Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 is being downloaded to computers whether or not users have opted in.
An INQUIRER reader pointed out to us that, despite not having ‘reserved’ a copy of Windows 10, he had found that the ~BT folder, which has been the home of images of the new operating system since before rollout began, had appeared on his system. He had no plans to upgrade and had not put in a reservation request.
I’m sure this is somehow my fault.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2425381/microsoft-is-downl…
I figured everyone already knew this… it sucks even more if you pay for bandwidth by the gig (yes that’s still a thing for some people here in America).
It prompts with one of those software update dialogs only after the download completes. People who are accustomed to blindly clicking “yes” to software updates are going to be in for quite the surprise.
Edited 2015-09-15 22:05 UTC
When doing clean installs a couple of weeks back, I figured out that the only way to currently keep this from happening on a clean install of Windows 7, is to only allow critical updates to automatically install, or turn off Automatic Updates completely. On a new customer PC for a local business I left it as is (I use a custom image, now updated) and within a couple of hours the two hidden W10 install folders ($Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS) were on the computer. That’s just plain wrong! No reservation was made. MS screwed the pooch with this incredibly wrong headed move to “nudge” people to Windows 10. I suspect that there will now be many more people aware that MS controls their computers far more than they realized.
MS stop it! Let the Windows 10 download be voluntary. Don’t “help” us, please.
The best way to stop it is to click “Start”, then “Run” then type “CMD”. Then type format C: and “enter”
Then insert Linux install CD and reboot. Problem solved.
I tried this. Chose Linux Mint. Then my 5K monitor would only run the desktop at 2560×1440 instead of 5120×2880. What do I do next?
I tried this and it says “Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges.” Guess I’ll just stay with Windows 10
Edited 2015-09-16 00:00 UTC
Get something with a newer kernel.
What is this kernel thing you speak of? I’m just an end user!
Ohhh you are a end user. You don’t know about Kernel but you know your monitor is running at 2560×1440 instead of 5120×2880. Impressive..
My 12 year old son understands the concept of screen resolution. Your point is?
My point is casual user don’t know about screen resolution. You a dev/advance user thats why your son know about screen res.
But try asking same question to someone with no tech background.
they don’t even know about 4k and 5k.
Edited 2015-09-16 15:29 UTC
They may not know what a resolution is. Instead they will ask why the entire monitor is blurry in Linux when it was crisp in Windows before the “format C and install Linux” advice.
As for the average user not knowing the 4K and 5K terms, that really depends on who you are talking about. Apple markets their latest iMac with that term:
http://www.apple.com/imac-with-retina/
Very nerdy when its the first thing they write about their new iMac!
Linux Mint 17 and later should have no issue supporting your 5K monitor, assuming you’re using a recent GPU.
It wouldn’t surprise me if _someone_ out there is unwittingly hanging a 5K monitor off of a Voodoo3 or some such madness
These are the same folks buying 15+” laptops that have 1366×768 displays, right?
640×480 for evar!
Is a Nvidia 980 GTX recent enough? I used the ISO image from Linux Mint’s website two weeks ago (I assume that’s version 17, but am too lazy to check).
As for why it is technically not working, the problem seem to be related to the fact that a 5K monitor is too large for DisplayPort 1.2 as a single display. The monitor therefore uses two cables and presents itself as two 2560×2440 displays with EDID data stating they form one physical display.
I literally spent more than 8 hours trying to persuade X and Cinnamon to boot it in this resolution with no succcess. This included such Mom and Dad endeavors as downloading and installing the official Nvidia driver manually, disabling the open source driver, editing the X org config file and fighting the WM messing with the Xrand extension.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am sure this will get fixed eventually, but I reserve the right to troll back when someone suggests that “format C and install Linux” is the appropriate solution to an update installing a few gigabytes in a hidden folder.
No worries I got your trolling. It’s just that when it comes to hidpi support both, windows and linux, suck at it right now.
Actually they finally fixed that in Windows 10. I have only noticed one minor scaling bug so far (in the console window properties).
As for Linux, I really can’t say how bad it is. One of the reasons I was trying to boot into it was to check it out as I have a somewhat interest in this area.
I can’t speak for 5K, but I’m using a 4k monitor with both Win10 and Linux. And Windows 10 still has scaling issues left and right with certain applications, so the experience between the two systems seems to be pretty equivalent.
So far OSX is the only system I’ve used with a minimum level of consistency handling hidpi thus far.
Agreed. OSX still rules this game. My only complaint there is that on my Mac Mini I can only run 4K at 30 Hz.
Find another inexistent hardware problem for an excuse, I’m sure you’ll have plenty to choose from.
If anything, I’ve had more luck with higher resolutions on the free Intel drivers than on Windows, because the Intel drivers on Windows set stupid resolution limitations based on the model number, while the free drivers allow you as much as your system memory allows.
That won’t even work. Shows how unfamiliar you are with Windows that you don’t know that the boot drive cannot be formatted while you’re running off of it.
Creating another problem doesn’t solve the original problem.
I wish this were an acceptable solution but in all fairness, Linux is a hot mess. I first tried the latest version of Linux Mint and it’s very confused by the fact that I have two monitors, it really likes mirroring screens opposed to two separate screens, especially when I try to make something fullscreen. Also acceleration is broke on my Intel HD 4000…tried playing with Xorg.conf but in all honesty I don’t have the time to spend hours and hours trying to get Video Acceleration working. Next I scrapped Linux Mint and went with Fedora 22…again hot mess, spent a good part of the weekend trying to get stuff working and setup how I want…also the sound, PulseAudio is kind of b0rked, if you try playing with the Sound control panel in gnome, it won’t display my analog output but instead my digital output which I have nothing plugged into, rebooting fixes the problem but shouldn’t have to do that in a release…I can only imagine someone less tech savvy than me trying to deal with this…then there’s the whole disconnect between the GUI Software app and YUM / DNF seriously who wants to spend hours trying to navigate through that isn’t tech savvy? There needs to be a linux for the rest of us maybe like a Desktop Version of Android or something OS X like, but Linux still isn’t Mom and Dad friendly, it has come a long way since I first took a go at it 17 years ago but still is a project to set up and get working right, which me and most other people don’t want to spend a night pulling hairs out trying to get things like sound and video acceleration working, when they work right out of the box on Windows and OS X.
Edited 2015-09-16 05:30 UTC
Well, this is surely not the best thing to do in regards to respecting the users’ will. But I suspect that in the opposite case other kinds of articles would have popped up, citing ‘how slow is the upgrade process’ and ‘what to do if your Win 10 upgrade fails because your connection broke down heavily in the middle of an install’.
You do know that playing the victim game won’t do you good, don’t you?
I have most of the same experience myself.
My work involves using Linux servers, so I know my way around parts of Debian and sh scripts but that’s about it.
Recently, I changed the graphic card on my old desktop (went from AMD HD6870 to NV 750Ti), all went well on Win but the Kubuntu install I had just went bonkers (black screen after login then back to login screen). I think I should’ve uninstalled amd drivers before putting an nv card in
Anyway, I tried a few things : went to command line, logged in, uninstalled the old drivers, still not working.
I installed last Kubuntu again, same problem, installed ElementaryOS, black screen.
I have no more time to waste on this right now. Justify all you want, Linux for desktop users is still a mess, there’s always something not working or something you need to fiddle with for hours…
Yep, this is why I run Linux only in a VM, and Haiku and Windows are the only thing installed on real hardware.
“Xorg.conf”
Which isn’t a thing anymore. Just use Gnome’s or KDE’s monitor config settings applet. Works fine.
Which reminds me… Gnome lets me put my cintiq hybrid companion tablet monitor under the other monitor, so I can drag a window down. That makes sense, because that’s where the tablet monitor is placed, in the real world. But I cannot figure out how to make Windows do that — that only seems to know about placing screens left and right to each other.
If they were to adopt apple solutions: Narrow down hardware to 1 chipset 1 architecture. Narrow down hardware to small footprint of what is actually out there, and drop and drop and drop support, no legacy where possible, force people to upgrade or force them to stay in a version. Also narrow down features , nothing too fancy, who needs flash? blacklist it.
If they were to adopt a Microsoft solution: Make the distribution a giant mess with a lot of legacy support, also put an immense amount on resources. The kinds that Linux doesn’t really have. And become anti competitive, maybe take over all the major open source projects and direct them as one, not as independent projects. don’t make the code transfer from one distro to another.
There’s a middle road, and Linux is not a bad alternative, if you built accordingly. Like you do in mac, or window. Pick your hardware wisely, and support open source friendly companies. There was a point where NVidia was the only one supplying binary drivers for Linux, now they actually even cover FreeBSD. AMD on the other hand, well. I don’t know the current state.
I think it bears mentioning that the user with the 5K screen (that’s a thing?) wants “mom and dad” ease of use for a system that’s decidedly not mom and dad. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d be surprised if Windows fired right up on that system and worked without monkeying with the video drivers, but I could be wrong.
In any case, I think he’s working off “old” guides. Generally you don’t edit Xorg.conf any more, and installing the Nvidia driver manually probably isn’t the right answer either. I hope he tried installing the Nvidia driver from a package first. I forgot what it’s called in Ubuntu/Mint, nvidia-restricted-current or something?
I tried the Mint driver first. And yes, I know you’re not meant to edit Xorg config files directly. When the window manager sends xrandr mode changes for a lower resolution at login you start to get desperate.
Most of the problems you describe have gone away– video acceleration is still an issue, because if you have NVidia, Nouveau really, really, really wants a chance to fail at driving your video card, and has to be beaten with a stick. AMD is slightly better, but really, neither open source driver can hold a candle to the closed-source alternative.
The war between open source and closed source leaves the average user completely screwed on the linux desktop.
I think the big issue with linux is it is way too modular and there’s way to many choices, this may be a benefit to some but not to “Joe EndUser” a lot of the complications that this presents and a lot of head scratching and pounding of desks because of it. Getting a system up and running to run software, and run it well should not be head scratching! And actual releases should not actually include broken things like the sound system and hardware acceleration! Can you imagine if sound broke every time you opened up the Control Panel on Windows and tried to select a different alert…you wouldn’t hear the end of it from end users.
Edited 2015-09-16 20:06 UTC
Customer specified Windows 7 Pro. Otherwise, your point is valid.
And now I know which folder to search to remove them – assuming that these folder names are searchable.
One more thing – maybe this is what Microsoft had it mind when they announced that Windows 10 would be a free update!
That computer is not yours. Be happy that we let you use it to access anything other than msn.com
And smile for the camera m**f**!
Just having the install files on your PC probably commits you to the EULA. I guess it’s time to install the update to block the nag application to install windows 10.
Don’t you want to say it’s time to uninstall the update that does this and all the other creepy telemetry related updates?
Is there a good article on how to do this?
I’ve been trying to install only “Security” patches since I heard about this “telemetry” business, but somehow this one slipped through.
Sure thing, there is even a .bat file that lets you uninstall the tracking patches if you have accidently installed them..
http://techne.alaya.net/?p=12499
Thanks for this pointer.
The issues about the telemetry/tracking patches (to Windows 7 and 8.x) had not surfaced on my radar. I don’t recall an article on OSAlert about this…..
Easy way to tell now, just click on “more information” in Windows Update, if it says “fixes issues in Windows” with exactly jack and squat actual info on what the patch does? Yeah its spyware or trying to force Windows 10.
Its sad that we can no longer even tell people to apply the latest updates or turn on automatic updating anymore because WU has literally become a malware vector.
But if I fix the problem, how can I rant across teh interwebz about it?!?!?!?!?!
Good thing I haven’t activated my Windows 8 yet
Curious, has Microsoft made noise about how many millions of people have downloaded Windows 10? I’m thinking that may be a purpose for this scam.
In my understanding MS speaks about how many people have installed (upgraded) to Windows 10. Not downloaded.
Still… Forced download of 3.5GB of data is an ugly thing. That’s clearly a bad point for MS.
So that is where my precious space on SSD drive went. I was wondering this morning why my C: drive is suspiciously full. Unfortunately on my 120GB SSD I have to manage what gets installed on a C: and what doesn’t.
Sucks that I have to find out about it via a news outlet.
They could have at least let me choose the path where it preloads to.
This takes the biscuit! Microsoft F**K OFF! I already spent half a hour a few week ago getting rid of all your shitty “telemetry” update crap from my Windows 7 install. Get it through your dumb, stupid, thick heads that some folk want NOTHING to do with Windows 10 or your “telemetry” shit at all. Now go eat crap you slime ball dossers!
Use the .BAT file I linked to above, followed by this handy patch (which also works on 8/8.1 for those users on those OSes) and voila! No more nasty updates or trying to force Win 10 on you, it even gets rid of the hidden Win 10 folder if you got win10’d.
http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/GWX_control_panel.exe
For those that worry about .EXEs I’ve tested this one and it does what it says on the tin, it disables all “get windows 10” and disables the OS trying to update to 10 from WU, along with helping get rid of the hidden win 10 folder if you have it. Add this to the .BAT I linked to above and you can wipe out “win10ing” and Win 7/8/8.1 spying with just 2 clicks, easy peasy. Oh and you’re welcome
Thanks, I have bookmarked them for future reference, should make the job quicker. I have no need for them at the moment as I did it all manually when all this about the telemetry came to light a few week ago.
It’s just ridiculous that you have to wrestle with your OS like we do these days. Just bring out a usable OS without the crap, it’s not rocket science, or OS science either for that matter.
OK, bit of a update on this. I thought I would try it but it was a bit of a disaster unfortunately. Ran the .bat file and the exe after it, rebooted Windows, no sound output whatsoever.
Reinstalled sound card drivers, still no sound and device manager said nothing was wrong, all working as it should.
But it wasn’t, so I un-installed the drivers and changed the sound card, (took out a Auzentech X-fi and put in a ASUS Xonar D2X), still no different and still no sound. Everytime you try to play a sound with any program, Windows just pops up with unable to play sound.
Device manager still said nothing was wrong but it was.
I put the X-fi card back in and booted in-to safe mode, from there I ran system restore to the point before running the .bat file.
Taa Daa, sound is now working again.
It seems something somewhere, either this .bat file or one of the Windows updates is completely disabling the Windows sound subsystem.
Could even be Microshafts way of saying “refuse Win 10 and we’ll disable your PC bit by bit”!
If anyone has a similar experience, please report back.
For now I’ve just turned off Windows update until I can find out what it is that disables all sound output.
Edited 2015-09-17 05:06 UTC
I ran the bat last night, rebooted, sound works fine (both pc speakers and monitor speakers via hdmi).
Thanks for that, I ran it again last night to see if it was the same. The exact same thing happened so I’m not sure what’s going off. Will keep updates turned off for now.
That issue is a VERY old Windows one, but lucky for you this old guy has an easy peasy fix. BTW everybody that works on Windows should probably save this one, it works on everything from Win2K- Windows 10. Just paste the following into a text editor, save it as a reg file, run it and reboot…voila! Oh and you’re welcome Feel free to contact me if you have any further issues, I’ve been fixing Windows since 3.1 at the shop so I’ve run into everything at least once.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AudioSrv]
“DependOnService”=hex(7):50,00,6c,00,75,00,67,00,50,00,6c,00,61,00,7 9,00,00,00,\
52,00,70,00,63,00,53,00,73,00,00,00,00,00
“Description”=”Manages audio devices for Windows-based programs. If this service is stopped, audio devices and effects will not function properly. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.”
“DisplayName”=”Windows Audio”
“ErrorControl”=dword:00000001
“Group”=”AudioGroup”
“ImagePath”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6 f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,0 0,73,\
00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2 d,00,\
6b,00,20,00,6e,00,65,00,74,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,73,00,00,00
“ObjectName”=”LocalSystem”
“Start”=dword:00000002
“Type”=dword:00000020
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AudioSrv\Pa rameters]
“ServiceDll”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00, 6f,00,6f,\
00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5 c,00,\
61,00,75,00,64,00,69,00,6f,00,73,00,72,00,76,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,0 0,00,\
00
“ServiceDllUnloadOnStop”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AudioSrv\En um]
“0”=”Root\\LEGACY_AUDIOSRV\\0000″
“Count”=dword:00000001
“NextInstance”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PlugPlay]
“Description”=”Enables a computer to recognize and adapt to hardware changes with little or no user input. Stopping or disabling this service will result in system instability.”
“DisplayName”=”Plug and Play”
“ErrorControl”=dword:00000001
“Group”=”PlugPlay”
“ImagePath”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6 f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,0 0,73,\
00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,0 0,00
“ObjectName”=”LocalSystem”
“PlugPlayServiceType”=dword:00000003
“Start”=dword:00000002
“Type”=dword:00000020
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PlugPlay\Se curity]
“Security”=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00 ,00,00,02,\
00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,0 0,00,\
00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,0 0,00,\
05,0b,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,9d,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,0 0,00,\
23,02,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,0 0,20,\
02,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,0 1,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RpcSs]
Thanks, I have pasted it to a reg file for the future. I did check the audio services were running too and Windows said they was, it was really weird how it all happened!
Hopefully this will cure it though.
Microsoft told us: “For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they^aEURTMll need if they decide to upgrade.
While downloading a large upgrade without explicit or even implicit authorization is a problem, statements such as that one are even larger problems. It undermines trust in the update process for security updates, which is essential in a world where systems need to be patched in order to remain secure.
That being said, my Windows 8.1 system hasn’t downloaded Windows 10 even though I reserved a copy. It’s probably because it is configured to accept important updates only. Yet even if it is the case that only systems configured to accept recommended updates will download the update, Microsoft did not make it clear to Windows 7 through 8.1 users that recommended updates may include system upgrades simply because that was not an option when those versions were sold to consumers.
It undermines trust in the update process for security updates, which is essential in a world where systems need to be patched in order to remain secure.
This, exactly!
Just this morning because of problems I reported in a previous post, I have disabled all Windows updates.
I trust the drug headed burglars at the bottom of the street more than I do Microsoft now, and I can’t see it changing.
I have sent a email to my MP about it and will forward one to the MEP later, surely there is illegal activity going on here?
This needs looking into by the EU and folk more clued up than me. Whomever at Microsoft came up with this idea needs sending to prison for a long time to reflect on their actions!
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-network…
I can only imagine the facepalm feeling MS engineers must have felt when they got the order to implement the win10 installer as “auto download without permission, and then ask to install later”.