Microsoft Pulls Windows 10 October 2018 Update After File Deletion Fiasco
The latest release of Windows 10 brings a lot of great near features to the table, including a long overdue enhancement of the OS' dark mode (which now applies itself to the file manager and context menus) and an integrated Your Phone feature for mobile device integration. While many have upgraded to the latest release of Windows (1809) without issue, we wrote yesterday that it's not going well for everyone. In some cases, users will upgrade, and quickly find some of their personal files being deleted. Not good.
This is one of the worst possibilities for a new OS version roll out, and while the root cause hasn't been revealed, the effect it's had on those hit with the anomaly is brutal. All of a sudden, user Documents folders can be deleted - the very place where many people store basically everything documents-related on their machine.
The issue is severe enough to cause Microsoft to respond in exceptional fashion: it's pulled the 1809 build October 2018 Update from all of its sources. That means that Windows Update will no longer reveal the 1809 update, and the official Windows tool download page now references the older April 2018 update. So, even if you go the manual route, you're going to be out of luck.
"Ha ha! But I was smart enough to keep the MediaCreationTool1809.exe that was available before." Sorry, no go there, too; that installer forces you to go to the website to grab the latest version, which of course is now the previous version of Windows.
If you were not yet updated to 1809, and are starting to regret not pulling the trigger sooner, you should consider yourself lucky. While you may not have encountered issues, it's really not worth the risk. And, as always, this is yet another story that emphasizes the importance of backing up early and often. In reality, most folks decide to upgrade, even if their data isn't protected and redundant, which makes a bug like this all the more disappointing. At least Microsoft has done the right thing and removed the download so that it won't claim more victims.
