General Discussions

[elstaci]

Another Windows 2004 glitch discovered that affects probably a small percentage of Windows Users and Servers. From ZDNET: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-2004-glitch-microsoft-admits-bug-breaks-storage-spaces-corr... 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Windows 10 users find a new glitch with certain configurations, missed by Microsoft in testing the latest feature update.

By Liam Tung | June 18, 2020 -- 10:40 GMT (03:40 PDT) | Topic: Enterprise Software

Microsoft has confirmed one more problem that could happen after installing Windows 10 version 2004: its RAID-like data-protection software, Storage Spaces, might malfunction. 

The company has warned Windows 10 users that they may see a compatibility hold on the Windows 10 2004 upgrade if Microsoft determines that their machine's configuration is impacted by the bug.

Storage Spaces is a feature of Windows and Windows Server that supports systems with multiple drives and lets users bundle up separate drives to create a pool of storage space and protect data from drive failures. 

"Devices using Storage Spaces might have issues using or accessing their Storage Spaces after updating to Windows 10, version 2004 (the May 2020 Update) and Windows Server, version 2004," Microsoft says in a new support note. 

"When using some configurations, partition for Storage Spaces might show as RAW in Disk Manager."

Microsoft advised against running the 'chkdsk' command on any device affected by this issue.

The new warning follows multiple reports about Storage Space issues last week on Microsoft's Feedback Hub, as reported by Windows Latest at the time. 

Users received multiple error reports when attempting to use the Storage Spaces management interface after installing the feature update.

Others reported seeing corrupted partitions and damaged files in Storage Spaces' parity spaces feature for storage efficient archiving. 

"My 20TB parity storage space shows up now as RAW, no accessible files. Storage Spaces tool and PowerShell show it as healthy, containing data. Looks like the ReFS partition has been corrupted, and I may have to fork out cash on recovery software and some external drives to copy files to so I can rebuild," one user wrote. 

"I started noticing corrupt photos I keep on my parity storage space in the last week. No errors in chkdsk though."  

Microsoft says there is no workaround for the issue but it does provide instructions for IT pros to set Storage Spaces to read only and block systems from writing to storage partitions. 

"Your device will still be usable, and any volume not seen as RAW should be readable," it notes. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-to-resume-in-july-delivery-of-optional-windows-10-cumulative...

Microsoft is investigating the issue and will provide an update when more information is available. It has not listed the issue on the known issues page for Windows 10 version 2004, which include various unresolved driver incompatibly issues.

Affected users can follow these instructions to marking locations as read-only:

1. Select Start and type: powershell
2. Right-click or long-press on Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator.
3. If prompted by a User Access Control dialog for Windows Powershell, select yes.
4. Within the PowerShell dialog, type the following command and press enter: get-virtualdisk | ? WriteCacheSize -gt 0 | get-disk | set-disk -IsReadOnly $true
5. Storage Spaces should now be set to read only, meaning you will not be able to write to them. Your device will still be usable, and any volume not seen as RAW should be readable.

[pokester]

This whole release is an abomination so far.

I hate the fact that in Windows updates it still says it may not be ready to download. This should have been flat gone from updates.

Even worse if you go to the media creation site where you get the ISO for Windows, 1909 is no longer the version yet 2004 is on hold? 2004 is the only thing you can download. So if you don't already have 1909 iso or know an alternate way to get it, tough luck.  Anyone downloading 2004 at this point is playing Russian Roulette with their computing experience.

It's almost incomprehensible how bad Microsoft is getting. 

[elstaci]

That is why I always have the .ISO for the previous and new Windows versions.

When the next Windows version comes out, I delete the previous .ISO and make the current Windows the new previous .ISO and so forth.

This Windows bug really concerns IT Professionals that might be using that Windows feature in their companies.

I have had good luck with upgrading to the next Windows versions. I have had a few glitches but they were annoying but at least not any fatal BSODs errors. Like with Windows 2004 I have had some issues with my Hauppauge TV Tuner but after updating the newly released Hauppauge Driver it pretty much fixed most of the issues.

[pokester]

I do use them in corporate environment so I keep iso's for all the supported versions. 

I think memory is kind to the past as we often over look how bad things have been.

2 versions ago it was deleted files.

1909 you couldn't install it if you have a USB device plugged in. Meaning you couldn't even install from the flash drive you made. Took them about 3 months to get that fixed. 

I never jump to load new version. I am fine waiting a few months until they get the kinks out. 

[elstaci]

Version 1909 was the only In-Place Upgrade that failed for me. I tried numerous times to install version 1909 on my computer and every single time on the 2nd reboot to finalize Windows it failed.

I removed all USB and disconnected all my internal HDDs and it still failed. Even Microsoft Tech Support wasn't of any help. Finally I was forced to do a Clean Windows installation and install all my numerous 3rd party Apps again. Plus 2 legacy Apps (Corel Movie Factory 7 and NTI Media Maker Ultra) that cost around $100.00 each when I purchased them became incompatible even using Windows SDK Compatibility Tool which worked the last time I needed to do a Windows 10 Clean install.

Luckily, My wife's computer still has those two legacy Apps working in Windows 2004 since I have been using In-Place Upgrade since I installed them 4 years ago with Windows SDK Compatibility Tool which was working at that time.

[pokester]

I had some computers at work. On a couple AMD computers I literally had to unplug everything other than the install hard drive from the mother board to get it to go. 

Now on a few Intel machines I had to update update the firmware and then it would fly through. 

I can tell you that the best experience I do have installing new installations is to do it with the Media Creation tool installer/ISO.

I disable the Windows Update service. Clear the Software Distribution Folder. And install while disconnected from the Internet. 

With the Internet on, it wants to pre-download updates. In my experience that slows things down and reduces the chance of a successful install.

Sorry to hear about the expensive 3rd part apps not working. 

I have run into that myself. Typically that is a big reason I run the Windows Pro versions as you can run virtual machines. Often I just install the old Windows into a virtual machine and that software into it. Depending on the level of hardware level dependency I have had mixed results.