Tag: WUfB

I’ve seen this problem with a couple of customers now that is using Windows Update for Business, when some machines were not offered Windows 10 20H1 (May 2020 update a.k.a. version 2004) nor Windows 10 20H2 although no policies should block it. Note: This also applies to Windows 11 feature upgrades.

Problem description

The new Windows 10 feature update is not offered via Windows Update (for Business) even if you do a manual scan for update. And, no feature update deferrals are configured, nor any specific Windows 10 version set using the “set feature update” to use. Still the new Windows 10 version is not offered which is sort of mysterious!

Investigation

Good old WindowsUpdate.log comes to the rescue! Get-WindowsUpdateLogs generated the log and then the fun began. To be honest it’s been some time since I last went into this log file, and after browsing some hundred lines of logs something interesting popped up:

ProtocolTalker DeviceAttributes[URI]

which is followed by the data:

E:DchuIntelGrfxExists=1&IsContainerMgrInstalled=1&FlightRing=Retail&TelemetryLevel=1& HidOverGattReg=C%3A%5CWINDOWS%5CSystem32%5CDriverStore%5CFileRepository%5 Chidbthle.inf_amd64_fd8e0a54b983f85c%5CMicrosoft.Bluetooth.Profiles.HidOverGatt.dll& AppVer=10.0.18362.836&IsAutopilotRegistered=1&ProcessorIdentifier=Intel64%20Family%206 %20Model%20142%20Stepping%2012&DchuIntelGrfxVen=32902&OEMModel=Latitude%207200%202-in-1&UpdateOfferedDays=0&ProcessorManufacturer=GenuineIntel&InstallDate=1588155159& OEMModelBaseBoard=0PCKGK&BranchReadinessLevel=CB&DataExpDateEpoch_20H1=1611187200& IsCloudDomainJoined=1&Bios=2020&DeferFeatureUpdatePeriodInDays=0& IsDeviceRetailDemo=0&FlightingBranchName=&OSUILocale=en-GB&DeviceFamily=Windows.Desktop&QUDeadline=2& UpgEx_20H1=Green&WuClientVer=10.0.18362.836&IsFlightingEnabled=0&OSSkuId=4& GStatus_20H1=0&App=WU_OS&CurrentBranch=19h1_release&InstallLanguage=en-GB&DeferQualityUpdatePeriodInDays=0&OEMName_Uncleaned=Dell%20Inc.& InstallationType=Clien

The interesting parts is in DataExpDateEpoch_20H1=1611187200 and if looking up that UNIX timestamp, it appears as though the installation would be performed on January 21, 2021 at midnight.

Explanation

The variable for DataExpDateEpoch_20H1 or DataExpDateEpoch_20H2 is indicating that the feature update will not be offered until the date is reached.

The evidence is true for a specific model as all of the specific model are blocked with the same timestamp. The problem is seen with multiple vendors, Dell, and Lenovo at least.

The explanation for this behavior is that Microsoft are blocking upgrades due to model, driver of firmware issues. Instead of downloading the entire package, starting the setup, and then finding out of a compatibility issue is not optimal. What is better is to block the feature update from being offered at all and that is (likely) what is going on here.

This is described and can be followed up in detail by using Update Compliance which now holds the SafeGuard information!

As it turns out, it also seems that if whatever underlying problem is fixed on Microsoft’s end, the feature update can be offered before the expiration date occurs.

This is a follow-up blog post to my session yesterday at TechDays Sweden: “Windows 10 in new smart ways – not like you’ve always done it”. Thank you all who attended my session – it was a pleasure! The slides can be found here (in Swedish).

The link I mentioned about all news coming to MDM, and in particular new MDM settings are published at docs.microsoft.com.

And finally some resources to get you started with the move to modern IT – as I demoed in my session. Remember that the transition to a modern environment for managing devices will take time. As you lay a puzzle, lay out your path to modern management and IT one piece at a time!

AutoPilot – “hands-free deployment“

Desktop App Converter – Make AppX:s out of your MSI:s and legacy apps

“Co-management”
This basically mean that you can manage clients with SCCM and MDM at the same time. It’s branded as SCCM+MDM but you can also leverage this if you are not using MDM. So you can basically use and on-premise AD domain joined machine which is configured using GPOs and MDM join that machine to get MDM configuration at the same time. The idea is to make the move to modern management in a smooth way!

Windows Update for Business + Update Compliance
Transition from using WSUS (+SCCM) to manage updates and move to Update Compliance to follow up the status of patches, not quality updates and feature updates.

Device Health
Verify crashes for your Windows clients and more to come very soon!

Power BI – Intune Data Warehouse
Insights into how your users are actually accessing for instance Office 365 applications