News: Data-deletion bug forces Microsoft to suspend rollout of Windows 10 update

[Arcadia]

From Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/microsoft-suspends-distribution-of-latest-windows-10-update-over-data-loss-bug/

“Earlier this week, Microsoft started distributing the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, version 1809, to Windows users who manually checked for updates. The company has now halted that rollout after many reports that installing the update is causing serious data loss: specifically, deleting the Documents, and perhaps Pictures, folders. Microsoft is also advising anyone who has downloaded the update but not yet installed it to not install it at all.

The exact circumstances causing data loss aren't clear; the handful of reports on Microsoft's forums and Reddit don't have any obvious commonalities, and people report seeing only one affected system among many when upgraded. There will need to be some amount of investigation before a fix can be developed.

This will be too late for anyone that's suffered data loss; although file recovery/undelete tools might be able to salvage the deleted files, the only reliable way of recovering them is to restore from a backup.”

From Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/10/06/microsoft-confirms-windows-10-update-mistake-was-your-data-lost/#65d98aaf665b

”Were You Affected?

To determine if you were affected by the Windows 10 October 1809 update, the first clue may be a suspicious amount of freed up hard drive space. If your user account folders (such as Documents, Music, Photos and Downloads) are in their default installation location and you don't have them synced with OneDrive, you may notice some or many missing files in those folders.

TIP: To check if your system downloaded and installed the update, click the Windows / Start key and then type "View Installed Update History." Click that result and then check the last version that was installed. If it wasn't 1809, you should be safe.”

[Lanny]

Not good, for those whose computers got hosed, but it sounds like Microsoft is aware of it and is trying to figure out what went wrong.  If I had a choice, between losing Data on a PC, or having my Messages sent where they are not intended to go (the recent Apple problem you reported) I would vote for losing Data, because I have things backed up.  The Apple thing, with Messages going to unintended recipients, could have severe consequences for the Senders.

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Lanny
fix typo - missing character