On my refurbished laptop (HP 8440p) that came with Windows 10 home installed, some updates are
refusing to either download or install. An example would be:

"2023-05 Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)"

Does this seem logical? I thought MS was *forcing* updates everywhere.

--
croy

On Tue, 19 Dec 2023 11:50:54 -0800, croy wrote:
>
> On my refurbished laptop (HP 8440p) that came with Windows 10 home installed, some updates are
> refusing to either download or install. An example would be:
>
> "2023-05 Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)"
>
> Does this seem logical? I thought MS was *forcing* updates everywhere.

I wonder if your update level is frozen. There are several utilities
that do that, because it's something some people want.

The free InControl is one that you can quickly use to answer the
question. When you launch the downloaded program (there's no
installer), it will tell you the current status.

If InControl says you are in control, then my guess was right. There
is a button at the bottom of the popup, "Release Control". If you
click it, it will return Windows updating to the Windows default.
This URL shows pictures of the two possible statuses, and has a link
to download the program.

https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On 12/19/2023 2:50 PM, croy wrote:
> On my refurbished laptop (HP 8440p) that came with Windows 10 home installed, some updates are
> refusing to either download or install. An example would be:
>
> "2023-05 Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)"
>
> Does this seem logical? I thought MS was *forcing* updates everywhere.
>

I get the impression that at the moment, only Windows 10 22H2 is supported.
Normally, two streams are supported, like 21H2 and 22H2, but updates seem
to have stopped for 21H2. And that happened right after Windows Update
tried to aggressively upgrade the machines to 22H2.

In winver.exe, 22H2 would be 19045.xxx . 21H2 would be 19044.xxx .

You can download the Windows 10 DVD, and that should be 22H2. It
can be delivered as "Windows.iso" by MediaCreationTool, and you can
right click that, use Setup.exe, to force 22H2 into the machine.

But on my Optiplex 780, the GMA graphics were too old for 22H2. The
assistant code in 22H2, did not diagnose the graphics as a potential
issue, the install goes along, then it rolls back (which wastes about
an hour of your time). In the case of the 780, fitting a junkroom HD6450
fixed it. The 22H2 could then go ahead, with the (slightly better) graphics.

Windows is likely looking for something on the order of WDDM 3.0, and
I think XDDM drivers are not on the dining-list for 22H2. This is just
a guess on my part. The XDDM drivers would be WinXP or Vista era, something
like that. The utility "dxdiag", present in a lot of Windows OSes, can tell
you what the current driver type is (XDDM or WDDM, and version number).
It's under display.

The OS would run, with the unaccelerated VESA driver (which is an in-box driver).
For example, if I pulled the network cable, and installed 22H2 in the presence of
a FX5200 PCI video card, the OS would install, but the resolution would be jammed
at 1024x768 and not adjustable to the native resolution.

Summary: You're hitting a (slightly undocumented) artificial hardware limit
that may be preventing the machine from advancing to a supported state.
On a laptop there is little that can be done, to force NVidia to
modify a driver so it meets WDDM 3.0 version. NVidia graphics may have
on the order of six years of "real support", and your graphics are
around thirteen years old, and then it is the luck of the draw, as to
when the OS will impose a limit based on that. Perhaps your 20H2 19043.xxx
is the end of the road. Windows Defender updates should still work.

Paul

On 12/19/23 11:50, croy wrote:
> On my refurbished laptop (HP 8440p) that came with Windows 10 home installed, some updates are
> refusing to either download or install. An example would be:
>
> "2023-05 Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)"
>
> Does this seem logical? I thought MS was *forcing* updates everywhere.
>

Hi Cory,

I see this all the time. To work around the issue,
I usually only install one or a few at a time.
And I reboot a lot.

Try installing all of them. Then reboot. after you
come back up, install the problem ones, one at a time,

-T

croy wrote:

> On my refurbished laptop (HP 8440p) that came with Windows 10 home installed, some updates are
> refusing to either download or install. An example would be:
>
> "2023-05 Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)"
>
> Does this seem logical? I thought MS was *forcing* updates everywhere.

<https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/windows-10-20h2-end-of-servicing>

| Windows 10, version 20H2 end of servicing
| | Windows 10, version 20H2 reached the end of servicing on May 10,
| 2022. This applies to the following editions* of Windows 10
| released in October of 2020:
| | * Windows 10 Home, version 20H2
| * Windows 10 Pro, version 20H2
| * Windows 10 Pro Education, version 20H2
| * Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, version 20H2
| * Windows 10 Team, version 20H2 (Surface Hub)
| | Since May 10, 2022, these editions no longer receive security
| updates. Customers who contact Microsoft Support after this date
| will be directed to update their device to the latest version of
| Windows 10 to remain supported.

On Tue, 19 Dec 2023 12:13:38 -0800, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:

>On Tue, 19 Dec 2023 11:50:54 -0800, croy wrote:
>>
>> On my refurbished laptop (HP 8440p) that came with Windows 10 home installed, some updates are
>> refusing to either download or install. An example would be:
>>
>> "2023-05 Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)"
>>
>> Does this seem logical? I thought MS was *forcing* updates everywhere.
>
>I wonder if your update level is frozen. There are several utilities
>that do that, because it's something some people want.
>
>The free InControl is one that you can quickly use to answer the
>question. When you launch the downloaded program (there's no
>installer), it will tell you the current status.
>
>If InControl says you are in control, then my guess was right. There
>is a button at the bottom of the popup, "Release Control". If you
>click it, it will return Windows updating to the Windows default.
>This URL shows pictures of the two possible statuses, and has a link
>to download the program.
>
>https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm

Thank you Stan Brown! I don't remember ever doing such a thing on this laptop, but it has been
dormant for so long, and my memory is so screwed, that anything is possible. And I've been a
Steve Gibson fan since SpinRite II days.

I searched the laptop for any sign of that utility, and found none. So I dl'd it, and ran it.
It claimed that the machine was only partially protected from Windows Update. In a "what the
hell" moment I instructed it to fully protect, and then fully unprotect. Well, that shook
something loose! On my next attempt, Windows Update danced with the machine for over two hours
(on a high-speed connection), with the HDD LED burning bright and constant, went thru a
protracted reboot, then found two more things to update, another reboot, then one more. The
recalcitrant updates listed before are now nowhere to be seen.

So thank you Stan, you are the man. The man from Tehachapi, no less! I've blown past there a
few times on my way to the Sierras for backpack trips.

The only negative is that now the hard drive snarls at me whenever I get close to the machine
;-)

--
croy

On Tue, 19 Dec 2023 20:31:55 -0800, croy wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Dec 2023 12:13:38 -0800, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
> > [quoted text muted]
> >This URL shows pictures of the two possible statuses, and has a link
> >to download the program.
> >
> >https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm
>
> Thank you Stan Brown! I don't remember ever doing such a thing on this laptop, but it has been
> dormant for so long, and my memory is so screwed, that anything is possible. And I've been a
> Steve Gibson fan since SpinRite II days.
>
> I searched the laptop for any sign of that utility, and found none. So I dl'd it, and ran it.
> It claimed that the machine was only partially protected from Windows Update. In a "what the
> hell" moment I instructed it to fully protect, and then fully unprotect.
[problem resolved]
> So thank you Stan, you are the man.

I'm delighted that my suggestion turned out to work. And thanks for
letting us all know, in case someone else has a similar issue later!

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...