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Allow developers to create their own user space
It would be wonderful if Microsoft and the windows team documented how developers could create their own userspace. The NT Kernel was designed for this, and it would allow better extensibility of the overall OS. It also would be a way to partial opensource Windows. You could license the kernel at a low price, and let others build the user space. This would be in the vain of the original WSL, but it would allow any developer skilled enough to bring enhancements to the system.
Unable to copy desktop files to external drive on Windows 10...
I am trying to get a new computer set up for a friend. I have done this many times for other people, but something is wrong with this one. Every time I try to copy the desktop files to an external drive (all of them are PDFs, with one image), nothing happens. I drag and drop them - nothing copies. There are no errors, either. I have tried two different externals - both formatted exFAT. There is literally no reason for this to be happening. If anyone know what to check, your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. P.S. Too bad that Microsoft isn't smart enough to create a way to move the files easily between computers WITHOUT needing a Microsoft account to do so. Apple had had them beat at this for many, many years now. I can literally fire up a new Mac, and transfer all of my files - INCLUDING applications - in less than 2 hours. Pretty sad...
Windows Update, ESU, System Restore fail, fill C: drive
My C: drive on my laptop running Windows 10 Home has gone from about 20 GB free to 133 MB free after aborting Windows 11 installation, trying to sign up for ESU and trying several times to use System Restore to put things back the way they were. I'm hoping you can tell me where to look for the leftover files that are causing my C: drive to be so full. Here's roughly what I did, in order: I set Restore Points between the steps below. In Windows Update, chose to update from Windows 10 to Windows 11 24H2. After a lot of downloading, I got an error saying C: was full, that I should attach an external drive and remove about 5 GB from the disk. I tried for a while but realized that installing Windows 11 could fill my C: drive and make the computer useless. So I canceled the update. I read that ESU (which extends Windows 10 updates for a year) requires a Microsoft account to sign up. I only use local accounts because I'm often not on the Internet, and a Microsoft account requires me to be online. I created a Microsoft account with administrator privileges. From there, I ran Windows Update... but didn't see the option to join ESU. Then I went to the local adminstrator account and tried Windows Update again. I don't remember what happened, but I couldn't get ESU. The worst is that this changed my local admin account to a Microsoft account!! I tried System Restore to (I hoped) un-do the change to my local admin account, remove the Microsoft admin account, and un-do the files that were clogging my C: drive. But System Restore failed because there wasn't enough disk space. I tried earlier restore points, but for some reason they had been deleted. I started a chat with Microsoft support, then had to restart the chat after the first reboot during System Restore. The agents ran Disk Cleanup and also cleaned up various folders. That gave me about 3 GB free... not near the 20 GB I used to have. Luckily, the agent was able to restore my previous admin from a Microsoft account to a local account. What I think I need to know is what folders Windows Update, ESU, and System Restore use. I'm hoping I can go there, find the files changed yesterday afternoon / evening, and see that they take up nearly 20 GB... then I'd delete those files. For example, does ESU signup create C:\Windows\XYZ123? If you have any other suggestions, I'd sure appreciate them!
dbgeng.h: GetTotalNumberThreads Returns Incorrect Thread Count (According to DAC)
When writing custom extensions for Windbg to analyse user-mode crash dumps (using the IDebugSystemObjects4 interface provided by dbgeng.h), IDebugSystemObjects4-->GetTotalNumberThreads returns a smaller number than Strike/SOS. There is no documentation about where IDebugSystemObjects4 gets the thread count from -- it just states: The GetTotalNumberThreads method returns the total number of https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/controlling-threads-and-processes for all the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/controlling-threads-and-processes in the current target, in addition to the largest number of threads in any process for the current target. (Emphasis mine.) Below is an example output from Windbg: 0:000> <Custom Windbg Extension Method Here> Getting IDebugSymbols... Getting IDebugSystemObjects... Getting GetTotalNumberThreads... Total Threads: 581 Largest Process: 581 Frames: 32 0:000> !threads ThreadCount: 587 UnstartedThread: 0 BackgroundThread: 26 PendingThread: 0 DeadThread: 47 Hosted Runtime: no Note that the IDebugSystemObjects4-->GetTotalNumberThreads method is returning 581 threads but Strike/SOS is returning 587. For what it's worth, https://github.com/dotnet/diagnostics/blob/6a90923439dc43693f2a2fc8766b3cdb2c4dd366/src/SOS/Strike/strike.cpp#L4358 -- which is, presumably, a different source than IDebugSystemObjects4 is getting the thread count from. Is this a bug in dbgeng.h? If not, is it because IDebugSystemObjects4 ignores finaliser threads; whereas those are not ignored when committed to the DAC? Also, sorry if this is the wrong place for this, I was thinking Windows SDK-related questions/bugs would fall under "Windows OS Platform".
Questions about Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 support plans.
I have known that all the supports of Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 has ended at Janauary 9th, 2024, the date where mentioned in Microsoft Lifecycle Policy. But I have found some updates which released after Janauary 9th, 2024, in Microsoft Update Catalog, and these updates will provide to these Operating System which have 4 years ESU license. So why does Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 still can receive these updates after Janauary 9th, 2024? Does these Operating System has any additional support plans after that day? When will these OS doesn't receive any updates?
Automatic installation of Roots Updates
You can use the registry parameter to redirect the source of root certificate updates: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\AuthRoot\AutoUpdate "RootDirURL"="d:\......." Is it possible to automatically distribute certificates of intermediate certification authorities in this way?
ACPI EC OpRegion location
Hello, the ACPI specification defines OpRegions for ACPI bytecode to interact with devices, one suche device being the Embedded Controller. After looking at some example ACPI tables, it seems that Embedded Controller OpRegions can be defined anywhere inside the ACPI namespace, and not just inside the Embeeded Controller device scope. What is the Windows kernel policy for such OpRegions? Which Embedded Controller will be used to handle them (if any)? Thanks, Armin Wolf
