Windows 10 November Update Returns After Being Pulled by Microsoft

[mks_dropcap style=”square” size=”52″ bg_color=”#ff3b3e” txt_color=”#ffffff”]L[/mks_dropcap]ast week has been unpredictable for Windows 10 users. After rumors and speculations that the first major update to Windows 10 known as November Update might arrive on November 10th, Microsoft released the update on 12th November.

“With this free update we have reached the point in the platform’s maturity where we can confidently recommend Windows 10 deployment to whole organizations.” – Said Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group in a blog post. Windows 10 users were eagerly waiting for this update to arrive and were happy that Microsoft finally released it.

The Removal of Windows 10 November Update

Over the last weekend though, Microsoft mysteriously removed the Windows 10 November Update aka Fall Update from its Windows 10 Media Creation Toolkit downloads. The Media Creation Tool allows Windows 10 installation files to be downloaded and lets user create ISOs/USB flash drives. For many users, this is a convenient way of performing clean installation of Windows 10.

Many speculations started taking place after the unexpected removal of Windows 10 from MCT downloads. Some guessed that Windows 10 November Update was buggy, while some online publications reported that Microsoft decided to provide it via Windows Update only. Microsoft made a statement accepting the update was indeed removed from MCT.

“The November update was originally available via the MCT tool, but we’ve decided that future installs should be through Windows Update. People can still download Windows 10 using the MCT tool if they wish. The November update will be delivered via Windows Update.” – A statement reportedly given by a Microsoft spokesperson to Ed Bott on ZDNet. I don’t get thei dea behind this either as why Microsoft should push updates via Windows Update only.

Fall Update Removed from Windows Update As Well

The statement above proved to be incorrect soon as Microsoft stopped delivering the update from Windows Update as well. Now the official statement from Microsoft has chimed in and it makes things pretty clear that there were indeed bugs in Threshold 2 update.

“Recently we learned of an issue that could have impacted an extremely small number of people who had already installed Windows 10 and applied the November update (Version 1511). When the November update was installed, a few settings preferences may have inadvertently not been retained for advertising ID, Background apps, SmartScreen Filter, and Sync with devices. This issue has been fixed in the update that accompanies KB3120677.” –  The Knowledge Base article titled Some settings may not have been retained when applying the November update (Version 1511) reads.

The Return of Windows 10 November Update

Microsoft has accepted that Windows 10 November Update had issues with privacy settings which became the reason for its removal from MCT downloads as well as Windows Update. All this unexpected chaos has come to an end now by the way as Microsoft has released cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1511 (Threshold 2 aka November Update). This update takes care of issue that persisted in previous update.

“This update improves the functionality of Windows 10 version 1511.” – explains the KB3120677 page.

The cumulative update will be applied via Windows Update and the MCT will also let users download Windows 10 build 10586 again, which contains the November Update.

Windows 10 users’ excitement regarding November Update were pretty high but its removal from MCT and later Windows Update caused a bit of chaos in Windows 10 world. All speculations come to end now as Microsoft has made things smooth again.

Are you using Windows 10? What are your thoughts about it so far? Feel free to have your say.

Until we meet next.

Sources: Microsoft Knowledge Base KB3121244 and KB3120677 with excerpts taken from ZDNet