Comments on: Windows Vista Installation Experience… http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/archives/401 Normal service will be resumed shortly... Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:24:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Stuart http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/archives/401/comment-page-1#comment-7428 Stuart Fri, 08 May 2009 12:19:53 +0000 http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/?p=401#comment-7428 Well, there we go. After almost exactly 24 hours, this new copy of Vista is finally up-to-date. I eventually got the updates to install by installing the IE7 update, then the System Updates, then the Updates, then the Optional Updates, and finally IE8. This has, eventually, worked. But why did it have to be this difficult? Well, there we go. After almost exactly 24 hours, this new copy of Vista is finally up-to-date. I eventually got the updates to install by installing the IE7 update, then the System Updates, then the Updates, then the Optional Updates, and finally IE8.

This has, eventually, worked.

But why did it have to be this difficult?

]]> By: Stuart http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/archives/401/comment-page-1#comment-7426 Stuart Fri, 08 May 2009 10:05:52 +0000 http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/?p=401#comment-7426 Nope - even without the IE7 update, the process fails. I think I'll give it one last try without IE8, and if that fails I'll try something else. I wonder if it might work if I let Windows Update run automatically in the background rather than manually accessing Windows Update myself? (Strangely, after each failed update and roll-back, a different update seems to be listed as the one remaining update required until "Check for updates" is selected. Bug or something that is actually indicative of the problem... who knows?) The shear amount of time spent rolling back updates take vividly demonstrates how Microsoft urgently need to add snapshot support pervasively throughout the OS - they have a system called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Copy" target="_new" rel="nofollow">Volume Shadow Copies</a>, but don't appear to be using it. This may be because Shadow Copies work at the device-level rather than the file-level, and so they have no mechanism to split Windows Update changes from user data changes. (Two solutions to this: Windows supports the mounting of one filesystem upon another: mandate that system, application, and user data are all stored on seperate partitions, and transparently manage snapshots for each automatically. Alternatively, create a snapshot after all user-space applications have terminates but before applying updates) The other alternative, of course, is that Windows Update <strong>is</strong> making use of Volume Shadow Copies, and that it is unusably slow... I have Vista on a 30Gb partition with 13.5Gb of space remaining (which does mean that a basic Vista install is over 16Gb in size!), so free space shouldn't be an issue. Microsoft state that Volume Shadow Copies are unavailable in Vista Home or Home Premium, but at the same time that "<em>System Restore</em>" makes use of it. Perhaps in the former cases it just isn't user-accessible? Nope – even without the IE7 update, the process fails. I think I’ll give it one last try without IE8, and if that fails I’ll try something else. I wonder if it might work if I let Windows Update run automatically in the background rather than manually accessing Windows Update myself?

(Strangely, after each failed update and roll-back, a different update seems to be listed as the one remaining update required until “Check for updates” is selected. Bug or something that is actually indicative of the problem… who knows?)

The shear amount of time spent rolling back updates take vividly demonstrates how Microsoft urgently need to add snapshot support pervasively throughout the OS – they have a system called Volume Shadow Copies, but don’t appear to be using it. This may be because Shadow Copies work at the device-level rather than the file-level, and so they have no mechanism to split Windows Update changes from user data changes.

(Two solutions to this: Windows supports the mounting of one filesystem upon another: mandate that system, application, and user data are all stored on seperate partitions, and transparently manage snapshots for each automatically. Alternatively, create a snapshot after all user-space applications have terminates but before applying updates)

The other alternative, of course, is that Windows Update is making use of Volume Shadow Copies, and that it is unusably slow… I have Vista on a 30Gb partition with 13.5Gb of space remaining (which does mean that a basic Vista install is over 16Gb in size!), so free space shouldn’t be an issue.

Microsoft state that Volume Shadow Copies are unavailable in Vista Home or Home Premium, but at the same time that “System Restore” makes use of it. Perhaps in the former cases it just isn’t user-accessible?

]]> By: Stuart http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/archives/401/comment-page-1#comment-7423 Stuart Thu, 07 May 2009 16:42:03 +0000 http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/?p=401#comment-7423 Hang on - Windows Update has by default selected both an IE7 cumulative patch and IE8 to install at the same time, as "Important" updates. The update system couldn't possibly be <em><strong>that</strong></em> stupid as to try to install IE8 and <i>then</i> attempt to patch IE7, could it? Hang on – Windows Update has by default selected both an IE7 cumulative patch and IE8 to install at the same time, as “Important” updates.

The update system couldn’t possibly be that stupid as to try to install IE8 and then attempt to patch IE7, could it?

]]> By: Stuart http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/archives/401/comment-page-1#comment-7422 Stuart Thu, 07 May 2009 16:39:12 +0000 http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/?p=401#comment-7422 So it's now 17:35, almost 4 hours after I published this post. In that time the Windows Update process has run through three times, and failed each time. I tried again without changing anything. I then installed the one remaining update (which succeeded), checked for updates, and tried again. Same result, except this time it says that the system is up to date on reboot before finding forty updates when "Check for updates" is chosen. I then selected fewer updates and tried again. The problem is that, because Vista rolls back all updates when one fails, it marks all as being unsuccessful - so there's no way to tell which of these hasn't worked. Additionally, there's no way to tell which updates will require a reboot and which won't. Because of this, it looks as if the only way to update this machine will be to install every single update individually, rebooting after each if prompted. This way, I'll eventually hopefully find one update which doesn't work. Wonderful. So it’s now 17:35, almost 4 hours after I published this post. In that time the Windows Update process has run through three times, and failed each time. I tried again without changing anything. I then installed the one remaining update (which succeeded), checked for updates, and tried again. Same result, except this time it says that the system is up to date on reboot before finding forty updates when “Check for updates” is chosen. I then selected fewer updates and tried again.

The problem is that, because Vista rolls back all updates when one fails, it marks all as being unsuccessful – so there’s no way to tell which of these hasn’t worked. Additionally, there’s no way to tell which updates will require a reboot and which won’t.

Because of this, it looks as if the only way to update this machine will be to install every single update individually, rebooting after each if prompted. This way, I’ll eventually hopefully find one update which doesn’t work.

Wonderful.

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