Saturday, October 08
The Fun Never Starts
So, Azusa, my shiny Dell notebook, got unceremoniously murdered by an errant Windows update (as if there were any other kind).
So, Azusa, my shiny Dell notebook, got unceremoniously murdered by an errant Windows update (as if there were any other kind).
I can get it to boot in safe mode (which is now completely undiscoverable - if you don't know how to reach safe mode, you will never find it).* Windows 10 has apparently lost the network and video drivers, which means that when booting normally I get a black screen and no network access. Booting into safe mode loads the default video drivers, which don't work right on this hardware (it has dual video controllers and a 4K screen) but work enough.
I downloaded the network drivers, put them on a USB drive, and copied them onto the Azusa - because once the network is working again, I can download anything else I need.
And you know what? You can't install drivers while running in safe mode. And since the drivers are broken, I can't run anything when I'm not in safe mode.
Thanks a whole lot, Microsoft.
Apparently the solution is:
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"
net start msiserver
Which is about as undiscoverable as you can get.
And I have to type that by hand. I can't copy and paste because the drivers are broken.
* Shift-click the power button in the login screen, then reboot.** That will give you a menu where you can choose safe mode, and, you guessed it, reboot again.
I think a mid-level manager at Microsoft asked his team "How can we make things as annoying as possible for someone who is already having a very bad day?" and they then had a very productive brainstorming session.
** How undiscoverable is it? I just did it, and I still didn't know how to do it. You click the power button, and then shift-click the restart option. Shift-clicking the power button itself does you no good at all. And holding down shift gives you no indication that anything has changed.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:40 PM
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When my old PC up-chucked and died on me a few months back, I replaced it with a Mac Mini. One of the reasons I chose an Apple was to avoid dealing with Windows 10. I seems I made the right decision.
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Monday, October 10 2016 09:43 AM (jS1F0)
2
Windows 10 itself isn't bad, but the update process is a a colossal mess. I do have a Mac as well, but that has its own problems. Mostly not because things are broken, but because they are working precisely as designed rather than the way I need them to work.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, October 10 2016 07:33 PM (PiXy!)
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