Windows 10 Anniversary Update Wiped Out My Partition
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update wiped out the partition on a Lenovo E530. I have not seen large numbers of posts about this, but have noted that this is the only machine that has updated. I”ve tried to update one machine to test the IRDA features that are supposed to be in this update, but that machine will not update; perhaps Microsoft has slowed or stopped the rollout. Figure 1 shows Google Trends results for queries about the update, while instructions for avoiding similar updates are contained in the section that follows.
Ultimately, this ended up being a format-reinstall of Windows 10. I first did a Clonezilla backup of the drive, then took the original drive out, put a new one in and restored the Clonezilla backup. The partition was readable in GpartEd, and Ubuntu chkdsk (with appropriate tools) ran fine, but I could not get Windows to do an overwrite reinstall; it has to be bootable for that to work.
Avoiding Windows Updates with New Function
The risk for errors in Windows updates is certainly higher for updates that contain new function and which are announced to have new function, as was the case in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. In prior versions of Windows Professional, it was easy to turn off updates and to manually select which ones to apply, but in Windows 10, this is no longer the case, unless you are an Enterprise user. Windows Professional users are now crash test dummies for Windows Enterprise users.
You can, however, turn off updates with new function prior to a big update, and then turn new function updates back on once you hear that it is rolling out smoothly. To do this, go to Windows Update Settings and click on the advanced options as shown in Figure 2. On the Advanced Options panel shown in Figure 3, check the box for “Defer upgrades”; this will defer the new function upgrades like the Anniversay Upgrade, but will not defer security updates.
You may also want to look at the options for upgrade delivery under the “Choose how updates are delivered” option shown in Figure 4. Windows 10 can download updates to one PC on your network and then other PCs can upgrade from the first PC. This is probably a good idea for desktops that are on a static network, but is not necessarily what you want to do on a laptop that may be connected to a public network.
