Microsoft prepares 'rerelease' of the Windows 10 October 2022 Update

Final week, Microsoft started rolling out its latest version of Windows 10, known as the October 2022 Update, to the public without testing the terminal bits with Insiders in the Release Preview ring first. Equally a upshot, a major issue which saw user data get deleted during the upgrade process from the April 2022 Update to the October 2022 Update was not spotted at large by testers whose job was to test this exact upgrade scenario.

This exact issue had been reported by Insiders months agone, but Microsoft failed to acknowledge information technology as not enough people reported experiencing the event. This is because the trouble was mostly affecting people upgrading from older builds or the April 2022 Update itself. Insiders upgrading build-over-build were less likely to see the result at all, which is why nearly Insiders testing the October 2022 Update didn't report on it.

The problem hither is that Microsoft has a dedicated Insider ring that'south designed to test upgrading from older builds to the newest one, except this time information technology didn't use it. The Release Preview has e'er been the terminal line of defence for a new major update in testing; rolling it out to more testers, and allowing Microsoft to collect feedback regarding the upgrade process from the last major version of Windows x to the newest one. This is where the data loss issue reared its head in most cases.

It's unfortunate that the but time Microsoft decided to skip Release Preview testing, a major outcome most apparent when upgrading from the old update to the new one was a serious problem users could face. I just tin't understand why Microsoft decided it would exist a good idea to skip testing in the final preview ring earlier rolling out to the public to begin with. Hopefully, this will teach Microsoft non to skip its Release Preview testing in the future.

Luckily, it appears Microsoft has learned its lesson every bit the company is now using its Release Preview ring as information technology should; testing the October 2022 Update with a fix for the data loss event with Release Preview participants. If all goes well, Microsoft will rerelease the October 2022 Update to the public with this specific information loss fix included in the nigh future, meaning the public can upgrade from the April 2022 Update to the Oct 2022 Update without worrying about losing any files.

As Microsoft prepares to rerelease the October 2022 Update, it must now convince users that this was a one time result and that customers can trust it with their data. I've already seen countless people in online forums request if it's prophylactic to install the latest cumulative update, even though it wasn't a cumulative update that acquired the data loss bug to brainstorm with.

Virtually people don't really know the deviation between a characteristic update and a cumulative update or security patch. Users just run into that Windows Update wants to install something, and they assume information technology's another one of the aforementioned thing. This is why the data loss issue is a serious blow to the reputation of Windows updates, even if it only afflicted one 1-hundredth of 1 per centum of people upgrading, as Microsoft claims.

The boilerplate user might accept seen all the headlines virtually the latest Windows 10 update deleting user files recently, and are now wary of annihilation that comes through Windows Update. This comes at a time in which people aren't happy with Windows updates anyhow, as many find that they are intrusive and ho-hum.

I'm sure there will be plenty of discussions internally as to how the company tin avoid something similar this in the future; many have suggested that the twice a year update cadence is merely besides much for Microsoft to be able to maintain quality with. Many at Microsoft argue against this claim, however, stating that two updates a yr is really beneficial for the people working on Windows features, as it means those features leave the door sooner when ready.

Regardless, it's articulate that in that location'due south a large problem when it comes to assuring quality with Windows 10 released at the moment, and something needs to be done publicly to assure users that modify is being fabricated in this area and then that future updates aren't as buggy upon release. What practise you lot think? Let united states know in the comments.