Windows 7 back in black as holdouts report wallpaper-stripping shenanigans Microsoft has given Windows 7 users a parting gift with its last update as some holdouts are reporting existing desktop wallpaper being replaced by a sombre black screen – presumably in mourning for the veteran OS. Others have also called out problems on Windows 10, but it is the venerable (and potentially vulnerable) 7 that …
I've noticed that you cannot change the wallpaper through the Control Panel - it ignores any changes you make and applies something random which it makes up. Suspected when I first saw this that this is Microsoft's attempt to make Windows 7 so unpleasant that everyone is forced on to 10. Really PITA, but as expected.
>Probably the unfounded assertion that Microsoft does these thing deliberately, when simple incompetence suffices as an explanation.
Those of us who've been in this game for some time know that Microsoft 'have got form' when it comes to deliberately degrading performance or intimidating generic users in order to push more of their product. We all rather hope that this stuff faded over the years because of all the $$$$$ they were making but the suspicion still lingers.
"I would be really interested to know what was so offensive to those people who down-voted my original message."
Simple, because you didn't say Linux.
In here that is the answer to everything. If your software doesn't work on Linux, it's you're fault and you should use some sub par software instead.
No, but worse: it turns out that, without notice but by connecting the dots, you find that, if your Win7-converted-to Win10 box gets a corrupted partition table, the Microsoft-preferred USB recovery won't work.
Why?
Because you updated from Win7, which most likely used MBR. Win10's USB install/recovery drive uses UEFI for boot support and can't switch over to MBR-based partition tables (firmware limitation, causing a software issue). So BOOTREC can't rebuild the boot records because it can't access the HDD/SSD, locking you out.
You need to boot from DVD. A hidden gotcha, modern laptops who converted and lose their partition table, yet have no optical drive, may be royally screwed.
"You could plug in a USB optical drive."
It depends upon the USB firmware support in the motherboard. If USB support is provided by UEFI extensions, the USB optical drive still appears through the UEFI firmware device drivers and, therefore, still an fundamentally an UEFI device simply with a 'USB-to-optical' bridge.
It will most likely still fail, as the Win10 install drivers only seem to stay within their bootup configuration (and UEFI requires matched-size bootloaders anyway). It's a combination of an Intel problem (restricted UEFI configurations) coupled with Microsoft's complete failure of mentioning "Oh, BTW, if you retain MBR disks our repair USB devices [probably] won't be able to access it from a failed status on many motherboards".
A fresh Win10 install probably won't see this, as either (with a new build) the BIOS will be in UEFI mode and therefore using GPT disks, or your fresh wipe-install will (often) be set the same way. With UEFI, the Win10 UEFI-enabled bootloader will see the GPT disk, and everything seems as normal.
You could plug in a USB optical drive
Or - and bear with me here, because I know it's a bit left of field - how about if someone invented some sort of boxlike structure with some, well, let's call them "bays" at the front, big enough to take, say an optical drive, maybe a couple of additional storage devices, and some ports on the motherboard next to the rear panel, so you could, say, buy a graphics card, or a soundcard, or even something like a MIDI interface card, and the interface sockets could poke out of the back panel for easy connection?
How cool would that be?
And then, on the train to work, you could just read a book or watch a video on your tablet or phone, without balancing an underpowered notebook PC precariously on your knee while you did unpaid work for your employer.
Ah, if only ...
On a general note Windows 10 file system seems more fragile than Windows 7. Sometimes on Windows 7 you get warned to repair the system but skipping it is file, on Windows 10 it just goes ahead and spends ages repairing before either success or failure. Very often failure that needs a lot more effort to recover. For many people this will be the end of their PC usage as they switch to using their phone for everything.
"On a general note Windows 10 file system seems more fragile than Windows 7."
And that's why I'm raising the alarm. Not to cry "Wolf!", or some-such, but to make everyone aware of this little "gotcha!" and prepare for it, by burning a recovery DVD *now*, and keep it handy just in case, if this Win10 usage mode (MBR on UEFI-capable computers) applies to you.
"Because you updated from Win7, which most likely used MBR."
XP used MBR, but from Vista onwards GPT has been preferred, if only to allow use of disks bigger than 2TB.
If the machine was first installed in the last ten years or so, then someone must have made an active choice to use MBR. Although now I think about it, I suppose that's the exact sort of person who would have put off upgrading from Win7 until now..
XP used MBR, but from Vista onwards GPT has been preferred, if only to allow use of disks bigger than 2TB
I have to disagree. I did dozens if not hundreds of installs for 7. Unless I had a special reason to my preferred method was to use a 'raw' disk and let the installer figure it out itself. The 7 installer always used MBR to install.
In a few cases I had disks that were already formatted GPT. 7's installer could not see the existing partitions at all and we had to use another disk (sometimes as an intermediary - we could clone a partition to the existing HDD after doing the install and it'd work OK with some changes to the boot loader).
The installers used were the bog-standard images downloaded from MS's own site. I do recall being quite shocked at how the 7 installer couldn't manage GPT, at least on "Home" installs (did 'Pro" a few times, "Ultimate" once or twice).
In my experience it's down to how you're accessing the installer.
That may actually be it. The vast majority were pre UEFI boards, others had it turned off for ease of use (some of the pre-UEFI tool boot disks didn't play well with it). And out of habit I've tended to turn it off.
If I a) remember, b) find a spare disk and c) can be bothered I'll actually turn UEFI on and do a test install when I'm giving my better machine a good clean out this weekend. But, a & b will probably kill that long before c gets a look in :)
to make sure of easy maintenance etc, ALWAYS look for 'legacy boot'...
...and disable it.
UEFI is simpler and easier if you understand it. You can have multiple bootloaders installed at the same time and pick which one you want to use by name from the boot override menu or from the UEFI settings themselves. On GPT disks, there's no faffing about with extended and logical partitions, and GPT is more robust, with several copies of the partition table "just in case."
And, of course, you can use secure boot if you wish. If you don't want to, turn it off. I know it's popular to think it is some grand conspiracy to keep non-MS OSes off of people's PCs, but I run Linux with secure boot on with no issue at all. You can even set it to use your unsigned bootloader by marking it as trusted in the UEFI settings, and it will generate a hash of the bootloader, store that in NVRAM, and compare that to the generated hash at each boot-- the same thing that happens with a signed bootloader, but in effect, you're signing it. UEFI doesn't care if it is a Linux, Windows, or any other kind of bootloader... it works with all of them.
I loathe MS as much as the next Linux user, but if this is a conspiracy to keep Linux off, they did a damned poor job of it. It's no more of a hassle installing and using Linux with secure boot enabled than it is to use Windows. But if you're still not convinced, you can turn it off. And on any device that is so locked down that you can't turn secure boot off, you're not going to be doing any legacy booting anyway. If you encounter such a thing, just avoid it!
There has been computers sold to the public, which only have Microsoft keys in the EFI, so they can only boot a Microsoft operating system. They were Surface tablets.
As far as I've heard, the newer ones allow the end user to add their own keys (so you can boot linux).
"to make sure of easy maintenance etc, ALWAYS look for 'legacy boot'...
And therein lies the problem. The machine that had this problem / lost its partition table was a Dell XPS 8700, and Dell did indeed decide to keep the BIOS in "Legacy" mode and use MBR. On a 2TB Win7 partition.
If they would have gone UEFI, and GPT, then compatibility with both (the then-current) Win8 and the future (the then-unknown Win10) would have been assured. Dell would have been using the most up-to-date, 'MS-approved-for-the-future' choice. But Dell didn't.
So now, unless I completely rebuild the drive or risk a GPT conversion via Mini Tools Partition Wizard (they claim risk-free but is anything truly thus?), the computer is staying MBR. Which means no Win10 USB-based tool recovery option for corrupted partition tables, now or in the future (as has been already proven).
I'd best keep that Win10 DVD handy... :-/
You don't need to boot from DVD but that is an option. I use the media creation tool Rufus. When you create a bootable USB for Windows 10 you get the option of using GPT or MBR. If the GPT one doesn't work use the MBR option. From my experience if you need to repair the install it's better to just get the data off and do a clean install unless it's just repairing bootmgr. I've always done the Win 7 upgrade to Win 10 to get the license key upgraded. I recover the new key using a tool and then reload the PC clean with Windows 10. Longer but in the long run is a better.
I have a customer that has a key program that only runs on XP, (yes I know) she was running a couple of XP desktops virtulised on Windows 7, and a 100% XP on another machine.
Up until Monday 20th Jan 2020, the XP desktops could access shared drives on Windows 7 & Windows 10 machines, now they can only see other XP shares.
Do you think this could be a parting, lock down sharing gift?
Check the security policy for files and printers. I think MS recently changed the default on Win 10 to be to require passwords. That's all well and good except that it doesn't give a meaningful error message nor the opportunity to enter alternate credentials. Users just get some generic error thrown back at them.
https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-turn-off-password-protected-sharing/
Just a thought - I was chasing my tail over that for a week thinking it was a credentials problem of some kind.
>Do you think this could be a parting, lock down sharing gift?
Definitely.
I suspect that MS have simply upgraded the default security settings for W10 on the basis that they don't need to out of the box support (out-of-the-box) settings that were appropriate when W7 was launched.
Having had to look at Office 2016 - which goes off mainstream support Oct 13th 2020 (same day as 2010 goes EoL), it is clear MS are using 2020 to further tighten things up and pushes everyone on to its cloud offerings. Additionally, from things happening in January and October 2020 they also want people to updated their standalone client installs of Office 365 software to versions that will be supported beyond October 13th.
In going through the details, I expect there will be many cries as people fall foul of MS's end of service support dates and discover things unexpectedly stop working.
Interestingly, W10 builds 1709, 1807, 1809 & 1903 also go EoL.
Well, there's always Linux.
That may be a way around this. A Pi (or something gruntier if there is sufficient data throughput) that accesses all the other shares then maps them to something XP can see? Of course if you have a lot of machines to reconfigure manually..
(Though a niggle in the back of the mind says that something in W10 makes it not play nice with NAS boxes and other file shares not on W10 boxes)
SMB Version 1 has been disabled on your Windows 10 computers. Windows 10 has a "Feature" that will automatically uninstall SMB v1 when the system determines it is no longer needed. It doesn't specify what that criteria is. You should be able to to turn SMB v1 back on with "Turn Windows features on or off" app on Windows 10.
Disclaimer: There are gaping security holes in SMB v1 that will never be patched, use it at your own risk.
looks like something disabled the older "lan manager" share method, the SMB protocol version 1 I think it was. It was insecure, but not *THAT* insecure. If you're only doing local shares, between XP VMs and 7, shouldn't be a problem I'd think, to re-enable it. Might have to hack the registry though. Some "UP"date probably turned it off.
"not *THAT* insecure"
Well, anyone on the same network can access all of your files, and run arbitrary code on the machines hosting. I'm not sure how much more insecure it could get.
The flaws are the protocol level, so Samba was affected as well.
Basically running SMB1 is the equivalent of enabling remote desktop with no password, you should only do it on a completely air-gapped network, and you should think twice before you do even that.
Rather fits the pattern of Windows 10 patches b0rking that OS on a regular basis as well.
Anyone remember when MSFT fired the QA department? Something about 'darn developers testing their own darn code', or something.
Now you don't know what features will break with the next update. Will network share mounting break again? Network printer support go down? Maybe it'll randomly delete every file in your Documents folder (again). Almost getting that 'MacOS major update' feeling with Windows these days.
Was it ever anywhere near this bad with Windows 7 and previous versions, or is this nostalgia colouring our memories?
"Now you don't know what features will break with the next update."
HA! You don't even know what will continue to STAY broken! USB hubs in the USB 3.0 slot? Still don't work. Multiple hubs, multiple years. Hardware incompatibilty they say. Funny, Linux seems to have been non-incompatible with every hub in every port I've ever tried, but whatevs. OSes must be hard when you're one of the richest most resource-flush companies in the world.
Was it ever anywhere near this bad with Windows 7 and previous versions, or is this nostalgia colouring our memories?
I do recall the odd borked W7 update etc, but that was usually the exception and with a small subset of computers. I've had some machines with years of stable operation (with regular and fully automatic updates (pre GWX). Even swap out bits of hardware with no issue. One install has eventually had every bit of HW replaced including the case and PSU.
With W10 it certainly seems to be the norm that things will change, and break, and data you rely on or software you use will suddenly not be there.
>You can still do it for free though... it accepts W7 keys
Just ensure you do an "update this PC and keep my files".
Bearing in mind a comment above about recovery media and boot issues, I'm tempted once having done this update to then do a full "reinstall" to clear out any undesired residues from the W7 system.
> I have done a free upgrade to W10 using a clean install. Two actually. All you need is the CoA from the original W7
Thanks - my sources were specific that it had to be the upgrade and keep option and not the full repartition the disk clean install option.
They were also specific that you shouldn't zap that newly minted W7 upgrade install until you had 'registered' W10 by logging on to your MS account.
Perhaps having discovered a path that worked, people were just sticking to it.
Are you serious? You don't know what a CoA is? What a LUSR! It stands for "Certificate of Airworthiness," and you have to have your original one for Windows 7 in order to upgrade to Windows 10, so you can be certain your computer will follow a safe, predictable trajectory onto the pavement when you throw it out the window after upgrading.
(What's that? It actually stands for "Certificate of Authenticity?" You mean, like that hologram thingy with the serial number and license key? Hunh. Well, then never mind, I guess. But you're still a LUSR!)
--- Melllvar (with three Ls ;-)
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I had the black screen issue; the only image it would allow me to set was the default blue+squares windows one.
Company machine, so got the boys on it, to watch them scratch their heads. Looks like a permissions issue; eventually they got the right thing back.
But it seems I'm getting a W10 machine shortly anyway, company policy. I'm retiring in a month or two, but hey ho...
I hear ya. Playing with Linux myself now & virtual Win 7. I still have 3 machines with XP running on them. They work fine. None are connected to the WWW. I also have an older machine running Apple DOS &/or CPM. All the original floppies & games still work.
In my programming days I learned to code on CPM with cassette serial tape drives. Next were the first Apple machines. Talk about caveman days! Advanced to Cobol & Fourth code on a Burroughs mini main frame. Each line was punched on a card. Computer read the code from the cards. Talk about ancient. Aluminum disks weighing about 25 lbs each stored the data. Had about 6 of these monsters that took up an entire room. Still have a lot of my MS DOS disks from the old days & a laptop that uses them.
I STOP with Win 7 & use Linux rather than spend my declining years frustrated with each new M$ Win 10 screw up. I am loving the Linux future. God bless us all! :D
The last Windows 7 update that tried to install itself about a week ago ended up failing and putting Windows into a continual reboot loop. I did wonder whether as a parting gift, Microsoft were deliberately disabling Windows 7. Managed to unwind the update in safe mode.
Happily running windows 7 pro offline and off grid....no problems.....
just keep this one expendable laptop connected to the web with no data or programs on it of any import.....and standalone with its own printer scanner.
I just wish Huawei or even Google would bring out an opsys that would run the half dozen windows programs I love to use. Tried Linux and it does not play nice and Crapple are even worse.....there is an absolute fortune waiting out there for the writer/vendor of a working alternative.
Happily running windows 7 pro offline and off grid....no problems.....
I used to run an air-gapped Windows 7 system - after a few months it decided that not being able to phone home was a sure sign than it must be a pirated version and would foist black wallpaper on me with a message to the effect that my perfectly legal Windows 7 installation was a counterfeit copy.
> it decided that not being able to phone home was a sure sign
I know somebody who has been running an airgapped Win7 Pro computer for many years now (5 years IIRC), and he never had any similar problems. (By airgapped I mean isolated in a VLan without Internet access. Never got any updates since 2015, on purpose.)
So it might be that something changed in your computer's hardware, or for some reason Windows thought so (something you plugged in was considered as new internal hardware, or some driver changed or stopped working)? Just guessing.
Actually, funeral strippers are a Taiwanese custom, not (mainland) China. They also have funeral processions containing flatbed trucks with pole-dancers on them, and "Professional Mourners" who can spend hours "crying" into a PA system about how sad they are that Uncle Wu has kicked the bucket, so that you don't have to.
When I was in Taiwan, one of the neighbours had one of these funerals. In the afternoon, there were puppet shows for the kids. After 9pm, the kids were sent home and the strippers came on. I wanted to go and experience the authentic local customs but the wife wouldn't let me ;)
Has been for ages - I like it that way and it's easier to find icons than on a cluttered background.
Mind you, it's not entirely black - it does have a photograph of the moon at the centre taking up about 1/3 of the height - taken with a 200mm lens on a 24MPixel camera.
...Siemens S7 TIA (PLC programming system). Other than that, I've moved over to Linux entirely. I booted my Windows box just last night (it's an old Toshiba Tecra 32 bit laptop). I partioned the SSD in half, and installed Lubuntu next to Windows 7. It's like a new machine.
Have you ever tried using Rufus to burn a USB stick in Windows 7 on a VM under Linux?
I did, just now, as a test. Worked perfectly well in Windows 7 running as guest in Virtualbox 6.1, on a KDE Neon host, using the newest portable version of Rufus (3.8.1580). One of my PCs is is now running a Mint 19.3 live session using the stick I just wrote in the VM.
The last two updates are failing to install my Windows 7. There's one about 314.4MB KB4534310 that keeps reverting changes upon reboot(about 11% or 12% installed then reverts), and another one about 19.2MB KB2310138 that disappears soon after it shows up as an available update and reappears again later(the next day?)
Event Viewer Log:
"Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070490: 2020-01 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB4534310)."
"Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070490: Security Update for Windows (KB4534310)."
cmd
"Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>SFC /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example
C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log
C:\Windows\system32>"
The end of the log looks like it found stuff that the checksum don't match expected.
(what to do about this if anything?)
Tried all the common Windows Update fixes I could find on the internet, but nothing seams to fix this.
Consider yourself lucky, if that's the only parting shot.
On January 15th, despite autoupdate being turned off, the update kindly downloaded itself then, on the next boot, ran to 30% and shutdown the machine. Restarting gave the message "Windows is loading files..." followed by a popup claiming to "repair the startsystem'. Of course, it failed, rebooted, and did the same performance three times before coming up with "Configuring updates etc" and this sequence repeats endlessly.
(It looks like one of the "updates" trashes the thing which calls the loader.)
Solution is, to hit the power switch when you get the "Do not turn off your computer" message, which brings it up in safe mode. You then need to clear the update cache, like this:
net stop wuauserv
rmdir %windir%\softwaredistribution /s /q
net start wuauserv
The machine then works perfectly, until you get the message 'Updates are available etc', and you find that autoupdate has been turned back on, and you can go back to the endless loop described above.
I've put those instructions into a .bat file, which I run every time I shutdown.
"I've put those instructions into a .bat file, which I run every time I shutdown."
I tried something like this, it appears that this deletes Window's Update cache, and it'll redownloads the updates after reboot, even if it doesn't install them.*?
A better workaround may to 'Hide' the update(s), and/or disable checking for updates.
One way to 'hide' the update:
from Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Update
click on N update(s) is available
right click on the update and choose 'Hide update'
One way to stop updates:
Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Update
click on 'Change Settings'
in the drop down box choose 'Never check for updates'
uncheck boxes, etc...
click [OK]
*?(Note: I didn't read technical details behind what this does and this is just the impression I got from my attempt, so I may be wrong on things, feel free to correct/improve)
I tried to hide the updates initially, but that didn't stop it. It would download identical updates, and still try to install them, (ignoring the 'don't check for updates' box) which ended in the endless loop again. My fond hope is that MS will stop sending out this crap eventually, so I don't need to run my script.
"How much do updates cost?
Updates and software from Microsoft for Microsoft products are free as part of maintenance and support services. For other products, check with each program publisher and device manufacturer to see if updates are free of charge. Depending on your Internet connection, standard local and long-distance phone charges and/or Internet service charges might apply while you download and install updates from any publisher or manufacturer."
Quote from Windows 7 > "Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Update" > "Updates: Frequently asked questions"
This is a principle to which Microsoft has adhered since the 1990s. Surely it is no surprise.
We learned this back in the Windows 3 days, when many a patch diskette would break Word Perfect and Quattro. (Yes, Windows "updates" once were distributed on diskette.) I had several customers switch over to Office, which at the time was utter crap, just to avoid that problem.
They learned that it worked, and that they could get away with it. Every time someone sued them for it they'd just switch tactics.
Of course the last few patches are going to bork Microsoft products which they want you to replace. It happens a often, and has for years.
I get a strange feeling the roll out may have been aimed at restricting or preventing a widespread abuse of “nag screen muting”. After all, if you went into work on Monday and the M$ nag screen wasn’t there you may wrongly assume your bosses had switched to Xubuntu or some other Windoze 10 and you were safe..... there I managed to squeeze Linux in to a message and make it look like it was intentional.
Hey! I just noticed that my Win7 DVD drive has vanished, and I don't know which of the recent flood of updates did it.
It appears in Win Explorer until you put a DVD in, then it vanishes. An external USB DVD drive makes it reappear, but only the external drive works.
Time to go Linux..?
Microsoft may release diagnostics packages that melt away our thermal compound and burn out our fans. They may release Outlook updates that bork our system drives and make them unbootable. And they may sneak telemetry into security-only updates. But they'll never take our wallpapers!*
*Well, to be more accurate, they'll never take my wallpapers. You know -- because I copied my wallpapers over to Linux. Actually, this article was an important wake-up call: I really need to get more wallpapers with kittens. And you know what? I'll stretch 'em if I damn well feel like it! Because ... something about freedom!
Others have donned the tinfoil conspiracy hats, muttering that the borkage is part of a dastardly Redmondian scheme to rip the beloved OS from their hands. Right.
Would that be controversial if it was true? They're doing all sorts of other stuff to nudge people to lash out a couple of hundred quid to upgrade, or £400+ for a whole new machine (that's what the pages you click thru from the nag screen say, Media Creation pages not mentioned... )
Just do a system restore to a previous date and cancel windows update, simple!
That hasn't always been possible. IIRC the GWX (or a related) update either removed previous restore points or left something on the disk that wasn't touched by restore to make it install itself again as part of the "restore" process.
I can't clearly recall the details (or even if it was XP, Vista or 7) but there was some shenanigans with one of the updates that couldn't be undone with SR.
(I still think SR is perhaps the best thing MS has put into Windows)
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