Microsoft Warns Windows 10 Update Has A Serious Problem

Microsoft Warns Windows 10 Update Has A Serious Problem

The ‘Anniversary Update’ is the largest and most important Windows 10 upgrade so far. It is also compulsory, but as it began rolling out reports followed that the mega update is causing PCs to freeze. Now Microsoft MSFT -1.20% has confirmed one major issue and admitted it currently does not have a fix…

Taking to its Microsoft Answers support site, the company has posted a new and self explanatory topic titled: ‘Windows 10 may freeze after installing the Anniversary Update’ and states there have been:

“Microsoft has received a small number of reports of Windows 10 freezing after installing the Anniversary Update on systems with the operating system stored on a solid-state drive (SSD) and apps and data stored on a separate drive. This issue does not occur when starting Windows 10 in Safe Mode. If you are experiencing this issue, we will be providing updates to this thread…We ask for your patience while we continue our investigation and please check back on this thread for an update.”

Windows 10 has problems just as free upgrades come to an end. Image credit: Microsoft

The reference to “a small number” remains to be seen. The Reddit thread where these problems were first discussed has close to 1,000 comments from affected users and the Microsoft Answers page already has 35 pages of comments from distressed users at the time of publication. I have also been contacted by a number of affected users since writing about this last week. 

Of course with a user base in the hundreds of millions, scale is impossible to tell but certainly even a small proportion can result in several million users being hit. I remain in discussions with Microsoft about the problem.

The good news is that while a fix is not ready, Microsoft does offer a workaround.

The company tells affected users to open the Recovery Console and rollback to a previous Windows 10 build or even Windows 7 or Windows 8 if their entitlement still exists. Given the problem stops many users’ PCs from booting correctly, Microsoft offers a solution to do this from Safe Mode:

1. Restart your PC. When you get to the sign-in screen, hold the Shift key down while you select Power > Restart.
2. After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
3. After your PC restarts, you’ll see a list of options. Select 4 or F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode.
4. Open the Settings app.
5. Select Update & security and then the Recovery tab.
6. Under “Go back to an earlier build”, click the Get started button and follow the instructions.

Interestingly a lot of users are disputing Microsoft’s claims that you need to have PC where Windows is installed on an SSD and apps and data on a separate drive to be affected. Many with just a single SSD in their PC say they are impacted too and that’s a standard setup for millions of PC owners these days.

 

Users prompted to upgrade to Windows 10 may want to wait until the Anniversary Update freeze problem is fixed. Image credit: Microsoft

That said, regardless of the numbers involved, Microsoft needs to work on a fix fast. Admitting the problem is an admirable first step, but with Windows 10 taking a dictatorial role over operating system updates the quality of those updates is rightly under far greater scrutiny now.

So until the fix appears users with mission critical PCs would do well to follow these hacks to stop the Anniversary Update installing automatically. Microsoft would also do well to give all users (not just Pro and Enterprise) a better emergency brake to pause updates for a period of up to 30 days in such situations.

Courtesy: Forbes