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Microsoft Ends Support For Windows Vista; Begins To Roll Out Windows 10 Creators Update

Posted by msmash on from the microsoft-things dept.

On Tuesday, Microsoft began the roll out of Windows 10 Creators Update, the latest update of the company's desktop operating system. Incidentally, today is also the day Windows Vista, a decade-old OS as well as some parts of Office 2007 hit end of life. Earlier this month we asked Slashdot readers if they would be upgrading their computers to Windows 10 Creators Update. Many people answered with a resounding no.

48 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not worth having by zlives · · Score: 2

    dont worry it will be.

  2. Do I have a choice? by Ostrich25 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I somehow suspect that Windows won't exactly give me the option to say 'no' to this update.

    1. Re:Do I have a choice? by Solandri · · Score: 2

      Just disable the Windows Update service. You'll have to re-enable it eventually to get security updates, but at least this way you can control when the updates occur. I've had to do that since Win 10 keeps installing "updated" video drivers which don't work on my laptop. Every month I enable updates long enough to get the newest security updates (along with everything else Microsoft forces on you), then disable it again and reinstall the "older" working video drivers.

      FWIW, they did let you put off the Oct 2016 major update for as long as you wanted. It was treated much like the upgrade to Win 10 (in fact it used the same procedure - moving the previous system into Windows.old for 10 days* and allowing you to roll it back). Meaning you could end up with it automatically (and unwillingly) installed, but for the most part the customer was in control of it.

      * Yes they reduced the roll-back period from 30 days to 10 days. Was a major PITA since some of my clients experiencing problems with it didn't realize they'd been forcibly upgraded, and by the time they notified me of problems it was past the 10 day window and we had to restore from a backup to revert the system.

    2. Re:Do I have a choice? by chipschap · · Score: 1

      stand up, have a spine. don't use windows 10.

      I continually ask why people put up with all this nonsense. Forced upgrades, can't modify the host file, spyware and adware baked in, Microsoft gets to decide if a rollback is allowed and for how long a period of time ... you just about completely give over control of your computer and your data, and you have to fight a continual uphill battle to wrestle back your seemingly obvious right to do with your computer any legal thing you wish, keep your private data private, and so on.

      Is Windows 10 so great that it's worth all of this? Yes, I know, I'm going to hear about how mission critical applications only run on Windows, the need to be compatible with others, and especially how my games will only work on Windows. I understand all that.

      But you need to understand in turn (and many people do not) that when you run Windows 10, you're making a choice. If what you get is worth what you give up, fine. It's not for me to tell you what to do, and your use of Windows 10 doesn't change my life in any way that I can see.

      Just please excuse me if I don't join you.

    3. Re:Do I have a choice? by CAOgdin · · Score: 1

      I'm with you...We're going to have to pass legislation on a national level to rein in Microsoft (and other greedy corporations) autocratic greed and forced customer behavior.

      When has ANY product before this be forced on people by the vendor? (I understand federal needs for things like new features in automobiles. However, I do not accept that GM, or any other vehicle manufacturer, has the right to tell me that THEY can dictate to me what tires I must buy, or when, specifically, I must surrender my vehicle for "periodic service" on THEIR schedule, not mine.)

      It's just another symptom of oligarchy gone wild!

    4. Re:Do I have a choice? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I somehow suspect that Windows won't exactly give me the option to say 'no' to this update.

      I have a question: Why would you? It's quite clear now that these Windows "updates" are nothing more than bundled security fixed with minor app updates. If anything this update will reduce the amount of telemetry collected if you already run an unadultered version of Windows 10.

      Frankly I have yet to find a single reason someone with Windows 10 would not want the Creators update. I say this ironically as I just disabled windows update as I'm on a shit slow internet connection and my youtubing takes priority :)

    5. Re:Do I have a choice? by jader3rd · · Score: 1

      I somehow suspect that Windows won't exactly give me the option to say 'no' to this update.

      I believe to get it you first have to log into an account with administrative perms so you can be prompted about something. So if you stick to a standard user account m you'll never be upgraded.

    6. Re:Do I have a choice? by exomondo · · Score: 2

      I somehow suspect that Windows won't exactly give me the option to say 'no' to this update.

      That's right, going forward they're trying to keep everybody up to date. It's much easier to address security and stability issues when the operating system is the same on all the systems, especially given the millions of different possible hardware configurations.

      But this is hardly a new thing, my Macs don't forcibly update but they certainly constantly ping me to tell me I should install and prompt to allow auto updates because keeping the OS up to date is generally a good thing. If you consider it an afront to your freedom or control then you wouldn't be using Windows anyway, instead you would use a Linux or BSD system and just use Windows in an isolated, sanitized VM if you need to do Windows-specific things.

    7. Re:Do I have a choice? by ElizabethGreene · · Score: 1

      >> Win 10 keeps installing "updated" video drivers which don't work on my laptop.

      They've published a procedure to fix that permanently so you don't have to keep fighting it.

      https://support.microsoft.com/...

      Tldr; device manager, find the device, right-click >> Properties >> Driver Tab >> Rollback Driver.

      That should block future updates to that driver.

      Related topic: can you send a nastygram to your video card manufacturer and ask them not to publish bad drivers to Windows Update? MS isn't developing these drivers, they are just passing on what the manufacturer provides.

      Full disclosure: I work for Microsoft, but this isn't paid shilling. I had the same problem on my personal kit and the above fixed it.

  3. XP 4 Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'll use XP till it won't run anymore. M$ can go stuff it.

  4. Can the update work on a Dell system? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    Does it seem like Dell systems have a problem installing the Windows 10 Anniversary update? I had to do a clean install on my own Dell laptop. A friend's Dell desktop can't install the Anniversary update and may require a clean install.

    1. Re: Can the update work on a Dell system? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I know my Dell has a few partitions that I'd like to remove, but don't know if that would be bad.

      That's what I thought too. When I dropped in a new SSD and reinstalled Windows, the exact same partitions from the old SSD got created again.

    2. Re:Can the update work on a Dell system? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I actually had similar issues I was just chalking up to my shitty satellite connectivity but that definitely gives me something to mull over.

      As I told my friend, a clean install is a good reason to buy a new hard drive or SSD.

    3. Re:Can the update work on a Dell system? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      5 dells in my office of 12 people havn't had a single issue.

      If everyone had a Dell, over half had issues installing the Anniversary update?

    4. Re: Can the update work on a Dell system? by Holi · · Score: 1

      I thought this was a site for nerds, You really can't figure out what the restore partition, the efi partiton, and the boot partition are?

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    5. Re: Can the update work on a Dell system? by dwywit · · Score: 1

      Except that W10 trashed the partitions on one of my customers' machines. HP laptop, and I could see the recovery partition when viewed in a cradle via gparted, but the computer absolutely could not access that partition. Had to stump up for recovery discs (cheap, but a long time coming from HP) to get it back to out-of-box condition.

      W10 is an abomination. I'll stick to W7 until something better comes along.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    6. Re: Can the update work on a Dell system? by Holi · · Score: 1

      What the fact that Windows disk utility cannot delete them? Just diskpart and clean.

      I stand by my previous statement.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  5. Re:Not worth having by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Won't upgrade unless it's forced on me.

    Can they do that now?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  6. Vista support ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... ended the day it was born.

    Not as bad as ME, but a fucking bitch for the workplace.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  7. Switch from Windows 10 to what on a subnotebook? by tepples · · Score: 1

    stand up, have a spine. don't use windows 10.

    What is there other than Windows 10, macOS, and Chrome OS? Laptops warranted to run an operating system other than these three aren't shown in showrooms near me. Chromebooks with Crouton have a habit of begging to be wiped (search for "OS verification is OFF"), and System76 currently doesn't offer any laptops smaller than 14 inches. Does Apple deserve a monopoly on compact laptops that run something other than a web browser?

  8. Re:*shrug* by armanox · · Score: 1

    I don't let me smartphone update without first reviewing and testing the updates, why would I do that to my desktop[s]?

    --
    I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
  9. Re:*shrug* by tepples · · Score: 1

    You let your smartphone update. Why not your desktop?

    I guess the difference is that major updates to Windows tend to break more functionality on which a business relies than updates to a smartphone operating system.

  10. The Creators update BSODs during installation by dstyle5 · · Score: 1

    I tried installing a few times over the weekend and get a BSOD during the update process on a pretty modern PC I use for gaming. Getting the Anniversary update working well from a clean install was a painful as well. Pre-anniversary Win 10 worked fine on that PC, so it isn't a hardware issue. Microsoft needs to get their hands dirty and fix the core issues with the OS. Getting Gears of War 4 to install ridiculously difficult, too 5 or so tries to finally get it installed without resetting the download. I'm waiting for an update to nuke the install and download the around 100GB game again...

    Needless to say I have selected the "Defer feature updates" checkbox on my work PC, wait for a few patches to smooth out the updating issues.

    1. Re:The Creators update BSODs during installation by LoneBoco · · Score: 1

      Do you have an NVIDIA GPU on the 381.65 drivers? NVIDIA's latest Creators Update drivers can cause BSOD issues, especially with laptops. On my laptop, installing the drivers and rebooting causes Windows to never make it to the login screen. I have to system restore back to an earlier version.

      I would try rolling back drivers first before attempting to upgrade.

    2. Re:The Creators update BSODs during installation by dstyle5 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the feedback. I have an RX480 actually and haven't checked what version of drivers I'm running (should be pretty recent), maybe there is an issue with it too. I also have some VPN software installed for connecting to the office, was thinking of uninstalling it and trying again.

      One of my BSOD errors was "WHEA UNCORRECTABLE ERROR", which according to Microsoft is hardware related. Unfortunately their "solution" for this error is do a windows update or rollback to a previous version of Windows. Thanks guys, so helpful...

  11. Re: Switch from Windows 10 to what on a subnoteboo by Type44Q · · Score: 1
    It may be recursive... but if you're not qualified to slap a copy of Mint on some generic hardware, you're not qualified to even ask that question.

    Don't let the door hit your fat ass (a statistically likely assumption) on your way out.

  12. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by Holi · · Score: 1

    For most people the OS is not what's important, it's all about the applications. If the software you want to use runs on Windows, you are running Windows.

    If you want to game - Windows
    If you want to use a similar system to what you have at work - Windows
    If you want access to the largest library of usable software - Windows


    If your a hipster or an artist you will probably go for a Mac

    Sorry Linux guys but we nerds are really the only ones who can use it on the desktop.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  13. Just installed it by Espectr0 · · Score: 2

    So far, doing good. I installed by mounting the iso and just upgrading.

    Some notable changes:

    1. win+x doesn't show control panel or command prompt anymore
    2. regedit shows full address of current key on top. Nice for copy and pasting
    3. Revamped installer. Allows you to disable some of the ads
    4. Speaking of ads, there are lots more to disable this time around. There's a helpful article over at howtogeek that explains how to do so
    5. You can actually uninstall onedrive now at it is listed under programs and features, no need to use the command line
    6. More windows update options are available
    7. Edge has some more features, and right now it's the better choice for Netflix (at least when using a browser)
    --
    Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
  14. Um yes you will by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    You won't be upgrading, huh? Isn't it an unstoppable mandatory update?

  15. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    If the software you want to use runs on Windows... you can try Wine.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  16. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by StormReaver · · Score: 1

    This problem goes way beyond Windows.

    Your post is full of so many errors and logical fallacies, I barely have the time to scratch the surface.

    1) Windows is the most popular OS.

    This is nitpicking, but Windows is the most prevalent *desktop* operating system. Linux is the most popular operating system by far, with Android alone recently eclipsing Windows on the user-facing front.

    2) But even today, after so many years, it's nowhere near as user-friendly as Windows or macOS are.

    Everyone for whom I have installed Kubuntu has commented on how unexpectedly easy "Linux" is to use. That's to be expected, since the vast majority of people use their desktops as nothing more than glorified program launchers. That's aside from how much better their computers perform vs. Windows. After using Kubuntu for a while, my customers find Windows to be infuriatingly harsh and difficult to use. They didn't realize just how bad it really is, because that's all they knew. They thought that it was normal for computers to behave so badly, and to be so hard to manage.

    3) If we go with the major distro defaults of GNOME 3, systemd and PulseAudio, we'll likely encounter odd problems.

    GNOME 3 is, in a word, shit. I don't dare put any of my customers or family in front of GNOME, as it's just absolutely terrible. As for the systemd and Pulse Audio hate: I have yet to have a problem with them on any computer I have or service. For 99.999999% of users, Pulse Audio is fantastic. Nobody notices, or cares, about SysV vs. systemd outside of computer forums like Slashdot. For every single one of my users, Kubuntu has been completely care-free. The sole exception was a short period of time where the Open Source AMD driver caused a bunch of bad flickering when desktop effects were turned on.

    4) So Linux really isn't an option for most people.

    My experience indicates the opposite.

  17. Old Vista laptop or PC to ZFS HOWTO by Wolfrider · · Score: 3

    https://freedompenguin.com/art...

    --If you have an old Vista rig that has a 64-bit CPU, at least 1-2GB RAM and would like to make it more useful... Turn it into a ZFS+Samba file server

    --
    .
    == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    1. Re:Old Vista laptop or PC to ZFS HOWTO by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      Why would I want to use a tiny and slow laptop drive for ZFS storage?

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    2. Re:Old Vista laptop or PC to ZFS HOWTO by dbIII · · Score: 1

      1-2 GB RAM is woefully inadequate for a box running ZFS. Do some research.

      It still runs, it just can't cache as much - do something practical instead of whining about "research".

      I've got a 32bit machine with 2GB of memory and 24 IDE disks to use as a test box to teach people about ZFS. It's as quick as it ever was with hardware RAID. It's nice to have something like that so people can see for themselves how to get back from fairly nasty failures and at what point you can't get back.

  18. Re:Not worth having by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    Won't upgrade unless it's forced on me.

    Can they do that now?

    Not sure if asking a rhetorical question, or truly doesn't know...

  19. Re:Switch from Windows 10 to what on a subnotebook by Entropius · · Score: 1

    Posting from a Dell XPS 13 (a chassis smaller than most 13" machines because of their tiny-bezel screens) that's run Lubuntu flawlessly since the day I got it.

  20. Re:Not worth having by LVSlushdat · · Score: 1

    Which is why the ONLY Windows 10 install I run is a Virtualbox VM with the Linux host running a firewall that blocks ALL the MS sites. If/when *I* decide to update the VM, the firewall on the Linux host is temporarily stopped, then restarted afterwards.. Just had to say it.. FUCK YOU MS!!

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  21. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by LVSlushdat · · Score: 1

    If the software you want to use runs on Windows... you can try Wine.

    And if the opensource/free version of Wine won't run your Windows application, try the commercial/VERY well supported version of Wine, called CrossOverOffice.. It costs $$$ but since your Linux OS was free, why not spend a few bux to avoid the need for Windows. CrossOverOffice even runs MSOffice (older versions I believe) and a LARGE number of Windows games...

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  22. Re:Happy Tuesday! by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

    BUTTERS?!?! YOU'RE GROUNDED!

    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  23. Re: Switch from Windows 10 to what on a subnoteboo by tepples · · Score: 1

    but if you're not qualified to slap a copy of Mint on some generic hardware

    Last I checked, Debian and its downstream projects, such as Ubuntu and Mint, have historically had serious problems running on Bay Trail kit, with Bluetooth, audio, camera wireless, suspend, and more broken or missing. It's improved over several years, but a lot is still broken on a T100TA.

  24. Will someone make a new service pack? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    Service pack 4 for Windows XP was a big hit. I hope someone provides all the available updates for Vista, too.

    1. Re:Will someone make a new service pack? by Jetstream · · Score: 1

      Unless I'm mistaken, there were only 3 XP service packs?

    2. Re:Will someone make a new service pack? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

      Someone else took all the released patches after Service Pack 3 and created an unofficial service pack 4 for XP. I was wondering if someone planned on doing the same thing for Vista.

    3. Re:Will someone make a new service pack? by Jetstream · · Score: 1

      Interesting. Do you know if this just a collection of all the security updates up to that time, or did it add additional functionality? Or maybe I should just Google it. ;)

  25. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Nobody notices, or cares, about SysV vs. systemd outside of computer forums like Slashdot.

    Indeed - it's a server issue since systemd has a desktop focus.
    Pulseaudio was crap for years (which is why it keeps coming up as an example) but then a new bunch of developers took it over.

  26. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by bigmadwolf · · Score: 1

    I've used Linux as my primary OS for real work since the early 2000s. Sure, it takes a little effort to get it working how you like bu then once that's done you leave it alone. If you stick to LTS type distributions you only need to stuff around with them every few years. I don't see what's so different with that to panel beating the likes of Windows 10 into a usable state (turn off all the phone home crap, remove the start menu's built in adverts etc.)

  27. Re:Not worth having by espenskaufel · · Score: 1

    It seems you are waging a war that nobody will notices. Why do you think anyone at Microsoft would care if you firewall off the updates? It will just make your network less secure. Why do you even have Windows 10 if you dislike it so much?

  28. Re:Do we have any choice about OSes to use? by Holi · · Score: 1

    Until is doesn't. Why add another layer of possible problems? If you need to run Windows software, use Windows. Crossover: Out of almost 15k games only 2,549 score gold, and Not gold games tend to break at somepoint, so while 2,549 may seem like a lot, a lot of those are much older and not very popular, Wine is a solution if you already run linux, it is not a solution for the general masses.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.