KSP in Win 10? Does it work?

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

It's running fine on my windows 10. No problems at all.

[mythic_fci]

It works on Win10 just fine. However, I still prefer Win7 due to its reliability and stability - Microsoft should've just reskinned Win7 with a Win8-esque skin, fixed a few bugs, then released it as an upgrade for Win7. It'd be a winning OS.

[superm18]

One word, to prevent all this Windows-looking-over-your-shoulder and access to ALL functions and settings.....GodMode.

Activating it is easy: Just create a new folder and rename it to following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Have fun

[Corw]

Blindly trust a software vendor like M$ not to break my stuff? Install updates without reading patch notes and bug reports? *shudder*

I'll just go hide somewhere for a while.

It worked so far. If it didn't, I wouldn't be using it. If I had to spend that much effort in order to browse internet and play games on my home machine that is not work related and has nothing important on it, I would either find a platform that does not break like that or I would disable updates completely. It is just another appliance, not meaning of my life and most cherished possession.

[cantab]

One word, to prevent all this Windows-looking-over-your-shoulder and access to ALL functions and settings.....GodMode.

Activating it is easy: Just create a new folder and rename it to following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Have fun

This doesn't add any extra capabilities or options. It just gives you an alternative interface to the Control Panel.

[StarStreak2109]

This doesn't add any extra capabilities or options. It just gives you an alternative interface to the Control Panel.

No, but it is useful nonetheless...

[Xavven]

Trust me, if an exploit exists, and is reported at all (say, at the NVD or such), the blackhats have been using it for the past six months to fifteen years already. Microsoft rarely, and I mean RARELY, issues 0-day patches. I always review my own patches, and the last time I saw a solo 'a security issue has been identified...' type patch was ... last year sometime? Yet, every month, I see a whole slew of important "a security issue has been identified..." updates waiting. Often of fairly serious flaws. Fortunately, my personal equipment is all secured from any possible remote-side-initiated remote access via a hardware firewall, so my own personal concern is rather minimal. Having to deal with that in the field is incredibly obnoxious.

Yeah, out of band patches are pretty rare. Re-reading your previous post about the monthly patch cycle and firewalls and such, I'm not sure whether you're arguing that Windows is insecure and we should all move to Linux, or if it doesn't matter because of firewalls. My position is simply that zero day patches are released out of band for a reason (they're more urgent) so we mirror that level of urgency. I'd rather suffer a reboot than get compromised.

That said, plenty of vulnerabilities are actually server side. No end-user was safe from Heartbleed or Logjam (just a couple examples but there are MANY more) no matter what OS they were running, Debian, Windows, or OS X.

I remember this patch; it made my test box reboot. *cough*

So far I've noticed no appreciable difference between Win 7 and Win 10 in that regard, but my computer did not force a reboot while I was using it or cause data loss. There's also a Group Policy setting to prevent reboots if it's a big issue (we use this on an entire department that's reboot averse). http://serverfault.com/questions/449021/how-do-i-disable-restart-your-computer-to-finish-installing-updates-popup-with

'Enterprise' usually means 'overpriced junk with extremely high TCO that interferes with productivity' in my experience. It's an almost as bad tag as "Pro". Is there anything in specific you're looking for, by the way? I might know some software you could investigate - although I've never found an actual need in a corporate environment that can't be solved by basic e-mail, an XMPP chat/conferece program, Mediawiki, and users that have more than forty IQ.

By "Enterprise" I mean that, for example, licensing is handled by a server, like KMS or Flex_LM. Or, it could mean that there's reporting to a central location (an enterprise level antivirus aggregates virus reports from multiple computers and sends it to the technician instead of the user). Or it could mean it has central management tools in it that makes IT support more efficient, like the ability to manage user access, reset passwords, and set policy. By the way, Apple is terrible at considering Enterprise level needs, but we support them anyway because end-users want it and/or need it, and Macs cost us three times as much (in technician time) to support.

So for us, TCO goes down for many enterprise products if the volume is high enough. We support 3000 users and it's about to double to 6000, so the volume is high enough. But you make a good point that not everything has to be enterprise level, depending on the features and the size of the user base.

Also watch out when users start crying about 'need'. You should see some of the art created in Blender. Those people didn't NEED Maya. I get by just fine with GIMP and Bibble Labs, I don't need Photoshop or Lightroom or such.

This is totally the difference between corporate IT and higher-education IT. At a university, the IT department has WAY less weight to throw around. Faculty members are like gods (that, or babies that you have to coddle). It's maddening, but you definitely see an adjustment period for technicians we hire that are not used to this environment. And sometimes end-users have to interface with external constituents that can force them to buy the prevailing industry standard. We have one department that just had to lay down $17,000 PER YEAR for Adobe products even though technicallyalternatives exist, because they have to send those files to another company.

I don't do end user support, not even in my networking/administration roles, so I can't comment on your staff problems. What do you do when they're using XP, which is no longer supported even remotely? Even XP server (Server 2003) is retired at this point. Moving 'em to 7/8/10 will give 'em as much OS shock as RHEL (rather bland, and I've always hated the RPM system), Debian (much better from an admin view, although not the friendliest desktop environment), Mint(now we're talking desktop environment, although not the greatest back end), Ubuntu(it's like a Mac, only not $7,200), etc.

Really though, people who suffer from that sort of OS shock probably need to be locked down completely, or else they've probably already imported nasty MS-compatible malware into your organization.

I've worked for, around, and with big business for a long time(mostly US companies, we don't seem to do big business in Canada anymore), and I don't think I've ever seen anybody have their technical needs defined as 'whatever the end user is comfortable with'...and certainly never seen OS X permitted anywhere.

Again, here's a difference between corporate and higher-education. Mac OS X is not only permitted, but it's rampant. Yes, we do have to haul users onto a new OS that has a different interface when the vendor drops support for old ones, and for some of them it's dragging them kicking and screaming. We avoided upgrading anyone to Windows 8 because of this consideration. Office 2007 (not an OS obviously) was probably the worst upgrade that I can remember because of the ribbon interface.

But it's not just the OS shock, it's the applications, specifically their associated vendor support. I can't move an Engineering department from Windows to RHEL (I only say RHEL because we license for it, but the example works for Debian too) if, for example, they need "Engineering Equation Solver" because it's Windows-only. If the application misbehaves under Linux in any way that the technician can't solve efficiently, we can't go to the vendor and ask them to fix it -- they'll just tell us we're running the application in an unsupported way. I realize that many IT people don't find this to be a big consideration, but it becomes a big consideration as your user base increases into the 1000's.

[Xavven]

You, in fact, don't. That driver update disabling is ignored.

Ouch... You're totally right. I just tested this on a Latitude E7440's integrated graphics, and Windows Update downloaded a driver for it despite that setting. Have to thwack Microsoft for that one. Hope they fix it soon. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who hasn't experienced any negative effects yet, but there are plenty of posts online of, for example, and audio driver from Windows Update ending with a crash on Windows 10.

[Johnny Wishbone]

For those of you choosing to stay on Windows 7 due to the various privacy/spyware issues in Windows 10, please be aware that Microsoft has been secretly adding all the same spyware into Windows 7 since April 2015. They have been disguising them as "security updates" with no relevant description other than "This update provides security updates and enhancements to Windows." Searching the internet will provide many links and articles detailing all the various KB's involved. For example :

------------------

The updates in question are KB3075249 and KB3080149. If installed, these updates are known to report your data back to Microsoft servers, without user interaction. KB3075249 Microsoft Update adds telemetry points to "consent.exe" in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, allowing for remote monitoring of everything that happens within the operating system. KB3080149 ensures that all "down-level devices" receive the same updates and treatment as Windows 10 boxes get.

------------------

Additionally, watch out for the following KBs:

KB2505438

KB2670838 – Windows 7 Only (breaks AERO functionality and gives you blurry fonts on some websites)

KB2952664

KB2976978 – Windows 8 only

KB3021917

KB3035583

KB3075249

The good news is that, for the most part, these KB's have all been "optional" installs, so even if you've been patching your boxes, there's a good chance you don't have them unless you've been selecting everything to install/update.

Back on topic, though, I can also confirm that KSP plays fine on Windows 10; at least for the two weeks that I tried out Windows 10 on one of my test boxes before I s**tcanned it because it sucks (my personal opinion, your mileage may vary).

[Alshain]

Why not just flick the big switch marked "defer updates"? Delays updates upto 2 months iirc. Can't remember for sure though since I'm in the fast ring and actually a couple of windows versions ahead of the consumer ring right now...

That doesn't work either. I had it turned on when it downloaded the driver update. (But that is only available to Pro users anyway)

[Renegrade]

Re-reading your previous post about the monthly patch cycle and firewalls and such, I'm not sure whether you're arguing that Windows is insecure and we should all move to Linux, or if it doesn't matter because of firewalls.

In a word: yes (or say.. 'both'). The presence of firewalls (especially at a personal level, where the LAN is enormously more secure) negates much of the need. However, switching platforms would get rid of the issue 99% of the time (only kernel patches need reboots). Having/doing both is even better. Defense in depth!

(when 7 is retired and I finally switch over to a Linux desktop at home, I'm going to have both then universally. Right now, just my home servers are Linux-based)

My position is simply that zero day patches are released out of band for a reason (they're more urgent) so we mirror that level of urgency. I'd rather suffer a reboot than get compromised.

Given those two and only those two options, I'd pick the same way. I'd want a third option though. A reboot could involve data loss, and there's no guarantee that the patch didn't cause more problems than it solved (MS15-097 for example; I hope nothing I use is impacted by this one..sigh)

By "Enterprise" I mean that, for example, licensing is handled by a server, like KMS or Flex_LM.

I don't think I need a server to tell me that GPL or modern BSD or CC or Apache licenses are all currently valid and will remain so forever.

Anyhow, I've found that a lot of these "Enterprise" solutions end up happening kinda like this: You get an "enterprise" class AV, and it takes just as many man hours to handle as "non-enterprise" software, as the damn thing breaks down, refuses connection to the master server(s), and you have to dispatch technicians to work on every workstation to install some last-second hacked-together patch from the so-called 'vendor' (I'm not specifically referring to Symantec *cough*). Thankfully that was a big "SEP" there, although it was rather amusing when the technician tried to install it on my Debian workstation of the time.

By the way, Apple is terrible at considering Enterprise level needs, but we support them anyway because end-users want it and/or need it, and Macs cost us three times as much (in technician time) to support.

I always suspected that would be the case heh.

This is totally the difference between corporate IT and higher-education IT. At a university, the IT department has WAY less weight to throw around. Faculty members are like gods (that, or babies that you have to coddle). It's maddening, but you definitely see an adjustment period for technicians we hire that are not used to this environment. And sometimes end-users have to interface with external constituents that can force them to buy the prevailing industry standard. We have one department that just had to lay down $17,000 PER YEAR for Adobe products even though technicallyalternatives exist, because they have to send those files to another company.

Again, here's a difference between corporate and higher-education. Mac OS X is not only permitted, but it's rampant. Yes, we do have to haul users onto a new OS that has a different interface when the vendor drops support for old ones, and for some of them it's dragging them kicking and screaming. We avoided upgrading anyone to Windows 8 because of this consideration. Office 2007 (not an OS obviously) was probably the worst upgrade that I can remember because of the ribbon interface.

Okay, you definitely live in a terrifying world. :S

If I ever get a job to directly work for an academic institution, I think I'll pass. :S I've worked indirectly for such organizations before (their IT departments were customers of ours, I went to school in the long-ago, etc), but I've never been exposed to the internals.

I had a brief thought after reading the above that I might actually qualify as one of those coddled baby-gods..but then I realized that in all of my programmer roles, I also performed my own IT duties heh. Most of the places simply offered up a beige box and a DHCP lease and the rest was up to me (if I declined the XP-running-IE6 corporate special heh).

[PB666]

That isn't so much a big deal. It has accounts, like an iPhone or a Android phone and you have to log in to use Apps from the store. There are usage statistics and such but they are optional (however they are on by default and you have to search to figure out how to turn them off).

My big issue is that Windows updates are forced. That in itself wouldn't be a big deal, but so are driver upgrades. Nvidia put out some really crappy drivers that caused certain games like Elite: Dangerous to crash. If you uninstall them and try to install the old ones, Windows Update decides it knows better than you and installs the new ones anyway. So then they provided a way to turn that off, via a separate downloadable program rather than built in, and it doesn't work. In the end, it is a bigger headache that it is worth if you are using Windows 7. If you are using Window 8, why haven't you upgraded yet?

Windows 7 is the ultimate Windows operating system, in Microsoft's efforts to do better they continually fail.

Alright fine how do I install it, I have windows 7 on my system now, I am going to give this one to my wife, my new system needs an OS, The dual boot 10, ubuntu didn't work apparently it does not recognize a win10 partition, and it looks like my old SSD is starting to get glitchy. How can I pick myself up a OEM version of 7??????????????

Am I going to be able to live with linux, aarg, someone convince me that life without windows is possible. lol. Oh bill, where are you when I need you, off selling drug coolers in Africa, what happened to the programmers/diy paradise you created, its falling into the device black hole. Ever since that melinda woman came along things haven't been the same. lol. look linux is trying to steal your old girlfriend, the clone, shes straying.

[Xavven]

Alright fine how do I install it, I have windows 7 on my system now, I am going to give this one to my wife, my new system needs an OS, The dual boot 10, ubuntu didn't work apparently it does not recognize a win10 partition, and it looks like my old SSD is starting to get glitchy. How can I pick myself up a OEM version of 7??????????????

Am I going to be able to live with linux, aarg, someone convince me that life without windows is possible. lol. Oh bill, where are you when I need you, off selling drug coolers in Africa, what happened to the programmers/diy paradise you created, its falling into the device black hole. Ever since that melinda woman came along things haven't been the same. lol. look linux is trying to steal your old girlfriend, the clone, shes straying.

Depends on what you're using it for. KSP runs fine in Linux, and so do the basics like web browsing, email, multimedia, etc.

Personally, I own and play a lot of PC games, though, and nothing runs them easier than Windows. I even support computers for a living and I don't think it's worth the effort to tinker with my PC games on Linux. Then again, I've met a serious gamer who swears by Mac OS X as his platform, so stranger things have happened. If you go with Linux, be prepared to put some work into getting some games to function properly, and even then you may run into strange problems. I once had a font issue, of all things, on a popular MMORPG.

- - - Updated - - -

In a word: yes (or say.. 'both'). The presence of firewalls (especially at a personal level, where the LAN is enormously more secure) negates much of the need. However, switching platforms would get rid of the issue 99% of the time (only kernel patches need reboots). Having/doing both is even better. Defense in depth!

(when 7 is retired and I finally switch over to a Linux desktop at home, I'm going to have both then universally. Right now, just my home servers are Linux-based)

Given those two and only those two options, I'd pick the same way. I'd want a third option though. A reboot could involve data loss, and there's no guarantee that the patch didn't cause more problems than it solved (MS15-097 for example; I hope nothing I use is impacted by this one..sigh)

I don't think I need a server to tell me that GPL or modern BSD or CC or Apache licenses are all currently valid and will remain so forever.

Anyhow, I've found that a lot of these "Enterprise" solutions end up happening kinda like this: You get an "enterprise" class AV, and it takes just as many man hours to handle as "non-enterprise" software, as the damn thing breaks down, refuses connection to the master server(s), and you have to dispatch technicians to work on every workstation to install some last-second hacked-together patch from the so-called 'vendor' (I'm not specifically referring to Symantec *cough*). Thankfully that was a big "SEP" there, although it was rather amusing when the technician tried to install it on my Debian workstation of the time.

I always suspected that would be the case heh.

Okay, you definitely live in a terrifying world. :S

If I ever get a job to directly work for an academic institution, I think I'll pass. :S I've worked indirectly for such organizations before (their IT departments were customers of ours, I went to school in the long-ago, etc), but I've never been exposed to the internals.

I had a brief thought after reading the above that I might actually qualify as one of those coddled baby-gods..but then I realized that in all of my programmer roles, I also performed my own IT duties heh. Most of the places simply offered up a beige box and a DHCP lease and the rest was up to me (if I declined the XP-running-IE6 corporate special heh).

LOL! Well not much more to say other than give a nod of respect to you, Renegrade. I do enjoy these types of debates (or else I wouldn't have gotten into IT in the first place) and it's good to meet someone else in the industry on the forums. Linux totally has its place and I enjoy working with it.

Oh, one last thing on the enterprise licensing servers... Sometimes we can save money using licensing servers if they release and share licenses between computers. We can have 100 machines, and if we know only 20 of them at any given moment are going to be running X application, but we don't know which ones, we can purchase a license agreement for "20 concurrent uses" and let the server reserve and release them on whichever computers are using them at that time. The overhead isn't worth it for one application, but when you have a lot of different apps and license agreements consolidated on one... you get the idea.

[Renegrade]

LOL! Well not much more to say other than give a nod of respect to you, Renegrade. I do enjoy these types of debates (or else I wouldn't have gotten into IT in the first place) and it's good to meet someone else in the industry on the forums.

Likewise! Although I'd say it's been especially interesting due to the fact that we're from somewhat different backgrounds (Academia vs Corporate, Desktop vs Back End, etc). Always interesting to see those differences. Like the concept of the coddled god-babies or having OS X machines around, etc. I'd not normally think about such things as they don't come up much/at all in my end of things.

[PB666]

Depends on what you're using it for. KSP runs fine in Linux, and so do the basics like web browsing, email, multimedia, etc.

Personally, I own and play a lot of PC games, though, and nothing runs them easier than Windows. I even support computers for a living and I don't think it's worth the effort to tinker with my PC games on Linux. Then again, I've met a serious gamer who swears by Mac OS X as his platform, so stranger things have happened. If you go with Linux, be prepared to put some work into getting some games to function properly, and even then you may run into strange problems. I once had a font issue, of all things, on a popular MMORPG.

Thanks for the reply, i guess im one of those god-babies, lol. Although i have to say that i built every single computer we've used since 1995 about 30 until Legal affairs said we could do it anymores, lol. I still manage to sneak in an upgrade, like a new Mb and cpu for an users RS232 direct machine system. IT came out and said no 7 on this. I told him it was a sleeper, so he tried it commented I don't kniw how you pulled a 3.1 ghz dual core system out of a 13 year old box. lol. Aftermarket upgrades, cost me 75 bucks. What he didn't see was that it had 2 RS232 ports and an internal RS232 pinout. When you are running machines off of PCs it pays to know the specs, this is something legal affairs doesn't get.

The decision is made, Windows on one drive which I will install later, Linux gets its own SSD and I will dual boot in the bois and get a shared data drive for the both of them. I don't play shoot em ups or arena games, did dabble in Wow for a couple, then i hit the wall of bordom during panderia and that was it. I like the quest and crafts, and raids, but the highest level quests became too too grindy, no intellectual stimulation.

Edited September 11, 2015 by PB666

[PB666]

I finally got KSP running in 10 and it is super slow, really super duper slow, like a tny rocket took 5 minutes to get to 1000 meters. Even the opening screens wer all laggy.

[Foxster]

I finally got KSP running in 10 and it is super slow, really super duper slow, like a tny rocket took 5 minutes to get to 1000 meters. Even the opening screens wer all laggy.

Are you still using the default graphics driver that Windows 10 uses after install? If so then get the latest Windows 10 driver for your graphics card.

[PB666]

Are you still using the default graphics driver that Windows 10 uses after install? If so then get the latest Windows 10 driver for your graphics card.

getting, the downloader is all glitched. . . .