14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 version 1809 (October 2018 Update) early last month but pulled it only a few days later after discovering a critical bug causing the removal of files in user libraries, like the Documents folder.
While Microsoft conducted its very own internal investigation, users discovered that the issue had actually been reported in the Feedback Hub several times before the launch of the October update.
Needless to say, many believed that Microsoft simply ignored these reports and the company didn’t care about feedback shared by insiders.
According to a new report from WindowsCentral citing internal company sources, what happened was actually Microsoft mistaking the reported bug for another.
In other words, there were two issues in the October update with a similar behavior and Microsoft tried to fix just one of them, thinking the other is exactly the same.
Two bugs, one fix
First, it looks like several reports of files lost after the upgrade made it to the Feedback Hub in the last couple of years. Microsoft investigated and discovered that the files weren’t deleted, but users were logged in to a temporary user account. Since libraries, like the Documents folder, are tied to each user account, there were no files in the temporary account, so users believed the upgrade deleted them.
Microsoft added a popup in the temporary account to tell users that their files are stored in another account and no data was deleted.
However, reports of files removed after installing new builds kept coming to the Feedback Hub, so Microsoft believed it was the same issue. Only that some of these reports actually pointed to the bug that eventually made it to the October 2018 Update and really deleted user files.
In short, there were two bugs, both reported as deleting user files. Microsoft fixed just one, thinking the second is no different from the first. As it turned out eventually, it was, and Microsoft’s blunder transformed the October 2018 Update into one of the biggest Windows 10 failures yet.