Microsoft restores Windows 10 November Update media; explains why it was pulled

The Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 is back in place at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and social media is indicating that the upgrade is once again available on Windows Update. This update addresses some privacy settings issues that affected “an extremely small number of people” who installed the Windows 10 November Update Version 1511 Build 10586. When the November update was installed, a few settings preferences may have inadvertently not been retained for advertising ID, Background apps, SmartScreen Filter, and Sync with devices. While not a huge bug, it did raise a few privacy concerns amongst those upgrading.

Bott reports that individuals he spoke with, who had knowledge of the situation, stated that a small number of Windows 10 users experienced this bug.

Microsoft has revealed exactly why they pulled all the updates that were published for Windows 10 almost two weeks ago and the related tools for installing the November Update.

What are your thoughts on this?

People who updated to the latest Windows 10 update may want to double-check their settings.

Thus, it seems that the update is once again available via the Media Creation Tool. As part of Windows as a service, the update delivers significant updates for business customers, including Windows Update for Business, Windows Store for Business, Mobile Device Management, Azure Active Directory and new security features. The update “will arrive over the coming days and we apologize for the inconvenience”, the company adds. The company offers settings to stop that collection (except for telemetry data that it thinks isn’t a privacy issue), but all those settings are for naught if bugs render them useless. So in short, Windows 10 is not doing anything wrong per se, but simply trying to improve the Windows experience by dumping the stuff that does not work out the Window (or in the Windows.old folder). According to a statement released by Microsoft, the company had planned to stagger the update over time and, as such, was prioritizing Windows Update as the vector for propagating the November Update. “This issue has been fixed in the update that accompanies KB3120677”, the company explains.