Jamie McKane
MyGaming Journalist
Windows 10 auto-upgrade almost cost the lives of rhino and rangers
The story of how a forced Windows 10 upgrade nearly led to disaster.
The story of how a forced Windows 10 upgrade nearly led to disaster.
Windows 10 auto-upgrade almost cost the lives of rhino and rangers
- Thread starter Jamie McKane
- Start date
PsychoFish
New member
This is why you don't get f*cking amateurs to do your IT. Don't blame Microsoft, blame the person responsible for the systems management and administration.
Granted, this could be a matter of "can you do the job? Will you accept money as compensation for doing this job?" situation and was purely a matter of employing someone for the least amount of money that sounded like he could do the job.
Granted, this could be a matter of "can you do the job? Will you accept money as compensation for doing this job?" situation and was purely a matter of employing someone for the least amount of money that sounded like he could do the job.
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Dark Bane
New member
But you feel much better blaming Microsoft. Besides, how many people expect their pc to download 17GB without at least seeking confirmation? The fact that you know about the sneaky Windows downloads doesn't mean everyone else does.
HavocXphere
New member
Seems a little overdramatic to me...
This is a charity operation in the sticks...they don't have an IT guy.
PsychoFish
New member
It's not sneaky, it's not even difficult. When you get paid to administer a server, servers, domain, network, etc etc you are paid to know. You are paid to make sure these things don't happen. I have worked in environments from 5 users to 15000+ users. Microsoft specifically has multiple ways for you to administer, control, police and enforce updates. These topics are covered by the Solutions Associate (MCSA) and Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications.
Sadly people get complacent and lazy, and when disaster strikes someone else is to blame.
Dark Bane
New member
Yeah sure, but even you said it yourself:
It's not like this guy was chosen through some rigorous process that made sure he was the best man for the job:
By IT skills, he could mean pretty much anything.
PsychoFish
New member
Yes, and that is why MS has a Non-Profit licencing scheme where eligible organizations can access Microsoft products for free or at a significant discount. Registered non-profits also receive free product support from MS.
In addition to free/reduced licensing costs and free support MS also has a budget where they will subsidize (i.e give money to Non-profits) to purchase IT equipment and software licences where required.
As a registered non-profit you can pick up a copy of Windows Server 2012 R2 for less than the retail price of Windows 10 Home edition.
PsychoFish
New member
Brings me back to "Don't blame the tool, blame the fool behind the tool"
Dark Bane
New member
But surely we live in a world where your system will, at the very least, alert you to downloading such large files. And you're pretty much downloading a completely new system that you may not even like or want, so to not have a choice of verifying the process yourself is kinda a dick move.
Not to mention the non-technical people that have no interest in the upgrade and don't have that kind of bandwidth to forfeit to a download they never wanted or will even use.
PsychoFish
New member
(a) The administrator has a choice
(b) this can be monitored
(c) this can be controlled
Avatar
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That is actually all the more reason to force an upgrade.. I want my mother-in-law's system to be as up to date as it can, because she won't care what version of Windows she runs, so long as she can do internet banking and look at pictures of everyone's grandchildren. Security updates are there for a reason, and the non-technical people are those that need to get it first.
IMO, this comes down to "how large a download should be allowed with no user intervention", rather than "should automatic upgrades be allowed?"
Blazzok
New member
Except that the Win10 update tends to break some things. For instance my parents' laptop decided to upgrade one morning. My mom phoned me to ask what is going on, I just told her to leave it there is nothing she can do now.
Now their audio doesn't work (input or output) we learned last night when trying to Skype. My parents are 0% technically inclined so for them to fix it won't happen. They will have to wait until the weekend or whenever until my brother can get to them to help. So this is kind of frustrating.
HavocXphere
New member
All of which their IT guy would know & do...if they had one.
Anyway...bit of a pointless argument. They whole thing seems blown out of proportion to me.
Dark Bane
New member
Convenient for your mother-in-law, but what about my gran? She has to go through the process of re-familiarising herself with a completely new interface and will most likely have to deal with broken programs, she too has the right to see pics of her grandbabies.
Dark Bane
New member
I'm pretty sure the bulk of the people that have still not upgraded, excluding those that have disabled updates completely, have had several pop-ups saying they should upgrade and they chose not to each time.
AstroTurf
New member
I had this start recently. http://www.infoworld.com/article/30...ampaign-to-domain-joined-win7-and-81-pcs.html but as I am not living in the sticks and had plenty warning it was not all bad. No issues. Anyway, traveling computers that have limited bandwidth (not possible in Microsoft lala land) and may not be easily accessible by admin could run into issues.
Friend of mine set up that non profit thing for a school. Big effort, little reward and serious mission to get anything out of Microsoft.
Anyway, in my opinion the fact that canceling an upgrade (before downloads even begin) is not so easy places the blame on Microsoft.
Ever walked through a store, had your docs mugged off your feet and replaced by a pair of high heels?
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Friend of mine set up that non profit thing for a school. Big effort, little reward and serious mission to get anything out of Microsoft.
Anyway, in my opinion the fact that canceling an upgrade (before downloads even begin) is not so easy places the blame on Microsoft.
Ever walked through a store, had your docs mugged off your feet and replaced by a pair of high heels?
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PsychoFish
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If your organization supports roaming users, you can configure Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to optimize downloads for those users’ computers. A roaming user logs on to the network by using the same computer from various geographical locations. With the proper configuration, these computers can always download approved updates from the WSUS server that is nearest to their current connection point. Create a DNS name for WSUS. For instance, wsus.example.com
Use the DNS name you have created, wsus.example.com or equivalent, to configure group policy or otherwise distribute the WSUS server setting to the clients. n Internet-facing WSUS server. This type of server can address your patch-management needs for users who are rarely in the office. Internet-facing WSUS servers typically don’t contain actual update data. Instead, they point clients to Windows Update for the update content.
This lets you control which patches you deploy while offloading the patch distribution responsibility to Microsoft servers. These servers also tend to be hardened against inappropriate users through the use of SSL certificates and a separate database server.
Attach a deadline to each approved update. That establishes a date and time when the installation and reboot must be complete. You’ll absolutely force computers to restart after the deadline passes. The problem here is with computers that were powered down or off the network during the deadline period. Those computers will get patched and subsequently rebooted after they’re powered back on or when they reconnect to the network.Enable the policy setting “No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations.†This will prevent an update installation from restarting the computer. In the policy setting “Configure Automatic Updates,†set the value to 4 and make sure the installation time occurs before your reboot window. Enabling the policy “Allow Automatic Updates Immediate Installation†also helps, as it immediately installs updates that don’t require a reboot. Last, if you want to lock these settings down even for administrators, you can enable the User Configuration policy “Remove access to use all Windows Update features.†Reconfiguring WSUS in this way separates the reboot step from the install step and gives you much better control.
All of the above requires the Windows client to be Windows 7, 8, 8.1 Professional or higher. As always, if you're running Windows Home edition for anything other than home use you're completely fucked as MS took a hard-line approach with updates from Win 10 and up in that you cannot disable it completely and you can only change the time and reboot behavior.
Use the DNS name you have created, wsus.example.com or equivalent, to configure group policy or otherwise distribute the WSUS server setting to the clients. n Internet-facing WSUS server. This type of server can address your patch-management needs for users who are rarely in the office. Internet-facing WSUS servers typically don’t contain actual update data. Instead, they point clients to Windows Update for the update content.
This lets you control which patches you deploy while offloading the patch distribution responsibility to Microsoft servers. These servers also tend to be hardened against inappropriate users through the use of SSL certificates and a separate database server.
Attach a deadline to each approved update. That establishes a date and time when the installation and reboot must be complete. You’ll absolutely force computers to restart after the deadline passes. The problem here is with computers that were powered down or off the network during the deadline period. Those computers will get patched and subsequently rebooted after they’re powered back on or when they reconnect to the network.Enable the policy setting “No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations.†This will prevent an update installation from restarting the computer. In the policy setting “Configure Automatic Updates,†set the value to 4 and make sure the installation time occurs before your reboot window. Enabling the policy “Allow Automatic Updates Immediate Installation†also helps, as it immediately installs updates that don’t require a reboot. Last, if you want to lock these settings down even for administrators, you can enable the User Configuration policy “Remove access to use all Windows Update features.†Reconfiguring WSUS in this way separates the reboot step from the install step and gives you much better control.
All of the above requires the Windows client to be Windows 7, 8, 8.1 Professional or higher. As always, if you're running Windows Home edition for anything other than home use you're completely fucked as MS took a hard-line approach with updates from Win 10 and up in that you cannot disable it completely and you can only change the time and reboot behavior.
AstroTurf
New member
Yea but this is in the sticks off a satellite connection. Fine and well for a city dweller. And pretty basic setup for an office worker worth adsl at home and wifi in hotels (let's not even get into mobile costs and connections here) but these are computers that likely sit and charge off a generator in a camp at night and only ever see IT when they are dead. Besides, the above configuration could just as easily cause the same issue they had, machine may have been off till crucial moment to save battery power as just one example.
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