Windows 10 version 1809 is ready for broad deployment
Microsoft revealed yesterday that the company's current version of Windows 10, version 1809, is designated for broad deployment.
In other words, Windows 10 version 1809's servicing option is now Semi-Annual Channel. Microsoft will stop using the term from Windows 10 version 1903 onward.
Windows 10 feature updates are released twice a year via the Semi-Annual Channel Target. Then, after a couple of months, they are deemed ready for broad deployment and Microsoft announced that by changing the servicing option of the update to Semi-Annual Channel.
If you are cynical, you might say that millions of home Microsoft customers have tested the new version of Windows 10 long enough for it to become Enterprise- and business-ready.
Microsoft updated the Windows 10 release information page to highlight the change. The full rollout of the update started last week.
Windows 10 version 1809 has been a problematic update, probably the most problematic feature update since the release of Windows 10 in 2015.
Microsoft had to pause the update deployment because of serious bugs and issues. While those initial bugs were resolved by Microsoft, a look at the most recent update for Windows 10 version 1809 shows five known issues:
- Internet Explorer authentication issue
- Audio output issues.
- MSXML6 may cause applications to stop responding.
- Custom URI handles for applications may not load the corresponding application.
- Preboot execution environment issues.
Companies and home users don't need to upgrade the operating system to a new version when Microsoft releases it or confirms that it is ready for broad deployment. Previous versions continue to be supported for months; the next versions to fall out of support are Windows 10 version 1709 on the Consumer side, and Windows 10 version 1607 on the Enterprise side (both in April 2019).
Why did Microsoft make the announcement at this point? Woody Leonard's theory is that Microsoft had to do so before the release of Windows 10 version 1903. It would not really look that good if the company would release Windows 10 version 1903 without confirming to its Enterprise and business customers that Windows 10 version 1809 was ready for deployment.
Microsoft has yet to release the second March cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1809; it released cumulative updates for all other supported versions of Windows 10 already.
Microsoft is expected to make a RTM announcement for the next feature update version of Windows 10, Windows 10 version 1903, very soon. A release in April 2019 seems the most likely scenario at this point in time.
Now You: Did you upgrade to Windows 10 version 1809 already?
Quite happy with 1809. That awful white everywhere has disappeared now, since I now can adjust most apps to a black background. This also applies to explorer screens and that is much more easy for my eyes.
The transparency and accent colors can now also be applied. (Don’t know if that was already possible with other versions).
Those where two of the biggest nuisances of Windows 10 for me.
https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/software-download/windows10
Simply use Windows 10 Update Assisstent as a standalone Updater, works as expected. Win 1809 here since October 2018.
No Installation Problems, no recognizeable Bugs during Install.
https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/help/3159635/windows-10-update-assistant
I tried 1809 LTSC N, I use 1607 LTSB. First thing I noticed after optimizing it from head to toe is it had 84 processes vs 40 (1607) it had like 1100 threads vs 700 (1607) and it had 27000 handles vs 20000 (1607). That is after full optimization. It also used about 600 megs more of ram. All that adds up to a crap experience. Went back to 1607 after 12 hours or so of trying lots of different tasks I do on a daily basis. What a steaming pile of shit.
ROFL
Windows 1803: issues with printing from Outlook, even printing to Microsoft PDF writer
Reinstalled 1803 clean, run all updates, still having issues.
Downgraded to 1709 … problem solved.
It appears as if Windows was developed by kids in a coding bootcamp.
“Did you upgrade to Windows 10 version 1809 already?”
Yep, almost always do on the laptop, glutton for punishment I guess. However have had pretty good expierence so far with only minor problems, and those were usually fixed in the next update. Must have one of those machines or hardware thats fairly popular.
I still find it amusing that Windows 10 was supposed to unify the desktop and eliminate fragmentation, because “everyone would be on one version of Windows”. Thus far the opposite is happening. Instead of having everyone on the same platform, like Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1, now you have people on multiple variants of Windows 10. And this impacts application developers, because some of them want to use features of the latest version, which not many people have installed.
For a few Win 10 Version 1803 Home users, they may be forced auto-upgraded by M$ twice within 1 month, eg this week to Version 1809 and next month to Version 1903. This may be a Guinness World Record.
……. Wonder whether the poor computers and users can take being “assaulted” by M$ twice within a month.
Fyi, Win 10 Version 1909 will be released and also designated as “Ready-for-Business” or “SAC” by M$ at around Oct 2019, ie both happening on the same day.
When Win 10 was first launched by M$ on 29 July 2015, it took about 4 months after release for a new Version to be designated by M$ from CB to CBB or Current Branch for Business or Ready-for-Business. In 2016, this dropped to about 3 months. In 2017, it took about 2 months before M$ designated the new Version from SAC-Targeted to SAC or Semi Annual Channel or Ready-for-Business. Bc of bugs, Win 10 Version 1809 took about 5 months before M$ now designates it as Ready-for-Business or SAC. Probably to avoid this embarrassment in buggy Win 10 Version 1809, M$ will be getting rid of the SAC or Ready-for-Business designation altogether in Win 10 Version 1909.
……. Win 10 Version 1909 Pro & Ent users will have to rely on the setting for deferral of feature updates(= maximum 365 days) to determine for themselves when Version 1909 will be “Ready-for-Business” or “SAC”. So now, the embarrassment will fall on the users if they are caught by M$’s prevalent upgrade bugs.
This also sounds “creepy” to me, ie SAC-T to SAC designation by M$, from 4 months to 3 months to 2 months and eventually 0 month. Maybe the user-set deferral period will also “creep” from 365 days to 300 days to 180 days to eventually 90 days.?
.
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P S – For Win 10 Version 1903, M$ will add 60 days to the user-set deferral period before deploying the feature update automatically. For Version 1909, M$ will add 0 day or not add any day to the user-set deferral period.
M$ cannot “creep” on me and bug me with her forced auto-upgrades because I’m running Win 10 Ent LTSC 2016 in a VM, until EOL in 2026.
Correction:
…. … to determine for themselves when Version 2003 will be “Ready-for-Business” or “SAC”.
“Did you upgrade to Windows 10 version 1809 already?”
No, it’s not ready.
I have updated 2 PC’s to 1809 from 1803. – one an ASUS and the other ALIENWARE/DELL
In both cases it screwed up my network in some “unknown” fashion.
I had to restore to 1803 in both cases
I “installed” a “stop windows update” utility to preclude it from updating to 1809
What’s the name of this utility? Thanks.
https://greatis.com/stopupdates10
I got the portable version
Be aware it will stop window app updates too
you will have to manually download and install those updates you want or restore the windows update functionality
Thanks for the info; I’ll look into it.
It would be better if Microsoft released upgrades of their windows 10 OS every two years. Allowing OEMs ample time to catch up. The reason why Microsoft is released bi-annually, so they can brick laptops and desktops, forcing home users to buy new computers every 6 months.
Planned obsolescence also squeezing more money from the users. I will migrate to Linux rather than jumping through with windows 10.
Data bandwidth in Canada is limited and charged higher rates, it’s like living in a digital dark age in this part of the world. 4G download for upgrade will uses up a chunk of allotted internet bandwidth. 100gb per month costs 120 bucks before tax and it’s not even high speed.
I want to upgrade to 1809 but I want my PC to function.
I fear that unless your PC is 100% the way M$ wants it to be with 0 customizations of your own, the upgrade will cause problems.
I’m holding off until I’m up to wiping my system drive and doing a fresh install and all the hours of tweaking and customization that inevitably follow.
My Windows is not like your, it’s like mine, and I want it to stay that way.
@ barr
Actually, M$ likely implemented the 6-monthly upgrade cycle because she wants to force Win 10 home-users to buy new computers every 5 years, similar to what Apple and Google(= Android phones/tablets) do = Planned Obsolescence.
……. Also, for business-users, M$ wants to force them to pay more to use Win 10 Ent, eg Software Assurance “premiums” or subscriptions or the twice-as-costly Ent LTSC edition. Previously, business-users could buy and run Win 7 Ent for up to 10 years until EOL without paying anything extra to M$.
I installed 1809 on three laptops a month after it was available. Fortunately for me I haven’t had any problems. Clearly many of the people who download the update in the beginning how terrible issues. I just got lucky I guess.
We ran into an issue where the upgrade to 1809 was removing machines from our intune environment. Did anyone else see this issue?
I installed 1809 the second it was released. It has been exactly as crap as all the previous versions, something we all just have to live with these days. When 1903 is released I will clean install it the same day and will take all the crap that will be shoved down my throat once again, I will just smile and wave. My reasoning behind this is that eventually, somewhere down the line Microsoft might get things right. It might take two years, it might take ten years..but until then I will always use the latest thing they have to offer. Also my old brain assumes that the latest version is the one most people at Redmond are working on to fix things..?
Thank you for being one of the many “crash test dummies” for those of us who are not so brave.
You’re welcome! I’ve taken MANY for the team during my Windows 10 career =) Still amazes me how a company that has made operating systems since forever feel no shame releasing extremely buggy supergarbage versions of Windows 10 year after year.. This potato OS is the brains in military computers now too.. God help us all.
“If you are cynical, you might say that millions of home Microsoft customers have tested the new version of Windows 10 long enough for it to become Enterprise- and business-ready.”, this phrase is very useful to understand the extreme complex idea of how tons of people can test garbage along six months to provide “some quality”. In other words, if five billion people test crap for one minute, the amazing glorious crap will become gold? There is no way to produce quality and user service twice per year, forcing people to install near 4 Gb ISO with no improve at all.
M$ has taken the Linux “rolling release” model and applied it to Windows. Just like a lot of “rr” distros, there’s bound to be all sorts of issues.
Both platforms are now dependent on user feedback for much of their QC. Linux has been doing this for years since there’s really no development QC on any of their desktops.
M$ has mentioned getting involved more closely with Linux and it’s showing up with bugginess as a feature recently. Here’s hoping M$ doesn’t intentionally cripple Win 8 trying to move users to upgrade.
@ ddk
The BIG difference is that home-users can choose to stay away from Linux Rolling Releases distros and opt for Linux LTS Releases distros. With Win 10 Home & Pro Rolling Releases, home-users are stuck, ie forced auto-upgraded by M$ twice a year(= Home) or once a year(= Pro)
Hence, as home-user, I have been forced by M$ to run Win 10 Ent LTSC 2016 in a VM unactivated.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of home users don’t do all that much with the OS. They probably don’t touch all areas. And that is why, with all the “testing”, there are still flaws found when the heavier users adopt it.
Hold off on feature updates as long as you can.
So we’re supposed to upgrade to 1809 then a few days later do another upgrade to 1903? Why bother with 1809?
This ^
I would recommend that you update to 1809. However, you would be wise to avoid 1903 for a few months. Let those who are anxious to be the first on the block with it to expose the flaws. There have already been reports of significant issues by some early adopters.
The early bird gets the worm. But the late mouse gets the cheese.
1903 is pretty solid, but has a nasty bug with Realtek card readers. In one case, reported on AskWoody, the SD card was originally the E: drive, after the feature update, it was changed to D: drive with all data corrupted and unreadable, even on other card readers.
I’ve noticed a pattern with all these updates is that they blindly reset Windows settings before installing, and often Microsoft gets it horribly wrong. Things like changing drive letters, replacing third party drivers with broken Microsoft generic drivers, changing boot settings, breaking hardware security keys, and re-enabling Defender and other MS services that break installed software. Doing a major update is about the same as doing a Windows refresh, so there’s a good chance it will break your configuration because it doesn’t take third party software and hardware requirements into account.
Yes, Major upgrade is replacing all Windows files with new ones. This means Windows will keep filling your HDD if you don’t remove the previous installations. People are already reporting hundred GBs used by the old installations.
Took them a while. ;)