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Windows management tips


goretsky

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Hello,

 

A friend of mine just purchased a PC repair business. He has worked with computers for longer than I have, but mostly as a programmer or sales engineer dealing with enterprise hardware and software, so the world of home users and SOHO (small office, home office) is new to him as business owner.

 

He had a few questions for me, and I thought I'd share my answers in case they helped anyone else:

 

Q1: Windows Vista/Server 2008, Windows 7/2008 R2 are taking many hours to run Windows Update.

 

A1: Short term fix, install program from Microsoft Knowledgebase Article #947821, "Fix Windows Update errors by using the DISM or System Update Readiness tool" article to fix Windows Update. Long term fix, set up WSUS server on prem.

 

 

Q2: Computer came with Windows 10 pre-loaded, but no recovery media in the box. How can I create it?

 

A2.1: If you just want to perform a clean install, use the Windows 10 ISO Download Tool from Microsoft to download the x86/x64 builds of Windows 10 Home/Pro (a whole .ISO is about 5.7GB when downloaded).

This can be used to clean install Windows 10 on any computer with a valid license in its BIOS/UEFI firmware (known as OA3.0 in Microsoft parlance) or on older computers that have already been upgraded from Windows 7/8.1 to Windows 10 via digital entitlement. To determine is an OA3.0 license is present, open an elevated Command Prompt (filename: CMD.EXE) and issue a "wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey" command. If present, the Window 10 Product ID Key will be displayed.

 

A2.2: If you want to create create recovery media for the computer inside of Windows 10, run "C:\Windows\System32\RecoveryDrive.exe". You may need a large USB flash drive to do this, depending upon how Windows 10 is pre-loaded and if manufacturer-specific software is backed up.

 

 

Q3: Customer bought computers pre-loaded with Microsoft Office. What happens to the license if the computer is wiped and reloaded?

 

A3: If Microsoft Office is pre-loaded on a computer, there is usually a card with the 25-character Product ID Key to reinstall and activate Office on the computer. It has been my experience that customers often misplace or throw this out as part of the packaging that came with the computer. So, you should locate and record the PID Key before you do anything destructive to the system.

 

I recommend running Belarc Advisor, Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder and Nirsoft Produkey on the computer to locate the PID Key and saving the results in a safe location. The reason for running multiple programs is in case one isn't working properly, you'll still have a 2/3rd chance that the PID Key was correctly identified by the software. Otherwise, you may end up dealing with the computer manufacturer and Microsoft for a while in order to locate the original order and get a new PID Key.

 

- - -

 

Anyhow, I thought this might be useful to some of the folks here as well.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

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Does the solution to 1 actually work?

I installed KB3135445 in Feb. and KB3138612 in Mar. because they were supposed to fix the update problem.

 

One of my four Windows 7 computers had 100% CPU usage when trying to do Windows updates. The computer was basically unusable for a few days. I ended up removing KB3138612 to see if it would help; it didn't.

 

I know I need to do something before the April updates.

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Hello,

 

I have only used the KB947821 fix twice, once on a Microsoft Windows Vista system, where it worked, and once on a Microsoft Windows 7 system, where it did not improve things. Given the nearly infinite number of ways in which any computer can be broken, though, it is hard to say what will and will not work, definitively.

 

Regards,Aryeh Goretsky

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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

 

I might try it on one computer right before the April update and see if it helps or not.

The computer with the problem hasn't had this 100% CPU problem until March. I think my mistake was to go looking for updates.

 

Then when I unhid an update to install a few days later, it took more than an hour just to unhide the update!

 

On the other computers I let them alert me when updates were found.Two days after Patch Tuesday, one computer still hadn't checked for updates but once it found them, they installed without a problem.

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I think my mistake was to go looking for updates.
Interesting. My mom's win7 system doesn't seem to be notifying about updates at all any more, not for about 6 months (set to notify only). I've started looking for updates via Control Panel, and although things have been somewhat slower overall, it's nothing like what you're describing. Were you finally able to get updates successfully? Edited by ebrke
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Maybe I should have been clearer. I don't see a notification either. I too look in Control Panel and that will tell me the date and time when the computer last checked for updates.

I'm surprised when I check and it says 12 updates are available.

 

There were two updates early in March. I only looked to see after I read articles about them.

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Yup. All four computers updated and I made images of the four. But I have to say, I had my doubts that the updates would ever get done this month.

 

It is strange there is no rhyme nor reason to the slowdowns.

my Desktop 32 bit Home Premium has 100% CPU problem and was mostly unusable for a few days

my Netbook 64 bit Home premium updated with no problem

hubby's Desktop 32 bit Pro updated with no problem

hubby's Netbook 64 bit Home premium didn't look for updates for 2 days and I wasn't about to go looking because of all the problems on my desktop

 

I only screw up 1 computer at a time. :whistling: Usually I update mine first to see if there are any problems. If all goes okay then I do one of my husband's so he at least has a computer to work on.

Edited by zlim
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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

 

I might try it on one computer right before the April update and see if it helps or not.

The computer with the problem hasn't had this 100% CPU problem until March. I think my mistake was to go looking for updates.

 

Then when I unhid an update to install a few days later, it took more than an hour just to unhide the update!

 

On the other computers I let them alert me when updates were found.Two days after Patch Tuesday, one computer still hadn't checked for updates but once it found them, they installed without a problem.

It has gotten to the point where I won't schedule a Window 7 or 10 install unless I can let it go overnight to install the updates. Ran into one recently where even that wasn't enough. Woke up the next morning with the computer failing to boot. Had to restore to a point prior to the updates to get it to boot. There were over 200 updates involved and no way to know which one caused the problem.

 

And it isn't the updates themselves that are the main problem, though with over 200 they still take a long time. The real problem is that it take hours for the Windows Update to respond when "checking for updates".

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Thanks for the article link.

 

At this point, I'm glad I don't have to face a clean install. I have lots of images stored on 5 external hard drives so if a computer's hard drive goes down, I should be able to restore an image.

 

Ed Bott says to install KB3083710 and KB3102810 before connecting to the internet and attempting to install any Windows updates.

The first patch is from early October 2015. I did not install it, I was waiting to see what Susan Bradley has to say, and I'm one for whom it disappeared.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2992476/microsoft-windows/what-happened-to-windows-patches-kb-2999226-and-kb-3083710.html

I looked at my history, the hidden updates and the optional updates and it is not listed at those 3 locations.

 

The second patch was issued in November 2015 and was installed on all computers.

 

Bottom line: Ed Bott's advice about installing these 2 updates, seemed to make no difference on two of the four computers in the house.

Edited by zlim
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Thanks for the article link.

 

At this point, I'm glad I don't have to face a clean install. I have lots of images stored on 5 external hard drives so if a computer's hard drive goes down, I should be able to restore an image.

 

Ed Bott says to install KB3083710 and KB3102810 before connecting to the internet and attempting to install any Windows updates.

The first patch is from early October 2015. I did not install it, I was waiting to see what Susan Bradley has to say, and I'm one for whom it disappeared.

http://www.infoworld...kb-3083710.html

I looked at my history, the hidden updates and the optional updates and it is not listed at those 3 locations.

 

The second patch was issued in November 2015 and was installed on all computers.

 

Bottom line: Ed Bott's advice about installing these 2 updates, seemed to make no difference on two of the four computers in the house.

How you install them might make a difference. I followed his instructions and installed them as soon as the Window 7 install finished. BEFORE connecting to the internet. They certainly weren't a miracle cure. The Win 7 install, plus Window Update of 231 updates, plus upgrade to Win 10, still took the better part of a full day.

 

But, that said, they did make a quite noticeable difference in the wait for Windows Updates to start. I'd gotten used to waiting hours between clicking "Install" and seeing the progress change from 0%. With this fix, they started within 15 minutes.

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It also boils down to times of day.

 

If I get offered the updates and do them before California wakes up, I get them quickly. This is usually Wed. morning after Patch Tuesday. You can forget Wed. from 11am ET until sometime in the evening of Friday during Patch week.

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It also boils down to times of day.

 

If I get offered the updates and do them before California wakes up, I get them quickly. This is usually Wed. morning after Patch Tuesday. You can forget Wed. from 11am ET until sometime in the evening of Friday during Patch week.

That might have been your experience. Mine has been 24/7/365. ANYTIME I tried to update a new install of Win 7, it took HOURS before the "check for updates" would respond. After, of course, the original response that would update the Window Update app itself. Then, once if finally said "You have 231 recommended updates" and clicked "Install Updates", it would take several MORE hour before the download would start. Edited by lewmur
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We aren't talking about the same thing.

I am not talking about a clean install of Win 7. I am referring to the monthly update slow down that has started occurring to Windows 7 users since about November 2015.

 

If I do check for updates - it stalls, exactly like this article

http://www.askwoody.com/2016/the-windows-update-takes-forever-problem

For the lion’s share of the time both before and after seeing the list there’s absolutely nothing happening

 

I attempted to unhide 1 update and that took me between 60 - 90 minutes this month.

 

To do a clean install of Win 7, my notes say to do this

- WindowsUpdateAgent-7.6-*.exe from June 2015

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265

 

<reboot>

 

- KB3112343

<reboot>

 

- KB3087039

 

- KB3078601

 

- KB3124275 (Install the version that matches your Internet Explorer version, I recommend you install IE11 first)

 

- KB3109094

 

Of course the user update agent might have changed and perhaps some of KB numbers. MS keeps re-issuing things or replacing one KB with another.

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Guest LilBambi

The nightmare updates with Windows 7 clean install was something that I remember Adam talking about in the last few months as well. It was painful from what he told me; every bit as painful as Ed's situation. Really not sure if time of day really matters in this case.

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Hello,

 

I just did a clean, bare-metal install of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 to a physical computer (Intel DG965WH motherboard, not a VM), followed by installing KB3083710 and KB3102810 before running Windows Update. The machine fully updated the operating system in around 4-5 hours. Not bad, given the number of updates that had to be downloaded. There were a few drivers I had to still install manually (latest video card driver, Intel Management Engine serial port driver), but other than that I would have to say things worked as Ed Bott described them.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

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