Windows 10 users report app problems after Microsoft update
(2024/02/01)
- Reference: 1706802308
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/02/01/windows_10_users_errors_hardware/
- Source link:
Old Windows 10 hardware is struggling to open some recently updated Microsoft applications, giving anyone running Windows 11 on unsupported hardware a glimpse of their potential future.
Microsoft regularly updates Windows' inbox apps via its Store. Rather than wait for a release of the operating system, it can push out fixes and features as and when they are ready. Apps such as the Calendar, Photos, and Calculator were given just such an update in January, and this broke them for many Windows 10 users.
A [1]lengthy thread then started on the company's support forums as users found apps that had previously worked suddenly began failing. Users reported that their attempts to open photos from Explorer were met with errors, issues with the Calculator, and so on. Even a reinstall of Windows 10 didn't bring relief.
[2]
Naturally, users would report issues via the Feedback Hub, but, oh dear, that also appeared to break for them.
[3]
[4]
The issues did not coincide with an update of Windows itself, so in the absence of an official comment from Microsoft, those affected did some detective work to figure out what had befallen their previously working instances.
The answer appears to be the use of old hardware. Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors have featured in some of the reports, as well as some AMD Athlon chips. The Core 2 line first turned up in 2006 and, while not on the [5]list of officially supported processors for Windows 10, the processor had more than enough oomph for many productivity tasks, until now.
[6]
A Register reader got in touch to highlight the situation: "A common theory is that the faulting component uses some instruction extension that Core 2 doesn't support, such as SSE 4.2."
While some users have taken this as evidence that Microsoft has made this change to force customers to buy new hardware, cock-up rather than conspiracy seems more likely. Our reader noted: "I believe that some dev at MS set a compiler switch incorrectly when building a shared component (some evidence points to the Visual C++ runtime)."
Although Microsoft is noted for maintaining backward compatibility, The Register doubts the company does much in the way of regression testing on unsupported hardware. A cynic might go as far as saying it has enough difficulty with quality when it comes to the kit that it does support.
[7]Windows 3.11 trundles on as job site pleads for 'driver updates' on German trains
[8]Microsoft unveils a secret tunnel for Windows Insiders who want out
[9]Top Linux distros drop fresh beats
[10]Wanna run Windows on an M-series Mac? Fine, buy a license, but no baremetal
However, due to the automatically updating nature of Windows, dodging the updates in the long term is problematic and, if a vulnerability requires fixing, potentially dangerous.
The problems being experienced by the Windows 10 users now should also give pause for thought to those Windows 11 fans who have managed to get the latest version of Microsoft's operating system running on unsupported hardware. If the company can inadvertently pull the rug from beneath Windows 10 users on outdated chips, the same thing could just as easily happen to them.
[11]
The Register contacted Microsoft to get its take on the situation. We will update this story if the Windows vendor responds. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/microsoft-photos-file-system-error-2147219196/3bf0b7d0-4390-46f2-b948-a1e05d726e73?page=1
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-10-22h2-supported-intel-processors
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/30/windows_311_trundles_on/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/26/microsoft_beta_test_exit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/linux_mint_mx_updates/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/22/microsoft_so_you_want_to/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Microsoft regularly updates Windows' inbox apps via its Store. Rather than wait for a release of the operating system, it can push out fixes and features as and when they are ready. Apps such as the Calendar, Photos, and Calculator were given just such an update in January, and this broke them for many Windows 10 users.
A [1]lengthy thread then started on the company's support forums as users found apps that had previously worked suddenly began failing. Users reported that their attempts to open photos from Explorer were met with errors, issues with the Calculator, and so on. Even a reinstall of Windows 10 didn't bring relief.
[2]
Naturally, users would report issues via the Feedback Hub, but, oh dear, that also appeared to break for them.
[3]
[4]
The issues did not coincide with an update of Windows itself, so in the absence of an official comment from Microsoft, those affected did some detective work to figure out what had befallen their previously working instances.
The answer appears to be the use of old hardware. Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors have featured in some of the reports, as well as some AMD Athlon chips. The Core 2 line first turned up in 2006 and, while not on the [5]list of officially supported processors for Windows 10, the processor had more than enough oomph for many productivity tasks, until now.
[6]
A Register reader got in touch to highlight the situation: "A common theory is that the faulting component uses some instruction extension that Core 2 doesn't support, such as SSE 4.2."
While some users have taken this as evidence that Microsoft has made this change to force customers to buy new hardware, cock-up rather than conspiracy seems more likely. Our reader noted: "I believe that some dev at MS set a compiler switch incorrectly when building a shared component (some evidence points to the Visual C++ runtime)."
Although Microsoft is noted for maintaining backward compatibility, The Register doubts the company does much in the way of regression testing on unsupported hardware. A cynic might go as far as saying it has enough difficulty with quality when it comes to the kit that it does support.
[7]Windows 3.11 trundles on as job site pleads for 'driver updates' on German trains
[8]Microsoft unveils a secret tunnel for Windows Insiders who want out
[9]Top Linux distros drop fresh beats
[10]Wanna run Windows on an M-series Mac? Fine, buy a license, but no baremetal
However, due to the automatically updating nature of Windows, dodging the updates in the long term is problematic and, if a vulnerability requires fixing, potentially dangerous.
The problems being experienced by the Windows 10 users now should also give pause for thought to those Windows 11 fans who have managed to get the latest version of Microsoft's operating system running on unsupported hardware. If the company can inadvertently pull the rug from beneath Windows 10 users on outdated chips, the same thing could just as easily happen to them.
[11]
The Register contacted Microsoft to get its take on the situation. We will update this story if the Windows vendor responds. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/microsoft-photos-file-system-error-2147219196/3bf0b7d0-4390-46f2-b948-a1e05d726e73?page=1
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-10-22h2-supported-intel-processors
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/30/windows_311_trundles_on/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/26/microsoft_beta_test_exit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/linux_mint_mx_updates/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/22/microsoft_so_you_want_to/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZbvOPC57D8kcoFPQQ6LpqgAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
STRAW MAN ALERT
Alan Bourke
If the Windows 11 hardware requirements cripple anything it's Microsoft's bottom line, due to people not being able to upgrade. You can still quite happily run decades old MS-DOS or Windows 16-bit software on 32-bit Windows 10. Microsoft exemplary compared to Apple and Linux when it comes to back compat, because of its huge business user base.
Tom Chiverton 1
> cock-up rather than conspiracy seems more likely
Which part of their track record makes you think this ?
mobailey
> > cock-up rather than conspiracy seems more likely
> Which part of their track record makes you think this ?
To give Microsoft the credit it deserves: the number of their cock-ups does exceed their number of their conspiracies.
time to start investigating linux installs :)
Pirate Peter
i will not touch win 11 with anyone else's 10 foot barge pole
when my surfacebook 2 failed i looked at win 11, and said NAH and replaced it with a mac book
same will happen with my couple of old machines running win 10, once i can no longer use them they will get wiped and Linux installed, had enough of M$ forcing changes on me
Alternatives
david_kral@hotmail.com
For my private use I turned to ChromeOS and I am happy I did so.
"Although Microsoft is noted for maintaining backward compatibility,..." PINFEATHERS! Mictosoft is as bad if not worse than apple on backward compatibility. They purposely crippled millions of pc with their hardware requirements for win11 and did the same for software when win10 came out.