Microsoft"s Windows 10 October 2018 Update has been off to a rough start so far. After being released to production well over a month ago, users started upgrading and found that their files were being deleted. Just four days later, the firm pulled the update from Windows Update.
Now, here we are five weeks after it was initially released, and Microsoft is re-releasing Windows 10 version 1809. This news comes after users reported a couple of weeks ago that extracting a ZIP file no longer provides a dialog asking if you want to overwrite a file. Like the issue of files actually being deleted, this was reported in the Feedback Hub months before the initial release.
The firm made the following change to the Windows 10 update history page for version 1809:
On November 13, 2018, we will begin the re-release of the Windows 10 October Update (version 1809), Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server, version 1809. We encourage you to wait until the feature update is offered to your device automatically.
When Microsoft released the Windows 10 April 2018 Update earlier this year, it changed the way that new feature updates are delivered. Normally, it wouldn"t show up in Windows Update until it was determined that your hardware and drivers are compatible. If you wanted it before then, you could force the upgrade using the Update Assistant app.
But when version 1803 launched, Microsoft changed it so that anyone that hit "Check for updates" in Windows Update got it, labeling those people as "seekers" and assuming that anyone checking for updates must want a feature update, rather than a cumulative update or new drivers. Windows 10 version 1803 had its own array of problems, but that didn"t stop Microsoft from getting even more aggressive.
With Windows 10 version 1809, it actually skipped over the Release Preview ring of the Windows Insider Program. Release Preview is specifically designed for testing updates before they"re released to the public. Unlike the Fast and Slow rings, there are no preview builds; if it"s in Release Preview, this build is slated to roll out to production unless something goes wrong. People who sign up for this ring are the actual seekers that want the update early.
Microsoft did say a few weeks ago that it"s adding a new feature to the Feedback Hub that will allow Insiders to label the severity of the bugs they report. Unfortunately, the company didn"t indicate that moving forward, it will be utilizing the Windows Insider Program rings that it has set up for itself, or that it will be less aggressive in rolling out future updates.