The rollout of Microsoft’s Windows 10 October 2018 update is not going well. Earlier this month, the company halted the update after a small segment of users reported missing files after installing the software.
However, some of those PC users who’d already downloaded the update are complaining about a new data loss issue. According to some users registering the issue online, the update also has an issue with mishandling files within compressed (.zip) folders.
A few days after web users began reporting the problem, Microsoft has now acknowledged the issue in a support post. It admits users who copy or move files from a .ZIP file without extracting the contents first, are experiencing problems.
The company writes: “With the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, if you copy or move files from a .ZIP file (without first “extracting” the contents) in to a new destination folder that contains duplicate filenames or is write-protected, you don’t get a “Do you want to replace these files” prompt. It will appear that the files were overwritten, when in fact the copy action for those files is not executed and files have not been overwritten.”
Microsoft says the problem occurs in scenarios when users copy files from a compressed (.zip) folder to a regular folder, move files from a compressed folder to a regular folder or copy files from a compressed folder to a protected folder.
The company is advising users experiencing issues to “fully extract the zip folder before you copy files to a new destination folder to avoid this issue.”
The statement comes after affected users posted to Reddit claiming Windows was no longer asking them permission to overwrite existing files if they already exist within the destination folder. That could lead to some issues with losing existing files.
Another case reported on Ask Woody suggests the operation is silently failing by not overwriting files and not prompting users at all. A further report from a Reddit user claimed drag and drop facility, when moving compressed folders to new destinations, appears to be broken. Those users say the copy appears to have happened, but the file is not showing up in the new destination thereafter.
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So far, it isn’t clear how many users are affected by the but, but Microsoft’s statement appears to suggest it’s widespread. The company says this is a known issue and plans a fix by early November.
Earlier this month, Microsoft said it had fixed all known issues and was testing the update in preparation for re-releasing the Windows 10 October 2018 update, but hasn’t yet commenced the roll-out.
In a blog post, the company said: “We have fully investigated all reports of data loss, identified and fixed all known issues in the update, and conducted internal validation. Today [October 9] we take the next step towards the re-release of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update by providing the updated version to our Windows Insider community. We will carefully study the results, feedback, and diagnostic data from our Insiders before taking additional steps towards re-releasing more broadly.”
Have you experienced any problems with file misappropriation since downloading the Windows 10 update? Drop us a report @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
