Windows 8 Customers Fuming Over Spotty Updates

[Asrokhel 146]

Another show-stopper patch has appeared in Microsoft's latest Patch Tuesday episode for Windows 8.

Softpedia is pointing to a rather lengthy Microsoft Answers thread where Windows 8 customers are raging over the latest Patch Tuesday update that was supposed to fix several issues with the new OS. However it's not the first complaint outbreak regarding Windows 8 updates, and probably won't be the last until the platform becomes more compatible with the seemingly infinite number of hardware configurations and Windows 7-reliant drivers.

First let's back up a bit. Many customers got their first taste of the update woes, including myself, thanks to KB2756872 released in the last week of October. After rebooting, this caused the system to stop responding around 13-percent into the update. After more than thirty minutes, the OS would cancel the update, reboot and then try again. After the second failure, Windows 8 would revert back into its original state before it originally began the update process.

Microsoft said this patch problem may be due to possible outdated or not-fully-compatible video and sound drivers, particularly the latter. Users are to uninstall the drivers, install the Windows 8 patch, and then re-install the drivers. Another culprit could be the user's anti-virus solution which may need to be updated before the security patch can be applied.

Now another update show-stopper has appeared, this time with the KB2770917 patch. This one stalls the computer at 12-percent while updating (some reports claim 15-percent). Like before, the attempt will take around 30 minutes, and then the process is repeated a second time. If this attempt fails again, Windows 8 will revert back to its original state before it began the update.

To resolve this issue, customers have discovered that all non-Microsoft services need to be disabled before installing this particular update. To do this, users must load up msconfig.exe, go to the Services tab, hide all the Microsoft services, and then click Disable All. Once the computer is started, some users have reported that the patch can be installed. All services can be restored manually once the patching is complete.

Having received two show-stoppers in a row, many Windows 8 users are now threatening to go Apple.

"I do blame Microsoft because unlike Apple who don't claim to support ever piece of hardware out there Microsoft do actually claim this otherwise they would have gone down the same route as Apple and only built their own hardware," said one user. "So it Microsoft's fault for not having a test pool large enough to stop most people from running into problems like this. It would appear that windows 8 is suffering like Vista did."

"Maybe I should just uninstall Windows 8 and go get a Mac," said another.

Microsoft has seemingly been cast in a negative light since the first complaints about Windows 8 navigation cropped up earlier this year. The lack of a Start menu and the addition of a new user interface have pushed many consumers and businesses away. Even more, Microsoft's own ARM-based Surface tablet hasn't lived up to expectations, and the firing of Windows head Steven Sinofsky seemingly indicated that sales of the new OS fell well below internal projections.

Does Microsoft have another Windows Vista on its hands? It's simply too early to tell at this point.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-8-Patch-Tuesday-KB2756872-KB2770917-msconfig,19187.html

[Noir Angel 4,167]

I wonder what trips to excuse city this one is going to bring.

[xendrome 5,188]

So after looking at the KB, it's a problem with the Out of Date AV software or 3rd party drivers..... not really sure how this is MS's problem TBH...

[spudtrooper 335]

I wonder what trips to excuse city this one is going to bring.

I updated all of my PC's and surface without any problem.. but hey, lets keep on hating!

[Noir Angel 4,167]

I updated all of my PC's and surface without any problem.. but hey, lets keep on hating!

Which means these people are lying?

[rpsgc 40]

I updated all of my PC's and surface without any problem.. but hey, lets keep on hating!

Your PCs != everyone else's... but hey, let's keep on apologising!

[xendrome 5,188]

Which means these people are lying?

No, but for every 1 person seeing this issue.. 50,000 are not. Yet the 49,999 are not going to go write stories about it.. only the 1 person having an issue is going to start a forum thread somewhere to complain. So when something like this is posted, think about how many are not seeing the issue. It is hardly a "show-stopper".... do they even know what that means?

[Noir Angel 4,167]

It becomes a show stopper when these people's computers become part of a botnet because their computer cannot receive updates. I mean seriously, since when did having outdated AntiVirus software ever screw up OS hotfixing? Unless these people tried to force install incompatible A/V software, that sounds like a poor excuse to me.

[paulheu 181]

I am guess here, but people affected have not done a clean install but installed over their existing Windows 7 system. In general I would describe doing so as stupid and IMO it should not be allowed. A major OS update should be done fresh and clean.

I have not had any issues with updates on the three systems I am having Windows 8 running on. And yes, obviously all three were clean installs.

[efjay 147]

Oh, didnt know I was supposed to be fuming since my pc's have been updating fine. But anyway, here I go. "Fume!" :angry:

[zhangm 1,328]

I'm fairly impressed with how resilient Windows 8 has been thus far. Imagine back in the Vista or Windows 7 days - if a third-party driver or service disrupted an update installation mid-way, I'd expect the system to be borked. Here we have a version of Windows that doesn't explode even in the face of *hitty updates.

[Som 401]

oh i had this problem just last week, a customer bought a laptop and i made the mistake to reboot, took 40 minutes, i was soooo busy at the time... it was very frustrating....

[Noir Angel 4,167]

The way OS servicing is handled in Vista, 7, and 8 is largely the same. It's between XP and Vista that the biggest changes were made to Windows servicing, in 8 it's largely the same as it was in 7, so if something could break servicing in 7, it probably will in 8 as well.

[Joshie 838]

Whenever someone says people will never leave iOS because they're too heavily invested in its ecosystem, I'm reminded of this kind of threat--to ditch years of using Windows to "go Mac". Clearly there's hope for iOS competitors after all.

On the bright side, they're welcome to go Mac and install Windows 8 on it. The OS will probably be a lot more stable on a Mac than on whatever crappy frankenbox they put it on instead.

[AJerman 761]

No, but for every 1 person seeing this issue.. 50,000 are not. Yet the 49,999 are not going to go write stories about it.. only the 1 person having an issue is going to start a forum thread somewhere to complain. So when something like this is posted, think about how many are not seeing the issue. It is hardly a "show-stopper".... do they even know what that means?

Someone got left out there. :(

[n_K 2,133]

I'm fairly impressed with how resilient Windows 8 has been thus far. Imagine back in the Vista or Windows 7 days - if a third-party driver or service disrupted an update installation mid-way, I'd expect the system to be borked. Here we have a version of Windows that doesn't explode even in the face of *hitty updates.

No? W7 has always updated perfectly fine for me even with dodgy drivers.

XP however, when SP3 was first released for AMD machines... ;)

[BajiRav 2,133]

It becomes a show stopper when these people's computers become part of a botnet because their computer cannot receive updates. I mean seriously, since when did having outdated AntiVirus software ever screw up OS hotfixing? Unless these people tried to force install incompatible A/V software, that sounds like a poor excuse to me.

Knowing how badly most AV software are written, are you really surprised?

[spudtrooper 335]

Your PCs != everyone else's... but hey, let's keep on apologising!

Lets keep nerd raging..

You haters are laughable at best. How do you have so much time to bash something you will never use or will never impact you?

[LostCat 1,185]

I am guess here, but people affected have not done a clean install but installed over their existing Windows 7 system. In general I would describe doing so as stupid and IMO it should not be allowed. A major OS update should be done fresh and clean.

I have not had any issues with updates on the three systems I am having Windows 8 running on. And yes, obviously all three were clean installs.

I did an upgrade install and have no problems.

I guess it's stupid that I didn't want to reinstall everything and deal with the DRM hassles.

[LaP 1,920]

Your PCs != everyone else's... but hey, let's keep on apologising!

Time to put my "It's working on my computer" t-shirt on ...

[nekrosoft13 654]

wish windows 8 is a giant failure

So after looking at the KB, it's a problem with the Out of Date AV software or 3rd party drivers..... not really sure how this is MS's problem TBH...

simple solution, include more drivers in windows update.and don't let users install out of date AV software. either by forcing them to remove during upgrade process or block the install

[HawkMan 5,231]

Your PCs != everyone else's... but hey, let's keep on apologising!

Excpt the article says it halts on all computers, unless you disable all third party services.

I'm smelling a rat.

[nekrosoft13 654]

I am guess here, but people affected have not done a clean install but installed over their existing Windows 7 system. In general I would describe doing so as stupid and IMO it should not be allowed. A major OS update should be done fresh and clean. I have not had any issues with updates on the three systems I am having Windows 8 running on. And yes, obviously all three were clean installs.

that a good way to do stuff if you don't know how to maintain your PC properly.

its the cowards way out, i know people that reinstall their OS every time they f-ed up something on their PC, they have no idea how to fix it, and just reinstall.

my main rig was originally installed with Vista, then SP1, then SP2 updated to 7 and then SP1, thought that time i went from Q6600 on nforce to 920 on intel chipset and now 3770k. With zero performance issues.

Server from 2003 to 2003 R2, to 2008 to 2008 R2 and now 2012, and again 3-4 motherboards changes, no reinstalls.

ZERO PERFORMANCE ISSUES.

[greenwizard88 590]

I upgraded my PC from 7 -> 8, preserving all of my files and data. So far the only issue has been my AMD/Intel combo graphics card, but that's it.

[Shadrack 601]

No, but for every 1 person seeing this issue.. 50,000 are not. Yet the 49,999 are not going to go write stories about it.. only the 1 person having an issue is going to start a forum thread somewhere to complain. So when something like this is posted, think about how many are not seeing the issue. It is hardly a "show-stopper".... do they even know what that means?

I remember this argument when the RRoD on the XBox 360 came up. Turned out that the very vast majority of XBox 360's from the first 2 years resulted in RRoD. Turned out that all the people saying what you just said, were dead wrong.

But, I get what you are saying and overall tend to agree with your sentiment. People complain more than they compliment. I always point that out when people are agonizing over making a choice on Newegg because of a couple bad reviews... Just that, sometimes (like in the instance of the last mass produced piece of Microsoft hardware, the XBox 360).