Recent Windows 10 updates failing to install, causing BSOD and audio issues for some users

[lazer]

BS, unbuntu and linux seem to work fine on my laptops and desktops with out bungling and I can even use old programs.
Your defense of M$ is baloney. M$ buy programs, throws it together with much sales fanfare and naive people buy into it. M$ is a sales first company; tech later company and THAT'S THE REAL TRUTH!

 

[JW0914]

BS, unbuntu and linux seem to work fine on my laptops and desktops with out bungling and I can even use old programs.
Your defense of M$ is baloney. M$ buy programs, throws it together with much sales fanfare and naive people buy into it. M$ is a sales first company; tech later company and THAT'S THE REAL TRUTH!

Apples to oranges comparison... The bulk of the Linux and BSD ecosystems are built upon opensource software and some closed-source repos, and without the opensource software, neither could function because they're all built off a base of opensource software.

Windows is not open source and does not compile updates from independent repos.

Might I suggest having some objectivity, which is more conducive to an intellectual conversation? Stating basic facts isn't a defense for Microsoft, it's simply stating facts.

 

[raphaelBM]

Hey JW0914, It s great to see you defending the problems around M$. Brave but futile because you are up against a monster that has changed to just "lead the way" by ignoring its users, This will lead to the demise of Windows after the next major security breach.
That was opinion. No answer required,

Here are real questions. Do you have real answers?
a) Where are the MS known errors?
b) Where can I trace progress?.
c) How can I know that an issue is fixed?
Thanks in advance for carefully considering your answer. I asked 3 questions: a , b & c
Raphael

 

[JW0914]

Hey JW0914, It s great to see you defending the problems around M$. Brave but futile because you are up against a monster that has changed to just "lead the way" by ignoring its users, This will lead to the demise of Windows after the next major security breach.
That was opinion. No answer required,

Here are real questions. Do you have real answers?
a) Where are the MS known errors?
b) Where can I trace progress?.
c) How can I know that an issue is fixed?
Thanks in advance for carefully considering your answer. I asked 3 questions: a , b & c
Raphael

Posing such questions to me is asinine, which you're clearly aware of. Facts matter, regardless of how folks feel about Microsoft... by all means though, please tell me which of the facts I posted aren't facts.

Stating basic facts isn't a defense for Microsoft, it's simply stating facts.

 

[JW0914]

Hey JW0914, It s great to see you defending the problems around M$. Brave but futile because you are up against a monster that has changed to just "lead the way" by ignoring its users, This will lead to the demise of Windows after the next major security breach.
That was opinion. No answer required,

Here are real questions. Do you have real answers?
a) Where are the MS known errors?
b) Where can I trace progress?.
c) How can I know that an issue is fixed?
Thanks in advance for carefully considering your answer. I asked 3 questions: a , b & c
Raphael

I originally had edited my previous comment with the below, but I didn't realize you had already reviewed it prior to the edit, so I'm posting that content to this comment:

Specifically for A, an educated guess would be it's a third party driver issue, else everyone would be having the same issue - frustrating for the affected user, absolutely, but considering Microsoft gives hardware developers a heads up on updates being implemented before doing so, Microsoft is the wrong tree to be barking up.
(It would be recommended for the affected user to install/reinstall the most up to date audio drivers for their hardware, then reboot, which would likely fix the issue; also performing the commands in the link below wouldn't hurt either.)

As to the other issues in the article, they're solved by doing the steps I laid out here and here, and it's a problem that Microsoft doesn't link to a KB article or Microsoft Docs page stating something almost verbatim to what I have in that comment's code boxes, as it's not only the correct way to resolve the issue, it should be an automated task in Task Scheduler running prior to any Windows Updates, and once a month a minimum (I run all three as tasks every Sunday), which would resolve a lot of headaches in general.

• I cover this in more detail on SuperUser

 

[Raytrace3D]

1. It's fundamentally and literally impossible for Microsoft to test an update against billions of devices to ensure their hardware configurations won't result in a bug. Billions of devices with likely over 100 billion possible hardware combinations.
   
   
2. The other issue is a normal issue that can occur on any install and I listed the steps to fix four comments up from yours here

All true... but it's called regression testing. Microsoft no longer pays internal QA people to perform this work but rather relies on the community to do this. Big mistake. Any changes that get merged into a build should automatically go through regression testing against said changes. This is simply not happening at the same level they use too when they had a dedicated QA team (and they had a large QA team). Microsoft, if you are reading this, please stop making your customer's your QA department.

 

[JW0914]

...it's called regression testing. Microsoft no longer pays internal QA people to perform this work but rather relies on the community to do this... Any changes that get merged into a build should automatically go through regression testing against said changes.

Is the issue really relying on the community for QA? This is how BSD and Linux distros have essentially always operated, with users knowing if they were taking a beta/RC [release-candidate] update.

Microsoft does do this, with millions of users participating, via the three Insider channels - Fast [Dev builds], Slow [Beta builds], and Release Preview [RC builds].
Many appear biased against Microsoft for the changes they've implemented in Windows, however any who have an issue with updates are able to participate in the process to help prevent update issues from occurring. If one complains but does nothing to help resolve what they're complaining about, it removes the legs one is standing upon.

 

[Endymio]

Apple controls their hardware ecosystem, developing their OS specifically, and only, for their hardware.

That's it exactly. There are far more potential combinations of hardware, firmware, and software on a Windows device than there are stars in the universe. That's an unmatched measure of flexibility ... but it does come with some drawbacks. This is one of them.

 

[Raytrace3D]

Is the issue really relying on the community for QA? This is how BSD and Linux distros have essentially always operated, with users knowing if they were taking a beta/RC [release-candidate] update.

Microsoft does do this, with millions of users participating, via the three Insider channels - Fast [Dev builds], Slow [Beta builds], and Release Preview [RC builds].
Many appear biased against Microsoft for the changes they've implemented in Windows, however any who have an issue with updates are able to participate in the process to help prevent update issues from occurring. If one complains but does nothing to help resolve what they're complaining about, it removes the legs one is standing upon.

That might be true and I would agree with you to a certain extent but I tend to think of Linux users as power users. People who know a lot more about their systems hardware, software and configurations than the general Windows population and can thus provide better feedback. I've worked in QA for a few software developers (and even worked directly with Microsoft in the past) and I can tell you, having someone knowledgeable about their system is 1000 times better in troubleshooting and resolving issues than looking a crash dump and stack trace. Also the hardware "compatibility" stack for Windows, in addition to desktop OS install-base is greater. I also tend to believe that Linux foundational code is more stable to begin with it with less dependencies on legacy code.

That said, there is something fundamentally wrong with Microsoft's approach to Windows Updates and their release cycle that has changed over the past few years. A major change internally has been with their QA teams. I'm sure there are a number of factors but I think it's pretty undeniable that whatever it is, Microsoft needs to get a handle on it quick. With the advent of containerization (such as docker), what the heck is stopping people (like myself) who thought they would never consider another operating system from jumping ship? The only thing at the moment for me is DirectX. lol