Question how exactly does the windows build upgrade work

shadi shtaklef

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i am currently on windows 10 pro build 1809. in my windows updates it says that there is 1903 available and under it there is a download and install link. as i know the end of life of build 1809 is may 2020. when a build is nearing end of life you will get pop up notifications warning you about that and if you keep on ignoring them then your windows will get disabled with a full screen notification forcing you to restart to do the build upgrade. i have some questions about the process:-
  1. how much more time do i have until the pop up notifications telling me that my build is nearing end of life start to show? my guess is there are 4 months left and i have until new year
  2. what exactly will happen to me?
    a) everything will be hidden and it will download the build upgrade on its own to do the build upgrade and i wont get any warning and restart on its own and i wont get any warning
    b) it will download the build upgrade on its own and pop up notifications telling me that i need to restart will start to show
    c) i will get warning that my build is nearing end of life but nothing is downloaded and then it will download the build upgrade on its own and pop up notifications telling me that i need to restart will start to show
  3. what are all the windows services which are responsible for the pop up notifications and for the fullscreen notification? is it the windows updates service on its own? or the windows updates service and windows updates medic service? or there are more services involved and if yes then what are all of those services?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
If 1809 was released in Sept (and not November) you would have 1 year before reminders started flowing out to grab a new version but versions have been slipping and 1903 came out in April, and Microsoft extended support times
Since 1809 is still supported until 2003 is released around April, I expect you get reminders starting Feb
probably b.
refer USAFRet answer, why you want to avoid updates?

edit: i got confused about what version you are on
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Then you are free to do that.

Turn off automatic updates until at some time in the future Microsoft will override that and/or there will be no choice other than to upgrade.

And you will have little or no control of events thereafter.

The results are likely to be messy.
 
Microsoft says that particular hardware configurations are prevented from receiving feature/build updates until known bugs with those are worked out in the monthly updates.

For example most of my single-disk Windows 10 machines were offered 1903, but the multiple-disk machines haven't, probably because of the known drive-letter problem that inexplicably wasn't caught before release (do they even test these things anymore?). So for now, an effective way to prevent 1903 is to leave a USB stick plugged in all the time, LoL. Of course you should also have a "defer updates" button in the Windows Updates settings. The current version of that allows you to defer feature updates for six months while all other updates are still installed.

For some reason I was never offered 1809 and my 1803 machines updated directly to 1903. 1903 is OK and I like it better than 1803 but not as much as 1511.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
We have favorite versions of windows now? Will they be like fine wines in years to come, remember 1511, it was so good :)

At op:1809 had a worse release than 1903, it was released and then pulled and then released again a month or so later. And yet its better than 1903?

You have to remember, all the horror stories are vastly outnumbered by all the people who had no problems at all, and who don't go onto forums to report that fact (unless they like answering questions on them). So all you hear is the problems... as do I.

there is so little difference between 1809 fully patched and 1903 that I almost forgot I got it within a week. It changed nothing apart from allowing me to finally hide cortana off taskbar.

I didn't answer number 3 as I don't know what files you would need to stop.
 

britechguy

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It is just astounding to me that people cannot and will not accept Windows As A Service and the actual way Windows 10 works (and works well).

If you do not want to have Feature Updates, which are essential to keep your system secure, then you should abandon Windows 10 in favor of another operating system.

One of the things I'd love to see banned, though I know that's not going to happen, is discussion of how to block Windows Updates for any version of Windows.

No one has ever said it better than one of the BSOD experts at Bleeping Computer that I used to work with:

There really isn't a point to checking for updates and not installing them. . . It's important to install all available updates. I've been doing this since the days of DOS, and I still don't have the confidence to pick and choose among updates. There are just too many variables involved - and most people can't evaluate the full consequences of installing/not installing updates.
~ John Carrona, AKA usasma on BleepingComputer.com, http://www.carrona.org/

That is the intelligent approach to OS updates, and not just under Windows. When you work in data centers and the OS makers release updates, while you may not rush to apply them the very moment they're released you still do so in a timely manner. You never leave an OS without updates applied over the long term, and certainly do not allow multiple updates to gather dust because you think you know more than the OS maker about what's necessary or "just like what I have." That way lies madness.
 
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shadi shtaklef

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If you do not want to have Feature Updates, which are essential to keep your system secure, then you should abandon Windows 10 in favor of another operating system.

One of the things I'd love to see banned, though I know that's not going to happen, is discussion of how to block Windows Updates for any version of Windows.

windows updates are not wow and there are MANY MANY MANY cases in which windows updates have messed up computers and spoilt them. also windows updates by themselves do not keep your system secure and windows updates cannot stop viruses or your pc getting hacked. a good antivirus plus firewall will protect you from viruses and getting hacked

many people including me are against microsoft's approach because micorosft wants to force things on us without our permission. for example windows store keeps on installing garbage apps for me on its own. my computer and all the software on it is my property and it is my right to decide what i put on it and microsoft is violating my consumer rights by forcing things on me

i decide when i want to do a feature update and not microsoft decides for me and forces me to do it against my will
 

britechguy

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Then you need to get a different OS.

It is inane, period, to call Microsoft's automated updating system, which has been giving more and more control to the end user, "forced," when similar mechanisms on all other common OSes are never mentioned. You don't hear Android, OSX, ChromeOS, and many other OS users calling the automated updates that are part and parcel of OS maintenance "forced." It is nonsensical to do so.

If you think that OS updates can't protect you from infection vectors, then you need to look at what was done to mitigate Spectre and MeltDown. Case closed on that assertion. There are quite a few other instances where OS patches were directly to block a known opening for a specific vector or vectors.

You are living in a fantasy world if you think things were better when individual users were allowed to pick and choose the updates they wanted to apply. I can say, though, that it has made me a fortune (so to speak, not literally) over the years in bringing back smoldering heaps of systems that became that way because, "cousin Jerry told me I should turn off automatic updating."

You are fooling yourself if you believe what you wrote. And you are also giving very, very bad advice to the readership of this site.

I leave it to the readership to decide their own courses of action, and always have. But I will give the advice that I firmly believe comports with what is commonly described as "best practice."
 

USAFRet

Titan
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windows updates are not wow and there are MANY MANY MANY cases in which windows updates have messed up computers and spoilt them. also windows updates by themselves do not keep your system secure and windows updates cannot stop viruses or your pc getting hacked. a good antivirus plus firewall will protect you from viruses and getting hacked

many people including me are against microsoft's approach because micorosft wants to force things on us without our permission. for example windows store keeps on installing garbage apps for me on its own. my computer and all the software on it is my property and it is my right to decide what i put on it and microsoft is violating my consumer rights by forcing things on me

i decide when i want to do a feature update and not microsoft decides for me and forces me to do it against my will

Windows updates are but part of a comprehensive security plan.
Your AV and antimalware are other parts of that. All are needed.

Let's look back to the WannaCry ransomware.
MS put out a patch for that 2 months before that was seen in the wild.
The vast majority of systems compromised with that were the Unpatched. Like you want to be.

You're against Microsoft's approach to updates?
You are 100% free to move on to some other OS. Linux, IOS, BSD, whatever. Nothing is forcing you to use Microsoft Windows.

"it is my property" ?
OK, that's funny...
Part of the conditions you personally agreed to with installing Windows OS is that they get to push updates to your system.
Don't like that? Use something else.

Good luck.
I'm out.
 

britechguy

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windows updates are not wow and there are MANY MANY MANY cases in which windows updates have messed up computers and spoilt them.

Indeed, that has happened. But the reasons those systems crashed and burned was seldom and still is seldom the fault of Microsoft or any OS maker and maintainer. There are times when it is, make no mistake, but one of the duties of any computer user who values their data is to have a regular full system image backup protocol and to follow that. The reasons that any computer system might go down in flames are myriad, but the way back from that disaster is not: Have a backup, and a recent one, of the full system to recover from. In addition take user data backups as needed in between, so you can get work product back.

The fact is that Most Computer Issues Are Idiosyncratic – Not Global. If one does not accept that as a basic premise, and prepare accordingly, eventual disaster is assured.
 
Let me just add my two cents. I've installed every Windows update since installing Windows 98 and subsequent versions, and I can't remember ever having a problem with them. I also have been making full system backups before every major update, and on several occasions have used them to get back up and running. Restoring from a full system backup can get you back up and running in about 30 minutes in most cases. And I agree with the prior comments that not doing these things is just asking for trouble. The school of hard knocks is a great teacher, but it is a very painful one in many cases.