
Just go Linux
You know it makes sense.
Microsoft's activation servers appear to be on the blink this morning – some Windows 10 users woke up to find their Pro systems have, er, gone Home. Twitter user Matt Wadley was one of the first out of the gate, complaining that following an update to the freshly released Insider build of next year's Windows, his machine …
Running Opensuse here as my primary OS. Still dealing with Win 10 for some graphics programs. They borked my machine last night as well. Can't wait till get a real photographic editing under Linux so I can be done with Billy Gates for good!
Well for Photoshop there's the GIMP... Although, I'd probably would opt for Photoshop as well. Its not like GIMP is incapable of doing very Photoshop things. But, thats almost always the trick isn't it. Actually bothering to learn how to use the Software. And, to my knowlege Photoshop has a Library of Books written about, it. GIMP? Well I know the should exist, but, I have never actually ever encounterd any,
Fine, what about Lightroom then? In this instance I have to emphaticly go with Darktable. Again its just different enough to have to spend a few moments to work things out. The good bit is its totally un GIMP like in that, its actually refreshingly simple to use.
Since like GIMP it also runs under Windows, and MacOS. I would very much recomend you to give it a try. But, until Affinity Photo & Illistrator make their way over to Linux. Which I susspect they will sooner, or later. This is about as good as it gets. And, its not you can't run Photoshop proper from Wine. Along with Office 2k3 either.
But, yes unless the Public rails against these Publishers to publish their Warez on Linux as well. its all ust wishfull thinking. Perhaps we should be pushing FreeBSD more? That to me sems more comercial friendly than Linux. Not, that you can't buy comerical Softeare (e.g. Steam Games), on Linux. But, I susspect the air around Linux is so poisend at this point. That until the mass revot comes,* nobody will really bother to give Linux the time of day.
Then again having two or three (if you count Gentoo), architypes of Yum, and or Apt, RPM, and or DPKG to learn (and or stick with), has probobly been of much help either. this and Ubuntus pressence on the Web, making Ubuntu pretty much the goto Linux.
*Hint it wont!
Did you even bother to read the Article?
1) I wasn't aware of there being something greater then Win X*
2) This is something that is THANKFULLY ONLY AFFECTING those with Windows X
So....
A) Upgrade to what exactly?
B) What if you cant, because M$ are becoming to shite at keeping their Software aflot?
* With the execption of possibly Windows 7 SP1
"You get screwed over and over by microshaft and yet seem to believe this all a laughing matter"
Yeah, it's bloody hilarious. You keep getting screwed over and still stick with Microsoft. There are other operating systems out there. Are we all supposed to ignore this and not point out the obvious to spare your feelings?
"You get screwed over and over by microshaft and yet seem to believe this all a laughing matter"
Yeah, it's bloody hilarious. You keep getting screwed over and still stick with Microsoft.
What do you mean by 'keep getting screwed over'? In 30 days he'll have some slightly irritating nagging telling him to activate windows. That's pretty much it. How is that being 'screwed over', doesn't sound like he's lost any data, or anything has ceased working??
There are other operating systems out there. Are we all supposed to ignore this and not point out the obvious to spare your feelings?
So, you're suggesting, rather than simply ignoring the little red text for a few days the user should completely change their operating system, then spend time finding decent alternatives for all the software they use (which may or may not exist), then learn a completely different workflow and set of system admin skills because of a small transient issue? It does seem a little overkill.
Linux is a great operating system, and there are those that choose to use it, but there are other people who choose Windows, it's fine, both are good at what they do these days; not everyone makes their choices based on the same set of criteria. You're not sparing anyones feeilngs by not going on about Linux, but sometimes the single minded evangalism of a system (one that is founded on the basis of choice) can come across as a little miopic.
So if you're going to put up with having the reduced functionality of Home for 30 days then you might as well have gone for Home in the first place.
If it doesn't do what it says on the tin then you should be rightly annoyed. Have a downvote (not often I dish those out).
"So, you're suggesting, rather than simply ignoring the little red text for a few days the user should completely change their operating system, then spend time finding decent alternatives for all the software they use (which may or may not exist), then learn a completely different workflow and set of system admin skills because of a small transient issue? It does seem a little overkill."
I'm suggesting anything except Windows at this point (heck, even use Mac if you prefer). Windows is becoming so unstable and untrustable with your personal files that the alternatives are all much better. Every week few days there's another report of a massive bug (usually because of Microsoft not quality testing anymore) deleting people's files or fucking something up drastically.
So, you're suggesting, rather than simply ignoring the little red text for a few days the user should completely change their operating system, then spend time finding decent alternatives for all the software they use (which may or may not exist), then learn a completely different workflow and set of system admin skills because of a small transient issue?
It's not simply one small transient issue. It's a never-ending stream of issues, some more transient than others. The extreme bugginess of their code is a function of an unnecessary rapid release schedule that's driven by the marketing department and their decision to fire their QA team and conscript consumer-level Windows users as beta testers in order to save money.
This is just one bug among a never-ending sea of bugs that can reasonably be expected to last as long as Microsoft thinks that what they're doing is a viable business practice (which in turn is based on how much abuse their customers will tolerate). Windows 10 has been out for more than three years, and it's still a bug-infested piece of crap. As long as MS keeps "Windows as a Service," it will always be that way. Three years is enough time for them to realize it does not work, and if they were interested in fixing it, they would have done so by now. Why should they? They are putting out pure garbage, and the market share of that garbage continues to increase each month. As long as people tolerate the abuse, they're silently endorsing Microsoft's practices. Thank you sir, may I have another?
"In 30 days he'll have some slightly irritating nagging telling him to activate windows."
Implications:
a) Micro-shaft Win-10-nic needs to access their "activation servers" on a REGULAR BASIS?
b) WHY was it turned into a 'Home' system because THEY broke something?
c) No PREVIOUS version of windows (to the best of my knowledge) needed any kind of continuous on-line RE-ACTIVATION process to "stay valid"
d) what if you leave your computer OFF for MORE THAN A MONTH? Or, how about OFFLINE for MORE THAN A MONTH?
e) what if it's a VM that you only run when you HAVE to? [I should test this after I back it up]
f) Micro-shaft has JUST broken their 'contract' with the users by letting this happen
In short, this whole thing *STINKS* like MICRO-SHAT <-- not a spelling error
Previous post asks:
"b) WHY was it turned into a 'Home' system because THEY broke something?"
That is just how their system broke. There isn't a good explanation possible, and I'm sure when they get around to having an explanation it won't be good.
"c) No PREVIOUS version of windows (to the best of my knowledge) needed any kind of continuous on-line RE-ACTIVATION process to "stay valid" d) what if you leave your computer OFF for MORE THAN A MONTH? Or, how about OFFLINE for MORE THAN A MONTH? e) what if it's a VM that you only run when you HAVE to? [I should test this after I back it up]"
As far as I know, having run an airgapped windows machine for a while (yes, windows 10, don't ask why), windows doesn't need to contact the servers for it to stay valid. It will continue to work. It is just that when updating, it does contact the servers and then assumes that anything they say is correct. So VMs or computers not used in some time should be fine. Computers that updated something in the past week probably aren't.
Well, I have Alcohol and FOUR cats!
After reading the usual and predictable nasty anti-MS comments here just now, I changed my insider Preview status from Slow to Fast, just to see what all this kerfuffle was about!
Oh-oh! Another 4 GB 2-hour download has just been initiated! This is the fastest that the Insider Preview system upgrade service has ever responded! And it's Friday PM, my trolling hours!
Thanx, guys!
My cat likes windows. She sits and stares out of the at the traffic twenty-five floors below and smiles ot herself. She watches the rain on them and, I'm sure, snuggles inside, remembering when she was a street cat out in the cold and rain before she was rescued - _before_ she had windows. On the other hand she was sort of unix-ed after her first litter (is a neutered female a eunixed one?), so I guess she has the best of both ways of operating... :-).
This seems to apply to the 'Insider' program only, and it seems to me that some people who sign up to the 'Insider' program simply don't understand that what they're getting is pre-production code, for testing and evaluation purposes only. Linux isn't going to fix that level of ignorance.
For the record:
1. This applies to non-insiders. It is not beta code that broke, but instead Microsoft's production servers.
2. There are things that you can do in windows pro that you cannot do in windows home. People doing those things selected pro for that reason. If they are affected by this bug, it is more than a minor annoyance or some grumpy license notification.
I dunno, so many people pay over $100 for MS Windows, and pay hundreds of dollars in premium hardware costs to run MacOS, Linux fanbois can't give their pet OS away for free, and those same fanbois are convinced their pet OS is the best for the wider public.
Some kind of disconnect there.
Maybe you Linuxees need a new marketing slogan:
Paraphrasing Henny Youngman, "Take my Linux ... please!"
www youtube com/watch?v=qUil6T5dN6Y
Better than the current slogan, "Linux, so good we can't give it away for free."
I dunno, so many people pay over $100 for MS Windows, and pay hundreds of dollars in premium hardware costs to run MacOS, Linux fanbois can't give their pet OS away for free, and those same fanbois are convinced their pet OS is the best for the wider public.
Not that many people pay over $100 for Windows relative to the total number who use Windows. That's one reason MS was in such a hurry to try to get every home/SOHO user of Windows 7/8/8.1 to take the free upgrade. They weren't losing out on tons of money from upgrades by giving them away... the actual number who would have taken it upon themselves to buy and install a different version of Windows than the PC came with was never anything but a drop in the bucket.
Most PCs come with Windows and are never used with any other OS than the one it came with. Replacing the OS on a computer they bought as a unit would be like buying a car and replacing the engine with a completely different one. They don't think of the OS as mere software that is running on the hardware, but a part of the whole. This inertia is one of the big things that gets in the way of people taking an affirmative step towards freedom from Microsoft's abuse. People have such an ingrained Stockholm syndrome that they just take the abuse and take the abuse and never think there are any alternatives, even when one is staring them in the face. Maybe it's not suitable for all of them, but it could work for some.
> Not that many people pay over $100 for Windows
> Most PCs come with Windows
When you buy a PC from an OEM or retailer and it 'comes with Windows' the manufacturer has sent money to Microsoft. This is part of the BOM cost and wholesale and retail margins are added to the total cost.
The PC doesn't just 'come with Windows', you are paying for it. With markup it may well be 'over $100'.
"Replacing the OS on a computer they bought as a unit would be like buying a car and replacing the engine with a completely different one."
Replacing Windows on a computer they bought as a unit would be like buying a carriage and replacing the horse in front with an engine.
FTFY
I always find this attitude slightly bemusing.
I am a long-time developer (originally on Unix mini-computers, and recently in the Windows and Linux environments for different parts of our workflow). I have used Unix, Linux, Windows, MacOS throughout the years and whilst I have zero choice at work, I do at home.
I have tried to live with Linux. I had YellowDog on the original PS3 as well as Ubuntu, Mint etc on my desktop.
However, when it comes down to it, I do prefer Windows. I know how to script, and I know how to use command line tools, but in the end, Windows is easier.
Not to mention that I am a gamer, I have a subscription to Photoshop and Lightroom and use Office365 (mainly for the 5 Terrabytes/5 users I get for the yearly subscription (which makes it by far the cheapest cloud-storage option).
I also use a Lenovo Yoga 2 pro as my home laptop, which plays very nicely with Win 10, especially when I use it in tablet mode. I have tried to find a decent Linux distro that comes close for tablet useage, but they are miles away...
As for the general, non-IT public, Windows (or MacOS) makes for a far better experience than Linux for simple ease-of-use reasons.
My PC has "Please activate windows" this morning. Hopefully they will sort out the problem soon, but it doesn't seem to be stopping me from doing anything.
"Linux, so good we can't give it away for free."
As opposed to :
"Windows, the OS for those whose life includes insufficient aggravation?"
Personally, I concluded decades ago that I'm not smart enough to use either OS properly. But unix turned out to be easier to tame. At least for me.
"Linux, so good we can't give it away for free."
ROFL !
I have used Linux for over a decade, but it's on a spare PC. Tried to use it many times as the main OS, but it's not suitable for users who have to use the MS Office workflow, acounting, etc. Good for some basic tools and domestic use, and some non-profits, but the rest of us MUST work in the MS world and have to suffer its occasional foibles.
I may consider a Mac one day, but theprice premium is ridiculous, expecially for kit with too few ports and no SD card slots, all heading in the direction of the iPad.
"I dunno, so many people pay over $100 for MS Windows, and pay hundreds of dollars in premium hardware costs to run MacOS, Linux fanbois can't give their pet OS away for free, and those same fanbois are convinced their pet OS is the best for the wider public."
Gaming unfortunately. The only reason I don't run Linux. The stuff I play only works on Windows and experimentation into emulation with Wine or alternatives hasn't been a great success :(
Point taken - Linux is not viable for the desktop. But as it turns out, neither is a subscription based, cloud centric Windows OS for business purposes. I liked the old days when Microsoft segmented their "Work" & "Play" OSs; namely Windows-NT and Windows-9x (Windows 2000 Pro & Windows omg Millenium).
Problems started to appearing when they started "blending" them with the introduction of Windows-XP; they averted danger with the release of Windows-XP 64bit Pro. Windows-7 x64 Pro was great- all the other Windows-7 variants were... wanting. I won't even mention Windows-8.
Stuff really hit the fan when M$ decided that Windows-10 was going to be the LAST release of Windows, it would be completely subscription based & entirely cloud centric. This is a prime example of Corporate blackmail & there's nothing anyone on the planet could do about it; after all, Windows accounted for >90% of all desktops in the world.
My problem is with the arrogance of Microsoft to think that 1) choice should be taken away from consumers, 2) Everything will be pushed to the Cloud & 3) Nothing was ever going to fail.
I would have been fine with the current subscription based Windows-10 for consumers and a Traditional corporate option of WindowsNT-IX for government, & businesses who require greater security & greater control. my 2 cents
OK, I will get Embarcadero to create a Linux version of the Delphi IDE, rewrite a large ERP type system to run on Linux, and get all of the thousands of users to change to Linux as well.
Oh, and move to LibreOffice or whatever it is called now.
Should only take a few years and millions of dollars.
I updated my laptop to from Windows 7 Windows 10 a couple of weeks back (you can still do it for free) and since then it hangs within 24 hours. It's an older gen i7 with 4GB RAM - should be fine. I tried contacting M$ Support but gave up, going to install Linux this weekend, prolly Fedora as I manage RHEL clone instances for work.
I used to prefer KDE years back, what desktop do people go for these days - Gnome? KDE? Other?
I used to prefer KDE years back, what desktop do people go for these days - Gnome? KDE? Other?
KDE for me with KDE Neon distro for the most recent updates to everything KDE. Been using it for years and love it more now than ever.
Ive just done a little coding on Win 10 which happened to have excel 2010. Compared to Linux it really is like using a toy OS. And whats with the ribbon. What an untity mess it looks compared to Libreoffice!
Each to their own I guess.
One thing is more sure anybody using windows in a mission critical situation needs to look at the alternatives, alternatives where you're in control not Redmond.
Another MS TITSUP event.
The major snafu's seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment.
As I have said before, it is their machine not yours. They can do what the hell they like with it and there is little you can do to stop them. Even taking legal action is a dead duck. They will just deny all liability and point to their EULA that says you can't sue them for anything. Queue 10 years of costs in court getting nowhere.
What MS giveth that seem to be taking away with a vengance at the moment.
I'd better get the popcorn out. This could be an interesting few days.
The EULA does not take away your rights under the consumer rights act to having a decent product that works.
After all... Ford could make you sign an EULA saying that any accidents are the fault of the driver....
However , if you manage to beat the M$ lawyers , all you'll get back is the cost of the win 10 licence
Billywindows fun again, I see.
Now we wait for Bombastic Bob to have a go at them :)
We got one laptop with the clap at the moment. Waiting for the user to come back from wherever so that I can have a prod 'n poke at said laptop and see what's going on.
Thanks M$ for the extra work. Now go away.
Run the beta Proton3.7 for Steam. A great number of windows games now running under Steam OS on Linux and it is darn good and getting better daily. It's just a matter of time before Windows loses it's crown. That will be when it goes subscription service and you have to pay a monthly or yearly fee for it. The greedy clown (Billy Gates) can fully stuff it by then.
It pains me to do this as I'm a xNIX person, and no fan of Redmond (in fact, I live in it), and so much more likely to sound like Bombastic Bob than makes me personally comfortable, and so:
Bill's (formerly unchallenged) greed has absolutely nothing to do with anything at Microsoft these days. Oh, the Interns know who he is a vague way (seriously!) but Bill drives around Bellevue in a minivan and is a great deal more interested in other things (according to El Reg, Poop, specifically) these days. Bill is not, nor has he been for some time, responsible for the retarded shit-storm that is today's Microsoft. Ballmer set much in motion, and adjusting with both nudges AND hammers we have SatNad who is quite firmly in control, and thus, to blame.
I don't mind calling out villany, just make sure you get the right villan. (Oracle and Amazon continue to make this easy.)
I bit the bullett and upgraded my Windows 7 PC at the weekend.... to Windows 8.1! With a 3rd party start menu replacement (Start8 in this case), it's actually very fast and stable, and not a forced upgrade in site. It will give me a few more years grace anyway - before that godawful Win10 looms (or wobbles by that time) onto the horizon for me!
About 2 years ago, not long after a free upgrade from W7 I started getting this sort of error, usually also followed by the 'this needs to be activated' messages. In the end I scrapped my dual booting setup, got a 500gb ssd and done a fresh install and it's been ok since.
"Also most consumers don't get a choice."
Well, you're not wrong in one sense.
In another the choice they get is M$ or the Fruit Factory, all for a "It just works! I'm not like those IT techy blokes! I have a life! I don't have time to learn all the useless bollockology* they use!"
(*Actual words used by one of my End L-Users because i took personal Skype off his work PC and told him Biz Skype or piss off. His retort of "it's my PC!" was met with "No. It's the company's. You agreed to abide by the IT Standards when you started. If you don't like it, I'll upgrade you to an abacus and a notepad. I'll be nice and let you choose your own colour pen. There shouldn't be any compatibility issues!")
The price difference is evil?
I paid £2.36 for a win10 Pro licence off ebay. Home was £1.73. I can't see how the price difference is evil? 63p is hardly earth shattering. It won't even get you a can of coke...
I doubt you could still find one, and M$ screwed the activate system for it just over a week ago.
All 3 of my Win7 PCs suddenly started claiming fake installs (all genuine and have been genuine for years).
Plus one where I was reinstalling after the SSD failed (3rd in our house this year!!), installed some weird licence number by itself and not only declared itself fake, but also the genuine licence that goes with that particular disk to be fake when I entered it.
It has also gone from 7 days to activate - to 0 days to activate in the course of 48 hours, THEN decided I had 27 days to activate!!.
Completely screwed
Another 'benefit' of D.R.M.
From a customers perspective, the worst possible outcome is it stops you from legitimately using the software. (Something that seems to almost always happen eventually in my experience. Replacing a hard-drive, etc.).
The best possible outcome is only that it doesn't stop you from legitimately using your tools...
Expecting test versions to not have problems is amateurish.
If you are going to run test versions of things you've got to expect problems.
The only thing I fault MS for in this is not prominently labeling its test rings as "TEST VERSION" on both the desktop and start menu. This failing by MS allows kids to switch systems they care for over to a test versions, despite that the users may be using it for production.
As the article states, this is a problem with production license servers and affects non-insider, NON-BETA, production users. Insiders noticed it first because they update a lot so they talk to license servers a lot. It can and has affected other users too, and is most definitely a problem.
I know there's jokes about installing Linux and everything will be good. However, this isn't always as simple as the comment would make you think.
What do I mean, one of my machines - a laptop as it happens, runs Windows 10 Pro, The software installed on it is all specialist astronomy software for image capturing and telescope operations.
Of those pieces of software there are some which only run on Windows. Specifically there are three pieces of software which are the core of the system, Sequence Generator Pro - http://mainsequencesoftware.com/Products/SGPro, SharpCap - https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/ and PHD2 - https://openphdguiding.org/. These communicate with the telescope using the ASCOM Platform - https://ascom-standards.org/
Migrating to Linux until not long ago, was a bit of a none starter. It migrate would mean a major project to see if it's possible before I replaced the OS.
I have Linux running on several machines, for what I use it for, I love it. I've also got a MacBook Pro which is great for what I use that for. I use windows by choice and for the reasons that I stated above with the specialist software that simple isn't available for other OS's
In the grand scheme of things, waiting a few days won't be too much of a problem, For the astronomy stuff, the only thing I needed a Pro licence for is Remote Desktop. Other than that, I could have used the Home version.... and there's other software that I could have used if I didn't want to use RDP.
@AstroNutter
My recent experiences with a new Dell laptop bear this out. I don't like Windows 10, but I'm reluctant to zap the installed O/S completely, not least because of reports of poor battery life under Linux.
So I thought I'd dual-boot. No luck, some infernal BIOS feature means that the Linux installer can't see the disk.
Well how about running Linux in a VM? I read enthusiastic reports (El Reg and elsewhere) about the Ubuntu image Microsoft have created for Hyper-V. So I enable Hyper-V and install it. The VM window is about the size of a postage stamp. Switch to full-screen, and it's a postage stamp in the middle of the screen. Messing around with Grub in the VM got me a slightly bigger stamp. It turns out the maximum resolution of the Hyper-V video driver is a miserable 1920x1080.
OK, let's try VMWare. No luck there, either. It seem W10 has some VM-related security feature that prevents VMWare from launching a VM. There's a solution to this, but I don't like entering commands I don't understand, and I haven't got the time to investigate.
I haven't got around to trying VirtualBox yet.
"The two features I buy Windows Pro for are the ability to join a domain, and RDP"
Well then we have you covered: Join the domain with winbind (Samba) and use xfreerdp - many GUIs available. I have Kerberized everything on this laptop I am using right now. I get my files by accessing folders in my home dir that magically mount shares via autofs. Libre Office for office stuff. email from Exchange through Evolution. Printing via CUPs. Teamviewer works for providing remote support. KeePass native for password management.
"I haven't got around to trying VirtualBox yet."
More importantly, based on your comment, you haven't got around to trying to put Linux on the host PC and Windows in the VM. Hypervisors have mechanisms these days to let you expose the UEFI magic to a VM, so the Windows licence key can be used by the virtualised system and you get to use Linux on the big screen. Also, since your monitor appears to be so big that a 1920x1080 screen is "tiny", you might be interested in virtualising a second monitor on that VM.
If there are apps on both Windows and Linux that you feel you have to use at higher resolutions, I'm a bit stuck and you are probably right. Also, if there are fancy games you need to run in the VM, that probably isn't going to work either. But for basic desktop productivity, putting the badly behaved OS in a sandbox (where it is trivial to reset or back-up) is the way to go.
In a commercial setting, where there *ought* to be someone in-house who can research and support this configuration, it is fast becoming the only responsible way to deploy Windows within an organisation. Microsoft have managed half a dozen borkages via Windows Update in as many months. Is it really sensible to run your business on an OS which can only managed "one nine" of uptime?
@Ken Hagan
based on your comment, you haven't got around to trying to put Linux on the host PC and Windows in the VM
As I said in my comment, installing Linux on the host PC was what I tried first.
...since your monitor appears to be so big...you might be interested in virtualising a second monitor on that VM
I'm using a laptop - there is no monitor.
That said, I fully accept that there are solutions to all the problems I've encountered, and that I should stop complaining and get on with solving them.
"contains lots of goodies including improvements to Focus Assist to stop notifications bothering customers using apps in fullscreen mode"
how is it an "improvement" if it's removing an annoying piece of functionality that shouldnt have been there in the first place?
that's like hitting someone in the face and describing the subsequent bandages as an "improvement". well, maybe, if the bandaging and punching wasnt being done by the same fecking person/entity/company/feckfeckfeck. but if you're fixing something the mess you created, you're not 'improving' it.
feck this shit, feck it all.
On Windows 98, I used to unexpectedly reboot my machine more or less every day. I used to be nervous every time it booted because I didn't have access to the screen (blind and use software to read the screen in Windows). I set my autosave and auto-backup very low so that I wouldn't lose much work when the machine crashed. I fought with hardware to get it installed. Then Windows XP and Windows 7 came and I didn't have to worry about these things anymore, the machine would stay up, it hardly ever failed to boot, I didn't have to fight with hardware anymore. All these things got better and stayed better on phones, on Mac... It was a general improvement. Why is MS moving backward? Why is it possible for the machine to force a reboot to install updates (yes, I can delay it, but why should it not be in my control to avoid it)? Why is it possible for a machine to boot and fail to talk for a few minutes while installing updates? Keep in mind, if it doesn't talk, I don't know why though I can guess. Why, to avoid this, do I have to stick with 7 and now start fighting with hardware again to make it work on that system?
There are legitimate reasons to use windows 10 - off the top of my head - direct x12 gaming and intel Skylake x and above hardware (turbo boost 3.0 is windows only).
Having a home system that mirrors work is also helpful - especially if work is 100% MS. But having this on top of the last few months of crap from MS has kept me from updating my laptop (It has remained in an off state - pretty safe) and only my main machine has been subject to the update gamble. Whilst my Linux box has updated numerous times without issue. C’mon MS we don’t expect perfection but this incompetence is edging into malice.
No RDP server on Home? OK its not in from the install but Home on a system here seems to work perfectly well. It gets accessed from other Windows and Linux systems and even allows more than one user logged in at the same time. RDPWrapper adds the functionality they want to keep out. There are more things I would like them to take out of Windows than I would like to add. An OS only needs to 'operate the system' and allow me to run the software I want to easily and reliably.WOW UAE still allows me to use my Amiga software..... when I have the desire to do so. I dont need an OS to keep jumping in and getting in the way and that goes for Linux, Windows or Mac. All OS'es are becoming overgrown in install size from what they need to be for my needs and that is what matters to me.
I'm confused here.
If I just slap a fresh setup on a PC, no licenses at all... Home it is?
Or, it looks for the Pro auth servers, finds none, and somebody at Microsoft duct-taped the Home servers to "accept" anyone looking for Pro credentials, let them go on a temporary Home activation?
How does that work?
Icon--->
According to slashdot:
"""Only users who had upgraded their computers to Windows 10 by using product keys of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 appear to be impacted."""
At the time of the 'free upgrade' they promised that it would be 'free' for "the lifetime of the device". Maybe they have decided that a PC's 'lifetime' is now up. If your manufacturer's warranty has expired then "it's dead Jim".
Spent half the day wondering why my machine and customer machines have been complaining about being windows 10 home instead. Only to find out that the servers have been messed up.
Microsoft should be renamed to BigHard, they ain't small anymore nor are they easy to figure out. Well, I'm going to have to sit around and wait until microsoft sort this problem out and keep repeating myself to my customers, I will sound like a broken record for the next couple of days.
At least you only spent half a day. I didn’t sleep last night because this was affecting my laptop (bought a Pro upgrade pack back when it was running 8.1 because the stupid thing shipped with Home and I needed Hyper-V for development purposes). Was up all night running through the thousands of scenarios in my head pondering why my license had become counterfeit all of the sudden. Now I feel terrible.
"This seems to apply to the 'Insider' program only" - No
I have a surface laptop & upgraded it to W10 Professional (it was part of the price) and suddenly - like 5 minutes ago - it tells me I have no license. I am not part of any w10 preview / test circle.
:-(
No, it affects anybody who installed an update* after the servers got broken, whenever that was. Insiders saw it first because they install updates a lot, but it will affect a lot of people before someone fixes it.
*installed an update, or had an update flung at you, or maybe there's something else that contacts the registration servers though the article doesn't say there is
1) Install “ShowKeyPlus” from Microsoft Store (it’s free)
2) Run it, save the keys to a text file on the desktop using the
3) Open up an admin command-line
4) Type in “Slmgr.vbs /ipk [OEM-LICENSE-KEY-WITH-DASHES]” without the quotes and using the OEM key from the ShowKeyPlus text file you saved to the desktop.
5) Verify it took by checking Windows Activation in the Settings GUI (Update & Security, Activation)
6) Delete desktop text file
7) Uninstall ShowKeyPlus (right-click on program icon, uninstall)
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I saw the message this morning on my laptop, a W10 pro that followed the upgrade process from 8.1 to 10. Not an insider machine. I checked the tenforums.com site and el reg, and it is fairly clear that it is a temporary issue. I've seen similar with malwarebytes when they do DB maintenance and I get a warning that the application is not up to date.
Not a huge problem but it's surprising that it occurred.
The real surprise here is that Windows Troubleshooter actually managed to fix something.
Be wary.
At one stage the Titanic was both travelling too fast for the conditions and carrying too many people for the number of lifeboats. Both of those problems were "fixed" by a generous application of ice to the hull.
While, for the first time in recorded history, trouble,shooter may've actually apparently fixed something; given it's vast record of failures I'd suggest a policy of 'Be afraid. Be very afraid'.
I envy you guys with unactivated Win 10 Home.
I have an activated Win 10 Pro, with a Window Update that runs 24/7 for four or five days at a time, eating 100% of my CPU, making the whole thing unusable.
If I run wu170509.diagcab it kills the update process, fixes a few bad files, but leaves saying 'Update files were corrupted'. A few days later, Win Update runs again, with the same problem.
I'm painfully transferring all its files to a Win 7 PC, so I can get back to something which works fine, needs no more updates and doesn't need colonic irrigation every few days to make it run again.
Now I wish M$ could understand the simple reality that I don't want to use their store, don't want to use Cortana and I will not use edge or internet explorer. It's a shame they forgot the IE antitrust case and baked this crap into the OS.
Forced because a recent windows update + VS 2017 install for work decided to screw with my audio output, corrupt HAL or driver registration only affecting output, plugging in a USB camera/mic registers the input device with no problems.
Rolled back to previous backup, no problems, performed updates again, lost audio again... No combination of uninstall drivers, reinstall last known good from fresh download and multiple reboots worked to resolve the issue so i either sit in silence, run Windows 10 or try and figure out how to get all my usual apps working under emulation on Linux.
I've got several different Windows 10 Pro machines, MS Surface Pro LTE, HP Spectre x2 LTE, Lenovo X1 Tablet LTE and few other all with LTE. I need full support incl. advanced configuration for: secure boot, full encryption, connected standby (instant resume), touch screens, wireless displays, input pens, precision touchpads, SIMs and eSIMs support and configuration/provisioning, IR cameras support incl. face login, fingerprint readers, Cortana, mobile phone integration similar to MS My Phone or Dell Mobile Connect etc. Please share your suggestions.
Yesterday, I did an update of the virus definitions for Microsoft Defender (settle down, I have two Win 10 machines in a household with a LAN and 3 M$ systems and 4 Linux systems along with various Android/IOS fondleslabs) on my Windows 10 Pro machine and got a message telling me I had to activate Windows.
I fixed it by reentering the internally stored product.key. What a pain in the ass.
I have a PC running a genuine (and registered) copy of Windows 7 Pro (for work purposes) and yesterday morning, I found an error box claiming that this software wasn't registered.
As of this morning I now have the transparent box at the bottom right, that advises me that "This copy of Windows is not genuine"
So, maybe their activation servers have crapped out on more than just Win 10 ?
I would never do this, but actually had to call the support phone and laboriously typing in the activation code. After that I was transferred to a support person. Since my local one is closed it was transferred to a person with a very pronounced Indian accent. They were nice and just told me to wait while they verified the code, then asked me to re-enter the license again, and this time it actually worked.
So it might help to go the old-school route and just call support.
It happened to me. And you know what... I wish I could say it caused a moment of sudden realisation that I was *done* with Microsoft. Like being in a long term relationship where the love was lost long ago, where excitement and desire and the happiness of having shared goals and alignments have been replaced with annoyance, anger growing into contempt for them and shame for yourself at letting this go on for so long without breaking up. That this was that *snap* moment where all of that fades into numbness and a sense simply of 'You know what, I'm done. You won't change. I don't care if you do. Go do you.' and the freedom that would bring... but I have games to play. Like having kids, you love them, but just wish they'd grow up so you could be free and let you break away from this unhappy mismatched contemptuous union you're trapped in for their sake.
But I can't. I'll accept the abuse. I'll tolerate the cold contempt we both hold each other in.
Each time they hurt me I'll just go a little number.
For the kids.
This whole MicroSlop affair might be funny if I didn't have so much money tied up in software licenses.
Between 2 licenses for Autodesk Inventor and AutoCad,, 4 more licenses for ABlowME Photoshop, Premier, and After Effects and 5 licenses for MS Office, I'd love one platform that can run it all, but alas, MicroSlop has a monopoly on business software.
Been the MAC route, but with the way that Office handles styles and conversions, I spent too much time fixing shit that wasn't broke.
Still not a happy camper with updates being shoved down my throat, so one box is only used for emailing files and isn't going to receive updates.
After twenty five plus years using Microsoft Products, Windows 10 has been the straw that broke this Camels back. My wireless connection keeps falling over in 10, as does my wireless keyboard and Bluetooth, but oddly enough when I boot the same machine using a Linux Mint USB they're all rock steady.
When I bought two brand new laptops last year, Windows 10 worked fine with all these things until the 'Upgrades' that dumped applications on my hard drive I didn't ask for and never wanted in the first place. Not to mention screwing with what was a perfectly functional machine. Don't even get me started on that utter annoyance called 'Cortana' which I can't fully disable or uninstall.
Now I'm seriously working toward going full time Linux and note with pleasure that moving all my precious files into long term storage via Linux to an SD Card for archive from my machines hard drive is an absolute snip. LibreOffice is likewise more than a match for MS-Office. I may even migrate back to WordPerfect.
I came in to work this morning and got a message saying 'Windows needs to be activated' - no the computer didn't blow up, no the sky didn't fall on my head, no I didn't lose any functionality it still behaved like Windows 10 Pro - just a watermark saying I needed to activate Windows. I hit 'Troubleshoot' and the watermark was gone and a message saying Windows was activated. Hardly a reason to throw out Windows and spend the next 2 weeks installing Linux, tweaking the packages, services, window managers and hunting for equivalent apps that barely cover half the functionality of what I need to get work done in Windows.
Think of it as... let's say... a warning...
A warning that maybe... just maybe... the machine is beginning to question your authority.
===
Let me ask a question. One day upon switching on your pc, a message pops up about a S.M.A.R.T. error. You switch the machine off and on again and the message no longer appears.
Would you:-
(a) Ignore it as a "one-off"?
(b) Take an immediate backup?
(c) Replace the drive?
Sounds like you are an (a) type person. I'm more of a (b)(c) type person myself.
Anyone relying on a consumer activation server is a consumer / home user. So their Windows edition should reflect that.
For professional users, they need their software to be deterministic and reliable. So they do not use consumer activation servers requiring external company servers, a network connection. Too many unknowns that could go wrong.
Stay safe kids. Don't think software requiring strict DRM is a "professional" solution. Use your due diligence and pick a correct solution.