Better check your Windows 7 PC for Get Windows 10 (GWX) traces
Depending on from what angle you look at it, Microsoft's Get Windows 10 (GWX) campaign to get Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices to upgrade to Windows 10 was either a colossal disaster, a great success, or something in between.
Microsoft launched Windows 10, the last version of Windows ever, in 2015. Windows 10 was a new beginning for Microsoft; the company wanted customers to forget Windows 8 and move towards a Windows as a service model.
Microsoft launched the Get Windows 10 campaign to push Windows 10 and the 1 billion Windows 10 PCs by 2018 target.
What looked like a good deal on paper -- free upgrades to Windows 10 for devices running legitimate copies of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 -- turned into a nightmare for customers who did not want to upgrade to Windows 10.
Microsoft used near-malware like tactics to get users to upgrade, for instance by displaying upgrade prompts without opt-out option, sneaky prompts, or windows where the close button would not actually close the window anymore.
Microsoft ended the free upgrade to Windows 10 offer a year after its launch. It is still possible to upgrade Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 devices to Windows 10 for free if a genuine product key is used.
Microsoft rolled out an update to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices after the end of the offer designed to disable the Get Windows 10 functionality. The company continued to push compatibility updates KB2952664 and KB2976978 on the other hand but without the "Get Windows 10" functionality included.
Get Windows 10 Traces
Get Windows 10 should not be on fully patched Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 devices anymore; Michael Horowitz published a report recently that claims otherwise.
An event log check on a Windows 7 PC with November 2018 Patches revealed that attempts to upgrade to Windows 10.
Further analysis revealed the following:
- A Task Time-5d in the Task Scheduler pointing to C:\Windows\system32\GWX in Microsoft > Windows > Setup > GWXTriggers.
- A task refreshgwxconfig-B in the Task Scheduler under the same folder.
- A task Logon-5d under the same folder.
Horowitz discovered three additional tasks in the same folder. These tasks were never execute, however, unlike the three tasks mentioned above. The task were MachineUnlock-5d, OutOfIdle-5d, and OutOfSleep-5d.
Two tassk, refreshgwxconfig and launchtrayprocess under Microsoft > Windows > Setup > gwx, had been disabled by Horowotz in the past.
Horowitz could not disable these tasks. The folder C:\Windows\system32\GWX displayed that most files were from 2015 including GWX.exe. Renaming GWX.exe did not work either; what worked was renaming the GWX folder but it is too early to tell whether the renaming is enough to block GWX tasks from running on the system.
What is puzzling about all this is that GWX should not be running anymore on the system. Microsoft ended the Get Windows 10 campaign in 2016 and there is no reason to keep scheduled tasks or files associated with it on the system.
Is Microsoft preparing for another Get Windows 10 campaign? Is it a bug? Leftover files on a system that were never removed completely?
It is unclear but it is probably a good idea to check the tasks and folders on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 devices to make sure that these tasks and files don't exist.
Now You: Did you check? (via Born)
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help