A new Windows Update feature could be a game-changer for those scared of losing files or pictures when attempting to reinstall or recover their Windows 11 installations. The new feature, “Fix Problems using Windows Update,” lets you reinstall Windows 11 using Windows Update.
[…]The idea is to repair the existing Windows installation by downloading a fresh copy of the OS from Windows Update. And the best part? It won’t remove any files, settings, or apps, according to a support document from July 2023.
↫ Mayank Parmar for Windows Latest
If it works as advertised, it sounds like a useful feature. I wouldn’t trust Windows Update with anything more valuable than a used toothpick, but if you’re already using Windows, that ship sailed anyway, in which case this is better than nothing.
Usually when I need to reinstall Windows to fix issues for a client system, it’s BECAUSE Windows update is somehow FUBAR…
Cody Evans,
Reminds me of this Simpson’s quote 🙂
“To Alcohol! The Cause Of, And Solution To, All Of Life’s Problems”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXyrYMxa-VI
Sounds like Autopilot reset for private.
If its using the same technology its rather cool
Why would I want to reinstall the operating system in the first place?
What could be wrong?…
Seeing as how its a significantly different process than updating Windows, this could come in handy.
Windows Update is a horrible mess. I just spent two days updating a classroom full of fairly recent laptops (8th Gen i5) that hadn’t been updated in a while, and it was just awful. Granted, all of these are running of spinning disks and not SSDs, but it has literally taken 7 hours for some.
And, when you install every available update, you still have to be sure to check updates again, because there will be ones that didn’t show up last time you updated. And then you might have to install a third round.
I’m just about finished with my second day of this and there’s still four computers finishing up their updates. Or, I hope they are. One has been stuck at 45% for about 2 hours.
Hopefully the reinstall from WU process isn’t like this.
Drumhellar,
Wow that’s insane. My scenario is a bit different. I boot up windows for work, but not regularly. When I do though I’m often under time constraints. Windows updates are the last thing I need getting in my way. Obviously I’m not opposed to updates but I am opposed to taking away the owner’s autonomy. Vendors should not be modifying computers without the owner’s authorization!
I really don’t know why windows updates take so long. Often it’s several times slower than the underlying storage medium, so obviously there is something about microsoft’s update process causing a great deal of overhead – probably several layers of abstraction.
I never finished it, but with my OS I wanted to try something different. Instead of updates updating thousands of files, it would work more like a “snapshot”. The updates would be ready instant with a flag in the file system. The downtime would be less than a minute, including reboot. This also provides the ability to instantly switch back should something go wrong.
@Drumheller
Isn’t that the fundamental problem.
I’ve seen this over and over again, micromanagement of updates basically kyboshing the process. It’s users blocking, interrupting or otherwise overriding the update process that is often the root cause of this type of problem.
A few years back I was busy with R&D, the company I worked for decided they wanted me to concentrate on the R&D, so they outsourced the administration of our internal network. The first thing the subcontractors did was install a management suite and block Windows Updates for no apparent reason, it’s the default for these companies, their target seems to be money for nothing. But they just shift the emphasis from allowing MS to keep things up to date to remote micromanagement. It all went well for a while, then they had some staff changes, maybe even outsourced some of their own work, and it all went south. By the time we learnt our network had been hacked it was too much for them and they walked away of course blaming our staff, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was they had blocked / delayed updates and left devices vulnerable to threats they did not understand. Clean the systems, get the updates done, and give the subcontractor the flick, and we were good to go within 72hrs.
In my experience the biggest issue our network suffers is people finding ways to avoid Windows Updates. I realise I’m only managing a small network, a hundred of so machines in total, but keep them fully patched and perform regular reboots and the problems basically disappear.
Well in this case, it isn’t lazy micromanagement. I work for a school district, and the laptops in this classroom (and one other) were purchased by a third-party org for a robotics/engineering/3d printing program. They spend most of their time in charge carts which basically act as faraday cages, making remote management ineffective.
All of our other tech is fairly well maintained and up-to-date on Windows/macOS/ChromeOS updates.
Chromebooks are so wonderful in this regard. Their updates are completely invisible to the user. No messages, no pop-ups, no user interaction. Students close the lid, and the next time they open the laptop they’re on the newer version.
The problem isn’t Windows Update, or any of the Windows sub systems, it’s their security defaults, and vendor partner relations. They actively encourage things like low level proprietary drivers, rootkits, and that kind of thing. Once you have a few rootkits regardless of intent (proprietary drivers, DRM, or anti-cheat), and drivers of questionable integrity (and purpose – looking at you nVidia), it doesn’t matter how solid the update subsystem is, those root-kits and similar badly implemented garbage is going to destroy the stability of your system. Such is life with Windows – a choice made by Microsoft management. (This bad situation is almost proven when running proprietary nVidia drivers on Linux… compare that to RADV and you’ll get my drift.)