Windows 10 2004 build

[britechguy]

Yeah, but they aren't being very transparent as to the WHY... Which isn't helping. We need to be able to ID incompatible hardware that might be serviceable anymore while we have months to plan for its replacement. Not in the 9th inning as a release is dying.

We're talking about two different things.

I agree with you, 100%, that there needs to be a "well in advance" announcement of hardware that is actually going into "out of ability to support" Windows 10 as time marches on. Other than a very select few, that has not really happened yet, but it will. And I fully expect that Microsoft will be announcing what's going to be unusable with Windows 10 as those situations develop, and well in advance of expected expiration date.

As to hardware I'm thinking about, like my HP laptops, that probably have some component that something about a new Windows 10 version is not "entirely friendly" with in the early roll-out cycle, I fully expect that as the roll-out progresses those issues will be addressed and my computers welcomed into the fold. They're certainly a long way from the actual processor hardware being obsolete based on what was announced way back in 2015, and regarding which I have not seen any change.

 

[Galdorf]

Wow a large majority of computers i have seen are STILL not eligible for 2004 upgrade including all of my personal machines that i have not moved to ubuntu not that i would upgrade them due to state that 2004 is still in but at this rate upgrade won`t be ready till 2021.

 

[britechguy]

I've been preaching, for years, that you should never force a Feature Update, and that was before the level of checking that's now a part of the process itself.

At this juncture, if Microsoft's own built-in update process is telling me a machine is "not quite ready" I believe it.

The roll out of Version 2004 has been almost glacial.

 

[Sky-Knight]

The last machine in my house is updating now, via the update assistant. Windows update didn't report ANYTHING. No message of please wait... no "it's on the way"... it just wasn't there.

 

[britechguy]

You're saying that if you opened Settings, Windows Update Pane *prior* to your having use the Update Assistant you didn't see something like this:

or with a "Download and install" link if the machine was ready for the update?

I've dealt with many, many, many Windows 10 Home and Pro machines, and to a one, this information is presented. I have no idea of whether the Update Assistant will allow a forced update on a machine that does show this at this point in time, it certainly used to in the past. But I make it a point to avoid applying an update when this is what the Windows Update Pane is showing.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Negative, that entire lower section was blank, appearing identical to any machine that was currently patched. No mention of the update, no link to click, nothing... just white space.

This symptom has repeated on many of my machines, but not all. I do not know if time would have resolved it, I need to be testing on 2004, so I ran the Upgrade Assistant. Again this in the past prevented itself from updating, but it no longer is, all of my machines once manually triggered have upgraded fine. My gut tells me the 90 day feature update delay I have configured is involved, it's possible that I need to wait 3 months after MS gave the OK... that would explain the UI, because that's how it worked in the past. But I haven't confirmed this yet.

I have units in the field that look like this too, but I'm not yet in a place where I'm going to force the update because I have until May to get beyond 1909. I'll worry about this in Jan, and may very well skip 2004 in favor of 2009 assuming it's stable.

 

[britechguy]

I'm actually assuming that I'll end up jumping over Version 2004 myself.

And this is another year where the second feature update is already known to be a minor update, more like a slightly super cumulative update, than an actual feature update. They're also finally dropping the YYMM format and going with YYHX where the X will b 1 or 2, which is long overdue.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Yeah, the only reason I care about 2004 so much is it's the first real release post the 1903 update changes. Trying to get a feel for how Windows 10 updates on the back end instead of the front end for my clients.

I've got some units still on 1903 for whatever reason and I fear they're going to update straight to 20H2 while it's brand new... which would worry me, but you're right it's showing every sign of being another 1909, all but a release just to increment a version number. We shall see what 20H2 does to us, whatever they decide to call it later.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I've got Core 2, 2nd Gen, 3rd Gen, 4th Gen, and 5th Gen units all successfully upgraded now. Mostly ASUS, and Dell in origin.

 

[SAFCasper]

I'm actually assuming that I'll end up jumping over Version 2004 myself.

And this is another year where the second feature update is already known to be a minor update, more like a slightly super cumulative update, than an actual feature update. They're also finally dropping the YYMM format and going with YYHX where the X will b 1 or 2, which is long overdue.

Same here. I like to wait until things are nice and stable before rolling out in bulk. Usually keep an eye on this site until MS have declared it ready for "Broad Deployment" but I can see another month passing before that happens.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-2004

I expect 20H2 to be fairly stable on release considering it's just a glorified cumulative update for 2004. Probably move to Broad Deployment very quickly. Then again, give Microsoft a chance to screw up a release and they will usually take it.


PS.
Been running 2004 on my personal laptop since almost the day it released. Not had a single problem so I'm not suggesting 2004 is buggy. I just like to play it safe when rolling out in bulk.

 

[britechguy]

. . . I'm not suggesting 2004 is buggy. I just like to play it safe when rolling out in bulk.

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that, either. Most of the folks I know who have upgraded are not having any problems, but virtually all of them were offered the update via the Download and install link that appears in the Windows Update Pane once Microsoft deems a specific platform ready. I do know of a couple who've had issues, and all but one of those forced the update ahead of presentation.

As Windows 10 has matured, and continues to mature, I find it keeps getting better and better. And the fact that it tells the user of a given machine whether their machine should be updated now, or should wait until later, is a significant and very useful change.

And if I were to be in a situation where I were expected to do a roll out in bulk, I'd do exactly as you are, and wait for the go-ahead from Microsoft stating that a given Version is ready for broad deployment.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@SAFCasper If you double check that release doc you linked... you'll notice that 2004 is fully embedded in semi-annual, along with the recommended color shade. That's "broad deployment" or as close as we get from MS anyway.

That was why I started pushing to get updates into my equipment. I'm not doing jack to customer gear, and won't unless 1909 is still hanging around after the new year.

 

[britechguy]

What I use to determine whether "Broad Deployment" status has been reached is the Windows Update Release Dashboard

If you note what's there for Version 1909, the direct statement is made: "Windows 10, version 1909 is designated ready for broad deployment for all users via Windows Update. We recommend commercial customers running earlier versions of Windows 10 nearing end of support begin broad deployments of Windows 10, version 1909 in their organizations."

The same is not yet true for Version 2004. Until the statement, "designated ready for broad deployment for all users," is explicitly made, there, then I don't consider it ready, nor, from all indications, does Microsoft since they created the Windows Update Release Dashboard as the central source for exactly this, and related, information.

 

[GTP]

I've had quite a lot of clients systems, including my own systems, update to 2004.
Even though I use NTLite to custom build my personal installs, they still get all the MS updates.
I, nor any of my clients have had a single issue so far with regard to 2004.
Its a seamless and painless few minutes to download and apply the update.

 

[SAFCasper]

@SAFCasper If you double check that release doc you linked... you'll notice that 2004 is fully embedded in semi-annual, along with the recommended color shade. That's "broad deployment" or as close as we get from MS anyway.

That was why I started pushing to get updates into my equipment. I'm not doing jack to customer gear, and won't unless 1909 is still hanging around after the new year.

Another case of Microsoft's frequent restructuring and renaming I'm afraid. They stopped using the semi-annual (targeted) status with 1903 so semi-annual is now the default at public release.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com...iness-and-the-retirement-of-sac-t/ba-p/339523

 

[Sky-Knight]

Another case of Microsoft's frequent restructuring and renaming I'm afraid. They stopped using the semi-annual (targeted) status with 1903 so semi-annual is now the default at public release.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com...iness-and-the-retirement-of-sac-t/ba-p/339523

Yes, which means when you defer updates the deferral is based on the actual release date instead of some arbitrary point in the future.

 

[fincoder]

I had a customer come in yesterday with a Core 2 Duo E4600 desktop with 3GB RAM and 160GB HDD. I had sold it to him 5 years ago for just $220.

It had updated itself to 2004, now getting black screen after login. Turns out the old HDD had bad sectors, not sure if that was causing the symptom or incompatibility with 2004. Either way, another refurb PC was the solution.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Feature updates will kill weak hardware, that's not the update, that's 100% bad drive.

That being said, Core 2 integrated graphics controllers technically do not support Windows 10, and never have. Intel says Win10 support starts with Gen 1 iSeries. Now, that doesn't mean those Core2s don't work... but it does mean the graphics driver can jump off a cliff and you're SOL short of a nuke and pave. I went there... and did that... and good call on simply replacing the unit because that's exactly what needed to happen.

Again, this limitation is GPU only, so Core 2 desktops with discrete graphics cards? Those are still fine! I have one on my repair bench.

 

[britechguy]

Just as a data point, my HP 15-ba011cy has had its status for the Version 2004 Feature Update change from "not quite ready" to presenting the Download and install link.

I'll still end up doing the update using the USB install media so I don't have to re-download the base material for this Feature Update.

 

[britechguy]

Now, a report back after having done the in-place update to Windows 10, Version 2004, from Version 1909, on 4 laptops, two of which are hardware twins.

This is definitely a "big" feature update. My systems still have HDDs in them, and it took over 2 hours to install on all of them. This does not include very much download time, as I used the Version 2004 ISO, mounted as a virtual DVD, to perform the update. There was some downloading of updates that were made after the ISO had been generated.

I had an experience I've never had before, and I hope to never have again: My own "daily driver" laptop overheated in the very final moments of the update, and rolled itself completely back when fired up afterward. This is partly my own fault, as I have been remiss in doing my "canned air blow-out" cleaning of the exhaust heat sink as well as the fan and further back, so I did that right after the roll back finished.

What I then did, and also in hindsight shouldn't have done, is decided to try applying the update to 2004 again without having bothered to restore the system from a full system image backup. While it worked, it was a mistake, as afterward I had disk thrashing going on routinely and had a BSOD as well, and I haven't had one of those in several years. Doing a recovery back to 1909, then reapplying the 2004 upgrade (this time sans overheating, since the machine is now dusted out) has had the same "perfect" result that it did on the other three machines in my household I did it on.

Three HP laptops, two with AMD A12 APUs and one with an A8 APU, and a Toshiba Satellite c55t series with an AMD A6 APU. I haven't bothered with the ancient desktop yet, as I use it so seldom.