Windows 10 October 2018 Update rollout now paused

cereberus said:

Just looked at windows.old, in the upgrade without the patch, and no downloads folder in the user folder.

That was the only one with a file.

I am redoing the patch version (to create an iso). I will check that.

OK.

I might be wrong, but what happens if user selects to revert back to previous version? Windows.old, as far as I have understood, only exists to allow it, and if personal files are missing from it, it might cause issues.

Kari said:

OK.

I might be wrong, but what happens if user selects to revert back to previous version? Windows.old, as far as I have understood, only exists to allow it, and if personal files are missing from it, it might cause issues.

That's an interesting question, but since everything in the users folders should not be copied, going in either direction, rather only linked to the physical data location, this should not be an issue at all. Assuming MS does it the correct way in both directions.

slicendice said:

That's an interesting question, but since everything in the users folders should not be copied, going in either direction, rather only linked to the physical data location, this should not be an issue at all. Assuming MS does it the correct way in both directions.

I've never actually studied this reverting process, always deleted the Windows.old folder after fast checking everything works after an upgrade. I was and am just wondering this, as I now noticed that test virtual machines have Kari\Desktop, Kari\Documents and Kari\Download folders totally empty in Windows.Old\Users.

Since the Windows.old folder exists only for the purpose of rolling back to previous edition within the default 10 day period, if the user rolls back on say day 9, wouldn't the user expect his work (files/data/etc.) to still be intact as of the rollback time? Not reverted to 9 days ago?

f14tomcat said:

Since the Windows.old folder exists only for the purpose of rolling back to previous edition within the default 10 day period, if the user rolls back on say day 9, wouldn't the user expect his work (files/data/etc.) to still be intact as of the rollback time? Not reverted to 9 days ago?

A really good point, revealing lack in my knowledge and logics. Thanks. It seems that I have to start studying what actually happens when user does decide to roll back.

Kari said:

I've never actually studied this reverting process, always deleted the Windows.old folder after fast checking everything works after an upgrade. I was and am just wondering this, as I now noticed that test virtual machines have Kari\Desktop, Kari\Documents and Kari\Download folders totally empty in Windows.Old\Users.

Thing to do is to install 1709 and put some test files in documents, then manually upgrade to 1803 and then look at windows.old.

I think (but not certain) it does not backup the user folders in windows.old but simply leave the existing folders in place when you rollback, otherwise the windows.old folder could be massive. This would make sense as the user files are not impacted by registry changes.

In other words, afaik, regarding data it acts more like system restore than an image backup restore.

I wonder if the people who lost stuff but had their systems synced to their account and used one drive(not necessarily loading things to OneDrive though) could get their files back.

https://onedrive.live.com/prev?v=DevicesView

Even Programfiles(x86) show up

lx07 said:

Thanks for all your testing on this - it is really quite interesting.

I do wonder what would happen with repair install (from 1809 to 1809 using the old 17763.1 ISO). Presumably it would delete stuff in a similar manner to an upgrade which would mean we need to get new ISO if/when they are avaliable.

If you tested repair install already please say. If not I'll try it myself.

I have not but I am pretty sure you are right. There are two cases to test:-

1) repair upgrade not connected to internet so you only update to 17763.1 - before doing repair you need files in C:\user\xxx\documents etc, and then relocate folder (KFR). I would also put different files directly in e:\documents (or wherever you relocate to).

2) repair upgrade connected to internet - everything else as above as start point. This will verify if it updates with the patch before or after processing files (if before, the C drive files should remain intact. If after, the C drive files will be deleted).

Cliff S said:

I wonder if the people who lost stuff but had their systems synced to their account and used one drive(not necessarily loading things to OneDrive though) could get their files back.

https://onedrive.live.com/prev?v=DevicesView

Even Programfiles(x86) show up

Yes/no/maybe..... probably not, my guess. I just went to OneDrive online to Devices. The one indicated is my laptop, synced, which is turned off right now. It wants to connect to it so it can display what's on it. If the files are missing on the laptop (whatever device in question with the issue), all you will get is the same picture..... missing files.