Microsoft yanks the Win10 1809 upgrade @ AskWoody

UPDATE and some corrections in Computerworld Woody on Windows.

In the past few hours — very early Saturday morning US time — Microsoft pulled the Win10 version 1809 upgrade package. Details are sparse (yawn, as I grab a cup of coffee), but it looks like the official Download Windows 10 page is on version 1803, and ISOs have disappeared.

The KB 4464619 article now states:

We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating.

If you have checked for updates and believe you have an issue, please contact us directly at +1-800-MICROSOFT or find a local number in your area https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4051701/global-customer-service-phone-numbers.

If you have access to a different PC, please contact us at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/ (link will vary according to country of origin).

If you have manually downloaded the Windows 10 October 2018 Update installation media, please don’t install it and wait until new media is available.

We will provide an update when we resume rolling out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update to customers.

Permit me to provide an English-language translation:

If you were gullible enough to believe the breathless reviews about a product that’s marginally better than what you have, and you trusted Microsoft enough to install it on your machine as quickly as you could, the joke’s on you.

Moral of the story: Listen to what the experienced Windows folks say. It’s happened before, and it’ll happen again.

This time it’s particularly dire, because I have no idea how Microsoft is going to restore the data it deleted.

My Recuva trick for restoring deleted data doesn’t work all the time. Recuva itself doesn’t work all the time, even in the best circumstances (particularly on solid state drives). This isn’t one of those best circumstances.

Note the strategic timing of the announcement. Microsoft has known about this bug since October 2. I reported on it, along with a workaround that works most of the time, on October 4. They waited until early Saturday morning, October 6, to acknowledge the problem and pull the plug.

Anybody who tells you to install patches immediately should be drawn and quartered.

https://www.askwoody.com/2018/microsoft-yanks-the-win10-1809-upgrade/