Microsoft warns 800 million Windows 10 users of error

Microsoft issued a warning for all 800 million users of Windows 10 because of a serious operating system error. The mistake would have been there for some time.

In contrast to previous problems, however, this is not a so-called bug. The problem was instead introduced by design, writes Forbes. Microsoft silently disabled Registry backups eight months ago, even though the company gave users the impression that this important security system was still working. Ghacks then discovered that Registry backups kept saying that the operation was successful, even though no backup file was created.

For many companies and end users, the Registry backup is a last resort in case of major problems. It is possible that a Windows System Restore point fails, so that no third party software can be used. At that moment the Registry backup is the only backup that is still available.

But because of the error, the backup is also no longer available, Microsoft admits now. If you navigate to the WindowsSystem32configRegBacck folder in Windows Explorer, you will still see every registry hive, but every file appears to be 0kb in size, according to the company.

Problem reported before

The problem has arisen since version 1803 of Windows 10. This version was launched in October last year. At that time, the problem was already reported in the Feedback Hub service, but Microsoft is only now letting them know for themselves what happened.

As mentioned before, the error was introduced by Microsoft itself. According to the company, that was to help reduce the overall size of Windows on the disk. A Registry backup generally takes 50 to 100 MB.

Microsoft has shared a way to still be able to make a Registry backup, despite the error. To do this, the registry needs to be modified. However, for users who have had problems with their system in recent months, this may be too late.