[German]Some users are receiving error 0x80070057 during distinct Windows 10 operations (backup, system restore, upgrades). Recently I stumbled upon Cloudfogger as a root cause for this error code. Here are a background information about this case.

Users of Windows 10 are facing many errors caused by outdated software. The source of this problem is “Windows as a service” – the operating system will be upgraded two or three times a year. In best case, a software refuse to run (this was the case with StarMoney 9 in Windows 10 Version 1607).

Non compatible software as a show stopper

In worst case, a feature upgrade stalls with an error or is refused due to an non compatible app. Sometimes setup.exe provided in install media (created via Media Creation Tool) warns and recommends to uninstall app xyz. But in some cases the message is pretty cryptically – as  show below.

We have a recommendation to uninstall an app, but the app isn’t named. I have covered this case within my blog post Windows 10 Anniversary Update: inkompatible Apps (VPC), and I discussed, how to identify the app manually.

In a really bad case, the setup wizard doesn’t drop a warning, and a feature upgrade or an update installation stalls with error 0x80070057 (E_INVALIDARG, or ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER). The error message doesn’t deliver a clue what went wrong.

Technical details (behind the curtains)

Some third party system tools are installing filter drivers within Windows, that are hooking system calls. Those filter drivers are passing parameters to the next sibling within the filter driver chain.

I interpret error code 0x80070057 (ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER) in a manner, that a filter driver is hooked into file system calls. And the filter driver handler doesn’t passes the parameters in a right manner to the next filter driver. Then an upgrade install, or accessing volume shadow copies (VSS) during system restore or backup fails with error code 0x80070057 (ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER).

Log file analysis is difficult

We can check the log files written during an upgrade installation (I’ve discussed this within my German blog post Windows 10: Protokolldateien bei Upgrade-Fehlern analysieren, a few hints are also discussed here Windows 10: Analyze upgrade errors). But it’s difficult. Therefore I suggest within my blog post, to uninstall tools like third party antivirus software, system tools, TuneUp etc. and roll back all settings mode within those tools. Also you should clean the system from registry entries and files left from these tools after uninstalling them.

Cloudfogger, just another case

Since (nearly) everybody has been lured into the cloud, also personal data are stored online. But there is no control, where private data are stored within the cloud. To protect private data, some people are encrypting them, before uploading them to the cloud. One popular tool available for cloud data encryption was Cloudfogger – but the project has been cancelled. The successor is www.boxcryptor.com. The Cloudfogger client was useable in Windows 10 RTM, but during the next feature upgrade (Windows as a service is greeting) users are facing problems.

Upgrade to Windows 10 Anniversary Update fails with error 0x80070057

Error 0x80070057 has become a personal obsession to me, because I was facing this error within many MS Answers forum posts. Error diagnose for this error has been always a kind of “searching a needle within a hay stack”. Error  0x80070057 has been hit users during upgrade to Anniversary Update many times (but this error isn’t restricted to Windows 10 Version 1607). I’ve discussed several root causes within my blog post Windows 10: Update error 0x80070057.

In many cases it ends with a clean install of Windows 10 using an install media (created with Media Creation Tool). My German blog post about error 0x80070057 received many hits and one blog reader left a comment, claiming Cloudfogger as a show stopper. Also another user confirmed Cloudfogger and it’s filter driver cbfltfs4.sys as a root cause for error 0x80070057.

The successor Boxcryptor doesn’t have this problem – a developer left a comment, that Boxcryptor’s filter driver is compatible with Windows 10.

Creating a Recovery drive drops error 0x80070057

During writing the German blog post about error 0x80070057, I found this this Microsoft Answers forum thread. User pcguru3482 reported in November 2015, that encryption tool Cloudfogger was responsible for this error.

The DISM WIM mount error delivers some hints

After reading some forum posts, the puzzle completed, as I came across this sysnative.com forum post. A user has posted his log file, found at C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther \setuperr:

2016-08-03 13:38:34, Error                 SP     SPMountWIMCallback: Error mounting/unmouting C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\SafeOS.Mount\windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-servicingstack_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_none_36d3ccc3ddfd1ecb\CbsMsg.dll. GLE [87][gle=0x00000057]2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 SP     CMountWIM::DoExecute: Failed to mount WIM file C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\winre.wim. Error 0x80070057[gle=0x00000057]
2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 SP     Operation failed: Mount WIM file C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\winre.wim, index 1 to C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\SafeOS.Mount. Error: 0x80070057[gle=0x000000b7]
2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 MOUPG  MoSetupPlatform: ExecuteCurrentOperations reported failure!
2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 MOUPG  MoSetupPlatform: Using action error code: [0x80070057]
2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 MOUPG  CDlpActionImageDeploy::ExecuteRoutine(403): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 MOUPG  CDlpActionImpl<class CDlpErrorImpl<class CDlpObjectInternalImpl<class CUnknownImpl<class IMoSetupDlpAction> > > >::Execute(441): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:44, Error                 MOUPG  CDlpTask::ExecuteAction(3243): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:45, Error                 MOUPG  CDlpTask::ExecuteActions(3397): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:45, Error                 MOUPG  CDlpTask::Execute(1631): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:45, Error                 MOUPG  CSetupManager::ExecuteTask(2067): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:45, Error                 MOUPG  CSetupManager::ExecuteTask(2030): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:45, Error                 MOUPG  CSetupManager::ExecuteInstallMode(815): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:45, Error                 MOUPG  CSetupManager::ExecuteDownlevelMode(391): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:47, Error                 MOUPG  CSetupManager::Execute(236): Result = 0x80070057
2016-08-03 13:38:47, Error                 MOUPG  CSetupHost::Execute(372): Result = 0x80070057

Installing Windows 10 Anniversary upgrade failed, because the WIM file containing the install image could not be mounted. Also within this superuser.com post somebody complained, that upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Pro stalls at 23%. Analyzing setuperr.log shows that mounting the WIM file failed with error 0x80070057.

The user, hit by this error, fired up Sysinternals Process Monitor and monitored the WIM mount process. The stack dump (see screenshot above) shows, that filter driver cbfltfs4.sys is involved. With this knowledge it’s easy to check a system for third party filter drivers as a possible root cause for install errors.

Open an administrative command prompt window (see Windows 10: Open command prompt window as administrator) and enter the command fltmc filters. This enlists all filter drivers installed within the system (the above screenshot enlists all filter drivers installed on my Windows 7 machine). Within the forum post mentioned above, the following filter drivers are enlisted:

C:\Windows\system32>fltmc filters


Filter Name                     Num Instances    Altitude    Frame
------------------------------  -------------  ------------  -----
cbfltfs4                                        429998.99   <Legacy>
eamonm                                  6       328700         0
storqosflt                              0       244000         0
WIMMount                                3       180700         0
FileCrypt                               0       141100         0
luafv                                   1       135000         0
npsvctrig                               1        46000         0
FileInfo                                6        45000         0
Wof                                     4        40700         0

Filter driver cbfltfs4 is on this list – searching the Internet reveals, that this driver belongs to CloudFogger. FileCrypt is the „Windows sandboxing and encryption filter“ from Windows 10 (see).

I outlined the background information within this blog post. Maybe it helps to detect the root cause, if you are facing error 0x80070057 in future.

Similar articles:
Win10 Wiki
Windows 10: Open command prompt window as administrator
Trick: How to upgrade to Windows 10 using a clean install
Microsoft Windows and Office ISO download tool

How to decode Windows errors?
Windows 10: Analyze upgrade errors
Windows: How to decode update 0x8024…. errors

Windows 10: Error 0x800704CF
Windows 10: Upgrade error 80240020
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0x80200013
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0x80070570-0x2000C
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0x8007002C-0x4000D
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0xC1900101 – 0x20003
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0xC1900101 – 0x20004
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0xC1900101-0x2000A
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0xC1900101-0×20017/0×30017
Windows 10: Upgrade error 0xC1900101-0x2000C
Windows 10 Anniversary Update: Upgrade error 0xA0000400
Windows 10: Update error 0x80070057
Windows 10: How to fix update error 0x80080008
Windows 10: System restore fails with error 0x81000203

Is Windows 10 stalling with error 0x8007001F during installing Anniversary Update? Or is this error code thrown during an upgrade from Windows 7/8.1 to Windows 10? Here are a few hints, what could be the root cause for this error.

Windows Update reports error 0x8007001F

I never have had this error code, but I was facing several MS Answers forum posts from users, ending with error 0x8007001F thrown from Windows Update during installing Windows 10 as an upgrade. Here is a German error dialog reported during upgrade.

This error code has also been thrown during feature upgrades (for instance installing Windows 10 . Anniversary Update).

Decode error 0x8007001F

Unfortunately the HRESULT error code 0x8007001F isn’t documented within this document. But we can use my blog post How to decode Windows errors? to decode 0x8007 as a Windows raw error. The code 0001F (according to this web site) stands for ERROR_GEN_FAILURE and the error text is A device attached to the system is not functioning.

Check #1: Third party antivirus and system tools

Within this forum thread (German), third party antivirus scanners are mentioned as root cause for this error. The filter driver installed from those tools blocks access to Windows file system.

Tip: You can use the command fltmc filters discussed within my blog post Windows 10: Error 0x80070057 from Cloudfogger, to check, whether third party filter drivers are installed on a machine.

Check #2: Third party boot loader (Acronis, Linux)

Within this Microsoft Answers forum thread (and here in German) users are reporting, that a parallel Linux installation with GRUB boot loader was the show stopper. The fix was to restore the master boot record (MBR) in Windows PE, using the command:

bootrec /FixMbr

This writes a new Windows boot loader. Afterward, the user was able to update Windows 10. This brings me to the idea, if you used Acronis True Image, also an exchanged boot loader can be the case for install issues.

Check #3: SATA controllers

A user reported within this MS-Answers forum thread that multiple SATA drives are causing the update error. He was forced to remove additional SATA drives from hin SATA controller to let Windows upgrade to a new build. Maybe the SATA driver isn’t compatible. Alto a user within this forum thread reported, that removing all non needed drives from SATA ports and all USB devices solved his upgrade issue.

Check #4:  User profiles moved to another patition

Moving user profiles to another logical drive / partition is also a killer and show stopper for upgrade installations. A user posted such a hint within this forum thred. If you moved the user folders, move the folders back to the Windows partition.

Last exit: Clean Install

If you are not successful with the checks given above, grab an install image (Windows 10-ISO install media created via Media Creation Tool), boot your machine with this media and re-install Windows 10 again.

Similar articles:
Win10 Wiki
Windows 10: Open command prompt window as administrator
Trick: How to upgrade to Windows 10 using a clean install
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Windows 10 Version 1511 via Media Creation Tool “is back”
Windows 10: Error 0x80070057 from Cloudfogger
How to decode Windows errors?
Windows 10: Analyze upgrade errors
Windows: How to decode update 0x8024…. errors

Last week Microsoft announced SQL Server next version CTP 1.2 is now available. SQL Server (SQL Server v.Next) Community Technology Preview (CTP) 1.2 is available on both Windows and Linux. SQL Server v.Next comes with support for SUSE Linux Enterprise. Further details may be found within Microsoft’s announcement.

Microsoft just has released a Technical Preview 2 of System Center Configuration Manager Version 1702. The announcement has been made last Friday, January 20, 2017, within Microsoft’s Technet-Blog.

Update 1701 for the Technical Preview Branch of System Center Configuration Manager gives users an opportunity to try out the product in a test environment before it is are made generally available. The new preview features include:

• UEFI inventory data – Hardware inventory can now determine whether the device is UEFI-enabled.
• Express files support for Windows 10 Cumulative Update – Configuration Manager can support Windows 10 Cumulative Update using Express files. This functionality is only supported in Windows 10 version 1607 with a Windows Update Agent update included with the updates released on January 10, 2017 (Patch Tuesday).
• Validate Device Health Attestation Data via Management Point – You can now configure management points to validate health attestation reporting data for cloud or on-premises health attestation service.
• Updated Content Library Cleanup Tool – The command line tool (ContentLibraryCleanup.exe) used to remove content that is no longer associated with any package or application from a distribution point (orphaned content) has been updated with fixes for known issues.
• Host software updates on cloud-based distribution points – Beginning with this preview version, you can use a cloud-based distribution point to host a software update package.
• Support for Microsoft Azure Government cloud added to Operations Management Suite (OMS) Connector feature – You can now configure an OMS connector for the OMS workspace on Microsoft Azure Government cloud.
• Additional boundary groups improvements – Clients now find software update points using Boundary Group associations.

More details may be found here.

Users are facing constant crashes of Microsoft’s Edge browser under Windows 10. Sometime Edge becomes lagging or  unresponsive, sometimes the Edge app constantly crashes. Here are a few repair suggestions.

Fix 1: Clear browser cache

If Microsoft Edge lags or has minor issues, it’s possible to clean the browser’s cache, using the steps given below.

1. Click to the three dots in the upper right corner of the Microsoft Edge browser’s windows and select the Settings command.

2. Click under Clear browsing data onto the button Choose what to clear.

3. Check all checkboxes in Clear browsing data and confirm the Clear button.

In some cases it’s sufficient to clear all stored cookies.

#Fix 2: Delete browser data

If the Microsoft Edge app crashes constantly, Fix #1 can’t be used. In this case, try to clean the browser data in user profile.

1. Launch Explorer.ex and navigate to the hidden user profile folder
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages.

2. Search for subfolder MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe, right click to this folder and select the context menu command Properties.

3. Uncheck the Write only attribute on General tab, close the tab and delete the Edge profile folder in explorer.

If Windows refuses to delete the folder, try to delete successive all sub-folders and then theEdge profile folder in explorer.

4. Open an administrative PowerShell window (enter PowerShell in taskbar’s search bar for instance) and enter the following command.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose}

The command reinstalls Edge browser again (see also and here)

[German]Microsoft has released update KB3211320 for Windows 10 Version 1607 on January 24, 2017. Again this update is still undocumented and suspicious. Here are a few details.

I haven’t recognized this update until I stumbled upon a German deskmodder.de blog post. The update is released on January 24, 2017 (Microsoft Update Catalog says 01/23/2017). Update details says “install this update to fix issues with Windows and references to a knowledgebase article that doesn’t exists.

The description in Microsoft Update Catalog (tab Package Details) says, the new patch exchanges updates KB3199986 (Servicing Stack Update Oktober 27, 2016) and KB3199209 (Oktober 18, 2016). The screenshot below shows that this update was installed (silently) on January 24, 2017.

But update KB3213986 (released January 10, 2017) has been installed on January 25, 2017. Don’t know, why the update released on early January was installed after the yesterday update.

No details and confusion

Because there are not details provided from Microsoft, some sites was pointing to Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for January 2017, where a critical update for Microsoft Edge (3211320) was named. But it seems that the association of the number 3211320 to KB3211320 is wrong.

Microsoft Update Catalog says clearly it’s a package, that exchanges prior servicing stack updates. I’ve downloaded the package from update catalog and have had a brief look at the details. The .mum manifest files says it’s a servicing stack update, and a restart isn’t required.

But I was puzzled after looking into the windows shown above. Servicing stack updates are normally uninstallable. But update KB3211320 is shown in the uninstall list. Overall, there are many questions and Microsoft failed again to deliver a description just in time. Woody Leonhard aked similar questions at InfoWorld.

Some damages after installing this update?

During writing this blog post, I stumbled upon this Microsoft answers forum thread where users are complaining about that update.

• One user wrote that he need to re-register Microsoft Office, Excel runs unstable since update installation and Microsoft Edge has no more internet access.
• Another user lost his pinned icons on taskbar and start menu.
• Another user wrote that his second monitor did not work after installing this update.

Don’t know, maybe bad karma at users site this time. I could not detect similar behavior in my virtual machine. If you have issues with this update, drop a comment.

This weekend the folks from Lineage OS (successor of Cyanogen Mod) announced in a blog post, that the project is start flowing. They begun to release images of Lineage OS ROMs for several phones. The plan is to support 80+ devices.

On Monday, only ROMs for G Nexus 5X, Huawei Nexus 6P, Motorola Moto G4 / G4 Plus, Nextbit Robin and Xiaomi Redmi 1S has been available for download. Now the team added ROMs for the following devices:

• Asus Nexus 7 2013 (4G / Wi-Fi)
• LG Nexus 5
• Huawei Honor 5X
• LG G4 (T-Mobile / International)
• LG G3 S
• LG G3 Beat
• Motorola Moto X Pure (2015)
• Motorola Moto E
• Motorola Moto G
• Motorola Moto G4 Play
• OnePlus One
• Oppo Find 7a
• Oppo Find 7s
• Samsung
• Samsung Galaxy S III (AT&T / Sprint / T-Mobile / Verizon / International)
• Samsung Galaxy S II (International)
• Sony Xperia SP
• Xiaomi Mi 3w and Mi 4
• Xiaomi Mi 5
• Xiaomi Mi Max
• Xiaomi Redmi 3/Prime
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

Downloads may be found on this page. (via)

[German]Recently I came across a post from a MVP colleague, mention a curious error in Word 2013. On a customers system it wasn’t possible, to use the PDF converter from Word.

The error description

On the user’s system was Office Pro 2013 64-Bit and Windows 7 Enterprise installed. Trying to export a Word document into a PDF file, the following error dialog box has been shown.

My MVP colleague added:

IT tried uninstalling Office yesterday and reinstalling. No difference. My guess is there’s a registry setting but I’m not confident to screw around in there without being certain about my actions. I prefer not to have a boat anchor on my desk.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have Acrobat Pro XI so it’s not an urgent need but sometimes this ability comes in handy.

Fix #1: Repair/reinstall Office 2013

The first approach in such a case should be a “Office repair attempt” (although the comment above mentioned that it hadn’t helped). Open control panel and go to Uninstalling programs (or similar). In the windows shown below click to the entry for Microsoft Office and use the Repair button.

Just follow the suggestion provided by the wizard and let it repair office. This blog post discusses this repair in details. If a repair didn’t help, try to uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Office.

Fix #2: Run Office modules administrator

In this MS Answers forum post user AdnanJahangir outlined a workaround. He launches Word via Run as administrator, and the problem was gone. This indicates, that there are problems accessing registry settings. I would uninstall Microsoft Office and clean the system from leftovers within the Registry. Microsoft provides some hints about that topic.

Fix #3: Skype for Business 2016 is causing this issue

In this MS Answers- forum thread user urichai pointed out, that installing Skype for Business Basic 2016 x86 is causing the issue:

My solution was to remove the standalone version of Skype for Business 2016 and install the Office 2013 component Lync 2013 and then use Windows Updates to upgrade Lync 2013 to Skype for Business 2015.  Please reply if you need more details.  In short, Office 2013 Word and standalone Skype for Business 2016 causes the pdf converter to fail.  These 2 products do not play nicely with one another.

Fix #4: Check and clean registry entries

Within this article some registry entries are enlisted as used from converters. Go to the registry branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Text Converters\

and check the converter entries in sub-key Export. Within this MS Answers forum thread a user reported, that a wrong TypeLib under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib\{2DF8D04C-5BFA-101B-BDE5-00AA0044DE52}\2.8

was the root cause for the issue. An Office 2016 install has changed the registry, but after removing Office 2016, the reference to the missing Office 2016 Type library was left in the registry.

Fix #5: Check for mixed 32/64 bit environment

A user posted a comment within my German blog post, pointing to another issue. He had a system, where a 64 bit converter has been installed, but the installed Office was at 32 bit.

Perhaps the hints given above helps to solve the issue. If you come across other solutions, please feel free to drop a comment.

Similar articles:
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How to add a scan function to Word 2013

Microsoft has released update KB3216755 a few days ago for Windows 10 in Release Preview Ring. But there was no details about this patch. Now, the update itself and some details are available.

Martin Brinkmann from Ghacks.net discovered, that Microsoft has uploaded cumulative update KB3216755 to Microsoft Update Catalog. The update has a release date of January 26, 2017 and is available for Windows 10, Version 1607 (Anniversary Update).

There is also a support document, offering details what will be fixed/changed with this update. Here is the change log.

• Addressed known issue called out in KB3213986—Users may experience delays while running 3D rendering apps with multiple monitors.
• Addressed issue that prevents the conversion of a 24-bit image to 32 bits.
• Addressed issue that causes the loss of Windows Firewall rules after upgrade from RTM to 1511 or 1607.
• Addressed issue that causes a file download from a webpage to fail in Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge browsers.
• Addressed issue that prevents the use of the Delete Browsing History feature in Internet Explorer.
• Addressed issue that loads websites that bypass the proxy server in the local intranet zone when the Intranet Sites: Include all sites that bypass the proxy server (Disabled) is set.
• Addressed issue where an XSS false positive prevents a webpage from loading after logging in to a site.
• Addressed issue that prevents users from connecting to a network
• Addressed issue that causes the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) to fail if Active Directory Federated Systems is using the Japanese language set
• Addressed issue that causes System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) scenarios to fail
• Addressed issue that prevents user-built keyboard events from working.
• Addressed issue that causes incorrect tabledimensions in SAP® applications
• Addressed issue that overwrites a <br>element when users select a line that is enclosed by a <span> element.
• Improved reliability of Internet Explorer, Xbox, and Skype
• Addressed additional issues with Bluetooth, Internet Explorer, engaged reboot, clustering, Internet Explorer, Japanese Input Method Editor (IME), Windows Shell. Networking, storage, fonts, Xbox, encryption, Group Policy, Point and Print, wireless networking, virtual disk, disk operations, multimedia, Work Folders, encryption, enterprise security, deduplication, domain controllers, Audit File System, Debug Memory Manager, Virtual Machine Management Service (VMMS), Remote Desktop, Task Scheduler, Microphone Wizard, .NET, font cache, system boot, and Surface Studio

The update changes build number of Windows 10 Version 1607 to 14393.726. Currently the update seems only available via Windows Update Catalog and isn’t offered via Windows Update or WSUS. I guess, we will see update KB3216755 on February 14, 2017 on Windows Update.

Similar articles:
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More changes to Windows 7/8.1 Security-only updates
Support for Windows 10 RTM ends March 26, 2017
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[German]Microsoft just released an Insider Preview of Windows 10 Build 15019 for PCs in Fast Ring. It’s the build with the new game mode. Here are a few details about this build. Addendum: I was facing trouble installing this build, due to an “Initializing update” hung. I’ve added a few hints to overcome this situation – see at the end of this blog post and here: Fix for Windows 10 Build 15019 Insider Preview install issues.

The announcement has been made within Windows-Blog. This build does have the new gaming features Game Mode, but also comes with some platform related bugs that will impact the ability to play popular games on a PC.

What’s new in Build 15019

Xbox Gaming Features: As part of Windows and Xbox Insider Programs, updates have rolled out this week bringing some awesome new features for gamers. For more details  check out this blog post on Xbox Wire. More details about Game Mode, the Gaming Features like Built-in Beam streaming, New Games section in Settings and Windows Game bar improved full-screen support may be found within the Windows-Blog.

There are text to speech features (read aload) in Microsoft Edge, the new privacy settings pages during OOBE introduced a few weeks ago, and many more features. Here’s the list of fixes in this build.

• We fixed an issue where connecting an Xbox 360 or Xbox One Controller to your PC would cause the DWM to crash, resulting in your display flickering and/or appearing blank or black.
• We fixed an issue where with certain games if you used Alt + Tab to change focus to a different window, you could see both the newly focused window and the game flicker.
• We fixed an issue where when using Microsoft Edge with Narrator, you might hear “no item in view” or silence while tabbing or using other navigation commands.
• We fixed an issue where pasting on top of selected text in a Web Note would result in Microsoft Edge crashing.
• We fixed an issue that prevented some users from viewing Twitch.tv streams in Microsoft Edge.
• We fixed an issue from recent builds where Microsoft Edge would crash when sharing a PDF.
• We’ve updated the e-book viewer in Microsoft Edge so that if you’ve clicked on an image, you can now Ctrl + Mouse wheel to zoom.
• We fixed an issue where typing [ into the F12 Developer Tools window wouldn’t work when using the Hungarian keyboard.
• Custom scaling has been migrated from Control Panel to now be a subpage in Display Settings.
• We fixed an issue where Taskbar preview icons were unexpectedly small on high-DPI devices.
• To help save characters when typing in fields with a character limit, we’ve added a new ellipsis child key for Latin-based languages (such as English, German, and French) when you press and hold the period key on the touch keyboard.
• We fixed an issue where in certain UWP apps, tapping outside of a text box currently with focus while in tablet mode wouldn’t dismiss the touch keyboard.
• We fixed a typo in the new compatibility option to override high DPI scaling behavior for GDI-based apps.
• We fixed an issue where newly pinned secondary tiles (for example, a pinned page from Settings) would unexpectedly appear in Start’s Recently Added list.
• We’ve polished the animation when moving tiles in and out of folders on Start, and fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to drag the final tile out of a folder onto the same row as the folder tile.
• We fixed an issue from Build 15014 where using Hey Cortana might result in SpeechRuntime.exe using an unexpected amount of CPU.
• We fixed an issue where, with a maximized Notepad window and enough text to require a scrollbar, the right-most edge of the scrollbar wouldn’t do anything when dragged in an attempt to scroll.
• We fixed an issue where, after pressing Alt to set focus to the menu bar, certain apps could become unresponsive if then pressing Ctrl or clicking inside the app’s child window.
• We fixed an issue where Cortana might crash when slowly typing out a UNC path that has already been typed out and opened through Cortana once before.
• We fixed an issue where Default apps Settings would crash of you clicked an app under “Choose default app” and selected the option to look for an app in the Store.
• We’ve updated Themes settings page to now contain a link to the Store to find more themes to download.
• We fixed an issue where certain apps might crash after using the Open dialog to rename and open a folder.
• We fixed an issue where Win + Shift + S wouldn’t work if the mode in Snipping Tool was set to something other than Rectangle.
• We fixed an issue where you could end up with multiple Snipping Tool processes open after using Win + Shift + S and hitting Esc to stop the snip.
• We fixed an issue where certain file attributes, such as +s, would be lost when copying or moving a folder to a different partition.
• We fixed an issue where using Command Prompt with certain fonts could result in conhost.exe unexpectedly using a lot of CPU.
• We updated Dial Settings to now list customized apps alphabetically.
• We fixed an issue with Windows Ink where undoing and redoing a point erase could result in the ink reappearing in an unexpected order.
• We improved Screen Sketch copy reliability.
• We fixed an issue some insiders may have experienced recently with the mouse and keyboard sometimes going unresponsive for a few seconds at a time.
• We fixed an issue resulting in certain apps crashing when you switched to Tablet Mode.
• We fixed an issue where calendar appointments marked as Tentative or Out of Office were showing up as Free in the Taskbar clock and calendar flyout.
• We fixed an issue where, if multiple folders were selected in Background Settings under Slideshow mode, slideshow would not work.
• We fixed an issue where you could see the page flash when navigating from and back to Themes Settings.
• We fixed an issue where the Bluetooth & other devices Settings page unexpectedly said “Systemsettings.Viewmodel.settingentry” at the bottom.
• We’ve improved Settings reliability.
• We fixed an issue where, when using Phonetic as the sorting method with the zh-tw display language, the clock on the lock screen wouldn’t appear.
• Based on feedback, we’ve adjusted the look of the Virtual Touchpad to make the left/right buttons more visible.
• We’ve fixed an issue that could result in the Netflix app crashing on launch. Try again and it should work. We also fixed an issue where on certain hardware types, the Netflix app would crash when starting a movie.
• The game DOTA2 should now launch normally.

Known issues

Again, the download progress indicator shown when downloading this build is currently broken under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update. It may look like you’re getting stuck at 0% or at other percentages. Ignore the indicator and be patient. The build should download fine and the installation should kick off. See this forum post for more details.

• After updating to this build, nonstop exceptions in the Spectrum.exe service may occur causing PCs to lose audio, disk I/O usage to become very high, and apps like Microsoft Edge to become unresponsive when doing certain actions such as opening Settings. As a workaround to get out of this state, you can delete C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Spectrum\PersistedSpatialAnchors and reboot. For more details, see this forum post.
• Some Windows Insiders may have had trouble connecting to certain Google sites due to an implementation of a new security model being rolled out to further enhance user security. The team is working on a resolution. In the meantime, users can access these sites from an InPrivate tab.
• Extensions in Microsoft Edge do not work in this build. Extensions may appear to load but will not function as expected. This issue should be fixed in the next Insider release build we release. If you depend on extensions in Microsoft Edge, we recommend skipping this build. You can pause Insider Preview builds by going to Settings > Updates & security > Windows Insider Program, clicking on “Stop Insider Preview builds”, and choosing “Pause updates for a bit”.
• Microsoft Edge F12 tools may intermittently crash, hang, and fail to accept inputs.
• Microsoft Edge’s “Inspect Element” and “View Source” options don’t correctly launch to the DOM Explorer and Debugger, respectively.
• Windows Insiders will unexpectedly see a “Mixed Reality” entry on the main page of Settings.
• Some captive portal Wi-Fi networks may fail to connect during OOBE. If a captive portal network is using DNS hijacking to redirect to a secure site, the captive portal app will crash and the user cannot clear the portal.
• Yes/No voice commands in the Wi-Fi portion of OOBE are currently failing.
• Quicken 2016 will fail to run with an error stating .NET 4.6.1 is not installed. For Insiders familiar with Registry Editor, there is an optional workaround. Take ownership of the following registry keys and edit the “version” value to be 4.6.XXXXX instead of 4.7.XXXXX:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full

Note: Please take caution when editing the registry. Changing the wrong value can have unexpected and undesirable results.

• Dragging apps from the all apps list to pin on Start’s tile grid won’t work. For now, please right-click on the desired app in order to pin it.
• Some Tencent apps and games may crash or work incorrectly on this build.
• Under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update you might see the text “Some Settings are managed by your organization” even though your PC isn’t being managed by an organization. This is a bug caused by an updated flight configuration setting for Insider Preview builds and does not mean your PC is being managed by anyone.
• On some PCs, audio stops working sporadically with ‘device in use’ error”. We are investigating. Restarting the audio service may fix things for a bit.
• The Action Center may sometimes appear blank and transparent without color. If you encounter this, try moving the taskbar to a different location on screen.

Gaming known issues

• Popular games may experience crashes or black screens when trying to load due to a platform issue.
• When clicking on certain elements in desktop (Win32) games, the game minimizes and cannot be restored.
• Game Mode is enabled system wide by default, however, the ON/OFF toggle in Settings will incorrectly show it as being OFF until the user manually toggles the Setting to ON which will cause it to update and accurately display the status of Game Mode system wide.
• Broadcasting to Beam via the Game bar currently requires a number of Privacy settings to be changed. Please visit this forum post.
• Certain hardware configurations may cause the broadcast live review window in the Game bar to flash Green while you are Broadcasting. This does not affect the quality of your broadcast and is only visible to the Broadcaster.

Windows 10 Build 15019 Insider Preview hungs with ‘Initializing updates’

It seems that this build comes with a huge problem. I tried this night to let a machine install this build. But this morning the machine still hangs with the “Initializing updates” message.

I tried to do a clean boot (press Shift key and select reboot), but till now no success. Searching the web, gave me this MS Answers forum post, where people succeeded after up to 9 reboots. This MS Answers forum thread brought the suggestion to do a Defender scan. What I’ve seen: Windows creates a couple of files within SoftwareDistribution/Download. Still experimenting, what will solve this issue – it’s a kind of Voodoo.

Microsoft’s employee Jason posted this MS Answers entry dealing with two errors (Error 0xC1900401 or “build not yet available” – that was fixed from Microsoft) and the “”Initializing updates” hung error. Jason suggests to end Windows Update service and restart it again. But that won’t work (I tried that in previous builds and also within the current build 15014) – Windows reports a timeout termination Windows Update service. Within the thread linked above, some users are proposing to switch off Update delivery optimization – but that wouldn’t helped in my case, because this requires terminating WU (which won’t work on my test machine).

My suggestion: Just reset WinRM

Rebooting a machine several times in the hope that Windows Update will be able to download build 15019 isn’t a kind of “Voodoo”, it’s also time consuming. I propose a more simple solution (see also) and reset the WinRM service.

1. Open a PowerShell command window as administrator (type PowerShell in taskbar’s search box, right click the search result PowerShell and use context menu command Run as administrator).

2. After confirming UAC prompt, enter the PowerShell command Restart-service WinRM and press the enter key.

This will restart the WinRM service. I tried it and was greeted by error 0x80070020, that means ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION. Then I repeated the update search and was facing the “Initializing updates” message again.

More attempts

I tried to restart update search again and received error code 0x80246007 after a while. This code stands for WU_E_DM_NOTDOWNLOADED – The update has not been downloaded.

After restarting update search again, I was greeted by a 100 % progress bar indicator (see above). At a first glance I thought the new update will be installed. But it just indicated, that preparing the download was successful.

But finally, a new update search has been started automatically and the progress bar (see screenshot above) begun to show some download progress. And I recognized this time, that something happens – my network bandwidth dropped, so I’m no more able to access the internet from other devices within my network.

The status so far …

It’s now 10 hours after my first attempt to install build 15019. Ok, I partially went to sleep, visited a baker shop in the morning, have had a long breakfast – and visited the test machine from time to time. Now the progress bar is at 99% – hope I will be successful to install that nasty beast on my test machine. But installing an Insider Preview seems to become a time/life consuming issue. Guess, Microsoft has a lot to improve, until Windows 10 Version 1704 is ready to be released to the public. I have to wait and see, if downloading and installing this build will make it finally – the weekend is still long …

… but: As a blogger, it’s always good to face such issues – so I still have a lot of topics to write and rant about .

[German]Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 15019 for Insider Preview in Fast Ring. It seems, that many users are facing serious trouble installing this build, due to error 0xC1900401 or an “Initializing update” hung. Here are a few hints to solve this situation.

Error 0xC1900401 / “build not yet available

Some users are facing an error code 0xC1900401 or the message “build not yet available” during an attempt to search for build 15019 via Windows Update. But this glitch has been identified by Microsoft’s developers – and they fixed this error (see the first part of  Microsoft’s employee Jason’s MS Answers post).

Update search/install hangs with ‘Initializing updates’

Many users are facing a more serious issue during downloading and installing Windows 10 Build 15019 (from build 15014). I received this error on my test machine, so I was able to document the error and test a few steps to cure the problem.

First I tried to do a clean boot (press Shift key and select reboot), but I have had no success (tried it twice). Searching the web, gave me this MS Answers forum post, where people succeeded after up to 9 reboots.

This MS Answers forum thread brought the suggestion to do a Defender scan. But I’m skeptical, that this helps. Also some people posted in MS Answers forum, that switching off Update delivery optimization has helped. I’m also skeptical, that it will help in all circumstances (see my notes below).

Suggestion from Microsoft – stop and start WU service

Microsoft’s employee Jason posted also another suggestion for the “Initializing updates” hung error. Here is his suggestion:

Issue #2

Issue:  Your PC scans and finds build 15019, but it appears to hang on “Initializing…” and doesn’t appear to begin downloading the build

Impact:  Any Insider may hit this issue (although it does not affect all users)

Workaround:  The workaround for this is detailed in the steps below:

• Click the Start button
• Type services and launch the Services panel
• Scroll to Windows Update
• Right-click and select Stop

• Restart your PC
• Re-check for updates
• The update should proceed as expected

Well, while I appreciate his suggestion, there is a “small” problem. I tried that this night – long before I read Jason’s post in MS Answers. My idea was to rename Windows subfolder SoftwareDistribution to reset Windows Update store – because I’ve seen: Windows creates a couple of files within SoftwareDistribution/Download.

I recognized that Service manager wasn’t able to stop Windows Update service – I received a timeout message. Well, it could be an issue on my machine, but as a Microsoft Answers community moderator I came across several user postings within the last months, claiming the same behavior for distinct Windows 10 builds. And I also have had tested it a couple of weeks ago. My attempt, to stop WU within an administrative command prompt, caused an error, that this service could not be terminated. After terminating other services, I was finally able to stop also WU.

To sum it up: It seems that there are some issues in Windows 10 preventing an administrator to terminate WU service via service manager or via an administrative console.

Just another note to the “disable Delivery Optimization service”, also suggested here: I appreciate this suggestion – but if WU service can’t be stopped (as it was in my case), I guess, Delivery Optimization service isn’t also stoppable.

My suggestion: Just reset WinRM

Rebooting a machine several times in the hope that Windows Update will be able to download build 15019 is time consuming. The other suggestions given above wasn’t available in my environment. So I decided to use a more simple solution (see also) and reset the WinRM service.

1. Open a PowerShell command window as administrator (type PowerShell in taskbar’s search box, right click the search result PowerShell and use context menu command Run as administrator).

2. After confirming UAC prompt, enter the PowerShell command Restart-service WinRM and press the enter key.

This will restart the WinRM service. I tried it and was greeted by error 0x80070020, that means ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION. Then I repeated the update search and was facing the “Initializing updates” message again.

Starting Windows Update search again

I tried to restart update search again and after a while I received error code 0x80246007. This stands for WU_E_DM_NOTDOWNLOADED – The update has not been downloaded.

After restarting update search again, I was greeted by a 100 % progress bar indicator (see above). At a first glance I thought the new update will be installed. But it just indicated, that preparing the download was successful.

But finally, a new update search has been started automatically and the progress bar (see screenshot above) begun to show some download progress. And I recognized this time, that something happens – my network bandwidth dropped, so I’m no more able to access the internet from other devices within my network.

The status of my test machine so far: Downloading build 15019 has been finished – now I see the preparing “Installation …” progress bar in my Update page within Settings app (see screenshot above).

The screenshot above shows also, that an Definition-Update for Windows Defender is pending. So the suggestion mentioned above (found in MS Answers) could also be helpful to prevent conflicting updates between WU and Defender.

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Antivirus software vendors are terrible; don’t buy antivirus software, and uninstall it if you already have it (except for Microsoft’s) – says former Mozilla Engineer Robert  O’Callahan.

I was advocating long years to avoid installing third party antivirus software on Windows. Microsoft provides Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender (from Windows 8 upward) as a basic protection. During my activities as a community moderator in Microsoft Answers Forums I came across many cases, where third party AV software was a show stopper for (feature) upgrades and also some cumulative updates. Also AV software is causing many damages in Windows 10. Another aspect, I mentioned within my German blog post Windows 10: Welche Antivirus-Lösung soll ich einsetzen? was security. While third party vendors promising to secure a system, their software often opens critical security holes within the system. I’ve blogged about several incidents in the past.

Now Robert  O’Callahan wrote a blog post Disable Your Antivirus Software (Except Microsoft’s), outlining, what security experts know but won’t discuss in public. Here is, what O’Callahan pointed out:

• AV vendors don’t follow standard security practices, so at the end of the day, many security issues affecting the AV itself. Tavis Ormandy from Google has published several critical vulnerabilities in AV software during the last 2 years.
• AV products poison the software ecosystem because their invasive and poorly-implemented code makes it difficult for browser vendors and other developers to improve their own security.

Software vendors know these facts, but won’t speak about that, because they depends on the cooperation with AV vendors. Also Justin Schuh, a security engineer for Google Chrome, has also blasted AV vendors in a long line of tweets. Further details may be read in this blog post and at bleeping computer.

It seems that the newest Ethernet drivers are causing problems with Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, if virtualization is used. Here are the details.

A user reported this issue with Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and Microsoft Surface Book at German site Dr. Windows. After installing VMware Workstation Pro 12.5 on these machines, the user had crashes after switching the Surface to standby connected to a dock. The first attempt, that it’s a hardware issue, was proved wrong (a new machine send from Microsoft had the same problem). After uninstalling VMware Workstation Pro 12.5, the issue was gone – so the user assumed first, it’s a VMware issue. But after switching to Hyper-V, the crashes in standby mode was back.

Investigating the issue brought the user to the root cause. It was the Surface Ethernet Adapter driver. Installing the newest driver (dated November 15, 2016), the crashes in standby occurs. After going back to Surface Ethernet Adapter dated July 1, 2016, standby works with VMware Workstation 12.5 and also Hyper-V. So it seems, that the Surface Ethernet Adapter driver dated from November 15, 2016 is causing this issue.

Tip: You can use the tool mentioned in my blog post How to block Windows 10 updates to prevent auto-update the Surface Ethernet Adapter driver.

[German]Some users are receiving error 0x8024001E during updating or downloading apps from Windows Store, or during installing Windows Update. Here are a few hints how to fix this error.

Reset Windows Update store

In many cases damaged files located in Windows Update store are the root cause for this error. It may help to reset Windows Update store. Try to run Windows 10 update troubleshooter, and hope it will fix the issue. You can use also the following steps, to reset Windows Update store (WU).

1. Open an administrative command prompt window (Press key combination Windows+X and select command Command Prompt (Admin), see Windows 10: Open command prompt window as administrator).
2. Enter the commands given below to reset Windows Update store.

net stop wuauserv
rename c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution softwaredistribution.old
net start wuauserv

If Windows refuses to terminate Windows Update service, try to reboot the machine and repeat the steps given above.

Internet Explorer: Undefined temporary folder

Within my older German blog post I mentioned, that update issues, download issues and app issues may also be caused by an undefined path to Internet Explorer temporary folder. Fire up IE, got to Internet options –> General tab and click Settings in Browser history category.

Check the current location for Temporary Internet files. It should be something like it is shown in the screenshot above. It’s important, that the path don’t point to another drive, because the impersonation level (low) isn’t set for other drives. Use the Move folder button to set the path to the system partition. In cause of doubts, go to Advanced tab and reset the browser. Then reboot Windows and check, whether the error is gone.

Other things to check in Windows 10

Error code 0x8024001E stands for WU_E_SERVICE_STOP, because a service terminated (see Windows: How to decode update 0x8024…. errors). If the error occurs during app download, check the following items.

• Try a complete reboot (initiate a reboot of Windows 10, but press the shift tab, if you select the restart command). 
• Check the system for damaged files and component store (see Check and repair Windows system files and component store).
• Use update troubleshooter and app troubleshooter from Microsoft, to automatically fix problems. 
• Reset Windows Store cache (enter wsreset.exe in taskbar’s search box and execute the command).
• Try to uninstall the faulty app and the reinstall it from Windows store.

Microsoft has released this support article discussing also this error. The article suggests similar checks. Also third party tools like antivirus software may the cause for this issue.

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In April 2017 Microsoft is releasing Windows 10 Creators Update to the public. But which version will we have: Version 1703 or 1704? There are signs, that it will be Version 1703.

Group policy entries spotted in last October indicates, that Windows 10 Creators Update will be Version 1703 (see).

try to find the “Legacy Dictionary Attack Parameters” group policy in 14946, see what version of Windows it is supported on

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) October 14, 2016

Then MSPowerUser.com reported here, that the release date for Windows 10 Creators Update was set internally at Microsoft to April 2017. And MSPowerUser.com wrote, that Windows 10 Creators Update will be released as version 1704. Microsoft has never announced a version number for Windows 10 Creators Update (they also haven’t announced such version numbers for previous feature upgrades, after release some Microsoft site named the version like Version 1511).

Now Microsoft has begin to change some website content on January 24. and 31, 2017, mention Windows 10 Version 1703. This article about Service Provider Reference has been updated at 91/31/2017 with the section shown in the screenshot above, that referencing Version 1703. Also websites here, here, here, here or here, change on January 24, 2017 shows Version 1703.

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[German]Windows 8.1/10 checks for updates pending for installed app and download the updates from Windows store. Some users are receiving update error 0x80073CF0. If a restart doesn’t fix this error, here are a few other hints.

Downloaded App is damaged

A possible reason for this behavior is maybe a broken or damaged App download (caused by third party antivirus software). Try to inspect the folder:

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DeliveryOptimization

for this downloades App file. My MVP colleague Ian Dixon has discussed this issue here. Deleting the cached file within the folder is a possible solution for this issue. Another approach is to stop Windows Update service and rename:

SoftwareDistribution to SoftwareDistribution.old

This could be done in an administrative command prompt (see Windows 10: Open command prompt window as administrator) using the following commands.

net stop wuauserv
rename c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution softwaredistribution.old
net start wuauserv

Press Enter key after entering each command. Then check, whether the App will be updated again.

Do a system file check

To assure that not a damaged Windows file is the root cause for this issue, try to run a system file check using (see Check and repair Windows system files and component store).

More things you can try

If the fixes proposed above, doesn’t cure the issue, you can check the following topics.

• If third party antivirus software or firewalls are installed, uninstall these tools and run a vendors clean tool. Reboot and check, if the issue is solved.
• Try to uninstall the app viel contextmenu and reinstall the app from store again. You may use also DISM in an administrative command prompt windows to uninstall the app (see this MS Technet article and here).

If the error can’t be solved, reset Windows.

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Microsoft has released Windows 10 Build 15025 Insider Preview for PCs in Fast Ring for Windows Insiders. Here are a few remarks about the new Build.

The announcement has been made in the Windows blog. This build will be the base of the 2nd Creator’s Update Bug Bash program starting next Friday.

What’s new in this build

Microsoft has added new accessibility features. Narrator supports now Braille devices. And a new mono audio option has been added in Ease of Access settings. Microsoft has added also Collections to Feedback Hub. A Collection groups together feedback for similar problems and suggestions into single items that bring together all the voices who expressed that sentiment in one place.

A detailed list of new features and fixes may be read within the Windows blog. For me important are two fixes. Microsoft has fixed a but in Microsoft Edge preventing some users accessing Google sites like Youtube.

Windows Insiders should no longer have trouble connecting to certain Google sites due to an implementation of a new security model being rolled out to further enhance user security.

Also extensions in Microsoft Edge are back to working as expected. Also an issue for devices with TPM chips on build 15019, where the TPM was unexpectedly not able to start, has been fixed. Barb Bowman noticed this issue for build 15019 within this tweet for a Surface Pro 3.

.@NorthFaceHiker @JenMsft @donasarkar also, 15019 is not seeing TPM on Surface 3’s. (same thread as PIN issue) pic.twitter.com/9CO90MfrOA

— barb bowman (@barbbowman) January 29, 2017

But there are a couple of other know issues. My test system hung again on “Initializing Updates”. Microsoft says, that users shall ignore this behavior – but after 30 minutes without ending this mode, I reset WinRM as discussed within my blog post Fix for Windows 10 Build 15019 Insider Preview install issues. More details about know issues are enlisted within Microsoft’s Windows blog post. 

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Microsoft has released this night build 15025 for Windows 10 Mobile in the fast ring for Insiders. Microsoft Edge has been improved (it can read now aload). The announcement has been made in the Windows blog, where you can find a changelog and some details about issues,

[German]A bug in Windows SMB (Server Message Block) protocol sets network systems at risk. A proof of concept code is publically available, but no patch is in sight. US-CERT warns.

The SMB bug

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has releases an official Advisory yesterday.

Microsoft Windows contains a memory corruption bug in the handling of SMB traffic, which may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to cause a denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Microsoft Windows fails to properly handle traffic from a malicious server. In particular, Windows fails to properly handle a server response that contains too many bytes following the structure defined in the SMB2 TREE_CONNECT Response structure. By connecting to a malicious SMB server, a vulnerable Windows client system may crash (BSOD) in mrxsmb20.sys.

In short – some Windows versions (clients an servers) contains a memory corruption bug in the code to handle SMB data traffic. The bug is contained within the kernel file mrxsmb20.sys.

US-CERT writes, that the bug may be used by unauthenticated attacker to cause a denial of service (aka Blue Screen) – or in worst case inject and execute malicious code. Exploit code to use this vulnerability has been released to the public (see this tweet and here).

SMBv3 0day, Windows 2012, 2016 affected, have fun Oh&if you understand this poc, bitching SDLC is appropriate https://t.co/xAsDOY54yl

— Responder (@PythonResponder) February 1, 2017

Which Windows systems are affected?

US-CERT writes, the bug has been found on fully patched systems with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, but also affects Windows server versions. Bleeping Computer names Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2016 as affected.

The ancient SMB protocol is available as SMBv1, SMBv2 and SMBv3. Microsoft recommends, to deactivate SMBv1 due to security reasons. But the bug addresses SMBv3.

US-CERT qualifies this vulnerability as 10 of a scale of 10 (most critical). Till now, no patch from Microsoft is available. US-CERT proposes the following workaround:

Consider blocking outbound SMB connections (TCP ports 139 and 445 along with UDP ports 137 and 138) from the local network to the WAN.

For me, it seems that this is for companies with WANs. For small LANs I would classify the risk as low, because an attacker needs access to the network shares. Also in networks with WLAN access is WPA2 protected, so I can’t see, how the exploit can bee uses (but maybe I overlooked something).

[German]Microsoft is developing internally a new Windows 10 SKU, named “Windows 10 Cloud”. I was able to get my hands on an early version of this SKU and played a bit around. Here are my first impressions and some more details.

Rumors about Windows 10 Cloud

A few days ago we heard the first time about “Windows 10 Cloud” from Brad Sams at petri.com. Later on Mary Foley reported on ZDNet.com a few more details – Windows Cloud will be a Windows 10 platform designed to run only Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps installed from the Windows Store.

And we have reports, that traces of Windows 10 Cloud SKUs are found in Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15002 (I wrote about that within my German blog post Windows 10 Cloud – Windows RT reloaded? Overall, rumors, rumors, rumors, and the product hasn’t been announced by Microsoft.

Hands on to an early Windows 10 Cloud build

I have had the opportunity to get my fingers to a Windows 10 Cloud SKU (like WindowsBlogItalia or my German blogging colleagues at deskmodder.de). The SKU I tested, reports as “Windows 10 Pro”, but it’s internally Windows 10 Cloud (64 bit version).

During setup Cortana guides the user thru the settings, also allowing to set up quick settings. Then, after setup, a ordinary Windows 10 desktop will be shown. After installing, most tiles are showing an (download) arrow, because Windows Cloud is downloading the apps from Windows store.

The screenshot above shows the download page from Windows store. Some downloads of preinstalled apps are pending – and I’ve had selected VLC for download. A freshly installed systems comes with desktop apps like Notepad, WordPad, Paint, Explorer and also Internet Explorer.

Although Registry editor regedit.exe was shipped within Windows folder, I wasn’t able to run this program. Windows Cloud reported, that the program wasn’t designed for this platform.

Windows Cloud comes also with many well known apps from Windows 10, like Photos, Mail, Edge, Camera, Store, Maps, some apps to access Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. There is also a OneNote tile and a tile Get Office (Beta) – but I wasn’t able to launch the Get Office (Beta). I got a message, that the app can’t launch and I have to look into Store to get more details about Office Beta.

I also received many notifications about an app caused problems with the default app settings as show above. Downloading Google Chrome installer in Internet Explorer triggered the recently announced Windows Defender Security Center.

My attempt, to execute Google Chrome portable, already downloaded in Edge browser was blocked with the dialog box shown below.

Windows Cloud is blocking Win32 (desktop) apps, although the OS runs on a x86 machine and some Win32 apps (like WordPad) are shipped and are executable. Blocking third party Win32 (desktop) apps has something to do with Microsoft’s device protection mechanism, preventing such a system from malware infection.

Win32 apps are blocked

But it’s possible to launch the store and download and install UWP apps (Universal Windows Platform). The preinstalled tiles (Photo, Camera, People, News, Maps etc.) in start menu are populated after installation with such UWP apps from store.

My idea was to run Win32 apps converted as Centennial apps from store. Open Live Writer was one of those apps. But Windows Cloud blocked this app (see screenshot above) with a (misleading) message, that ‘This version of Windows was made to help protect you and your device by exclusively running Windows Store apps.’

Closing words 

The build I used, was an early version of Windows 10 Cloud – but it shows, where Microsoft is aiming to. It will be a kind of Windows RT 10 – clearly implementing the GUI from Windows 10, but bee restricted to Windows Store UWP apps and desktop apps from Microsoft. Windows 10 Cloud currently runs on x86 CPUs, but I guess we will see a version for ARM.

As others pointed out, Windows Cloud addresses low cost systems and probably will be Microsoft’s answer to Google’s Chromebook with Chrome OS. But I’m not sure, whether we will see such a system in US or Europe – maybe it’s a device concept for emerging market. But on the other side, Microsoft just introduced Intune for Education – and we have had Windows 8.1 w Bing. Let’s wait till Microsoft is announcing Windows 10 Cloud.

What is causing some headache for me, is the Windows 10 / Windows Cloud fingerprint, compared with Chrome OS. Here is what the 64 bit alpha of Windows Cloud eats on disk space.

• Windows Cloud: 12,7 GByte (64-Bit-Version, early build, I just let Windows Cloud install the preconfigured apps and two other apps with 20  40 MB in size)
• Chrome OS: Something between 4 and 5,6 GB (see: reddit.com, forum anandtech.com

The question is: Why should I buy a cheap system with a restricted Windows 10 Cloud OS, instead of a system with Windows 10 that is able to run also Win32 desktop apps? The “improved security” is just an eye candy (in my view), because defender and smart screen filter also protects Windows 10 systems (according to Microsoft, Windows 10 is the most secure Windows ever). The history of Windows RT shows that people don’t like restricted editions of a product, if they can have a fully functional edition. And if a user decided to buy a cheap system, why not using a Chromebook with Chrome OS. There are a ton of apps and Chrome OS comes with a much smaller foot print. But to be fair: We are now in an early state of Windows Cloud OS and have to wait, until Microsoft official announcing this SKU.

Side note: An early build of Windows 10 Cloud was leaked by @adguard, but I don’t recommend to install it on your machine. Addendum: Also folks at MSPowerUsers has written some words about that build.