Microsoft was forced to temporarily halt its October 2018 Windows 10 update, following reports users were missing files following installation. Now, the company is preparing to re-release the latest version of its desktop software, having “fixed all known issues.”
News of ‘mass file deletion’ problems surfaced around the same time that Microsoft quietly revealed it would begin charging more for its Windows 10 Home product – a somewhat unfortunate coincidence.
However, the company now claims to have resolved the problem and is preparing to send a new version of the October 2018 update live for its Windows Insider community.
In a post to the firm’s Windows Blog, John Cable – Microsoft’s Director of Program Management for Windows Servicing and Delivery – plays down the “isolated reports” of install problems, but adds that the company has addressed the bug and is now preparing to re-release the update.
“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,” Cable writes.
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So what exactly happened with version 1809?
Many users took to Twitter to complain that music and file downloads had disappeared, while others complained of corrupted hard drives following the update. This left them unable to roll back to the previous version.
One user, Robert Ziko, said that the update cost him 23-years and 220GB worth of files. He wrote on the Microsoft Answers forum: “I have just updated my Windows using the October update (10, version 1809) it deleted all my files of 23 years in amount of 220GB. This is unbelievable, I have been using Microsoft products since 1995 and nothing like that ever happened to me.”
While the issue did indeed appear to be quite isolated, it would have likely become more widespread had Microsoft not suspended the update.
On its support site Microsoft said at the time: “We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating.”
It also advised affected users to call its customer support hotlines, while telling those who had downloaded the update installation media not to install it until a new release was made available.
The update initially dropped after the Surface Pro 6 launch event.
Buried under all the new product buzz, though, was a stealthy Windows 10 price hike, with the digital download cost of the software rising by $19 at Microsoft.com in the US – from $119.99 to $139. It’s still not exactly clear when Microsoft changed the price, but it was (and is) also reflected at third-party retailers like Amazon.
Have you been affected by the botched Windows 10 October 2018 update? Drop us a line @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.
