Disabling Windows 10 experiments blocks Known Issue Rollback fixes

Gandalf_The_Grey

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As Microsoft begins to utilize its Known Issue Rollback feature to release Windows 10 fixes quickly, users are discovering that modifying privacy settings may prevent these fixes from being installed.

Microsoft routinely conducts experiments with Windows 10 users to determine if a feature is commonly used, if a change in a feature makes it more useful, or to introduce features to a small test population.

However, some users find these experiments a breach of privacy and wish to disable them by creating the 'AllowExperimentation' value and setting it to '0' under the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\System

After Microsoft recently used the Windows 10 Known Issue Rollback (KIR) feature to fix performance problems while playing games, users learned that disabling experiments prevents the KIR fixes from being installed.

Microsoft's Known Issue Rollback feature uses Windows 10 telemetry and diagnostics to determine if many people are affected by a particular issue after a new update is released.

If a large audience is detected to be suffering from a specific issue, Microsoft analyzes their recent change code for what may be causing the problem.

After the problematic code is found, Microsoft releases a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) update that disables the new code on affected devices to resolve the issue.

However, for those who disable Windows 10 experiments using the Registry Editor, it will prevent KIR fixes from being installed.

A recommended setting in ShutUp10

A popular freeware utility called O&O ShutUp10 allows Windows 10 users to manage various operating system and software settings that increase privacy on their computers.

After installing ShutUp10, Windows users are presented with a long list of recommended privacy settings that can be enabled.

To make it easier to get started with the program, users can click on the Actions > Apply only recommended settings option to enable all of the recommended settings in the program.

One of the recommended settings is 'Disable conducting experiments with this machine by Microsoft,' which prevents Microsoft from running experiments on your device.

As ShutUp10 is a fairly popular program, this setting causes many people to no longer receive KIR fixes until they enable experiments again.

Therefore, ShutUp10 users should disable this setting when Microsoft announces a new KIR has been released so that they can receive the update. Once the KIR is installed, they can enable the setting again.

In the recent KIR released for the gaming issues, Windows 10 users can confirm if the fix is installed by checking if the following Registry key exists:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FeatureManagement\Overrides\4\1837593227
If it does not exist, you should enable experiments again and perform a 'Check for updates' in Windows Update, followed by a reboot, to install the KIR update.

Windows 10 users can keep an eye on the Windows 10 Health Center to determine when Microsoft releases new updates using the Known Issue Rollback feature.
 

amirr

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So what's the bottom line? I did set Shutup10 to its Recommended settings, so 'Disable conducting experiments with this machine by Microsoft,' is set to Yes.
Do I need to turn it off?
Thank you.
 

Freki123

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I just enabled "conducting experiments with this machine by Microsoft" to find out if I would get/need a KIR. A reboot and 2 mins later I now have "Meet now" in my taskbar unwanted (how about asking we would like you to test it yes/no?).
I can really understand why people don't want to be MS guinea pigs....
 

plat

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If you don't want Microsoft to silently roll-back any update failures, then I guess keep that ShutUp10 setting. Keeping current images of one's system might be a work-around in case the system fails from a rogue update. Otherwise, you can gamble and try uninstalling the bad update and then blocking it.

I think KIR would be a "must" if running Dev or even Beta channel Windows builds since full telemetry has to be enabled anyway.

Does Windows 10 seem to be getting more complicated by the day or...?
 

rndmblk

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Nov 18, 2020
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Does Windows 10 seem to be getting more complicated by the day or...?
Thought it was just me getting old that I felt that way!

So they develop a feature to rollback faulty updates. However, you need to agree to the (default) setting enabling A/B testing on your operating system. I'll bet the error messages that prevent KIR from working are helpful and descriptive too...
 

The_King

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I just enabled "conducting experiments with this machine by Microsoft" to find out if I would get/need a KIR. A reboot and 2 mins later I now have "Meet now" in my taskbar unwanted (how about asking we would like you to test it yes/no?).
I can really understand why people don't want to be MS guinea pigs....
If MS chooses to release "Meet now" to their main channel, whats going to stop them?
Now MS is basically saying don't modify privacy features in our OS or else updates/KIR may fail and its all your fault.

I will not be surprised if their Edge browser gets the same treatment down the line after they gain enough users on their way to Global domination. :LOL:
 
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Stopspying

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I get why there are 'we told you so' posts above and that MS make the OS, but the devices they are installed on do not all belong to MS.

I've had more than enough big issues to deal with that were down to MS getting things wrong - mostly updates, on my machines and others that I have had to fix in the past. Because of this I am not a MS fanboy, I'm a user of their OS ultimately because I need to work with other devices that use a MS OS. I was an early tester for Win 10, I had it on a few machines, one was a small netbook that had Win 7 Ultimate on it, it was light and very portable and worked very well for what I needed it for, it was my favourite device to take out with me. A Win 10 update bricked the device, it obliterated everything on the machine, every partition was rendered useless and no backup solution I had could restore Win 7U, MS denied any responsibility. I had it set so as I should not have had auto updates, I left the machine working on something for 20 mins or so, I returned to it to find it bricked by an update that should not have started without my permission. This is why I am not a fan, just a user of their OS and software. MS decided to override my settings back then, it is still doing the same today with moves like this.
 
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