Microsoft’s been candid in claiming that Windows 10 will never be perfect. The company used millions of Windows Insider beta testers to help squash bugs before launch. But as more and more users download, install, and test the new OS, notable issues are coming to light.
This isn’t surprising. Even though a small fraction of users can be affected, their voices can be amplified by social media. And the vast variety of hardware and software that will come into contact with Windows 10 means there will be some things that just don’t work.
But complaining about them does work. Microsoft has encouraged users to suggest improvements via its UserVoice forums, and provided ample channels for feedback and bug reporting. So there’s a good chance some of these odd bugs will get fixed, and pronto.
”Something happened” with the Windows 10 download
Before even installing Windows 10, some users complained that the tool Microsoft posted to facilitate the download and installation of Windows 10 was itself borked.
Bug in @Windows 10 Media Creator: If .iso saved to directory junction, it will fail after download with infamous “Something happened” error.
— Myria (@Myriachan) July 29, 2015
Windows Store download problems
Our own Ian Paul and Brad Chacos found several users complaining about downloading from the Windows Store. Jason Cross, the executive editor of our Greenbot site, also experienced it.
So far, upgrade to #Windows10 has been pretty smooth on 5 year old PC except I can’t use Cortana or install apps from the Windows store.
— CheckedShirtMatt (@ec1matt) July 29, 2015
Why can’t I install anything from the Windows Store I just wanted to play C++ Minecraft
— Aar (@Aarmastah) July 29, 2015
// Too many Start items?
The Register also discovered an interesting Windows 10 bug: if you have too many Start menu shortcuts—like, too many, as in over 500—bad things happen:
“Start menu shortcuts are still shortcut files placed in the same special locations as previous versions of Windows, but the Start menu app appears to be driven by a database on which some optimistic Microsoft coder has placed a limit of 512 entries.”
If that happens, all the Start menu items can vanish, the paper said. Microsoft is working on a fix.
The Copy function doesn’t copy
Oddly enough, Tom Warren of The Verge reports that sometimes hitting CTRL-C (the command to copy a word or block of text) doesn’t actually work.
OK so I am not alone, there is an issue with Windows 10 when it sometimes doesn’t copy using Ctrl+C. Lots of people seeing it. Yikes
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) July 29, 2015
That, naturally, provoked some good-natured ribbing about students and bloggers losing one of their most important commands. No word on a patch quite yet; it sounds like Microsoft would have to find a repeatable bug before they could work to fix it.
A headphones bug?
Other users are reporting more specialized problems.
Looks like Windows 10 still has this bug on my laptop where if you have speakers plugged in, and you press the mute button, it wont unmute.
— ExcessivelySALTY (@S4L7Y) July 29, 2015
// What have you found? Tell us in the comments below.