this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 47 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

I'm going to be honest with you, as often as this has been memed and for as long as I have been using Windows on my work computer, I have never once been forced to restart on the spot by an automatic update.

I'm sure those who have will be quick to reply but at this point I'm 90% confident it's a loud minority.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I've seen an entire factory shut down for hours because two critical Win10 computers tried and failed to update. It's never an issue until it becomes one.

Plus a failed update is the whole reason I nuked my C: drive and switched to Manjaro (now running Arch, put down the pitchforks).

[–] [email protected] 31 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Well, running Windows 10, a consumer user-oriented operating system, to control mission-critical machines is mistake number 1.

This wouldn't have happened if they had used Windows Server or something actually designed for that task (like Linux!).

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Neither of those options were available. It was written by a third-party for some old .NET Framework version, and the server and GUI components were written as a single application. Putting it on a server wasn't an option either because the application's GUI was constantly used for the management of assembly machines, and other applications were used for monitoring and administrative stuff.

If you had been there, you'd know why this was a low-priority risk. That place was bleeding from a thousand wounds. At least this had some redundancy, for all it was worth in the end...

(edit) I actually contributed to that software, even though it's not open-source! I managed to nail down an issue where loading a project file using one locale would result in a crash, but not in others. The .NET stack trace was printed to an XHR response's payload and I used that to locate a float.ToString() call where CurrentCulture was passed as the cultureInfo instead of InvariantCulture, so depending on the computer's locale, it would try to parse CSV data either using a decimal dot or a decimal comma. I mailed this to the maintainer and the fix was released within the month.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Windows Server is an option.

The operating system is called "Windows Server". It doesn't necessarily have to run on a mainframe. It has the regular Windows GUI (with a few differences, the first you'll notice is "Cntr+Alt+Del to log in") and can run regular Windows programs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Or even just running the critical machines offline

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well, running Windows 10, a consumer user-oriented operating system

Huh... I wonder why there's versions of it called "Enterprise" then. You might want to talk with Microsoft about their clear mistake. I mean clearly https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/windows-11-enterprise is in error since you're correct right?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I work in IT. Windows 10/11 Enterprise is still a bad choice. If it's a mission-critical system and you must choose Windows, pony up the cash for Windows Server.

The difference between Windows Enterprise and Pro/Home editions is that there are features on it that make my job easier, but it's still the same shitty operating system under the hood. Windows Server is much more robust and reliable in my experience. Still shit, but slightly less so. It's designed to run on machines with 24/7 uptime. Windows Enterprise still expects you to regularly restart it for updates and upgrades. That's alright since we can just set Susan from Finance's computer to update at 03:00. It's not okay if that computer controls the entire factory.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I too work in IT... Just because I have some HR users that need to run Quickbooks, I don't buy them Windows server 2022.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well, QuickBooks is hardly "mission critical" (usually) although its "server" functionality is so jank that it's an entirely different discussion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you have sufficient outage that paychecks don't get cut... it will turn mission critical pretty fast.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You're not going to have a multiple-day outage. At most, it'll be a few hours.

If your company isn't printing out paycheques and payroll advices at least a day before payday, and is instead waiting until the last minute, that represents an organisational failure, not a technical one.

Edit: And don't forget... the manager can always write the cheques by hand on a paper chequebook.

[–] msage 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, because even once is too many.

In a corporate, I spent an hour and half every morning waiting for Windows to update. Then my coworker handed me Fedora DVD and I never looked back.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I'm saying it's never happened to me. Not once. Zero times. Zero is less than one.

Normal Windows updates don't take an hour long. Give me a break. The ones that do are the version upgrades. That's like the equivalent of a distro upgrade.

[–] msage 8 points 8 months ago

Sure, your experience may be different.

That happened in 2013 with random laptop they gave me. I kid you not it took that long, could have been a bug somewhere in the OEM, never cared enough to find out.

But my experience is just as real as much as yours.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Normal Windows updates don't take an hour

Correct. But who can tell the difference beforehand between a normal update and an abnormal one? The problem is Windows tends to hide those details. I've sat on support calls where a server needs to be rebooted for some configuration change, and Windows insists on applying updates because hey, you're rebooting anyway, so what if it takes 1/2 hour to do this thing that should take 5 minutes...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Sure Windows gives you warning, but after a while it FORCES you to install, even if for whatever reason that new branch bricks your computer. I had a good 6 months of that where every time my computer got shut off, it would force the update and fail like 40 times before it finally let me revert and use my computer. There was no way to tell it to STOP UPDATING

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Open services.msc, disable the windows update service, and set the start type to disabled. The go to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and delete the entire folder.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ive not had "must update on the spot right this very second," but ive had countless, "we will update the second u power off or attempt a restart. If you try and restart into ur linux partition, we will somehow ensure u fail to boot right up until u got thru with our forced update." Which also sometimes goes hand in hand with, "oops, i was supposed to update, but i shit myself instead. Youre going to need to try again at least once or twice. Dont worry, whether the update goes thru or not, itll only take a maximum of 90 minutes."

Windows can fuck its facehole thru its ass as far as its auto updates are concerned for all i care.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Use LTSC and this and never worry about Windows deleting shit in Home or updates breaking something, do it ONLY when YOU want to update.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Near 25 years Linux desktop user, only use Windows when for example helping out family, need to do crap on windows at work, that sort of thing. I've seen this so SO many times, especially when you want to shutdown or reboot now, but WAIT! THERE IS MORE! Windows is updating without asking for the next 30 minutes, don't shut down, screw your planned date. This most have happened more than 30% of the small amount of times I touched windows and it taught me to stay the f away from that stuff, don't want to touch it with a 10 feet pole

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

It's more like when you shut the laptop down, then turn it on only to be greeted with such message. So, I also haven't seen much of those back when, but only due to the unhealthy habit of maximizing uptime.