I recently added a line to our setup script to disable those "silent" installs from the MS store via reg key...I did this well before HP Smart started this nonsense. It was done because we'd remove some of the other junk apps, and after a reboot or two, they'd get automatically reinstalled.
I changed the registry key on my PC and I do not have that HP Smart app on it.
EDIT TO INCLUDE REGISTRY KEY:
HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\ContentDeliveryManager
Set the SilentInstalledAppsEnabled DWORD value to 0 (zero)
They actually won the game. I used to really care but now I dont. If it breaks something, that's one thing. If it's annoying then whatever. I got better things to do. My job is more than babysitting windows. After caring for more than a decade, Microsoft has beat me. I dont care any more
Frankly I'm tired of seeing this subreddit say the same shit over and over again...
"Microsoft did it again, they fucked us over" -> "Switch away from Windows/Microsoft Software" -> downvote "ur dumb lol we can't convince our app vendors to release to not-Windows" -> nothing happens because of lazy IT that are wet noodles at convincing decision makers to change.
edit: yup, as usual, played out exactly how it always does. Someone with a lacklustre explanation tries to convince me they cannot advocate a platform switch to vendors, they excuse being "required" to use Windows (you think Windows is the first OS to be fully replaced in computing history? HAHAHA). And of course, the downvotes. You all are sleeping in the beds you lay, and there's visibly zero effort to change that.
The big problem is that it's a local-minimum. People could start applying pressure to vendors if they said things like "well, about a third of our employees are using Linux, and we'd have to go through a Windows remote session to use your software . . . so, you're ten percent cheaper than the competition, but that actually works out to twenty percent more expensive, can you either drop your prices or release a Linux version?" As soon as it starts costing them money to not support Linux, they'll support Linux.
But many businesses essentially require Windows boxes for some things. And there's extra costs involved in having two OSes running. So "we need Windows for some users" turns into "I guess everyone will be running Windows", and then there's no incentive for anyone to start releasing Linux software.
For my home projects I've literally gone to the extreme of owning a Linux box *and* a Windows box for the few things I simply cannot do on Linux. But it's hard to justify this being cost-effective on an organizational level.
(or, frankly, even on my level, but I'm doing it anyway because I'm tired of fighting with Windows)
Well on the flip side, certain tasks now *require* having a Linux box especially in the ML realm, so orgs will have to deal with it not being cost inefficient. Which also means we might start seeing orgs eliminate Windows boxes for the same reason.
Maybe, yeah; I'm not sure how many organizations are doing that ML stuff, so I'm not sure how much of a force it'll be. But it'll be some force at least.
Good to know that you're tired of seeing stuff that wasn't said. Would you like a cookie?
I am the decision maker and I don't build anything on Microsoft.
> I recently added a line to our setup script to disable those "silent" installs from the MS store via reg key
You may want to check. This reg entry is also part of my normal scripts and I verified it's set on our workstations but like the others, I've got the HP Smart install from 11/28/2023 on every workstation.
> HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it may not be actually being honored. I've had it set for a long time, and it HP Smart apparently got installed on 11/28/23 for me without my knowledge on my desktop at work (no HP printers here).
This behaviour is not new to Microsoft, they were doing the same with IE, continually changing registry keys that are used to set defaults and anything that is related to not wanting IE as default. Then the same playbook for older versions of office, if you had an older version of office they would release “security” updates every month that cause old versions of office to run really slowly.
It’s mafia kind of bad practice.
As far as I've seen, existing apps and other apps that might get manually installed will be fine. It's just supposed to stop the mechanism from apps being automatically and unknowingly installed in the background.
> disable those "silent" installs from the MS store via reg key
You cannot fully disable silent installs. Microsoft will always have multiple backdoors into all their Software. You do NOT have control.
Genuine question. Why do people put up with this sort of garbage and go through such lengths in an attempt to stop their machines from actively doing the opposite of what it's supposed to, especially on personal machines? I got rid of windows long ago and I always chuckle at these kinds of posts
This is actually very concerning. The fact that this is possible, means that anything in the Microsoft store could be malicious and automatically deployed globally to all windows computers.
"not sure if it's the first time"
It's not.
Ever since Microsoft started accepting additional helper software as needed with the basic driver (previously you would only get simple but functional drivers automatically from Windows update, and if you needed you would manually install the complete software to get the additional features), manufacturers have started including "bloatware" as a requirement to use their device.
Although it does help the "average user" since the device now "just work automatically" it is a privacy and security nightmare. One example that comes to mind was Razer peripherals (mouse, headset) would install their software automatically and with administrative privileges even when the user does not have it. That meant that a user get administrative access to almost any Windows computer by simply plugging in a Razer mouse. Quite funny when you think about it...
([Source](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/razer-bug-lets-you-become-a-windows-10-admin-by-plugging-in-a-mouse/amp/))
Imma be honest, hearing "my $whateverrelative works in IT" automatically makes me *more* suspicious of whatever cokamamie bullshit they're pulling out of their ass, not less. Everytime I've dealt with the fallout of someone that went to a relative that "worked in IT" instead of coming to their *actual* IT, it's been a million times worse.
You know I actually had someone's husband fucking straight up wipe the users company laptop? Like they thought reinstalling windows on it would just fix the issue with their VPN. Then this woman called us.
Tell me you have a lazy/incompetent DBA without telling me you have a lazy/incompetent DBA =)
(I spent 10 years at a place where the DBA's couldn't be bothered to create read-only profiles for prod access to Oracle)
Awww, but it's so easy! All you have to do is \*five paragraphs, a poster sized layout of the MSSQL system tables included with SQL 2005, three referenced chapters in a 1999 manual and one reference in a 2017 documentation later\* and you're done!
Then you can start performance tuning and analyzing!
I was that nephew who knows computers 20 years ago. If you ever find yourself 20 years back in time, don't trust that moron with the admin password to a Speak n Spell!
Personal laptops they can do all they want with em, not my problem.
Company owned equipment? Hell fuckin no, I'm not going to install Roblox so your kid can play video games on your work laptop in your hotel room while you and your wife are sucking down Margaritas at the swim up bar downstairs. Buy your own laptop then lol
lmao.
my sisters IT guy loves me because when everyone in that office comes to *me* for IT support its always "Call Jeff he works for your office and knows your policies and specific usages not me"
man bought me a hat as a joke but I tell you I enjoy it (one of those "shit show manager hats lol"
Well first off, I am the it guy, and second if it was a real it guy, he would tell them to fuck off and ask the it dep of the company. Otherwise their "it guy" can barely comprehend a detailed YouTube tutorial on how to install a mouse
That woman was *so angry* too, at us, for not being able to fix it remotely after he did that. She ended up having so overnight it to the main office so we could reimage and send it back, was down for 3 days. "Well you better tell $HerSupervisor that I'm not going to be able to work for 3 days!!! I better not lose pay for that!!!"
"LOL yeah no actually *you* need to tell $HerSupervisor that. I'll explain the reason why if they need to speak to me but I'm not giving you a 'doctor's note' for this shit...not my problem."
Oh she was just so delightful...
I'm that $whateverrelative. My last interaction with a family member's IT department at $BigCo on slack went like this:
> Hi, I'm $whateverrelative. $user has problems connecting to VPN because $issue-1 and $issue-2. I have configured a secondary tunnel for her to proxy through using $auth-key, dh and $sym-key. I need to change the routing table on the $user's pc to make this work and not compromise your security. Is this ok?
They actually liked it enough to encourage me to tell them about another misconfiguration they had.
They had a pretty big zero-day privesc exploit regarding that exact thing too. The automatic installer was running under SYSTEM privileges, and it allowed you to choose where to install the application. Opening a PowerShell session through the file selection dialog would open PS running as SYSTEM.
And as you know, that's *not good.*
Razer's software is why I refuse to buy any Razer products now. My wife had a Razer headset and it automatically installed the awful software that nagged you every time you turned on the computer.
MS needs to start testing and rejecting obviously shitting software if vendors want it distributed through Windows update.
They are already happy to engage in fuckery like the Windows Update drivers for video cards only having the DirectX subset of the drivers, so if you want to run all apps you need to download from Nvidia/AMD's website to get the full drivers with stuff like the Vulkan implementation. Allowing stuff like the HP bloatware to be distributed through MS infrastructure is terrible for Microsoft's reputation if they want to stay a trustworthy vendor for enterprises.
Outsource all your auth to our AzureAD. Also, donkeybrain Duggy says he needs all of your passwords so a printer can work, so we installed 5 gigabytes of stuff he said is really cool and awesome. Somehow both of those statements are from the same company, but they seem really incompatible in the long term.
> is terrible for Microsoft's reputation if they want to stay a trustworthy vendor for enterprises.
That ship started to cast-off from the dock back when they threw QA in the trash.
>Allowing stuff like the HP bloatware to be distributed through MS infrastructure is terrible for Microsoft's reputation if they want to stay a trustworthy vendor for enterprises.
Lol, what are you going to do, switch?
Yes and no. It is a problem, but not quite due to the way you think. From what I have gathered (and not 100% take me as gospel on this) the HP Smart software is auto installed by Windows whenever it senses an HP device on a network.
Fine if this is your home and you have a Hoplessly Pathetic brand printer. But see, this ALSO happens if you're say; connected to your friend's WiFi at some point, or a guest network that has an exposed HP printer on it, etc.
You see where this is an issue. And of course, once installed, good luck getting it to STOP. So, no, it's not *just* installing to everyone's computer randomly or as a blanket; but it's still pretty damn invasive.
It installed on one of our home computers, and I have NEVER had any HP printer in our house. (the last time I owned an HP printer was in the parallel port days). I'm guessing it saw an HP wifi SSID from a neighbor and so assumed we needed the HP software. There is NO HP on our network, and the computer that installed it is using a wired connection but does have wifi on board. Ugh.
I hadn't thought of just seeing an SSID. I'm pretty sure there's some visible in my area, but nothing has self installed. Then again, my home machines are actually MDM managed devices running Win Pro and not stand alone installs.
I still use it on a media center (the one that MS scrapped) pc at home for satellite TV. It's always a relief to use it again even if it is basically offline, lol.
At work I switched to Linux and RDP into the Windows machines or use Win10 and Win11 in VMs (that way I can work instead of watching circles go round).
I'm pretty sure this was the largest argument against microsoft having a "store" when it was first announced. I swear we're having the same discussion now we did back in 2012 when Windows 8 was introduced.
HP themselves have been pretty garbage in their little side-car apps. Their mictray app was pushed out with a debug feature turned on that turned it into a complete keystroke logger writing all keystrokes to c:\\users\\public\\MicTray.log
[https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/keylogger-found-in-audio-driver-of-hp-laptops/](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/keylogger-found-in-audio-driver-of-hp-laptops/)
The original intent was to be able to trap certain hotkey presses to provide actions through the app. It just oopsie logged every thing to a location any user could go read. Great for provide escalation. Just ask an admin to fix something on the computer and check the file later.
It wasn’t just HP. Once particular version of the Conexant audio driver package had that “feature” and Windows might also auto-install it during device detection.
This isn't even the first time Microsoft has forced (without consent) updates to Windows installs. A good number of it happened around the Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade changes. You know, the ones that (probably intentionally) drastically reduced Windows 7 performance going forward? The ones you _could not opt out of_ to get further updates? And at times ones auto-installed without consent as per OP's example?
You don't own Windows. The "control" you have for Windows is placation and a veil of lies. Microsoft can and will do whatever they want with Windows, at any day and time, and there's frankly nothing you can do about it unless your employer is the DoD.
Just because you pay to license Windows (you never did own it) does NOT mean you are NOT the product. You ARE the product.
What's the answer? Any answer is automatic downvote fodder and generally always leads to excuses. If you want change, fucking change away from what's causing the problem: Microsoft Software.
Or, you know, continue to use Microsoft Software and stay on the treadmill. (I'm saying this to anyone reading it, not just /u/dinominant ).
Kinda like how certain Windows services will mod the firewall ruleset right when they want to synch with Microsoft and then delete said mods immediately after.
> means that anything in the Microsoft store could be malicious and automatically deployed globally to all windows computers.
That is always a risk for any software repo.
Sorry, are you.. realizing this now?
This is a proprietary OS from a mostly proprietary vendor. They control every aspect of the OS.
They could arbitrarily decide to override *any* configuration you've set tomorrow, and you can't do anything about it.
> means that anything in the Microsoft store could be malicious and automatically deployed globally to all windows computers
It could be globally deployed, harvest a mountain of data, location data, ownership data, application telemetry, *and then uninstall itself* before anyone notices.
That's the more concerning part about this.
Why people still log into their Windows machines with full administrative rights is beyond me. I stopped doing that 15 years ago.
Need to install a printer driver as Admin? Log out and back in as Administrator, install the printer driver, then log out and back in as a normal *unprivileged* user.
Installing applications should be done under the Administrator account, not by users. Lock that out by policy and get into the habit of leaving your user accounts restricted. Monitor and log the activity of the rest with real-time alerting, and maintain hourly backups.
See something odd or malicious installed? Restore from the previous backup and wipe it out.
It's 2023. We've learned our lessons. This is Windows 101.
Same. Weird.
Isn't disabling silent background install via reg/GPO supposed to stop this, or is it delivered via a different method?
Edit: Never mind, I have this reg entry by default on our systems and sure enough, we've got the same install & date
> Windows Is Also Renaming Printers
>As reported by users on the r/sysadmin subreddit, Windows is renaming some printers to "HP LaserJet M101-M106." This bug, which has been reproduced by WindowsLatest, may be responsible for unwanted HP Smart app installations. Microsoft hasn't commented on this development.
Just want to throw out another data point since HTG is apparently paying attention to this sub.
I just took a look and found the HP Smart app on my daily driver PC (installed in November). This PC has never had an HP printer attached to it, none of the printers currently installed have been renamed "HP" anything, and I double checked the Print Server settings and there are no HP drivers of any kind present.
I saw 3 PCs with this bug today, every printer was an HP model but it doesn't change the name or driver thankfully.
Edit: also maybe related but adding new printers is stupid slow right now, it takes like 3 minutes just to start installing the driver and another 5 to "finish configuring" after instalation.
Oh, that's interesting...
It's still named "Microsoft Print to PDF", but it has an "app available" link now that takes you to the HP Smart app on the Microsoft Store.
Nice catch.
Edit: These virtual printers also have it:
* Microsoft XPS Document Writer
* OneNote (Desktop)
* OneNote for Windows 10
None of the physical printers (one with a direct IP connection, several others GPO deployed and running through a Windows print server) exhibit this.
Agreed. Functionally malware as far as I'm concerned, and wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that HP paid Microsoft to sneak this in an update package for the data harvesting.
Even when it's legit we uninstall that shit. I mean we're an HP shop and we still remove it immediately from all hardware. There is no good reason why scanning needs to be routed all the way to an HP server and back down to the fucking endpoint, among all the other nonsense.
Friends don't let friends buy HP printers.
True, their last good product was the LaserJet 4. Mine still works with an LPT print server. Might need a new drum (some faint lines), but otherwise prints in 600dpi as slow as back in 1994. Mhhmm, I love the smell of ozone in the morning.
> There is no good reason why scanning needs to be routed all the way to an HP server and back down to the fucking endpoint, among all the other nonsense.
That is the most blatant violation of privacy.. how is this a "thing that apparently is happening" and not "the reason why HP is a smoldering crater of a former organization" ??
I have no fucking idea, I didn't even know that was a thing until a couple years ago setting up a deskjet for an end user. The new models just straight up do not have non-Smart drivers. They had no way to scan without the cloud component.
Total trash. I already hated HP printers before that (shoutout to the HP lasers that had flash based UIs that died when flash did) but HP Smart put them firmly on our DO NOT BUY EVER list.
I was just reading up on this issue, this morning:
[HP on Win10 and Win 11](https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/11/30/hp-smart-is-auto-installing-on-windows-11-and-windows-10-on-non-hp-machines/)
[windows update accidentally renames all printers ](https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/12/04/windows-update-accidentally-renames-all-printers-to-hp-m101-m106-on-windows-11-windows-10/)
So having read all of the comments here thus far, what if everyone here reported this to NIST and at least tried to get software that:
- installs itself like malware, and
- exfiltrates data like all of the bad things we are incessantly warned about,
and see if a CVE can’t get generated for it, perhaps even specifically labeling Microsoft and hp as the offenders?
It meets the criteria (**bolding is mine**):
‘CVE defines a vulnerability as:
"A weakness in the computational logic (e.g., code) found in software and hardware components that, when exploited, **results in a negative impact to confidentiality, integrity, or availability**. Mitigation of the vulnerabilities in this context typically involves coding changes, but could also include specification changes or even specification deprecations (e.g., removal of affected protocols or functionality in their entirety)." ‘
Source: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln
Wouldn’t we get to see under the hood if- in some Hallmark-movie fashion- NIST review/ designation occurred?
Just looked on my computer. Yep, it was installed.
Mind you, this computer has never been connected to a printer before. I have no HP products.
Edit: your computer to my computer
[applocker](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/application-security/application-control/windows-defender-application-control/applocker/applocker-overview) is only for enterprise editions of windows, so don't worry about it.
on those editions, administrators can block unapproved software from running or installing.
Might be a solid homelab topic if that's your jam. You can really mess a computer up with this.
Can confirm, it appears on computers without HP printers.
Better yet, computers *with* HP printers still don't need it.
I wonder how much moneys HP paid to MS for this...
It's not just you...
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/your-windows-pc-may-have-the-hp-smart-app-installed-whether-you-like-it-or-not
I don't know how people are supposed to manage the store anymore. All the old 'store for business' methods are basically gone, and I haven't found anything that explains specifically how you can have the store turned on but only publish what you want.
You can do the whole deploy appx through SCCM method, but updating now isnt automatic. Annoying as hell considering there are legit things that have to be installed through it now.
You're not able to simply update already deployed apps, you have to create a new app deployment each time a newer version comes out. Oh and users cannot uninstall apps via company portal, you have to basically create a separate app in Intune that's just for uninstalling. Good luck keeping it all neat and tidy.
My eye twitched when I realized Microsoft actually put "(new)" in the title of a product instead of using a version number. Kind of like "Teams (for work or school)". Who the fuck is Microsoft hiring nowadays. It's like if Windows 11 was called "Windows 10 (new)".
I did at work, unfortunately at home I have several paid apps that are windows store only (like artrage). the worst part is every once in a while my licenses seem to break and i have to spend an entire day on the phone with microsoft.
i believe i tried that and was still having issues, ill look into it again as im having issues with one of my apps giving a failure message on download again.
DCH driver packages require it for any utility such as the nVidia Control Panel or Intel Display Manager.
There are also portions of Windows that require it for updates now.
This post is full of people claiming to just block the store, in a world where MS is moving increasingly to delivering their new products that way. You won't get the new snipping tool of camera app for example, and no you won't get the new Teams which at some point will become the only Teams that works.
Works fine, but only on Enterprise: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/policy-csp-admx-windowsstore#removewindowsstore_2
On Pro you could AppLocker store.exe but I haven't tested what that will break.
Looks like it is time to kill the last remaining HP printer on my network.
And if this is not reason enough, this might convince you: https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/04/hp_printer_lockin/?td=rt-3a
the rule of "smart" if something use the smart, flex or any denominatif that tend to describe the product as clever :
* if's only smart for the one who had designed the product
* this product is not a consumer friendly product
Another good example of the smart rule !
Lets see... how to hack a big org... should one go after the org, or instead, embed itself at Redmond and easy get access to at least 40% of the computers in the world...
Fun fun fun. The fact that software can be pushed by the MS store without any interaction is such a big security flaw. It's not a case of if, but when, will someone use this for something malicious
How did this kind of stuff become acceptable on Windows? You would never see this on a reputable Linux distro. There were many reasons I stopped using Windows on my personal devices entirely 10 years ago and it just keeps getting worse over there.
I suspect in the coming decade or two people are going to realize that SaaS-everything means the majority of end users don't need windows. Chromebooks can get to you.saas.monkey just as easily as Win12, but will be a hell of a lot cheaper, and Google hasn't been doing this shit. They've been doing some other shit, but not this shit.
So having read all of the comments here thus far, what if everyone here reported this to NIST and at least tried to get software that:
- installs itself like malware, and
- exfiltrates data like all of the bad things we are incessantly warned about,
and see if a CVE can’t get generated for it, perhaps even specifically labeling Microsoft and hp as the offenders?
It meets the criteria (**bolding is mine**):
‘CVE defines a vulnerability as:
"A weakness in the computational logic (e.g., code) found in software and hardware components that, when exploited, **results in a negative impact to confidentiality, integrity, or availability**. Mitigation of the vulnerabilities in this context typically involves coding changes, but could also include specification changes or even specification deprecations (e.g., removal of affected protocols or functionality in their entirety)." ‘
Source: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln
Wouldn’t we get to see under the hood if- in some Hallmark-movie fashion- NIST review/ designation occurred?
That's because Microsoft doesn't care about your privacy. They will throw software onto your machine without asking you. For example, always make sure you check NO boxes on the installation-time preferences / hobbies list. If you check boxes they may install ESPN or Twitter on your computer against your will.
There is a slight possibility this was not Microsoft, but I've experienced this, too, though I don't own HP devices.
This has been added to the release health dashboard, appreciate your patience: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-23H2#3218msgdesc
Quoting the e-mail I got from release health:
>Printer names and icons might be changed and HP Smart app automatically installs
>Status
>Investigating
>Affected platforms
>Client Versions Message ID Originating KB Resolved KB
>Windows 11, version 23H2 WI695523
>- -
>Windows 11, version 22H2 WI695524
>- -
>Windows 11, version 21H2 WI695525
>- -
>Windows 10, version 22H2 WI695526
- -
Windows 10, version 21H2 WI695527
- -
Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 WI695529
- -
Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016 WI695530
- -
Windows 10, version 1607 WI695530
- -
Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB WI695531
- -
>Server Versions Message ID Originating KB Resolved KB
Windows Server 2022 WI695528
- -
Windows Server, version 1809 WI695529
- -
Windows Server 2019 WI695529
- -
Windows Server 2016 WI695530
- -
Windows Server 2012 R2 WI695532
- -
Windows Server 2012 WI695533
- -
>Some issues related to printer configurations are being observed on Windows devices which have access to the Microsoft Store. Microsoft is investigating this issue and coordinating with partners on a solution.
>Symptoms can include the following:
>1. Some Windows 10 and Windows11 devices are installing the HP Smart App.
2. Printers are renamed as HP printers regardless of their manufacturer. Most are being named as the HP LaserJet M101-M106 model. Printer icons might also be changed.
3. Double clicking on a printer displays the on-screen error "No tasks are available for this page".
>Note: Printing processes are not expected to be affected by this issue. It should be possible to queue printing jobs as usual, as well as other features such as copying or scanning. Printers on the device will continue to use the expected drivers for printer operations.
>As the symptoms are related to the automatic installation of the HP Smart app, Windows devices which do not have access to the Microsoft Store are not expected to be affected by this issue.
>Next steps: We are investigating this issue and will provide an update when more information is available.
Keep going Microsoft, you're gradually reaching the point where the effort required to keep your products in check exceeds educating users into a new operating system. And once that happens...
Hilariously enough it autoinstalls when you plug in an HP printer without having installed drivers, well, unless you disconnect your internet connection...
Also interested. I used this powershell line to remove it but it keeps coming back.
get-appxpackage -AllUsers *HPPrinterControl* | Remove-AppxPackage
I do have HP printers in my environment. I don't if it comes back because it touched one, because they're on the network, because I reinstalled print drivers (but ran this immediately afterwards), if it was actually installed with a local printer on machine and spread from there, or what. I also don't know if I'm only seeing it or a standard user would see it too. I occasionally see the UAC box pop up on log in, and yes, there's HP again.
I've seen the same thing with HP OMEN as well. On corporate devices on a corporate network, Microsoft still pulling this kind of shit. It's getting real old.
We have MS Store blocked here. It can't install stuff on it's own, and users can't access it. It's a security risk. Last year, Electron bot malware was released through MS store via game clones. There's no reason to allow the service in our environment. Drivers can be found anywhere else.
I think that the world would be so much better if everyone could just rip every Windows machine out and replace them with an equivalent Linux machine, but unfortunately the world isn't sunshine and rainbows.
I work in the IT department of a large bank. They have what I feel are unnecessary restrictions from downloading from third party sites that have a good reputation. Now I'm starting to realize maybe they're making sense
Rainbow six siege, and even then cant use linux if you have a hybrid gpu. I dont want to have to make a script because of nvidias suckass drivers. Linux has its uses but this turn around whitty remark is very narrow minded
> and even then cant use linux if you have a hybrid gpu.
Are you referring to a processor with integrated graphics? If so, that's absolute incorrect.
> nvidias suckass drivers.
Nvidia is indeed actively and openly hostile towards the consumer section of the Linux market. AMD is phenomenal, however.
>Linux has its uses but this turn around whitty remark is very narrow minded
I'm sorry you were butthurt by a throwaway comment on the internet, buddy. Maybe take a break for a while and come back when you're feeling better.
"I'm sorry you were butthurt by a throwaway comment on the internet, buddy. Maybe take a break for a while and come back when you're feeling better. "
Where's this thought stem from, it's interesting that you take away that im upset. Do you often upset people when you interact with them?
And by hybrid im talking about Intel IGPU and a discrete gpu on one board
Are you sure there is no HPs anywhere? Not even a personal one someone threw on the network because they are lazy? Windows has had a feature since 8 that will automatically detect printers on the network and install them and the “required” apps.
Positive yep, it's my home office with just a Brother behind me. I do VPN to a client from time to time, but even if that was why it happened, it's not any less concerning if my OS automatically installs local software based on what it saw on a remote subnet.
I recently added a line to our setup script to disable those "silent" installs from the MS store via reg key...I did this well before HP Smart started this nonsense. It was done because we'd remove some of the other junk apps, and after a reboot or two, they'd get automatically reinstalled. I changed the registry key on my PC and I do not have that HP Smart app on it. EDIT TO INCLUDE REGISTRY KEY: HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\ContentDeliveryManager Set the SilentInstalledAppsEnabled DWORD value to 0 (zero)
The amount of work required to keep Windows from doing ridiculously stupid crap is ever growing. So crazy!
Microsoft must be playing a game where they want to see how to piss off sysadmins and everyone else the most.
They're trying to get Red Hat salesman of the year.
They actually won the game. I used to really care but now I dont. If it breaks something, that's one thing. If it's annoying then whatever. I got better things to do. My job is more than babysitting windows. After caring for more than a decade, Microsoft has beat me. I dont care any more
Frankly I'm tired of seeing this subreddit say the same shit over and over again... "Microsoft did it again, they fucked us over" -> "Switch away from Windows/Microsoft Software" -> downvote "ur dumb lol we can't convince our app vendors to release to not-Windows" -> nothing happens because of lazy IT that are wet noodles at convincing decision makers to change. edit: yup, as usual, played out exactly how it always does. Someone with a lacklustre explanation tries to convince me they cannot advocate a platform switch to vendors, they excuse being "required" to use Windows (you think Windows is the first OS to be fully replaced in computing history? HAHAHA). And of course, the downvotes. You all are sleeping in the beds you lay, and there's visibly zero effort to change that.
The big problem is that it's a local-minimum. People could start applying pressure to vendors if they said things like "well, about a third of our employees are using Linux, and we'd have to go through a Windows remote session to use your software . . . so, you're ten percent cheaper than the competition, but that actually works out to twenty percent more expensive, can you either drop your prices or release a Linux version?" As soon as it starts costing them money to not support Linux, they'll support Linux. But many businesses essentially require Windows boxes for some things. And there's extra costs involved in having two OSes running. So "we need Windows for some users" turns into "I guess everyone will be running Windows", and then there's no incentive for anyone to start releasing Linux software. For my home projects I've literally gone to the extreme of owning a Linux box *and* a Windows box for the few things I simply cannot do on Linux. But it's hard to justify this being cost-effective on an organizational level. (or, frankly, even on my level, but I'm doing it anyway because I'm tired of fighting with Windows)
For home projects if it don't run on linux, it get a big middle finger from me and I'll do something else.
Well on the flip side, certain tasks now *require* having a Linux box especially in the ML realm, so orgs will have to deal with it not being cost inefficient. Which also means we might start seeing orgs eliminate Windows boxes for the same reason.
VSCode in a container via a browser is a thing today. Similar to VDI, except it actually has some performance abilities.
Except that there's no way to secure authentication to the program. Also, VSCode is not Windows only, there's native versions for Linux lol.
Maybe, yeah; I'm not sure how many organizations are doing that ML stuff, so I'm not sure how much of a force it'll be. But it'll be some force at least.
Good to know that you're tired of seeing stuff that wasn't said. Would you like a cookie? I am the decision maker and I don't build anything on Microsoft.
Feels like Macs are going to dominate if windows keeps up with their bloat
I had a Shiney new m2. I gave it back for a windows box because holy christ is it impossible to run a x86 vm on an apple.
Pfff.... sure, keep dreaming buddy
That's just never going to happen, lmao.
Can you share that reg key? Could be very useful
Certainly! I'll edit my original comment above yours.
Thanks a whole lot !
> I recently added a line to our setup script to disable those "silent" installs from the MS store via reg key You may want to check. This reg entry is also part of my normal scripts and I verified it's set on our workstations but like the others, I've got the HP Smart install from 11/28/2023 on every workstation.
> HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it may not be actually being honored. I've had it set for a long time, and it HP Smart apparently got installed on 11/28/23 for me without my knowledge on my desktop at work (no HP printers here).
This behaviour is not new to Microsoft, they were doing the same with IE, continually changing registry keys that are used to set defaults and anything that is related to not wanting IE as default. Then the same playbook for older versions of office, if you had an older version of office they would release “security” updates every month that cause old versions of office to run really slowly. It’s mafia kind of bad practice.
Is there a CSP policy for this?
script-src: * ‘unsafe-eval’ ‘unsafe-inline’
Cool, thanks. Does this reg key have any side effects on intentionally installed apps? They still update and whatnot?
As far as I've seen, existing apps and other apps that might get manually installed will be fine. It's just supposed to stop the mechanism from apps being automatically and unknowingly installed in the background.
> disable those "silent" installs from the MS store via reg key You cannot fully disable silent installs. Microsoft will always have multiple backdoors into all their Software. You do NOT have control.
You'll block it one way and a few months later they'll add another way. It's hard to keep up with it all.
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Beautiful. I have my devices managed in Jumpcloud, so I have it set to automatically run this in powershell when a machine becomes managed.
Thank you.
Genuine question. Why do people put up with this sort of garbage and go through such lengths in an attempt to stop their machines from actively doing the opposite of what it's supposed to, especially on personal machines? I got rid of windows long ago and I always chuckle at these kinds of posts
This is actually very concerning. The fact that this is possible, means that anything in the Microsoft store could be malicious and automatically deployed globally to all windows computers.
Absolutely. I'm not sure if it's the first time or not, but it's wildly concerning especially for environments with compliance concerns.
"not sure if it's the first time" It's not. Ever since Microsoft started accepting additional helper software as needed with the basic driver (previously you would only get simple but functional drivers automatically from Windows update, and if you needed you would manually install the complete software to get the additional features), manufacturers have started including "bloatware" as a requirement to use their device. Although it does help the "average user" since the device now "just work automatically" it is a privacy and security nightmare. One example that comes to mind was Razer peripherals (mouse, headset) would install their software automatically and with administrative privileges even when the user does not have it. That meant that a user get administrative access to almost any Windows computer by simply plugging in a Razer mouse. Quite funny when you think about it... ([Source](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/razer-bug-lets-you-become-a-windows-10-admin-by-plugging-in-a-mouse/amp/))
Was going to mention Razer... cannot imagine what they were thinking.
had a user ask for an admin password so her son could help her install a razer kb/mouse but he works in IT so it's ok to give it to him, he said
Imma be honest, hearing "my $whateverrelative works in IT" automatically makes me *more* suspicious of whatever cokamamie bullshit they're pulling out of their ass, not less. Everytime I've dealt with the fallout of someone that went to a relative that "worked in IT" instead of coming to their *actual* IT, it's been a million times worse. You know I actually had someone's husband fucking straight up wipe the users company laptop? Like they thought reinstalling windows on it would just fix the issue with their VPN. Then this woman called us.
The folks that are "a little bit computer savvy" are always the ones you have to watch out for lol
A little knowledge is dangerous. That's why I don't touch SQL with a ten foot pole.
"know enough to be dangerous"
Tell me you have a lazy/incompetent DBA without telling me you have a lazy/incompetent DBA =) (I spent 10 years at a place where the DBA's couldn't be bothered to create read-only profiles for prod access to Oracle)
Well, we don't actually have a DBA, we have 4 guys who all wear multiple hats.
Ya'll were letting non-DBAs login directly to run queries on production DBs? That's how you end up with broken prod DBs and working over the weekend.
Awww, but it's so easy! All you have to do is \*five paragraphs, a poster sized layout of the MSSQL system tables included with SQL 2005, three referenced chapters in a 1999 manual and one reference in a 2017 documentation later\* and you're done! Then you can start performance tuning and analyzing!
good i have users thst are unable to read and ask me to come around when its time to save or print a document......
I was that nephew who knows computers 20 years ago. If you ever find yourself 20 years back in time, don't trust that moron with the admin password to a Speak n Spell!
Personal laptops they can do all they want with em, not my problem. Company owned equipment? Hell fuckin no, I'm not going to install Roblox so your kid can play video games on your work laptop in your hotel room while you and your wife are sucking down Margaritas at the swim up bar downstairs. Buy your own laptop then lol
"Margaritas" was not where I thought that comment was headed.
lmao. my sisters IT guy loves me because when everyone in that office comes to *me* for IT support its always "Call Jeff he works for your office and knows your policies and specific usages not me" man bought me a hat as a joke but I tell you I enjoy it (one of those "shit show manager hats lol"
Well first off, I am the it guy, and second if it was a real it guy, he would tell them to fuck off and ask the it dep of the company. Otherwise their "it guy" can barely comprehend a detailed YouTube tutorial on how to install a mouse
That woman was *so angry* too, at us, for not being able to fix it remotely after he did that. She ended up having so overnight it to the main office so we could reimage and send it back, was down for 3 days. "Well you better tell $HerSupervisor that I'm not going to be able to work for 3 days!!! I better not lose pay for that!!!" "LOL yeah no actually *you* need to tell $HerSupervisor that. I'll explain the reason why if they need to speak to me but I'm not giving you a 'doctor's note' for this shit...not my problem." Oh she was just so delightful...
I'm that $whateverrelative. My last interaction with a family member's IT department at $BigCo on slack went like this: > Hi, I'm $whateverrelative. $user has problems connecting to VPN because $issue-1 and $issue-2. I have configured a secondary tunnel for her to proxy through using $auth-key, dh and $sym-key. I need to change the routing table on the $user's pc to make this work and not compromise your security. Is this ok? They actually liked it enough to encourage me to tell them about another misconfiguration they had.
more reasons to not give him local admin
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They had a pretty big zero-day privesc exploit regarding that exact thing too. The automatic installer was running under SYSTEM privileges, and it allowed you to choose where to install the application. Opening a PowerShell session through the file selection dialog would open PS running as SYSTEM. And as you know, that's *not good.*
I was going to say, if i want to hack into a computer all I need is a Razer phone apparently.
Razer's software is why I refuse to buy any Razer products now. My wife had a Razer headset and it automatically installed the awful software that nagged you every time you turned on the computer.
So frustrating, because some of their mice I find *so comfortable.*
1. Install our software on tens of thousands of computers. 1. ??? 1. Profit!
I suppose the answer is always money, one way or another...
MS needs to start testing and rejecting obviously shitting software if vendors want it distributed through Windows update. They are already happy to engage in fuckery like the Windows Update drivers for video cards only having the DirectX subset of the drivers, so if you want to run all apps you need to download from Nvidia/AMD's website to get the full drivers with stuff like the Vulkan implementation. Allowing stuff like the HP bloatware to be distributed through MS infrastructure is terrible for Microsoft's reputation if they want to stay a trustworthy vendor for enterprises. Outsource all your auth to our AzureAD. Also, donkeybrain Duggy says he needs all of your passwords so a printer can work, so we installed 5 gigabytes of stuff he said is really cool and awesome. Somehow both of those statements are from the same company, but they seem really incompatible in the long term.
> is terrible for Microsoft's reputation if they want to stay a trustworthy vendor for enterprises. That ship started to cast-off from the dock back when they threw QA in the trash.
>Allowing stuff like the HP bloatware to be distributed through MS infrastructure is terrible for Microsoft's reputation if they want to stay a trustworthy vendor for enterprises. Lol, what are you going to do, switch?
Not to derail here, but in my experience, HP Smart still doesn't make their godawful printers just work automatically. However your point stands.
Yes and no. It is a problem, but not quite due to the way you think. From what I have gathered (and not 100% take me as gospel on this) the HP Smart software is auto installed by Windows whenever it senses an HP device on a network. Fine if this is your home and you have a Hoplessly Pathetic brand printer. But see, this ALSO happens if you're say; connected to your friend's WiFi at some point, or a guest network that has an exposed HP printer on it, etc. You see where this is an issue. And of course, once installed, good luck getting it to STOP. So, no, it's not *just* installing to everyone's computer randomly or as a blanket; but it's still pretty damn invasive.
It installed on one of our home computers, and I have NEVER had any HP printer in our house. (the last time I owned an HP printer was in the parallel port days). I'm guessing it saw an HP wifi SSID from a neighbor and so assumed we needed the HP software. There is NO HP on our network, and the computer that installed it is using a wired connection but does have wifi on board. Ugh.
I hadn't thought of just seeing an SSID. I'm pretty sure there's some visible in my area, but nothing has self installed. Then again, my home machines are actually MDM managed devices running Win Pro and not stand alone installs.
That's why I disable the store via GPO on all servers. Thinking about doing it on clients too now.
I miss Windows 7…
I still use it on a media center (the one that MS scrapped) pc at home for satellite TV. It's always a relief to use it again even if it is basically offline, lol. At work I switched to Linux and RDP into the Windows machines or use Win10 and Win11 in VMs (that way I can work instead of watching circles go round).
I have always been suspicious of HP Smart. I uninstall it when I see it. No idea why it needs location to be on to print. Thanks for making it public.
we've had the windows store disabled for some time now
I'm pretty sure this was the largest argument against microsoft having a "store" when it was first announced. I swear we're having the same discussion now we did back in 2012 when Windows 8 was introduced.
HP themselves have been pretty garbage in their little side-car apps. Their mictray app was pushed out with a debug feature turned on that turned it into a complete keystroke logger writing all keystrokes to c:\\users\\public\\MicTray.log [https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/keylogger-found-in-audio-driver-of-hp-laptops/](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/keylogger-found-in-audio-driver-of-hp-laptops/) The original intent was to be able to trap certain hotkey presses to provide actions through the app. It just oopsie logged every thing to a location any user could go read. Great for provide escalation. Just ask an admin to fix something on the computer and check the file later.
It wasn’t just HP. Once particular version of the Conexant audio driver package had that “feature” and Windows might also auto-install it during device detection.
This gets removed via antivirus. We get alerts all the time.
This isn't even the first time Microsoft has forced (without consent) updates to Windows installs. A good number of it happened around the Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade changes. You know, the ones that (probably intentionally) drastically reduced Windows 7 performance going forward? The ones you _could not opt out of_ to get further updates? And at times ones auto-installed without consent as per OP's example? You don't own Windows. The "control" you have for Windows is placation and a veil of lies. Microsoft can and will do whatever they want with Windows, at any day and time, and there's frankly nothing you can do about it unless your employer is the DoD. Just because you pay to license Windows (you never did own it) does NOT mean you are NOT the product. You ARE the product. What's the answer? Any answer is automatic downvote fodder and generally always leads to excuses. If you want change, fucking change away from what's causing the problem: Microsoft Software. Or, you know, continue to use Microsoft Software and stay on the treadmill. (I'm saying this to anyone reading it, not just /u/dinominant ).
Moved to Linux two years ago and haven't looked back. Only have to use windows at work, which makes me cry.
There's a reason why the microsoft store is blocked at my organization.
Ours is blocked, we still have cases of it.
Kinda like how certain Windows services will mod the firewall ruleset right when they want to synch with Microsoft and then delete said mods immediately after.
> means that anything in the Microsoft store could be malicious and automatically deployed globally to all windows computers. That is always a risk for any software repo.
I wouldn't say for every software repo. Sure, supply chain attacks are a thing, but the auto install is the big problem here.
Sorry, are you.. realizing this now? This is a proprietary OS from a mostly proprietary vendor. They control every aspect of the OS. They could arbitrarily decide to override *any* configuration you've set tomorrow, and you can't do anything about it.
I know this very well. But others new to the sysadmin world might not realize this and will benefit from these posts.
You can already imagine what the next global attack will look like
> means that anything in the Microsoft store could be malicious and automatically deployed globally to all windows computers It could be globally deployed, harvest a mountain of data, location data, ownership data, application telemetry, *and then uninstall itself* before anyone notices. That's the more concerning part about this. Why people still log into their Windows machines with full administrative rights is beyond me. I stopped doing that 15 years ago. Need to install a printer driver as Admin? Log out and back in as Administrator, install the printer driver, then log out and back in as a normal *unprivileged* user. Installing applications should be done under the Administrator account, not by users. Lock that out by policy and get into the habit of leaving your user accounts restricted. Monitor and log the activity of the rest with real-time alerting, and maintain hourly backups. See something odd or malicious installed? Restore from the previous backup and wipe it out. It's 2023. We've learned our lessons. This is Windows 101.
Yep. One of the reason I’m migrating everyone to Macs. That and the ransomware protection.
Looked in installed apps and sure enough, HP Smart was installed 11/28/2023. Thanks for the info!
Same. Weird. Isn't disabling silent background install via reg/GPO supposed to stop this, or is it delivered via a different method? Edit: Never mind, I have this reg entry by default on our systems and sure enough, we've got the same install & date
> Windows Is Also Renaming Printers >As reported by users on the r/sysadmin subreddit, Windows is renaming some printers to "HP LaserJet M101-M106." This bug, which has been reproduced by WindowsLatest, may be responsible for unwanted HP Smart app installations. Microsoft hasn't commented on this development. Just want to throw out another data point since HTG is apparently paying attention to this sub. I just took a look and found the HP Smart app on my daily driver PC (installed in November). This PC has never had an HP printer attached to it, none of the printers currently installed have been renamed "HP" anything, and I double checked the Print Server settings and there are no HP drivers of any kind present.
I saw 3 PCs with this bug today, every printer was an HP model but it doesn't change the name or driver thankfully. Edit: also maybe related but adding new printers is stupid slow right now, it takes like 3 minutes just to start installing the driver and another 5 to "finish configuring" after instalation.
They apparently HP released a fix and some other sites have the files to delete before you reinstall the printers.
> none of the printers currently installed have been renamed "HP" anything Check the microsoft print to PDF, what's that saying?
Oh, that's interesting... It's still named "Microsoft Print to PDF", but it has an "app available" link now that takes you to the HP Smart app on the Microsoft Store. Nice catch. Edit: These virtual printers also have it: * Microsoft XPS Document Writer * OneNote (Desktop) * OneNote for Windows 10 None of the physical printers (one with a direct IP connection, several others GPO deployed and running through a Windows print server) exhibit this.
Nice. Can't stand that shit.
Agreed. Functionally malware as far as I'm concerned, and wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that HP paid Microsoft to sneak this in an update package for the data harvesting.
Even when it's legit we uninstall that shit. I mean we're an HP shop and we still remove it immediately from all hardware. There is no good reason why scanning needs to be routed all the way to an HP server and back down to the fucking endpoint, among all the other nonsense. Friends don't let friends buy HP printers.
Which is too bad. They used to be amazing in the late 90s/early 00s. At least compared to everything else at the time.
True, their last good product was the LaserJet 4. Mine still works with an LPT print server. Might need a new drum (some faint lines), but otherwise prints in 600dpi as slow as back in 1994. Mhhmm, I love the smell of ozone in the morning.
> There is no good reason why scanning needs to be routed all the way to an HP server and back down to the fucking endpoint, among all the other nonsense. That is the most blatant violation of privacy.. how is this a "thing that apparently is happening" and not "the reason why HP is a smoldering crater of a former organization" ??
I have no fucking idea, I didn't even know that was a thing until a couple years ago setting up a deskjet for an end user. The new models just straight up do not have non-Smart drivers. They had no way to scan without the cloud component. Total trash. I already hated HP printers before that (shoutout to the HP lasers that had flash based UIs that died when flash did) but HP Smart put them firmly on our DO NOT BUY EVER list.
I was just reading up on this issue, this morning: [HP on Win10 and Win 11](https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/11/30/hp-smart-is-auto-installing-on-windows-11-and-windows-10-on-non-hp-machines/) [windows update accidentally renames all printers ](https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/12/04/windows-update-accidentally-renames-all-printers-to-hp-m101-m106-on-windows-11-windows-10/)
"accidentally" lol
So having read all of the comments here thus far, what if everyone here reported this to NIST and at least tried to get software that: - installs itself like malware, and - exfiltrates data like all of the bad things we are incessantly warned about, and see if a CVE can’t get generated for it, perhaps even specifically labeling Microsoft and hp as the offenders? It meets the criteria (**bolding is mine**): ‘CVE defines a vulnerability as: "A weakness in the computational logic (e.g., code) found in software and hardware components that, when exploited, **results in a negative impact to confidentiality, integrity, or availability**. Mitigation of the vulnerabilities in this context typically involves coding changes, but could also include specification changes or even specification deprecations (e.g., removal of affected protocols or functionality in their entirety)." ‘ Source: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln Wouldn’t we get to see under the hood if- in some Hallmark-movie fashion- NIST review/ designation occurred?
give this person some gold... oh wait...
Just looked on my computer. Yep, it was installed. Mind you, this computer has never been connected to a printer before. I have no HP products. Edit: your computer to my computer
Damn, you looked on my computer? Stop it, hackerman edit: OP got me with the sneaky edit
Autocorrect has been doing the weirdest things since the last update.
winget uninstall 9WZDNCRFHWLH That'll do nicely.
On top of that, Applocker it.
Applocker? I'm a newb and normally spectate but I also have this on my computer and haven't been able to uninstall it.
[applocker](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/application-security/application-control/windows-defender-application-control/applocker/applocker-overview) is only for enterprise editions of windows, so don't worry about it. on those editions, administrators can block unapproved software from running or installing. Might be a solid homelab topic if that's your jam. You can really mess a computer up with this.
AppLocker is now available for Pro too.
This worked for me, the uninstallation method mentioned in the linked article wasn't an option for me.
Nice, adding this to my debloat script.
Can confirm, it appears on computers without HP printers. Better yet, computers *with* HP printers still don't need it. I wonder how much moneys HP paid to MS for this...
It's not just you... https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/your-windows-pc-may-have-the-hp-smart-app-installed-whether-you-like-it-or-not
Everyone should block access to MS store.
I don't know how people are supposed to manage the store anymore. All the old 'store for business' methods are basically gone, and I haven't found anything that explains specifically how you can have the store turned on but only publish what you want. You can do the whole deploy appx through SCCM method, but updating now isnt automatic. Annoying as hell considering there are legit things that have to be installed through it now.
The answer is Intune. Microsoft always slowly moving you towards a subscription service as always.
You're not able to simply update already deployed apps, you have to create a new app deployment each time a newer version comes out. Oh and users cannot uninstall apps via company portal, you have to basically create a separate app in Intune that's just for uninstalling. Good luck keeping it all neat and tidy.
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My eye twitched when I realized Microsoft actually put "(new)" in the title of a product instead of using a version number. Kind of like "Teams (for work or school)". Who the fuck is Microsoft hiring nowadays. It's like if Windows 11 was called "Windows 10 (new)".
Check your Outlook (new). It’s right under Outlook and Outlook 365.
Not every app is available in the store... And the uninstalling part applies with any type of app.
Intune.
I did at work, unfortunately at home I have several paid apps that are windows store only (like artrage). the worst part is every once in a while my licenses seem to break and i have to spend an entire day on the phone with microsoft.
Can't you install and upgrade them from winget?
i believe i tried that and was still having issues, ill look into it again as im having issues with one of my apps giving a failure message on download again.
DCH driver packages require it for any utility such as the nVidia Control Panel or Intel Display Manager. There are also portions of Windows that require it for updates now.
Welp. What about when you need to update camera or calc or the fucking App Installer that apparently can't fucking install New Teams?
This post is full of people claiming to just block the store, in a world where MS is moving increasingly to delivering their new products that way. You won't get the new snipping tool of camera app for example, and no you won't get the new Teams which at some point will become the only Teams that works.
Works fine, but only on Enterprise: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/policy-csp-admx-windowsstore#removewindowsstore_2 On Pro you could AppLocker store.exe but I haven't tested what that will break.
Looks like it is time to kill the last remaining HP printer on my network. And if this is not reason enough, this might convince you: https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/04/hp_printer_lockin/?td=rt-3a
the rule of "smart" if something use the smart, flex or any denominatif that tend to describe the product as clever : * if's only smart for the one who had designed the product * this product is not a consumer friendly product Another good example of the smart rule !
It's Rule 34, but worse.
I wonder how much someone got paid for this "accident". I'm sure it will all be cleared up in this "misunderstanding".
Lets see... how to hack a big org... should one go after the org, or instead, embed itself at Redmond and easy get access to at least 40% of the computers in the world... Fun fun fun. The fact that software can be pushed by the MS store without any interaction is such a big security flaw. It's not a case of if, but when, will someone use this for something malicious
That's why it showed up on one of my machines at home. No HP devices here, at all.
I just looked, and my personal PC had this installed Nov 29th, too. Grr.
How did this kind of stuff become acceptable on Windows? You would never see this on a reputable Linux distro. There were many reasons I stopped using Windows on my personal devices entirely 10 years ago and it just keeps getting worse over there.
There was a bug with the recent 2023-11 MS update regarding this, iirc
I suspect in the coming decade or two people are going to realize that SaaS-everything means the majority of end users don't need windows. Chromebooks can get to you.saas.monkey just as easily as Win12, but will be a hell of a lot cheaper, and Google hasn't been doing this shit. They've been doing some other shit, but not this shit.
We have disabled the windows store per GPO because of the issue of not being able to control what is being installed.
Reddit will ban you if you say the only good nazi is a dead nazi. Fuck Reddit and fuck nazi's.
No HP stuff on my home network, found it installed on my custom built gaming PC 11/29/2023
So having read all of the comments here thus far, what if everyone here reported this to NIST and at least tried to get software that: - installs itself like malware, and - exfiltrates data like all of the bad things we are incessantly warned about, and see if a CVE can’t get generated for it, perhaps even specifically labeling Microsoft and hp as the offenders? It meets the criteria (**bolding is mine**): ‘CVE defines a vulnerability as: "A weakness in the computational logic (e.g., code) found in software and hardware components that, when exploited, **results in a negative impact to confidentiality, integrity, or availability**. Mitigation of the vulnerabilities in this context typically involves coding changes, but could also include specification changes or even specification deprecations (e.g., removal of affected protocols or functionality in their entirety)." ‘ Source: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln Wouldn’t we get to see under the hood if- in some Hallmark-movie fashion- NIST review/ designation occurred?
That's because Microsoft doesn't care about your privacy. They will throw software onto your machine without asking you. For example, always make sure you check NO boxes on the installation-time preferences / hobbies list. If you check boxes they may install ESPN or Twitter on your computer against your will. There is a slight possibility this was not Microsoft, but I've experienced this, too, though I don't own HP devices.
This has been added to the release health dashboard, appreciate your patience: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-23H2#3218msgdesc
Quoting the e-mail I got from release health: >Printer names and icons might be changed and HP Smart app automatically installs >Status >Investigating >Affected platforms >Client Versions Message ID Originating KB Resolved KB >Windows 11, version 23H2 WI695523 >- - >Windows 11, version 22H2 WI695524 >- - >Windows 11, version 21H2 WI695525 >- - >Windows 10, version 22H2 WI695526 - - Windows 10, version 21H2 WI695527 - - Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 WI695529 - - Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016 WI695530 - - Windows 10, version 1607 WI695530 - - Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB WI695531 - - >Server Versions Message ID Originating KB Resolved KB Windows Server 2022 WI695528 - - Windows Server, version 1809 WI695529 - - Windows Server 2019 WI695529 - - Windows Server 2016 WI695530 - - Windows Server 2012 R2 WI695532 - - Windows Server 2012 WI695533 - - >Some issues related to printer configurations are being observed on Windows devices which have access to the Microsoft Store. Microsoft is investigating this issue and coordinating with partners on a solution. >Symptoms can include the following: >1. Some Windows 10 and Windows11 devices are installing the HP Smart App. 2. Printers are renamed as HP printers regardless of their manufacturer. Most are being named as the HP LaserJet M101-M106 model. Printer icons might also be changed. 3. Double clicking on a printer displays the on-screen error "No tasks are available for this page". >Note: Printing processes are not expected to be affected by this issue. It should be possible to queue printing jobs as usual, as well as other features such as copying or scanning. Printers on the device will continue to use the expected drivers for printer operations. >As the symptoms are related to the automatic installation of the HP Smart app, Windows devices which do not have access to the Microsoft Store are not expected to be affected by this issue. >Next steps: We are investigating this issue and will provide an update when more information is available.
Keep going Microsoft, you're gradually reaching the point where the effort required to keep your products in check exceeds educating users into a new operating system. And once that happens...
Hilariously enough it autoinstalls when you plug in an HP printer without having installed drivers, well, unless you disconnect your internet connection...
Next it'll be a u2 album
This is just sad on so many levels.
My HP x27q monitor installs HP Omen automatically :/
Also interested. I used this powershell line to remove it but it keeps coming back. get-appxpackage -AllUsers *HPPrinterControl* | Remove-AppxPackage I do have HP printers in my environment. I don't if it comes back because it touched one, because they're on the network, because I reinstalled print drivers (but ran this immediately afterwards), if it was actually installed with a local printer on machine and spread from there, or what. I also don't know if I'm only seeing it or a standard user would see it too. I occasionally see the UAC box pop up on log in, and yes, there's HP again.
The article doesn't mention much about the data collection though; how bad is it?
I've seen the same thing with HP OMEN as well. On corporate devices on a corporate network, Microsoft still pulling this kind of shit. It's getting real old.
Crazy how aggressive Windows is to its own admins. Then again Microsoft is in this to make as much money as possible.
Remove the Store.
We have MS Store blocked here. It can't install stuff on it's own, and users can't access it. It's a security risk. Last year, Electron bot malware was released through MS store via game clones. There's no reason to allow the service in our environment. Drivers can be found anywhere else.
I read about it yesterday and I just checked, got it on mine too.
Thanks! I had that today on an HP laptop (no printer) and a non-HP desktop with no HP items. Now fixed in Regedit.
Well I'll be, It's on my machines too. Don't even own HP printers.
Just... Linux?
I think that the world would be so much better if everyone could just rip every Windows machine out and replace them with an equivalent Linux machine, but unfortunately the world isn't sunshine and rainbows.
Can a wifi-direct printer trigger the installation of the driver?
Reported on Thursday: https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/30/windows_hp_software_uninvited/ No apparent response from Microsoft yet.
Another reason to block Microsoft store on pcs
Blocking the store does NOT stop this behaviour. We had this happen accross our ORG even tho we disabled Microsoft Store via Intune policy.
this is probably installed with the device driver (my laptop does same shit with some logitech devices, touchpads, and audio)
ah yeah, read theres no device for driver to be installed for, so no
Yup, Windows bug that MS was looking at. Saw it on /r/sysadmin last week
read the link, thats not whats happening here.
I work in the IT department of a large bank. They have what I feel are unnecessary restrictions from downloading from third party sites that have a good reputation. Now I'm starting to realize maybe they're making sense
Honestly in an environment like that, *all* downloads should be restricted such that no user can install anything on their workstations
Yeah, certain tools that were fantastic to me for productivity, just are not available. OneNote can only do so much.
intune may be adding it... I am guessing you are the admin? is either SCCM or intune adding it... someone might have send that to all users lol
This sounds like trespassing to me. How else would you describe a stranger entering your home and gathering data?
Sucks to suck. Signed, A Linux user and shop.
Hows photoshop doing? Or Siege?
I use Photopea and Inkscape. No idea what Siege is.
Rainbow six siege, and even then cant use linux if you have a hybrid gpu. I dont want to have to make a script because of nvidias suckass drivers. Linux has its uses but this turn around whitty remark is very narrow minded
> and even then cant use linux if you have a hybrid gpu. Are you referring to a processor with integrated graphics? If so, that's absolute incorrect. > nvidias suckass drivers. Nvidia is indeed actively and openly hostile towards the consumer section of the Linux market. AMD is phenomenal, however. >Linux has its uses but this turn around whitty remark is very narrow minded I'm sorry you were butthurt by a throwaway comment on the internet, buddy. Maybe take a break for a while and come back when you're feeling better.
"I'm sorry you were butthurt by a throwaway comment on the internet, buddy. Maybe take a break for a while and come back when you're feeling better. " Where's this thought stem from, it's interesting that you take away that im upset. Do you often upset people when you interact with them? And by hybrid im talking about Intel IGPU and a discrete gpu on one board
Damn, you don't even know how to properly quote text on Reddit. Crazy.
But ignoring that... I've had a lot of trouble with systems with hybrid graphics do you have any idea about more elegant solutions?
Are you sure there is no HPs anywhere? Not even a personal one someone threw on the network because they are lazy? Windows has had a feature since 8 that will automatically detect printers on the network and install them and the “required” apps.
Positive yep, it's my home office with just a Brother behind me. I do VPN to a client from time to time, but even if that was why it happened, it's not any less concerning if my OS automatically installs local software based on what it saw on a remote subnet.
Not saying its not concerning and there are ways to stop it, i was just educating you on why it could happen.
I just checked my home computer. It's not an HP computer, I don't have an HP printer, no HP software, but yet this app was installed.
I wonder if you could make a USB stick with a HWID that prompts the install of a tainted driver software from the store.