiders -- if you're enrolled as an Insider for any channel you can download it after logging into the Insider site. As expected it will not run to upgrade Win11 if the hardware requirements are not met. After mounting the ISO I copied the setup files and replaced Resources\ appraiserres.dll with a copy from Win10 1809 & it worked fine to upgrade a copy of Win11 in a non-hardware-compliant VM -- this was one of the first hacks I came across when Win11 was fairly new, and I just hung onto that copy of appraiserres.dll, but I've read of people just renaming a blank .txt file and that is supposed to work. And AFAIK this is the only way to upgrade Win11 versions prior to 22H2 on non-complaint hardware. If it's already running 22H2 OTOH today's update should install just fine.

   Today's update to *almost 23H2* appears to add 2GB to the Windows installation based on my hardware compliant Win11 VM -- I haven't done an image backup of my regular copy of Win11 yet, so that VM's all I have to go by. A VM's installed OS is stored on a Virtual Hard Disk [VHD], which is a single file that when mounted acts / behaves like a physical hard disk. A VHD may be a static size, so a VHD with 1GB of storage uses a single file that is about 1GB in size. Or a VHD may be dynamic, increasing in size as needed -- a 1GB dynamically expanding VHD might take up 5 or 6 MB initially, growing as you add files to it, up to the maximum of 1GB. I use dynamically expanding VHDs for my VMs, and after an update like today I shrink them back down, eliminating any free space [it's called compacting]. After today's update compacting the VHD resulted in a file that was just a tad over 2GB larger than the [compacted] VHD after October's Patch Tuesday.

   I'm terrible when it comes to Windows appearance &/or style -- far as I'm concerned Windows exists solely to run software, so I could care less about stuff like windows having rounded or square corners. So to be honest with you the only change I noticed after the update was another icon on the Taskbar for Copilot. I'm sure you can find rave reviews for whatever changes in File Explorer etc. if that interests you. The only functional changes I've seen so far is a slightly different GUI for Disk Mgr., and a notice in Notepad that it will now save contents automatically, and open where you left off if closed. Settings got a few additions, but most are meh IMHO. If you are interested in experimenting with Microsoft's REFS file system, that's easier -- you can create what they call a dev drive in settings or with the Dev Home app Win11 offered to download & install. I *almost* took the plunge a week or two back when I replaced one of my conventional storage drives with an SSD, but from what I read on Microsoft's site, performance increases seemed to be mainly due to turning off Defender scanning for any dev drives. Then I read from a non-Microsoft site that REFS was versioned -- updated with Windows -- so there was a possibility that copies of Windows without the latest updates might not be able to read a REFS drive updated in the latest version of Windows.

   Windows Store does have something new to appreciate -- on the Games tab there was an ad in the banner for Instant Games. These are so-called casual games that you can play right from their listing in the store, with no download or installation required.

   neowin[.]net/news/instant-games-in-the-new-windows-11-update-is-just-about-what-it-sounds-like/

   And for folks that are into typing on a command line, Terminal gets some love.

   github[.]com/microsoft/terminal/releases

   Posted 7 months ago #
3. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Added info...

   Would not install on my mini-PC. No idea why, but it **may** indicate a problematic update. Usually when that happens, waiting for the next update solves the problem -- it's not something that I recall happening with the mini-PC before. I thought it might be blocked because the mini-PC does not meet Win11 specs, so I restored a Win11 VM that's not hardware compliant to its earlier state and applied the update -- it worked fine.

   I've also found that if you've already installed the update, you may have to check for updates a few times after flipping the switch to Get the latest updates... before Windows Update will download a small patch requiring a restart to activate the new features.

   Posted 7 months ago #
4. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Here's Ed Bott's take on the update.

   zdnet[.]com/article/the-latest-windows-11-update-is-rolling-out-now-heres-whats-new/

   Copilot isn't installed the same way in the EU yet because of the Digital Markets Act, so instead of a shortcut on the Taskbar or a hot key combo, users have to enter a command in the Run box or simply create a shortcut with the same command: microsoft-edge://?ux=copilot&tcp=1&source=taskbar

   neowin[.]net/news/windows-copilot-is-not-available-the-eu-due-to-digital-markets-act-but-theres-a-workaround/

   I have a tablet that's been running Win11, but it doesn't meet the hardware specs, so it's been stuck on version 21H2 -- the 22H2 upgrade was never offered because of that. Well, Win11 21H2 reaches EOL in the first part of October, so I used the Insider ISO to upgrade to 23H2 today. Upgrading the non-spec Win11 VM yesterday was my proof of concept, so I used the same set of files, with the replacement appraiserres.dll, which worked. I don't say worked well because one, upgrading anything with an Intel Atom CPU is more of a challenge. It also took 2 tries -- I **suspect** that the 1st time, once it booted out of Windows it did not have a working Wi-Fi driver, just sitting at 0% progress. Once 23H2 was running I still had issues, but then Windows Update installed a new Wi-Fi driver. Anyway, I used a USB wired networking dongle the 2nd time and that worked.

   A quick warning, Win11 23H2 sucks on a tablet, IMHO at least. I bought 2 tablets a few years apart based on false perceptions and IMHO dishonest marketing. Apple and Google know very well how to design a tablet OS -- Windows started out bad with Win8, and sadly just got worse. Even with the precision pen the newer of the two isn't really usable [for me] without a mouse, using the tablets as small desktops with a desktop OS. Win10 would let you switch between regular Windows and Microsoft's horrid version of a tablet-centric GUI. They dropped that switch in Win11, but that was OK since 21H2 never figured out I was using a tablet anyway -- it just stayed in desktop mode. 23H2 will not. Very many apps open up full screen, hiding even the Taskbar -- there's a gesture you're supposed to use to open a sidebar showing thumbnails for open apps. Most can be dragged by the title bar and will automatically resize to whatever window size you last set, though File Explorer appears to be an exception, having to be resized Every Single Time. But 23H2 is on there, it works [sorta], the tablet's charging, and a huge number of Microsoft employees have been very soundly cursed.

   Posted 7 months ago #
5. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   I use Notepad, or rather plain text files A LOT. Sometimes I use the name of an empty .txt file for a short note on the contents of a folder. Sometimes I save a URL for another copy of Windows, e.g., the Insider Beta build. I keep separate folders for each online purchase, and I'll save a .txt file in the individual folders with the tracking numbers. Anyway, Notepad's new behavior is going to take some getting used to. If you open a .txt file, or open Notepad and type anything, after you close Notepad it remembers those contents, and it likes to show whatever was displayed in the past next time you open it -- sometimes... I've had nothing show up -- just a blank window -- and I've had it open 5 previous tabs or windows (?). Anyway, you have to close the tab, rather than Notepad itself, and then you'll get the traditional prompt to save the file or not if there are any changes. When you just close Notepad you no longer get that.

   Installing a fresh copy of Windows 11 23H2 is a little quicker. I'm curious about the new AI image generation in Paint, but you have to be in the Insider Dev or Canary channels to get it [I run a copy of Win11 in the Beta channel]. So I tried enrolling a non-spec VM with a copy of Win11 23H2 Home, and nothing happened -- it just ignored me. Since I keep backup copies of the VHDs with my VMs on them, I figured I'd try a fresh install after turning on TPM & secure boot, and see what happened when I tried again. This time there was a message on the Insider page in Settings that said the device didn't meet the necessary requirements. Checked my in-spec copy of Win11 22H2 with the new update, in case something was wrong with the new install, and saw the same message. That message had never been there before, and the 2 VMs use different Microsoft accounts -- not sure what's going on. One thing to note: during install setup stalled until I set up a network connection. Disabling the network connection used to be one way to skip tying Windows to a Microsoft account, so it'll apparently take extra steps if that's what you're after.

   Posted 7 months ago #

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