Windows 11's Big 2024 Update Leaves Behind 9GB of Undeletable Files (pcworld.com)
- Reference: 0175228751
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/10/1834205/windows-11s-big-2024-update-leaves-behind-9gb-of-undeletable-files
- Source link: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2485897/windows-11s-big-2024-update-leaves-behind-9gb-of-undeletable-files.html
> The [2]Windows 11 24H2 update has had a host of issues associated with it including [3]disappearing mouse cursors and blue screens related to [4]Intel drivers . Now comes word that the new update leaves behind over 8 GB of [5]undeletable cache files .
>
> According to Windows Latest, attempts to delete the cache via the Control Panel are unsuccessful. Although you can select the cache for deletion and initiate the deletion process, the cache remains. Various other methods to remove the Windows update cache failed, too. It only cleared after a clean Windows installation altogether.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~smooth+wombat
[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/1834231/windows-11-24h2-the-biggest-update-in-two-years-starts-rolling-out
[3] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2481724/windows-11-2024-update-makes-your-mouse-cursor-disappear-heres-what-to-do.html
[4] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2476013/uh-oh-windows-11-2024-update-is-blue-screening-heres-what-to-do.html
[5] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2485897/windows-11s-big-2024-update-leaves-behind-9gb-of-undeletable-files.html
OEMs sold a lot of 32GB computers with Windows 10 (Score:4, Informative)
They quickly became unusable due to Windows bloat, Microsoft then raised the minimum requirement to 64GB for Windows 11 but they bloated that out too. What's more is that it wasn't NVME or SATA but a proprietary system called eMMC which is a soldiered chip on the motherboard.
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> They quickly became unusable due to Windows bloat, Microsoft then raised the minimum requirement to 64GB for Windows 11 but they bloated that out too . What's more is that it wasn't NVME or SATA but a proprietary system called eMMC which is a soldiered chip on the motherboard.
I can hear those M$ Developers saying - Because storage space is CHEEP ... And we might need those old files some day
Re: (Score:2)
I think you mean cheap .
Cheep is the sound a bird makes.
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"Cheap" is also the sound a bird makes.
Delete it with Linux (Score:3)
Run a Dual boot system and mount your Winblows partition to it. Then delete the files under Linux. I bet they go away that way..
Don't use the vendor media for reinstall (Score:2)
> Run a Dual boot system and mount your Winblows partition to it. Then delete the files under Linux. I bet they go away that way..
Get the current Win11 image from Microsoft. Use that media rather than the vendor supplied media. Less bloat.
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> Get the current Win11 image from Microsoft. Use that media rather than the vendor supplied media. Less bloat.
I was pleasantly surprised when reinstalling Windows 10 on my kid's HP laptop (after a Windows update bricked it) that they keep the key on the machine. You can download the installer from MS and it just works.
Last Windows machine I had, if the OS failed entirely, you were stuck buying a new license because the key on the sticker wouldn't work on a fresh install.
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Once upon a time I had to get a laptop model chosen by my University. After it arrived from the vendor I wiped the drive and installed Windows and Linux, dual booting. It also had a sticker with the license key. Then I visited my school's IT folks and had them reinstall my school Windows specific applications. Worked just fine all during school and ten more years. Then the hardware died. It lives on in the VM image I had the school's IT folks create after my last class.
Class action lawsuit (Score:2)
Charge Microsoft for the 9GB of hard drive space.
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> Charge Microsoft for the 9GB of hard drive space.
... and be sure it's a subscription rental, not a one-time charge.
Remember that good old joke? (Score:2)
From the Windows 95 days:
"Double your drive space! Delete C:\WINDOWS\ !"
The drive sizes have of course changed since then but it seems not much else has.
Undeletable? (Score:5, Informative)
Let's not get hyperbolic. "Not easy to delete" is probably closer to the truth.
Re: (Score:2)
Windows File Protection actually does a reasonably competent job at making files undeletable, in both senses of the word. If you do manage to delete the files they may actually get restored. In many cases you won't be able to delete these files form within your OS, you'll need to boot into a recovery environment or dual boot another OS. Undeletable is not really hyperbolic.
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> Windows File Protection actually does a reasonably competent job at making files undeletable, in both senses of the word. If you do manage to delete the files they may actually get restored. In many cases you won't be able to delete these files form within your OS, you'll need to boot into a recovery environment or dual boot another OS. Undeletable is not really hyperbolic.
I'm not familiar with Windows File Protection. Is this something akin to needing Trusted Installer level of privilege?
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> Let's not get hyperbolic.
You must be new here - welcome!
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LOL
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> Let's not get hyperbolic. "Not easy to delete" is probably closer to the truth.
This is /.
We Can't Help But Get Hyperbolic ... About EVERYTHING
Article was better in the original Klingon (Score:2)
> Let's not get hyperbolic. "Not easy to delete" is probably closer to the truth.
"Undeletable" is just a translation error from the original Klingon
Ok but did anybody try (Score:2)
... booting up a less Micky Mouse operating system and cleaning up Microsoft's incontinence with something more absorbent?
Or are these immortal files inhabited by the acrid, haunting, and traumatically awkward presence of literally all the Autism in the universe distilled and compacted into the single most socially unaware idea ever conceived thouhgout all of spacetime: are these files -- in fact -- the way "Recall" is finally reborn into the world?
My opinion: yeah, probably. Learn to use SysInternals, or t
dd will delete it (Score:2)
along with the rest of the Windows partition. So will taking a sledgehammer to the hard disk. Probably not what you want, but just to point out that it's not technically undeleteable.
Your avg win users (Score:2)
The average Windows user won't notice until they run out of space to download pictures they find on the internet. When that happens they'll buy a new computer because "this one's full"
Anyhow the answer is not Linux or dual boot, because the average Windows user does not know every facet of Linus Torvold's being.
I upgradeed to Linux Mint with WINE 9.0 (Score:2)
I don't have to put up with the M$ BS.
Waaa? (Score:2)
"It only cleared after a clean Windows installation altogether."
Who writes this stuff? Yeah...if you blow away the entire disk the files on it will be gone.
Next up, water is wet.
It's not worth reclaiming the space? (Score:2)
> Microsoft is preparing a patch to solve the problem, which should be rolled out as part of an upcoming update. Until then, you should leave the Windows Update cache untouched. It really isn’t worth the hassle of reinstalling Windows just to clear those files.
From : [1]https://www.pcworld.com/articl... [pcworld.com]
Only Microsoft could think that 9 GB is worthless. 9 GB is enough to install another operating system, it's enough space to cause serious problems in VMs or Containers, and it's just a headache all around. Just so we're clear, as of 24H2, Windows 11 is still not production ready.
[1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2485897/windows-11s-big-2024-update-leaves-behind-9gb-of-undeletable-files.html
With a minimum requirement of a 2TB SSD (Score:2)
What's the fuss all about?
Re: (Score:2)
Is that $20.00 in your pocket? Well now you have @19.92...
You know (Score:1)
I never thought I'd think on the mid 2000s as a time when Microsoft was competent, but they found a way to lower the bar again.
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Indeed, even before the mid 2000s, Windows 2000 was one of the best ever brewed! Since then, everything pretty much went downhill so TFS seems almost like business as usual to me. I never used anything else than NT based Windows since 2000, I use 2012 Advance server now when I need to fire up a Windows VM, maybe someday I'll upgrade to 2018 if some customer buys me a license.
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Windows 7 was pretty great.
Remains my favorite as a user.
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> Indeed, even before the mid 2000s, Windows 2000 was one of the best ever brewed!
I'd say it was the introduction of WinNT. WinNT 3.1 is where we finally got the good stuff.
> I never used anything else than NT based Windows since 2000,
Typical, your recollection of good coincides with the switch from Win9x to WinNT. But goodness starts whenever that occurred, at Win2K or at an earlier point.
WinXP is looked at so fondly by many since that is where the Win9x holdouts had to go for the next upgrade.
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I assure, most people don't even know file permissions exist, much less so would have an idea how to fiddle with them.
Nothing different except the file sizes (Score:2)
> I never thought I'd think on the mid 2000s as a time when Microsoft was competent, but they found a way to lower the bar again.
It was no different then. Just the file sizes were smaller.
That's why a fresh install every few years did wonders for system. Made it much more responsive and freed up some disk space.
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> I never thought I'd think on the mid 2000s as a time when Microsoft was competent, but they found a way to lower the bar again.
That time frame seemed magical because people were switching from Win9x based operating systems to WinNT based operating systems.