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KB3000850 - BIG update - Windows 8.1.2?


NoelC

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The November update rollup is here for Windows 8.1.  It's optional.  And it's NOT required (as the Spring update was) in order to be able to get further updates.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3000850

 

According to this article, a lot of things are fixed or improved.

 

 

This update rollup includes the following new features and improvements:

  • Refreshed language packs
  • Defence-in-depth security and Schannel hardening
  • Support for newer hardware (boot order allowance, SD card improvements, USB debugging)
  • Improved Web Services for Devices (WSD) printer support during network switches
  • Performance and reliability improvements in clustered virtual machine mission-critical environments
  • Improved manageability
  • Additional hardware support (devices that have third-party disk encryption software enabled can now be upgraded to Windows 8.1 more easily)

     

 

I'm putting it into my Windows 8.1 x64 test VM at the moment.  And it's taking a looong time. 

  • The first $64,000 question is:  Does it make an already stable system better?
     
  • The second is:  Why is the update optional?

 

I'm going to try to answer the first question through testing before applying the update to my main workstation. 

 

But optional... Does Microsoft want us to take responsibility if it breaks things?  Is this a subtle statement that they're not confident in the thing?

 

-Noel

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Observations:

 

  • The install took quite a while - about 10 minutes on a fast machine.
     
  • The VM rebooted quickly after the install, with no apparent problems.
     
  • Symbols were already online for dwmcore.dll and uDWM.dll, and Aero Glass for Win 8.1 seems to work okay after auto-downloading them.
     
  • The list of running processes after the system has settled seems about the same as before.
     
  • I'm seeing some funkiness with Classic Shell, such as an inability to find some things (e.g., I searched for "device" and it did not turn up Device Manager).  At the moment it's stuck with a menu open on screen just from clicking "Settings".  UPDATE:  It finally un-stuck itself, but an attempt to choose Restart yielded a brief popup stating "Unable to start program:  CMD".  Now the restart is taking a long time.

 

More as I learn it!

 

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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Wow, this optional update really has broken Classic Shell.  :(

 

  • Settings > Control panel hangs it for minutes.
     
  • This was seen to pop up - note the disturbing "immersivecontrolpanel" term in the title bar...
     ClassicShellServerExecutionFailed.png
     
     
  • An attempt to log off or reboot causes this:
     
    ClassicShellLogoffError.png

 

 

-Noel

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I'm beginning to think it's not just ClassicShell that's broken.

SHUTDOWN /R /T 0 just hangs.

Unless my experience is somehow unique, this is another failed (big time) update from Microsoft.

USB debugging sounds interesting... Do you have a specific KB relating to that one?

Not offhand, no.

But beware, this update package may bork a working setup. I've not plumbed all the depths of it yet, but my Win 8.1 VM is now unusable. It won't save the user registry on shutdown or restart - it just hangs.

I see Avast Antivirus, which was on task before the update, is not running. I'm trying to uninstall it, but without being able to complete a restart I'm at somewhat of a loss to be able to recover this VM. I may have to give up and revert it with a snapshot.

Hm, I finally got the remnants of Avast removed, and other things - including Classic Shell - seem to work again.

This could be good.

-Noel

Edited by Tripredacus
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I don't see how it matters, it's not like many other people are posting in here.  I just figure people ought to know about the characteristics of the latest update as soon as possible - it might save them some headaches. 

 

But hey, if it makes you happy, feel free to merge my posts any time you see fit.  :)

 

Bottom line in this thread is this: 

 

If you have Avast antivirus, REMOVE IT COMPLETELY before installing KB3002340.

 

-Noel

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I just noticed another new quirk...

 

I can no longer copy text inside a VMware Workstation VM running the updated system and paste it outside the VM.  Looks like some part of the VMware Tools package might have been broken by the update.  I have tried a repair of VMware Tools to no benefit.  I may try a complete removal / reinstall...

 

Edit:  Completely shutting down VMs and closing and restarting VMware Workstation has corrected this.

 

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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I don't see how it matters, it's not like many other people are posting in here. I just figure people ought to know about the characteristics of the latest update as soon as possible - it might save them some headaches.

But hey, if it makes you happy, feel free to merge my posts any time you see fit.  :)

It is in rule 2.a. I merged your posts as a courtesy. ;)

By all means, post your updates. I am not discouraging that at all.

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Hey guys registered here just to say having major issues with this update! first my pc wouldn't shut down and same with restarting.

I then moved onto trying to fix or find out what was wrong and then my Gadgets stopped working (8Gadget pack) and discovered that when i go into "power" in control panel and then click "Choose what the power button does" it completely crashes that window for about 5/10 minuites or sometimes it doesn't come back at all!

So i decided to reinstall since i assumed it was my pc and removing the update didn't appear to help either.. So all was good until i installed the update again assuming it would be fine this time since it was a fresh install and bam! stuck on 30% installing updates as the pc was restarting so i had to manually restart and again pc is stuck unable to restart or shut down.

 

So looks like im formatting again and hiding the update =/ i have read elsewhere and also above in this thread that Avast has some serious issues with this update but i don't think im willing to risk installing the update again without avast otherwise ill have to format all over again :(

Pretty sad that something like this is supposed to help our systems run faster but yet break them completely instead.

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There's a pretty big thread on the Avast forum about this update being incompatible with Avast...

 

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=160717.0

 

One user claims that having installed the update first, THEN installing Avast (i.e., having completely removed Avast before installing the update) he is up and running.  I question whether he's rebooted afterward, though.

 

-Noel

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It is in rule 2.a. I merged your posts as a courtesy. ;)

 

 

Rule 2.a is about "bumping" threads.  It's pretty clear that wasn't what I was doing.  What I was posting was a blow by blow description of what I was learning about this update, in the fond hope of bringing the latest possible information to people as soon as I learned it, and maybe saving them a bit of trouble.  You should be expected to see the difference between that and "bumping" a thread (for what reason, I can't imagine; I wasn't asking anything, I was telling).

 

-Noel

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