Munx wrote on 2026-06-28, 09:31:

I keep having to choose to boot Win10 instead of Manjaro because some of my games still need Windows. And to this day I keep getting these stupid ads that all want my data and card number with no option for "NO, DO NOT ASK EVER AGAIN" - I have to actually ctrl-alt-del and reboot to avoid interacting with it. Having to use W11 at work I know that it will get even worse, so Windows 10 it will stay for as long as it functions.

Settings>System>Notifications>Additional Settings>Uncheck 'Get tips and suggestions when using Windows'

I get that it shouldn't exist to begin with, and it's easy to complain about it. But it's not rocket science to disable it.

gerry wrote on 2026-06-29, 15:03:

Such a different feel to back in dos/win3.1win95/98/me/2000/xp days

Software updates back then seemed like something to look forward to, now it's something to dread.

Or it's all just rosy retrospection.

I never looked forward to them. I always turned them off as soon as possible because they always took forever to install, failed to install about half the time, and inevitably made the system worse.

UCyborg wrote on 2026-06-29, 18:32:

gerry wrote on 2026-06-29, 15:03:

Such a different feel to back in dos/win3.1win95/98/me/2000/xp days

Software updates back then seemed like something to look forward to, now it's something to dread.

Or it's all just rosy retrospection.

There were literally people camping with lines around the block for windows 95.

Most people had to be tricked into 10, and 11.

I wish I would have purchased more Nvme ssd when’s they were cheap.
I put it off thinking I could always buy later but now the prices are ridiculous .

They'll crash when the bubble pops.

Memory is highly boom bust. It was only 3 years ago they were struggling to stay afloat

When I bought a USB floppy drive at a thrift store a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised that it worked with no issue with my Win10 computer. I could open and edit files on floppy disks, make BIOS update disks, driver disks, etc. But I recently plugged it in to my main computer (first time in probably a year, maybe less) and it will no longer open a floppy disk (it appears in This PC but gives an error when you try to open a disk). I tested it in a WinXP machine, the drive still works fine, this a Win10 issue.

IIRC the driver was removed - probably around the same time as AGP ~16h2

Try extracting all the infs from an old version and cmd: 'find /i "floppy" *.inf'
Compare to current inf folder

If there's a difference pull the mentioned files from the old version and try "updating the driver"

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:07:

When I bought a USB floppy drive at a thrift store a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised that it worked with no issue with my Win10 computer. I could open and edit files on floppy disks, make BIOS update disks, driver disks, etc. But I recently plugged it in to my main computer (first time in probably a year, maybe less) and it will no longer open a floppy disk (it appears in This PC but gives an error when you try to open a disk). I tested it in a WinXP machine, the drive still works fine, this a Win10 issue.

myne wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:09:

IIRC the driver was removed - probably around the same time as AGP ~16h2

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems.

I regularly use USB floppy drives on my Windows 10 22H2 system to read 1.44MB and 720K disks and I have never had a problem that wasn't related to the drive itself going bad.

I even just tested a USB floppy on the sole Windows 11 system in my house and it works perfectly in Windows 11 24H2. This is only ever used as a Minecraft server and I am 100% sure this system has never had a floppy drive connected to it previously, so it isn't a matter of me having set something up already.

EDIT: Photo for proof.

Fairynuff
Try that modern replacement for SFC /scannow. Maybe it's broken in the traditional way

I find windows 11 on Haswell chipset is better than windows 10 especially iGPU reliability even with windows 10 drivers.
Don't care if my PC is unsupported by Microsoft I learned to use it anyway and I've never needed Microsoft support anyhow since windows 95 .
I’ve learned the ways of unattended install windows 11 has minimal bloat on my machine as was windows 10.
Goodbye windows 10 like most you were hated on release and missed on expiry.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:21:

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems. […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:07:

When I bought a USB floppy drive at a thrift store a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised that it worked with no issue with my Win10 computer. I could open and edit files on floppy disks, make BIOS update disks, driver disks, etc. But I recently plugged it in to my main computer (first time in probably a year, maybe less) and it will no longer open a floppy disk (it appears in This PC but gives an error when you try to open a disk). I tested it in a WinXP machine, the drive still works fine, this a Win10 issue.

myne wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:09:

IIRC the driver was removed - probably around the same time as AGP ~16h2

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems.

I regularly use USB floppy drives on my Windows 10 22H2 system to read 1.44MB and 720K disks and I have never had a problem that wasn't related to the drive itself going bad.

I even just tested a USB floppy on the sole Windows 11 system in my house and it works perfectly in Windows 11 24H2. This is only ever used as a Minecraft server and I am 100% sure this system has never had a floppy drive connected to it previously, so it isn't a matter of me having set something up already.

EDIT: Photo for proof.

The attachment 20260702_002321.jpg is no longer available

Not being aware that this was suddenly an issue my first clue was plugging my USB floppy in with a disk loaded and running Install.bat for Memtest86 1.70 and I was greeted with "Unsupported application." Then I tried opening the drive itself.

I'm not too worried about fixing it, my plan is to install a new drive and move to Win11 fairly soon, but it was annoying all the same.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 18:41:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:21:

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems. […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:07:

When I bought a USB floppy drive at a thrift store a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised that it worked with no issue with my Win10 computer. I could open and edit files on floppy disks, make BIOS update disks, driver disks, etc. But I recently plugged it in to my main computer (first time in probably a year, maybe less) and it will no longer open a floppy disk (it appears in This PC but gives an error when you try to open a disk). I tested it in a WinXP machine, the drive still works fine, this a Win10 issue.

myne wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:09:

IIRC the driver was removed - probably around the same time as AGP ~16h2

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems.

I regularly use USB floppy drives on my Windows 10 22H2 system to read 1.44MB and 720K disks and I have never had a problem that wasn't related to the drive itself going bad.

I even just tested a USB floppy on the sole Windows 11 system in my house and it works perfectly in Windows 11 24H2. This is only ever used as a Minecraft server and I am 100% sure this system has never had a floppy drive connected to it previously, so it isn't a matter of me having set something up already.

EDIT: Photo for proof.

The attachment 20260702_002321.jpg is no longer available

Not being aware that this was suddenly an issue my first clue was plugging my USB floppy in with a disk loaded and running Install.bat for Memtest86 1.70 and I was greeted with "Unsupported application." Then I tried opening the drive itself.

I'm not too worried about fixing it, my plan is to install a new drive and move to Win11 fairly soon, but it was annoying all the same.

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like it says. The memtest floppy installer you're using is from 2007 (I found it in your post here). It uses a 16bit DOS rawrite application from 1999 to write the memtest image to a floppy disk. It cannot work in Windows x64 without using something like DOSBox. It hasn't even gotten to the point of being able to access the drive when this message pops up.

Have you tried just inserting different floppies with different contents on them to see if they will read?

Whenever I see that message it is usually because the drive or disk is dirty or defective. You said the drive works on another system, so it is certainly possible that something else is going on, but I'd make sure that your disks are readable first. Either way, it isn't intended behavior for Windows 10 or 11.

It's possible that the floppy driver has been broken and needs repaired, the registry has had some kind of issue that prevents floppies from working or there is some third party software\antivirus getting in the way. Also, try different USB ports (2.0, 3.0, 3.1, etc.), just in case there is something going on there.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 19:52:

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 18:41:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 04:21:

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems. […]
Show full quote

Weird. I've never had a problem using USB floppy drives on modern Windows systems.

I regularly use USB floppy drives on my Windows 10 22H2 system to read 1.44MB and 720K disks and I have never had a problem that wasn't related to the drive itself going bad.

I even just tested a USB floppy on the sole Windows 11 system in my house and it works perfectly in Windows 11 24H2. This is only ever used as a Minecraft server and I am 100% sure this system has never had a floppy drive connected to it previously, so it isn't a matter of me having set something up already.

EDIT: Photo for proof.

The attachment 20260702_002321.jpg is no longer available

Not being aware that this was suddenly an issue my first clue was plugging my USB floppy in with a disk loaded and running Install.bat for Memtest86 1.70 and I was greeted with "Unsupported application." Then I tried opening the drive itself.

I'm not too worried about fixing it, my plan is to install a new drive and move to Win11 fairly soon, but it was annoying all the same.

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like it says. The memtest floppy installer you're using is from 2007 (I found it in your post here). It uses a 16bit DOS rawrite application from 1999 to write the memtest image to a floppy disk. It cannot work in Windows x64 without using something like DOSBox. It hasn't even gotten to the point of being able to access the drive when this message pops up.

Have you tried just inserting different floppies with different contents on them to see if they will read?

Whenever I see that message it is usually because the drive or disk is dirty or defective. You said the drive works on another system, so it is certainly possible that something else is going on, but I'd make sure that your disks are readable first. Either way, it isn't intended behavior for Windows 10 or 11.

It's possible that the floppy driver has been broken and needs repaired, the registry has had some kind of issue that prevents floppies from working or there is some third party software\antivirus getting in the way. Also, try different USB ports (2.0, 3.0, 3.1, etc.), just in case there is something going on there.

You are correct - I misremembered being able to format a floppy with Memtest86 for being able to write a drdflash.exe boot floppy image. And I tried that, it worked fine, and it was able to read the disk after. The confusion was that the disk it refused to read was one that I had pulled fresh from another machine that was running Memtest (and when I put it back it still worked fine), so I guess it was just an incompatibility between the two drives. Nevermind.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 20:09:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 19:52:

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 18:41:

Not being aware that this was suddenly an issue my first clue was plugging my USB floppy in with a disk loaded and running Install.bat for Memtest86 1.70 and I was greeted with "Unsupported application." Then I tried opening the drive itself.

I'm not too worried about fixing it, my plan is to install a new drive and move to Win11 fairly soon, but it was annoying all the same.

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like it says. The memtest floppy installer you're using is from 2007 (I found it in your post here). It uses a 16bit DOS rawrite application from 1999 to write the memtest image to a floppy disk. It cannot work in Windows x64 without using something like DOSBox. It hasn't even gotten to the point of being able to access the drive when this message pops up.

Have you tried just inserting different floppies with different contents on them to see if they will read?

Whenever I see that message it is usually because the drive or disk is dirty or defective. You said the drive works on another system, so it is certainly possible that something else is going on, but I'd make sure that your disks are readable first. Either way, it isn't intended behavior for Windows 10 or 11.

It's possible that the floppy driver has been broken and needs repaired, the registry has had some kind of issue that prevents floppies from working or there is some third party software\antivirus getting in the way. Also, try different USB ports (2.0, 3.0, 3.1, etc.), just in case there is something going on there.

You are correct - I misremembered being able to format a floppy with Memtest86 for being able to write a drdflash.exe boot floppy image. And I tried that, it worked fine, and it was able to read the disk after. The confusion was that the disk it refused to read was one that I had pulled fresh from another machine that was running Memtest (and when I put it back it still worked fine), so I guess it was just an incompatibility between the two drives. Nevermind.

Glad to hear everything is working afterall!

With regard to the floppy that wasn't working, the memtest setup message in your screenshot does say "Note: You will not be able to read from the floppy after the test is installed. This is normal." . Since it is bootable and works outside of DOS, this is understandable. Most likely an unconditional format using the command line will still be able to reformat the disk. Without that it won't be readable because it isn't currently FAT formatted to be read in DOS (or Windows). It sounds like all of this is intended behavior.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 21:07:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-07-02, 20:09:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-07-02, 19:52:

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like […]
Show full quote

The unsupported application message says that rawrite.exe is a 16bit DOS application so it cannot run under 64bit Windows, like it says. The memtest floppy installer you're using is from 2007 (I found it in your post here). It uses a 16bit DOS rawrite application from 1999 to write the memtest image to a floppy disk. It cannot work in Windows x64 without using something like DOSBox. It hasn't even gotten to the point of being able to access the drive when this message pops up.

Have you tried just inserting different floppies with different contents on them to see if they will read?

Whenever I see that message it is usually because the drive or disk is dirty or defective. You said the drive works on another system, so it is certainly possible that something else is going on, but I'd make sure that your disks are readable first. Either way, it isn't intended behavior for Windows 10 or 11.

It's possible that the floppy driver has been broken and needs repaired, the registry has had some kind of issue that prevents floppies from working or there is some third party software\antivirus getting in the way. Also, try different USB ports (2.0, 3.0, 3.1, etc.), just in case there is something going on there.

You are correct - I misremembered being able to format a floppy with Memtest86 for being able to write a drdflash.exe boot floppy image. And I tried that, it worked fine, and it was able to read the disk after. The confusion was that the disk it refused to read was one that I had pulled fresh from another machine that was running Memtest (and when I put it back it still worked fine), so I guess it was just an incompatibility between the two drives. Nevermind.

Glad to hear everything is working afterall!

With regard to the floppy that wasn't working, the memtest setup message in your screenshot does say "Note: You will not be able to read from the floppy after the test is installed. This is normal." . Since it is bootable and works outside of DOS, this is understandable. Most likely an unconditional format using the command line will still be able to reformat the disk. Without that it won't be readable because it isn't currently FAT formatted to be read in DOS (or Windows). It sounds like all of this is intended behavior.

Yep , it tells you that every time you make an image of it, but I forgot.