Windows 10 Windows 10 Insider Preview

[davehc]

Thanks a lot, Ross. I am not an enthusiastic broser of video tours, so I found this nice read of the improvements here

http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-build-10565-everything-you-need-know

I am tempted to try it, but will probably resist and wait for the release.

 

[kemical]

Same here and besides Threshold 2 isn't far off anyway.

 

[davehc]

Well, I 'm downloading the ISo - I have plenty of room to try it. Darn - back in the wrangle!!

 

[davehc]

I competed the install. No serious problems. Although I selected to keep my settings, it did lose a few. Nothing that couldn't be put right quickly.
I went through the items as listed, and poked around a little. Nothing too interesting so I put my image back on, ready for the official release - I don't need any complications there!

 

[kemical]

Not much had changed then? Plus you the watermark to put up too...

 

[davehc]

Right. You can hack that - but what's the point!

 

[kemical]

Reports of users having activation issues (on a upgraded machine) if the Bios is updated or hardware replaced (not just the moBo).:

The plentiful Windows 10 activation issues have been a pain for many, especially those that have upgraded from Windows 7 for example are often having a hard time once they need to re-activate. End-users now have learned the hard way that even updating your motherboard BIOS can revoke your Windows 10 product license and render it inactive - withouth a proper solve to get reactivated again.

New problems and complicated activation issues are now rising as your license key is tied towards your unique PC hardware signature.

Microsoft already has made promises that with the next Windows10 update things will get better. But more and more problems arise. For example if you would upgrade your PC with new hardware, chances are likely your license is revoked. Trying to reactivate or calling Microsoft to make that happen often does not result into your license getting activated again - as 'new hardware' is indicative for a new PC. Meaning you will need to purchase a new license.

Even more frustrating is the fact that when you upgraded to Windows 10 coming from Windows 7 or 8 and then later on update your motherboard BIOS, your new Windows 10 license will render itself inactive. At that point Windows very likely cannot re-activate on-line online, calling Microsoft tech support for a phone re-activation won't help you either as they cannot reactivate your license based on the upgraded Windows 7 or 8 key.

A good example of the frustrating mess that Microsoft has created can be read here in our forums where Guru3D oldtime Blackfyre ran into this issue himself after he updated his Z97X Gaming GT motherboard from a F6 BIOS to the F7 BIOS, and changed the RAM DIMMs.

Thanks everyone for your help... I upgraded the RAM, I got the one I linked in the OP... However now Windows 10 says I have to re-activate, and it won't activate anymore. I'm not sure if it's the BIOS update or RAM change that caused it, but I had a chat with support, and called Microsoft too, none of which are able to help me. Saying hardware changes mean that you lose your product key if you upgrade...

Have a read on the entire chat transcript here ...

In the near future this situation will hopefully be solved as Microsoft already indicated through the Insider program to make some changes. This does refer to the upgrade process, but might solve the issue mentioned above as well.

We have received a lot of feedback from Insiders on making it easier to activate Windows 10 on devices that take advantage of the free upgrade offer to genuine Windows by using existing Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 product keys. If you install this build of the Windows 10 Insider Preview on a PC and it doesn't automatically activate, you can enter the product key from Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 used to activate the prior Windows version on the same device to activate Windows 10 by going to Settings > Update & security > Activation and selecting Change Product Key. If you do a clean install of Windows 10 by booting off the media, you can also enter the product key from prior Windows versions on qualifying devices during setup.

Reference

 

[kemical]

The big update, Threshold 2, is reported to be released on November 2nd:

According to the trusted sources of well known Windows pundit Paul Thurrott, Microsoft will release Windows 10 Threshold 2 during November. A more precise release date is put forward by WinBeta, which says the 'Fall Update' willappear on the 2nd November. For Joe Public the update will be labelled as 'Windows 10 Fall Update' or 'Windows 10 November 2015'. The Windows version number is expected to take a new form, and it will be identified as version 1511, a number made up of the combined year and month of release.

Reference

 

[davehc]

OMG. Standby for a sudden attack for help.

 

[kemical]

LOL!.... 'Incoming!'

 

[kemical]

Microsoft just went nuts announcing in a new Blog that Windows 10 is to be a 'recommended update' meaning if your windows update settings are set to auto it's being installed whether you like it or not:

We will soon be publishing Windows 10 as an “Optional Update” in Windows Update for all Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers. Windows Update is the trusted, logical location for our most important updates, and adding Windows 10 here is another way we will make it easy for you to find your upgrade.

Early next year, we expect to be re-categorizing Windows 10 as a “Recommended Update”. Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don’t love it.

Reference

So folks next year prepared to be inundated by users who's machines have suddenly installed Windows 10 when it was never designed to run Windows 10. This is a bad, bad ,bad idea and I simply cannot understand the logic behind it.

 

[davehc]

I think it does, first, have a look at your specs (only), and, on the strength of that, decides your computer can handle Windows 10. There are a lot of gaps in that!! But it does not heed any possible incompatible software which you may treasure, or idiosyncrasies of hardware, in particular Graphics chips/cards.
The whole idea from the start, with automatic updates, is (IMO) designed to catch pirates, and not for the improvement of any item, or to help customers. . Maybe fair enough, from the point of view of MS shareholders, but it stinks.
Anyway, presumably, after July, when it is no longer free, if they update without my permission, they can be sure that, whatever it takes, they will be paying for it!

 

[kemical]

Agreed your only supposed to get the upgrade if your machine is considered able to handle it but you know as well as i do David that this is a huge grey area (as you explain eloquently above). Also there are many users out there who don't even know what an update is let alone an upgrade. How are they gonna feel when the open up the laptop to see Windows 10 (probably bsod looping) on their machine instead of good old windows 7?

 

[davehc]

Or find that they cannot get into the internet , as it is busy downloading with utmost priority. I have always supported MS for acknowledging the lowest common denominator, when compiling their OSs. But they have overstretched on this one, in spite of the MASSIVE feedback
Not relevant to this thread, but, frankly, I am waiting for the big Service pack/update next week. If it doesn't do any magic, I will probably go back to Windows 8.1, which I found did everything I needed, and efficiently.

 

[kemical]

Oh yes we have Threshold 2 making it's appearance on the 2nd although that's not without it's own issues as Edge extensions are to be delayed:
Windows 10 news recap: Delayed extensions, Threshold 2 launch and more

 

[strollin]

Or find that they cannot get into the internet , as it is busy downloading with utmost priority. I have always supported MS for acknowledging the lowest common denominator, when compiling their OSs. But they have overstretched on this one, in spite of the MASSIVE feedback
Not relevant to this thread, but, frankly, I am waiting for the big Service pack/update next week. If it doesn't do any magic, I will probably go back to Windows 8.1, which I found did everything I needed, and efficiently.

I am running the latest build and don't see anything "magic" about it. I still don't plan to upgrade my Win 7 or Win 8.1 machines as Win 10 just doesn't offer anything better. Only reasons I see to upgrade are 1) You really, really want Cortana. (I don't) 2) You really, really want the Edge browser. (I don't) 3) You are one that hates Win 8.1. (I don't)

 

[kemical]

Today was supposed to see the launch of 'Threshold 2'. A major update for Windows 10 including many of the new features Windows Insiders have seen in recent builds. It seems that now it's possibly scheduled for the 10th of November:

The Support Engineer on the Microsoft Answer forums has said the Windows 10 “Fall Update” will launch on November 10th, bringing with it Cortana support in India. That’s one of many things coming in the “Fall Update”, other features include UI improvements, Edge improvements and a new Messaging app.

Reference

 

[kemical]

Looks we missed one! Microsoft released a new Insider build on October 29th (fast ring):

Hi everyone,

Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10576 to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. Not only does this build have a good set of bug fixes and fit-an-finish, it also includes a few new things for you to try.

Here’s what’s new in this build:
Media Casting in Microsoft Edge: You can now use Microsoft Edge to cast video, picture, and audio content from your browser to any Miracast and DLNA enabled device on your network.

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We’ve got a few scenarios for you to try out:

• Cast a video from YouTube: Go to YouTube.com in Microsoft Edge. Click on the “…” menu and the top left, and select “Cast media to device” and select the Miracast or DLNA device you want to cast to.
• Cast a Facebook photo album: Login to Facebook in Microsoft Edge and click on the first photo in one of your photo albums to cast. Click on the “…” menu and the top left, and select “Cast media to device” and select the Miracast or DLNA device you want to cast to. Navigate through your photo album by clicking on the forward and backward buttons.
• Cast your music from Pandora: Login to Pandora in Microsoft Edge to get to your music and click on the “…” menu and the top left, and select “Cast media to device” and select the Miracast or DLNA device you want to cast to.

Try this feature out and let us know what you think.

Please note: Casting protected content (content from places like Netflix and Hulu) is not supported.

Ask Cortana inside PDFs in Microsoft Edge: You can now highlight text while reading a PDF in Microsoft Edge and right-click to “Ask Cortana” to find additional information.

Updated Xbox beta app for Windows 10: The Xbox beta app for Windows 10 was updated last Friday which includes the ability to easily find and add Facebook friends who are also on Xbox Live to play, chat, and share clips – a top requested feature. In addition to that new feature, voiceover recording functionality has been added to Game DVR, and the Store in the Xbox beta app will allow you to search for and purchase Xbox One games – including Games with Gold and Deals with Gold promotions, and Xbox One 25-digit codes will be redeemable within the app. For more information on this update – check out this post on Xbox Wire.

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Here are some things we have fixed:

• We fixed the issue where the Xbox app for Windows 10 would consume gigabytes of memory on your PC if you have any Win32 games (non -Windows Store games) installed on your PC that have been identified as games or added by you in the Xbox app.
• We introduced an early preview of nested virtualization so that people could run Hyper-V Containers in Hyper-V virtual machines with Build 10565. This build includes performance improvements.
• We’ve been addressing a lot of feedback around localization text UI in various languages and you’ll see a lot of that work in this build.
• The search box should now work in this build if you are in a locale where Cortana is not available.

Known issues:

• To continue receiving missed call notifications and send texts from Cortana, you will need to be on this build and higher. We’ve made a change that improves this experience that requires newer builds.
• When notifications pop up from Action Center, any audio playing (like music from Groove, or videos from the Movies & TV app) gets reduced by 75% for a period of time.
• After upgrading to this build, all your Skype messages and contacts are gone in the Messaging app. The workaround for this is to navigate to this folder in File Explorer:
  • C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Packages\
    Microsoft.Messaging_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache
  • Delete or rename the “PrivateTransportId” file.
  • Then restart the Messaging app.
• Small form-factor devices, like the Dell Venue 8 Pro, that boot with rotation or virtual mode screen size set larger than the physical screen size will experience a bluescreen on upgrade and will roll back to the previous build.
• After upgrading to this build, the power button on your Surface Pro 3 may no longer put your Surface Pro 3 to sleep and instead shut down.
• WebM and VP9 have been temporarily removed from builds. We continue to develop a VP9 implementation that we intend to ship in Windows. Expect VP9 to return soon in a future build.

We hope you get a chance to try out these new features and let us know what you think. As always, send us problem reports and suggestions using the Windows Feedback app.

Thanks for being a Windows Insider,

Reference

 

[kemical]

New build possibly next week:

It looks like consumers in the Windows Insider Program might have a new build to play with soon. Gabe Aul, vice president of the Windows Devices Group, has taken to Twitter to let eager Insiders know they need not wait much longer.

Link Removed We have a couple of builds that are looking good in internal rings. It’s possible we’ll see them later this week to Fast.

— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) Link Removed

Reference

 

[davehc]

Couldn't resist (Again!!). The update ran 100% for me. Just formulating the ISO foe a fresh install, but it doesn't seem to be necessary.

Only comment. Not counting the download time. It was very slow. A fresh install takes half the time..