Microsoft backup programs, questions....

Sorry to answer so late. I was busy possibly ruining someone else's computer in another thread. You definitely are right to be wary of possibly obsolete WEB material. Usually, I will check to at least see whether the instructions still exist before pointing somewhere anywhere.

"Given the problems I'm having on this mini, I decided to start all over, and reinstalled 20H2.  It won't crate a recovery drive...  again."

I was able to create one in my 20H2. It did take 2 hours -- or was it 3? Seemed longer than usual. You could do without it, & just use the recovery environment of an Installation USB drive (repair your computer). But the Recovery drive has an option that I think would reset the computer to its current version (if made by the current version). And the reset that is on an Installation drive I think will be to the latest version of Windows, even if greater than the version of the Installation drive. But I've never done either.

"DiscWizard...  Doesn't it only work on Seagate drives?"

I believe it works, if you've got a Seagate or a Maxtor. But Maxtor has one on its site too, not sure what it's called.

"I have the same Intel driver listed twice.  Resonably sure it's a display driver, but like you, why?  The only other Intel product that I remember is in the system is the SSD boot drive."

Well, you could do a Search for it to know what it is. Or type the driver name into the Find box of MSInfo32 (type into Search) to see what it is.

Yours is twice too? But what about your other drivers listed there, are they doubled too? Hmm. So, now I tried to turn Core Isolation/Memory Integrity on again, & the display driver is still listed just twice -- not thrice. So, there must be a different reason for it. Maybe it is there twice because it happened in 2004 for me twice. Once when I upgraded to it from Windows Update. But I reverted that due to instability, & later upgraded again using an ISO. Or maybe it was the upgrade to 20H2 that did it. It was only after that, I think, that I knew to turned that setting off.

(1) "The above two examples are why help files should be on the computer, and you need a printed manual (or one that can be printed).  With the printed manual, you can thumb through the pages, and if it's well written, there will be a picture of it in the manual."

It would be nice, though things do change a bit with each new version as you know. A search of "how to use Windows 10" looks pretty good to me. One might gather, file & even print tidbits as one encounters them. But even that may not be fully up-to-date, I'm sure you know. Teach those newbies how to make & restore a system image backup for sure. And have them backup important downloads & user files separately as well, in case a clean install becomes necessary.

But you and I have the benefit of experience the newbie won't have.  We have clues as to good search terms.  And when it comes to W10 web articles, I've learned 2 things:

1. If there is no date on the web page, in plain view, don't trust the info to be correct.
2. If there is a date, and it's over a year olde, don't trust the info to be correct.

Before you can teach anyone, you havet to convince them it's necessary.  That's a tougher nut to crack.

(2) "Gpedit is a standalone program, or was, so you could copy it from one machine to another and it would work.  I used to do it in Vista and W7, but I've not needed to do it in W10."

Right, it isn't part of Home edition, & I chose not to go get it. I'm sure it could be useful, but I've also read it won't turn a Home edition into a Pro edition. That is, you can duplicate Pro registry settings -- but Home will ignore them anyway. These days, I'd rather just use "START, Settings" & let it do as it will in the registry.

No, it won't turn into the Pro edition, but at least you can change some settings.

(3) "Type 'Workgroup' into Search, & select 'Change Workgroup name'.

I clipped the rest of the instructions, I've known how to do that for years.  I had to change the Mac to the same workgroup for it to share files."

Ah, I thought there could be something relevant in there. But I see you've been there before. So, maybe try that FDResPub thing in that 18-page thread. I think it's still active. Post into it, if necessary.

I've got that message printed to refer to when I tackle the networking.

(4) "Rethinking the deprecation File History, maybe they already reversed that decision.  Otherwise, why would the go to the effort to incorporate it into Settings?"

I will sorely miss Backup & Restore if/when they take it away again. (It was gone in Win 8, which I never had). But I do have DiscWizard for that eventuality. It's just that I've never done a restore with it, not sure how smoothly it would go. Backup & Restore was quick & easy that one time I did a restore with it. And it alone will fill the Previous Versions tab of a folder's Properties.

Sme here for Backup and Restore.  Given the problems I'm having on this mini, I decided to start all over, and reinstalled 20H2.  It won't crate a recovery drive...  again.  I'm going to have to consider the possibility it's the thumb drive.  It's brand new, but the cheap Walmart brand.  I have to go to Walmarat tomorrow, and will pick up a SanDisk thumb drive.

DiscWizard...  Doesn't it only work on Seagate drives?

(5) "That may be an erroneous conclusion.  I have a tutoring client that had the same thing happen.  There's no  way should would  have had a clue to look for a solution.  And then, one day it just reappeared on its own."

She lost her Sleep mode? In her case, I guess the display driver automatically updated. Then, Windows "started" it, & all was well. But my driver is fully updated, & Core Isolation/Memory Integrity still doesn't like it. Actually, the driver did update when I later clicked for it in Device Manager -- but it wasn't good enough. I'll continue to look for updates, but have little hope. I've  looked for it at the Dell & Intel sites. But I can do without that feature.

I agree, it updated on it's own.  And no clue why.

(6) "I can't turn my Core Isolation on either.  And I have 8 drivers listed.  My sleep option never disappeard, so I had no reason to look into it."

I guess none of the eight is your display driver. I think that's the one that takes out Sleep mode when it won't "start".

I have the same Intel driver listed twice.  Resonably sure it's a display driver, but like you, why?  The only other Intel product that I remember is in the system is the SSD boot drive.

(7) "It's showing the same driver twice I guess because I tried to turn it on twice. I'm resigned to doing without it. Windows Defender still provides plenty of other protections.

I wonder if the driver is installed twice..."

I had the same suspicion, but did check. DriverView & MSInfo32 show it only once.

But unlike you, I didn't try to turn anything on.  I didn't bother to check on it, just not enough time.  I'd like to be creating a shorter to do list, not a longer one!  LOL

As Yul Brynner sand in "The Kind and I', "Is a Puzzlement."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u5iHzag120  IIRC, he won both a Tony and an Oscar for this part.

(1) "The above two examples are why help files should be on the computer, and you need a printed manual (or one that can be printed).  With the printed manual, you can thumb through the pages, and if it's well written, there will be a picture of it in the manual."

It would be nice, though things do change a bit with each new version as you know. A search of "how to use Windows 10" looks pretty good to me. One might gather, file & even print tidbits as one encounters them. But even that may not be fully up-to-date, I'm sure you know. Teach those newbies how to make & restore a system image backup for sure. And have them backup important downloads & user files separately as well, in case a clean install becomes necessary.

(2) "Gpedit is a standalone program, or was, so you could copy it from one machine to another and it would work.  I used to do it in Vista and W7, but I've not needed to do it in W10."

Right, it isn't part of Home edition, & I chose not to go get it. I'm sure it could be useful, but I've also read it won't turn a Home edition into a Pro edition. That is, you can duplicate Pro registry settings -- but Home will ignore them anyway. These days, I'd rather just use "START, Settings" & let it do as it will in the registry.

(3) "Type 'Workgroup' into Search, & select 'Change Workgroup name'.

I clipped the rest of the instructions, I've known how to do that for years.  I had to change the Mac to the same workgroup for it to share files."

Ah, I thought there could be something relevant in there. But I see you've been there before. So, maybe try that FDResPub thing in that 18-page thread. I think it's still active. Post into it, if necessary.

(4) "Rethinking the deprecation File History, maybe they already reversed that decision.  Otherwise, why would the go to the effort to incorporate it into Settings?"

I will sorely miss Backup & Restore if/when they take it away again. (It was gone in Win 8, which I never had). But I do have DiscWizard for that eventuality. It's just that I've never done a restore with it, not sure how smoothly it would go. Backup & Restore was quick & easy that one time I did a restore with it. And it alone will fill the Previous Versions tab of a folder's Properties.

(5) "That may be an erroneous conclusion.  I have a tutoring client that had the same thing happen.  There's no  way should would  have had a clue to look for a solution.  And then, one day it just reappeared on its own."

She lost her Sleep mode? In her case, I guess the display driver automatically updated. Then, Windows "started" it, & all was well. But my driver is fully updated, & Core Isolation/Memory Integrity still doesn't like it. Actually, the driver did update when I later clicked for it in Device Manager -- but it wasn't good enough. I'll continue to look for updates, but have little hope. I've  looked for it at the Dell & Intel sites. But I can do without that feature.

(6) "I can't turn my Core Isolation on either.  And I have 8 drivers listed.  My sleep option never disappeard, so I had no reason to look into it."

I guess none of the eight is your display driver. I think that's the one that takes out Sleep mode when it won't "start".

(7) "It's showing the same driver twice I guess because I tried to turn it on twice. I'm resigned to doing without it. Windows Defender still provides plenty of other protections.

I wonder if the driver is installed twice..."

I had the same suspicion, but did check. DriverView & MSInfo32 show it only once.

(1) "IMO, this is a problem if you want to get really competent in using W10  By the time you have something under your control, they change it, and force it you. This can lower your efficiency in an office/business environment."

That's right. I like things to remain as they are, but they've moved certain settings to different screens. Control Panel stuff is getting put into the "START, Settings" screens. OTOH, they did make things easier by putting most settings into the Search bar & into Cortana for the asking. That was good. Also, it seems most/all the old apps are still here too, such as Backup & Restore.

I've read that MS's goal it to remove the efficient to use Control Panel in favor of the wastefull Settings.  But the Search isn't that good, unless you pretty much know what you need to type.  I was going to give a specific example, but I always double check, and they fixed that example

Everyone is enamored of online help.  But if I lose the internet for 3 days, where's my help with I need it?

Check out this item:  https://www.formgraphicsinc.com/wp-content/uploads/item-1320-blank.jpg  2 commone words for this are bucket and pail.  If I'm looking for this in your help file, you call it a bucket, and I search for pail, it will not come up in a search.

The above two examples are why help files should be on the computer, and you need a printed manual (or one that can be printed).  With the printed manual, you can thumb through the pages, and if it's well written, there will be a picture of it in the manual.

But I think it was the removal of Homegroups that possibly accidentally resulted in the network sharing problem you face. I never used Homegroups that I'm aware of. I can't find it anywhere now, but I do believe I'd seen it in earlier versions of Windows. Looks like I'm in a Workgroup now & that I cannot join a Domain because mine is Home Edition (I guess)...

Homegroups isn't the problem, it was thee in W7.  But Homegroups suffered from, I guess, poor planning and design.  It only worked with W7 and W8.  It required the home user to know 2 things:  the value of a network and file management.  And from what I see, they no nothing about either, and usually don't want to know.

Poorer networking options are a part of Home edition jave a copy of gpedit.msc included?  That's the group policy editor.  I'm thinking that between it and service.msc you might have an option or two.  Gpedit is a standalone program, or was, so you could copy it from one machine to another and it would work.  I used to do it in Vista and W7, but I've not needed to do it in W10.

(a) Type "Workgroup" into Search, & select "Change Workgroup name".

I clipped the rest of the instructions, I've known how to do that for years.  I had to change the Mac to the same workgroup for it to share files.

I don't actually care much about any of that. I've only got this one computer, & I'd move files from one to the other using a USB drive, anyhow. But I do appreciate the capability (provided I wouldn't also suffer your problem).

I've got too many systems to make the USB idea efficient.  Amd NAS cold be a workable solution.  I've looked into small capacity ones, as my needs are generally not that great.

Rethinking the deprecation File History, maybe they already reversed that decision.  Otherwise, why would the go to the effort to incorporate it into Settings?

(2)

(a) "Did you check the Power Options in the Control Panel?  I also turn on the Hibernate power option there."

I did indeed look there. Hibernate was fine, but the word "Sleep" no longer appeared. It wasn't just shaded -- it was gone! It appears Sleep mode is provided by my Intel(R) HD Graphics Family driver, & that Windows will only put it into menus & settings screens when it exists. That driver was installed & fully up-to-date, but there was a message in Device Manager (and occasionally at boot) that stated Windows would not start it due to compatibility problems. It didn't say so, but the incompatibility was with Windows Defender's Core Protection/Memory Integrity feature. Once I turned that off, a reboot was all that was necessary for the driver to "start". And all is back to normal.

That may be an erroneous conclusion.  I have a tutoring client that had the same thing happen.  There's no  way should would  have had a clue to look for a solution.  And then, one day it just reappeared on its own.

(b) "Out of curiosity, have you tried turning it back on to see if there is/was a driver update that solved the problem?"

Yep, this is thrown into Action Center, at "Defender, Device Security, Core Isolation details" when I try to switch on Memory Integrity...

I can't turn my Core Isolation on either.  And I have 8 drivers listed.  My sleep option never disappeard, so I had no reason to look into it.

Did you check the Intel website for newer drivers that what is available with the usual upgrade system?

It's showing the same driver twice I guess because I tried to turn it on twice. I'm resigned to doing without it. Windows Defender still provides plenty of other protections.

I wonder if the driver is installed twice...

(1) "IMO, this is a problem if you want to get really competent in using W10  By the time you have something under your control, they change it, and force it you. This can lower your efficiency in an office/business environment."

That's right. I like things to remain as they are, but they've moved certain settings to different screens. Control Panel stuff is getting put into the "START, Settings" screens. OTOH, they did make things easier by putting most settings into the Search bar & into Cortana for the asking. That was good. Also, it seems most/all the old apps are still here too, such as Backup & Restore.

But I think it was the removal of Homegroups that possibly accidentally resulted in the network sharing problem you face. I never used Homegroups that I'm aware of. I can't find it anywhere now, but I do believe I'd seen it in earlier versions of Windows. Looks like I'm in a Workgroup now & that I cannot join a Domain because mine is Home Edition (I guess)...

(a) Type "Workgroup" into Search, & select "Change Workgroup name".

     A System Properties requestor opens at the Computer Name tab.

(b) Click the "Change" button in the System Properties requestor.

     The "Computer Name/Domain Changes" requestor opens...

I don't actually care much about any of that. I've only got this one computer, & I'd move files from one to the other using a USB drive, anyhow. But I do appreciate the capability (provided I wouldn't also suffer your problem).

(2)

(a) "Did you check the Power Options in the Control Panel?  I also turn on the Hibernate power option there."

I did indeed look there. Hibernate was fine, but the word "Sleep" no longer appeared. It wasn't just shaded -- it was gone! It appears Sleep mode is provided by my Intel(R) HD Graphics Family driver, & that Windows will only put it into menus & settings screens when it exists. That driver was installed & fully up-to-date, but there was a message in Device Manager (and occasionally at boot) that stated Windows would not start it due to compatibility problems. It didn't say so, but the incompatibility was with Windows Defender's Core Protection/Memory Integrity feature. Once I turned that off, a reboot was all that was necessary for the driver to "start". And all is back to normal.

(b) "Out of curiosity, have you tried turning it back on to see if there is/was a driver update that solved the problem?"

Yep, this is thrown into Action Center, at "Defender, Device Security, Core Isolation details" when I try to switch on Memory Integrity...

...

Then the Defender settings screen shows...

It's showing the same driver twice I guess because I tried to turn it on twice. I'm resigned to doing without it. Windows Defender still provides plenty of other protections.