Windows 10 Tech Preview - Builds 10061 & 10074 - The Bitlocker Mess
MS in pretty quick order released two builds of Windows 10 Tech Preview - 10061 on April 22 and then 10074 as a part of the Build Conference on April29.
As always I installed Tech Preview on two different devices - a Standard Desktop and an 8" Atom based tablet.
And I experienced what has been the case with practically all builds - the desktop was a breeze and the tablet a disaster.
10061 on the tablet especially. It installed with no errors, but upon reboot I suddenly got a notice from Windows to enter my Bitlocker Recovery Key.
The problem was A) I had not even configured Bitlocker and B) even more problematic was the screen that requested the recovery key - would not allow the on-screen keyboard to pop-up to enter the key....
What a mess. MS should be embarrassed by this. First - who automatically turns on Bitlocker without the users knowledge and Second, who in their right minds, codes an entry page and then doesn't understand the context they are in and call for the correct input method. Bottom line between build 10061 release and 10074 - my tablet was a brick...
So after some hacking around and posting to the Windows Insider Community - I found a work around that involved an alternate start-up that allows the BIOS keyboard to appear long enough to enter the Bitlocker Key. I was then able to update to build 10074 which at least didn't ask for the key - but also shows a exclamation point by the drive in Explorer - but no explanation of what it indicates and no right click actions...
Now sure - these are Preview builds and there are bound the be errors - but come on - turning on Bitlocker when it was never on in the first place. Considering MS has performed well over 100 Windows 10 builds - something like this should have never happened.
The problem with all of this is I am really beginning to worry about MS's ability to deliver a proper tablet experience on anything other than a Surface with a keyboard cover...and even then many Surface folks are complaining about Windows 10.
The tablet in question here is a Dell Venue 8 Pro. Now sure it was one of the early Windows 8.1 based tablets, but still - how can MS ask me to confidently upgrade to the final version when they can get basic's like this correct?
As I've stated several times recently - it appears as though Windows 10 for the most part is feature complete. In fact at Build - Joe Belfiore that the desktop version will release this summer Desktops first, then tablets and then Phones in October. So this to me means that MS is cleaning up the builds to get to an RTM.
For Desktop - to be honest I think MS is actually closer than many think.. I've never had a problem, upgrading, installing, running Windows 10 Tech Preview on a 5 year old Core i7 920..desktop with Samsung SSD...
But for Tablet it's another story altogether. Since most tablets don't have keyboards/mice, DVD ROM Drives, etc - the install/upgrade process needs to be really bullet proof. Right now its not even close. And so MS may work hard to get it right for Surface, but I'm not very confident about 3rd parties. And that's a shame. MS will be making a huge mistake if they expect tablet users to go have to buy a new tablet to properly run Windows 10.
Also, MS can't just throw Windows 10 over the wall to the OEMs and say here make this work on your devices. I have visions of the disaster that MS created going to from Windows Phone 7 to 7.5 and then 8 and basically asking their customers to buy new phones... Considering that you can effectively run iOS 8 on a 4 year iPhone 4 - MS has a lot to learn...
Bottom line - 10061 should have never been released in my opinion. Since MS was planning on a release for the Build Conference - I would have rather seen them further stabilize the build...
As always I installed Tech Preview on two different devices - a Standard Desktop and an 8" Atom based tablet.
And I experienced what has been the case with practically all builds - the desktop was a breeze and the tablet a disaster.
10061 on the tablet especially. It installed with no errors, but upon reboot I suddenly got a notice from Windows to enter my Bitlocker Recovery Key.
The problem was A) I had not even configured Bitlocker and B) even more problematic was the screen that requested the recovery key - would not allow the on-screen keyboard to pop-up to enter the key....
What a mess. MS should be embarrassed by this. First - who automatically turns on Bitlocker without the users knowledge and Second, who in their right minds, codes an entry page and then doesn't understand the context they are in and call for the correct input method. Bottom line between build 10061 release and 10074 - my tablet was a brick...
So after some hacking around and posting to the Windows Insider Community - I found a work around that involved an alternate start-up that allows the BIOS keyboard to appear long enough to enter the Bitlocker Key. I was then able to update to build 10074 which at least didn't ask for the key - but also shows a exclamation point by the drive in Explorer - but no explanation of what it indicates and no right click actions...
Now sure - these are Preview builds and there are bound the be errors - but come on - turning on Bitlocker when it was never on in the first place. Considering MS has performed well over 100 Windows 10 builds - something like this should have never happened.
The problem with all of this is I am really beginning to worry about MS's ability to deliver a proper tablet experience on anything other than a Surface with a keyboard cover...and even then many Surface folks are complaining about Windows 10.
The tablet in question here is a Dell Venue 8 Pro. Now sure it was one of the early Windows 8.1 based tablets, but still - how can MS ask me to confidently upgrade to the final version when they can get basic's like this correct?
As I've stated several times recently - it appears as though Windows 10 for the most part is feature complete. In fact at Build - Joe Belfiore that the desktop version will release this summer Desktops first, then tablets and then Phones in October. So this to me means that MS is cleaning up the builds to get to an RTM.
For Desktop - to be honest I think MS is actually closer than many think.. I've never had a problem, upgrading, installing, running Windows 10 Tech Preview on a 5 year old Core i7 920..desktop with Samsung SSD...
But for Tablet it's another story altogether. Since most tablets don't have keyboards/mice, DVD ROM Drives, etc - the install/upgrade process needs to be really bullet proof. Right now its not even close. And so MS may work hard to get it right for Surface, but I'm not very confident about 3rd parties. And that's a shame. MS will be making a huge mistake if they expect tablet users to go have to buy a new tablet to properly run Windows 10.
Also, MS can't just throw Windows 10 over the wall to the OEMs and say here make this work on your devices. I have visions of the disaster that MS created going to from Windows Phone 7 to 7.5 and then 8 and basically asking their customers to buy new phones... Considering that you can effectively run iOS 8 on a 4 year iPhone 4 - MS has a lot to learn...
Bottom line - 10061 should have never been released in my opinion. Since MS was planning on a release for the Build Conference - I would have rather seen them further stabilize the build...
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