I guess the Defrag bug is not really fully solved, just changed a bit? It seems my SSDs do not get automatically trimmed as they used to? Additionally, the HDDs are still erroring because the OS tries to trim them. So weird. Who QAs these "fixes"?
Are these Release Preview and Beta (and Dev) Channels updates stable, and if not, should we ignore them (as well as not integrate the DU for the sources folder and the DU for SafeOS updates in these situations)?
That depends on the update, most are stable but mostly the preview updates on catalog will be more stable or designated stable enough to be released outside of the Insider rings.
So, it's like the update cycle follows a certain order, like Dev channel-Beta channel-Release Preview channel (or just one or even two of them)-Update Catalog-WU? What about the non-Preview updates? Why are some updates called Preview, by the way?
Ask yourself this question. Can you afford to lose your Files & Folders if something goes wrong & you have to Format & start over ? If you answer NO then don't. Have you ever ran Beta Software before ?
What are these Release Preview and Beta Channels' proper name (in the Release Preview and Beta Channels CU case, for instance) since I installed one of them and it doesn't appear on the updates history in the Settings app and on the Control Panel it appears with a generic name like almost all of the other ones (the non-Channels' updates offered by WU)?
Some updates from the release preview or beta channel maybe don't always show up in updates history but they always show in "installed updates". Preview updates in Catalog or just a new name for the updates formerly known as "C" updates (third week of the month), as stable as can be but on catalog only or for "seekers" on WU. Release Preview or Beta channel updates are more insider / less stable but still pretty reliable and many of them will become Preview catalog updates. Dev channel is the real test channel at the moment.
Thanks. What if I'm a Beta/Release Preview Insider? Will I always be offered them? They appear on installed updates but with generic names but even (non-Insider) WU ones appear like that, I think. I guess there are non-Preview Catalog updates. So, do you recommend to wait for the updates to be available on Catalog or even on WU instead of downloading (for instance) Release Preview ones? Why are they still called "Preview" when available on WU? Since I'm not an Insider and I don't pretend to be since I want to keep using my local account, can I download Dev/Beta/Release Preview updates and install them (without using MDL download links)? If I try to do that from uupdump.ml (for instance), I get an entire Windows 10 build when in this case I only want the Dev/Beta/Release Preview updates. The site is somewhat confusing.
What generic names do you mean? As said, Preview on catalog mostly is "optional" on public WU, not like insider preview updates/releases for which you have to be enrolled in insider rings. Dev channel updates are actually new test builds. For enrolling into any insider channel you don't need to run an online account, for official IP enrollment only signing in at the IP settings would be sufficient, and there is an enrollment script that doesn't even require to sign in there. For you it would be best to only install publicly released updates, those can include the optional seeker/preview on catalog updates.
Security updates and something like that. So, they have "Preview" on their name (like I've seen some) and are offered as optional like the driver updates? Although you've been talking about Catalog Preview updates, I guess there are Catalog non-Preview updates, right? So, I can't manually download them from somewhere (like uupdump.ml) since I'm not an Insider (well, maybe except from some links you post, and by the way, how do you get them?)? Are there updates which only appear on Windows Insider channels and not on Catalog and WU, updates which only appear on Catalog and not on Windows Insider channels and WU and updates which only appear on WU and not on Windows Insider channels and Catalog? I guess they must start in Windows Insider channels (maybe in the Dev channel first, in the Beta channel afterwards and finally in the Release Preview channel and they may be on more than one channel at the same time like a recent update), afterwards they must appear on Catalog and them finally on WU. Is this always the right update release order? Also, are there Dev, Beta and Release Preview channels only updates or they're always from two (or even more) of these channels? So, they're not updates but entire Windows builts? What about the other channels ones? Could you show me how to sign in at the IP settings or to use that enrollment script? So, is this an unofficial way to bypass the enrollment process? So, not all updates are released on Catalog?
To integrate updates there is no support limitation in NTLite so it doesn't matter which version you use. NTLite probably uses Dism or some api to mount the image and integrate updates so the limitation is on Dism.
I'm not sure that is accurate. I did a clean install with a 19041.264 retail ISO. Then I installed David Xanatos's tool to query the Windows Update server. It doesn't matter whether you use Windows or David's tool. I get the same offerings on 19041 as follows: I am suspicious that a manual install of the latest EP, without applying for "Insider" status, results in not being able to get the semi-annual updates from WU. Whenever I've had the 19042 EP installed, without being an Insider, I haven't been offered any updates from WU.
I followed your instructions before but oddly that WU IP setting doesn't appear and so I can't receive IP updates.