[MicroWin] 2026 Update #3837

CodingWonders · 2025-12-20T19:02:16Z

Type of Change

New feature
Bug fix
Refactoring

Description

A batch of changes for the upcoming year.

The old Setup is now used by default instead of the new one, in such a way that makes the overall setup experience more cohesive:

A new reporting tool has been introduced. This reporting tool gets hardware and software information and can be used to help us fix issues. The tool can be run by the user at any time.
oscdimg detection has been revamped so it now detects installed ADKs correctly. If it isn't detected and we don't download it from GitHub, it will now install the complete deployment tools. Those are 100MB in size:

It fixes file explorer again after the idiots at Microsoft changed the name of WindowsAppRuntime.CBS. Now, FileExp is no longer patched starting from 10.0.26100.7019. Here's the change in the component:

It implements an option to create bootable media in a similar style to what Rufus does (by @Real-MullaC)

Testing

Testing was done with Windows 11 25H2 (26200.6584 and .7462)

Issue related to PR

Fixes Microwin Issue with explorer and context menu #3813

Additional Information

Chris, TEST THESE CHANGES AS WELL!!!

Checklist

My code adheres to the coding and style guidelines of the project.
I have performed a self-review of my own code.
I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas.
I have made corresponding changes to the documentation.
My changes generate no errors/warnings/merge conflicts.

This is required to run the diagnostics script, and any script that either we create here, or the user creates later. At least we don't go too wild and use unrestricted... we use something more "safe"

This will increase reliability and performance. Screw the Windows 8 installer, we're back with what was used on Windows 7! Anyway, there are problems with the new installer: 1. It is slow at everything. Some people did benchmarks of both installers. MoSetup lost to Panther (ofc). Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1kmjavl/i_made_a_small_test_comparing_which_one_installs/ 2. It is unreliable. The "Install driver to show hardware" screen that appears in some systems AND in PXE/WDS for Server 2025 is possibly, and simply, due to Setup not being able to find the install image. From BlueBox.log in MoSetup: ... 2025-12-21 10:05:43: Creating path (with ACL): [X:\$WINDOWS.~BT]... 2025-12-21 10:05:43: Creating path: [X:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources]... 2025-12-21 10:05:43: CBootScenarioCtrl::PopulateWorkingDir: Install.wim/swm/esd was not found! ... Other contributors in the CTT community stated similar unreliability with borked installs. I'm pretty sure this change will benefit everyone. We'll see how long it lasts before Microsoft f's it up.

CodingWonders · 2025-12-21T14:58:42Z

btw if you get the iso from the Installation Media you can get the newest iso 25H2 (26200.7462) without updating

Thanks, but revisions don't really matter for now.

Display appx package dependency full names

Those incompetent developers changed WindowsAppRuntime.CBS to WindowsAppRuntime.CBS.1.6 circa 10.0.26200.7462. No wonder why direct downloads were not causing this issue; they are still based on 10.0.26200.6584. The MCT, on the other hand...

Apparently they fixed that in November. Expanding the amd64_winappsdk-cbs-stable component manifest to a XML file reveals the dark secret: <registryKeys> <registryKey keyName="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\InboxApplications\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.CBS.1.6_6000.653.2246.100_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"> <registryValue name="Path" valueType="REG_SZ" value="$(runtime.windows)\SystemApps\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxManifest.xml" /> <securityDescriptor name="REGKEY_APPXALLUSERSTORE_SDDL" /> </registryKey> <registryKey keyName="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\Config\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.CBS.1.6_8wekyb3d8bbwe"> <registryValue name="SetupPhase" valueType="REG_DWORD" value="0x00000427" /> </registryKey> <registryKey keyName="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\UpdatedApplications\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.CBS.1.6_8wekyb3d8bbwe" /> </registryKeys> This is not a problem in .6899 because we don't have amd64_winappsdk-cbs-stable, but a vnext counterpart. But, at this point, why bother checking with that? MCT will not bundle this update with the image!

CodingWonders · 2025-12-25T20:23:04Z

I had to do some additional tests on that file explorer fix. Now it's finally ready for review.

vbba1991 · 2025-12-27T22:16:24Z

Can you tell me when I can try it out? It's a very inconvenient file explorer.

vbba1991 · 2025-12-28T08:24:57Z

@vbba1991 download this https://github.com/CodingWonders/winutil/archive/refs/heads/microwin-2026.zip unzip it than run the complie.ps1 file than it well make the winutil.ps1 file than you can run

I did these steps, but on my Windows 25H2 26200.7462, the File Explorer remained broken. What could I have done wrong?I've tried it a couple of times

vbba1991 · 2025-12-28T19:09:17Z

@vbba1991 dont use the iso from media creation tool use the direct iso download
Directly via MicroWin? It's not downloading the latest version...

CodingWonders · 2025-12-28T19:35:36Z

@GabiNun, @vbba1991, can we leave tech support off the PR? It can get quite bloated up with comments.

CodingWonders · 2025-12-28T21:08:37Z

As I understand it, we need to rebuild the image again and reinstall Windows?

Yes.

Apart from a security improvement (let's remember ILOVEYOU from 2000), it's also a QoL.

Color mode settings are saved per-user, not system-wide. So HKLM\SOFTWARE is not our solution. HKCU is, and is mapped to \Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT

GabiNun · 2025-12-29T17:10:07Z

@CodingWonders why is microwin using reg.exe?

CodingWonders · 2025-12-29T17:13:26Z

@GabiNun, the reason why we use reg.exe instead of something more native to PWSH is because they lock the registry hives for longer so, when we unload them, those locks aren't released on time. Thus, unloading fails and we cannot proceed.

For these technical questions, I don't recommend you ask here. Otherwise, stuff gets bloated up.

This reverts commit 88f8a30.

Some issues happen with REG and strings if you put /f at the end... move it to the beginning, where it doesn't conflict with anything.

This works on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. It didn't work on Win10 before; it should work now

We no longer do this

Only microwin calls this function; it's better if we place this script in that folder

@CodingWonders

* Add Create Bootable USB * Apply suggestion from @CodingWonders --------- Co-authored-by: CodingWonders <[email protected]>

If we don't download OSCDIMG from GitHub, because we now use ADK kits roots detection to get installed copies of the ADK and oscdimg, we just download the Deployment Tools. This is only 100 MB once fully installed, and removes the need to install Chocolatey. One caveat is that, on 64-bit systems, the script will output "Could not find ADK" once. This is normal as it does checks on both regular SOFTWARE and WOW6432Node, and it's able to pick it on the latter. If it isn't found anywhere, that message will appear twice.

CodingWonders added 4 commits December 20, 2025 20:00

New reporting tool

862c773

Why did we EVER need to load the component store?

463845f

Up the execution policy for default PWSH sessions

52d05fa

This is required to run the diagnostics script, and any script that either we create here, or the user creates later. At least we don't go too wild and use unrestricted... we use something more "safe"

CodingWonders added 2 commits December 24, 2025 10:48

Merge branch 'main' into microwin-2026

31b1e67

Improve reporting tool

7dcb0d1

Display appx package dependency full names

CodingWonders marked this pull request as ready for review December 24, 2025 09:52

CodingWonders requested a review from ChrisTitusTech as a code owner December 24, 2025 09:52

Rework ADK detection

49cbe45

CodingWonders marked this pull request as draft December 24, 2025 14:16

Add revamped detection for ISO creation

71865a8

CodingWonders marked this pull request as ready for review December 24, 2025 15:10

CodingWonders added 2 commits December 25, 2025 11:45

CodingWonders marked this pull request as draft December 25, 2025 19:54

CodingWonders marked this pull request as ready for review December 25, 2025 20:23

CodingWonders added 3 commits December 29, 2025 14:06

Default to showing file extensions

9b961cc

Apart from a security improvement (let's remember ILOVEYOU from 2000), it's also a QoL.

Fix key for color modes

9e500af

Color mode settings are saved per-user, not system-wide. So HKLM\SOFTWARE is not our solution. HKCU is, and is mapped to \Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT

Move color mode from offline servicing to firstrun

81391fe

CodingWonders and others added 2 commits December 30, 2025 22:39

Drop build number by 100

4114ca3

Update Invoke-Microwin.ps1 (#15)

88f8a30

CodingWonders added 7 commits December 31, 2025 16:40

Revert "Update Invoke-Microwin.ps1 (#15)"

853a142

This reverts commit 88f8a30.

Keep trying to commit and unmount images

2576ab9

Consistent REG ADD /F /V...

9d8bd10

Some issues happen with REG and strings if you put /f at the end... move it to the beginning, where it doesn't conflict with anything.

Rework stub path reg value set

cbf856c

This works on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. It didn't work on Win10 before; it should work now

Remove copy link step

9dfbb2b

We no longer do this

Merge branch 'main' into microwin-2026

c35320d

Move Copy-Files to microwin folder

23a0ecc

Only microwin calls this function; it's better if we place this script in that folder

GabiNun mentioned this pull request Jan 1, 2026

Microwin Issue with explorer and context menu #3813

Closed

4 tasks

Real-MullaC and others added 5 commits January 2, 2026 13:18

Add Create Bootable USB (#18)

64babfe

* Add Create Bootable USB * Apply suggestion from @CodingWonders --------- Co-authored-by: CodingWonders <[email protected]>

Make indentation more consitent in bootable USB func.

3bc4e41

Initialize petoolspath variable

bb57dce

Remove temporary adksetup on completion

3517675

Real-MullaC approved these changes Jan 4, 2026

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[MicroWin] 2026 Update #3837

[MicroWin] 2026 Update #3837

CodingWonders commented Dec 20, 2025 •

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Type of Change

Description

Testing

Issue related to PR

Additional Information

Checklist

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