ReferenceIf you’re an Insider who is eagerly waiting to try out the new Start Menu shown off by Microsoft a few weeks ago, we have some good news for you. According to sources familiar with the matter, internal rs1_release builds now feature the new Start Menu, meaning internal testing is now done and the company is ready to flight the new changes out to Insiders.
Sources also say the improved Tablet Mode changes surrounding the All Apps list are now in rs1_release too, meaning both Start Menu and Start Screen changes will be flighted to Insiders at the same time, very exciting stuff.
If everything goes according to plan, the new Start Menu should be with us in the next Insider Preview build for desktops, which Gabe Aul announced earlier would be arriving next week. If you haven’t seen the new Start Menu and Start Screen changes yet, check out the images embedded below provided by Microsoft.
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New All Apps List design
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New Start Menu design
Insiders are able to vote on these new changes via a survey too, so if you don’t like the new Start designs then Microsoft is letting you have a say on why. You can check out all the details about the new Start experiences and voting Link Removed.
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14328 for PC and MobileAnnouncing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14328 for PC and Mobile
By Gabe Aul / Corporate Vice President, Engineering Systems Team
Hi everyone,
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14328 for both PC and Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. This build is just one build newer than the Mobile build we released on Wednesday so there isn’t a lot new for Mobile. For PC though this is a MAJOR build, packed with lots of new features and improvements including Windows Ink, updated Start, and more! With the amount of code change in this build there are going to be some rough edges, some of which are called out in the known issues below. If any of those make you uncomfortable, you may want to consider switching to the Slow ring and waiting for a later build which has a bit more stabilization on these new features. We’re very excited for you to try them out and tell us what you think.
Here’s what’s new in Build 14328 for PC
Windows Ink
We announced Windows Ink at Build 2016 a few weeks ago as an all-new experience coming with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update later this summer. Starting with today’s build – you can try out the new Windows Ink experience for yourself. Windows Ink puts the power of Windows in the tip of your pen, enabling you to write on your device as you do on paper, creating sticky notes, drawing on a whiteboard, and easily sharing your analog thoughts in the digital world. Windows Ink is also integrated into apps like Maps, Microsoft Edge, and Office.
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If you have a device with an active pen like the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book – Windows Ink Workspace is enabled by default and accessible via the pen button in the notification area of your taskbar. You won’t see this button if your device does not have an active pen paired with it. However, for those of you who don’t have a device with an active pen but want to try out Windows Ink Workspace, you can right-click on the taskbar and choose “Show Windows Ink Workspace button”.
Give Windows Ink a try and let us know what you think about this exciting new experience coming for free this summer to all Windows 10 customers. For more information on Windows Ink, you can read this blog post from Li-Chen Miller. And if you’re a developer you can read this blog post on how to build apps powered by Windows Ink.
Updated Start Experience
We have made improvements to the Start experience in Windows 10 which we think improves efficiency and discoverability of finding all of your apps as well as being more consistent across PC, Tablet, and Mobile.
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We have merged the most used apps list and the All apps list into a single view and elevated it to the top level of the UI to reduce clicking and scrolling. You can now access all your apps with one click on the Start menu. We have also moved important functionality such as Power, Settings, and File Explorer so that they are always visible in the left rail in the Start menu, and updated the Recently added section so that it will now show 3 entries instead of just 1, and can be expanded to see the entire list of new apps.
Finally, with this new design, any additional folders you have chosen to appear on Start (via Settings > Personalization > Start such as Documents or Pictures) will now be immediately available on Start and you will no longer need to open the hamburger button to access them.
Tablet mode improvements
In tablet mode, we added features that would take advantage of the space on screen and make tablet mode feel more immersive.
Full-screen All Apps list in Start: For Start on tablets, we have brought back the full-screen All Apps list. This was a top request from Windows Insiders. The grid-like implementation of the full-screen All Apps list aims to provide efficiency while taking advantage of the additional real estate on the Start screen on a tablet. Specifically, we looked at striking a balance between density and “scan-ability” (how easy it is to scan the list to find the app you want). We have also made it easier to toggle between your pinned tiles and All Apps list on the Start screen by providing these options in the left rail which is consistent with the UI used throughout Windows.
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Auto-hide taskbar in tablet mode: You can now choose to only auto-hide the taskbar in tablet mode. By hiding the taskbar, apps can take full advantage of the screen for an immersive and distraction-free experience. The setting can be found in Settings, under System > Tablet Mode. When the taskbar is hidden, swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen will make it appear. Doing so again will make it disappear.
Cortana & Search Improvements
Cortana on your Lock screen: You can now have Cortana on your Lock screen where you can ask her questions like “Remind me to take out the trash when I get home” or “When is the next Mariners game?” and get an immersive Cortana experience without having to unlock your device. You can also try asking Cortana “How is the traffic on my way home?” or “What is my schedule for tomorrow like?” For sensitive tasks or those that launch applications, Cortana will prompt you to unlock your device.
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To enable Cortana on your Lock screen – go to Cortana’s settings and under “Lock screen options” turn on “Let me use Cortana even when my device is locked” and also make sure you have “Hey Cortana” enabled as well.
More ways to create Cortana Reminders: We are making it easier and quicker to set a reminder in Cortana with 2 new exciting ways to create reminders. You can now create a Photo Reminder by taking a picture of something you want to be reminded about, like that beer you just tried and want to pick up next time you’re at the store. You can also now set reminders on content from UWP apps that utilize the share contract in Windows, like Microsoft Edge and the News app, so you don’t forget to read that article your friend sent you. You can share an article from the News app to Cortana and have her remind you to read it at a later time. This even works with photos from your collection in the Photos app! Give it a try.
Cortana Cross-Device Features: With the goal of keeping you in perfect sync across all the devices where you use Cortana, we introduced new cross-device features for Cortana with the last PC build, but these features were not working correctly with Build 14295 on Mobile. With today’s new Mobile build, these features should now be working correctly. Cortana will now inform you of low battery power on your mobile devices such as your Windows phone. Additionally, you can ask Cortana to find and ring your phone, and you will be able to share maps across all your devices.
Making Cortana easier to use: Starting with this build, you will be able to get started using Cortana right away without any set up or sign-in. The goal here is to make it really easy for people who are new to Cortana to try Cortana out. Without setting up or signing in to Cortana, you can ask Cortana simple questions about the world like “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?”, conduct a web search, have her tell you a joke or search documents on your device. As you find Cortana more useful and want her to do more for you, she’ll ask you to sign-in and ask for only the details needed to help you out. The best experience for Cortana will still be a signed in experience with complete personalization, but we’re excited to give even more people the opportunity to get to know Cortana. This update will be available to everyone when we release the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition this summer.
Deeper file search, including OneDrive results: You can now quickly search your files whether they are on your PC or your personal OneDrive in the cloud. You can search for documents, photos, music as well as videos stored on OneDrive. Just search for something you need to find and click one of the search filters (e.g. documents, photos, music, or videos) and it will show you content from your OneDrive.
Improvements to Action Center & Notifications
Evolving the entry point for Action Center: The Action Center icon has moved to the far corner of the taskbar so it is more distinct from other icons – making it easier to interact with it. There is a badge that now displays the number of notifications you have missed, and we are making it easier for you to know what app your notifications are from by adding a subtle animation to the icon (showing the sender app’s logo) whenever you receive notifications that do not show a toast.
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Visual changes to Action Center: Individual app notifications in Action Center no longer show the app icon repeated for each notification and will only be seen in the header that groups together all the notifications specific for that app. This change allows for more space in Action Center to show more content.
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Cortana notifications in Action Center: We have also added new insights from Cortana to ensure you are not missing anything important, such as a meeting conflict or anything she needs to remind you about.
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Customize your Quick Actions in Action Center: You can add, remove and re-arrange the Quick Actions that show up in Action Center. To customize your Quick Actions, just go to the Settings > System > Notifications & actions. In this settings page, you will see a replica of your Quick Actions as it appears in Action Center, and with a simple press and hold you can move the Quick Actions to the place where you want them to be. Then to add or remove a Quick Action, there is a link below the grid that will allow you to turn on or off the available Quick Actions. The last preview build for Mobile introduced this for your Windows 10 phones, and now we’re bringing it to PC too.
Wi-Fi Quick Action changes: The Wi-Fi Quick Action directly takes you to the “View Available Network” flyout instead of turning ON/OFF your Wi-Fi. We received a lot of feedback on this from Windows Insiders and customers who were confused by the Wi-Fi Quick Action.
Updates to the Taskbar
Taskbar clock now integrates your calendar: Your calendar events are now just one click away – you can easily check your daily schedule directly in the taskbar clock flyout, after connecting your accounts in the Calendar app. If you click on an event in the flyout, it will redirect you to that event’s details in the Calendar app. You can also add a new event by clicking the “+” button.
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Taskbar clock on all monitors: We heard a lot of requests for this from our gaming community. We’re happy to announce that for the first time since the taskbar was created, if you have multiple monitors and your taskbar set to show on all displays, the clock will now be visible on each Taskbar.
Taskbar Badging for UWP apps: You will now see badges appearing on UWP apps on the taskbar in addition to their Live Tiles and in Action Center. These badges are lightweight notifications that are contextual and specific to individual apps. For example, the Mail apps badge shows you the number of unseen emails (not unread). The Alarms & Clock app’s badge will show you that you have an active alarm. The Weather app’s badge lets you know when there is a weather alert in the area.
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Taskbar settings now in Settings app: We have now moved the taskbar settings into the Settings app. Just go to Settings > System > Taskbar or right-click on the taskbar to go directly to this page in the Settings app. As an added bonus, these settings are now discoverable by searching with Cortana.
Manage multiple playback devices from the Taskbar: The volume flyout has been updated to allow you to switch between multiple audio output devices. Just click the arrow next to current audio output in use to expand and see other output devices available.
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Updates to the Settings app
Icons for individual settings pages: All pages in the Settings app now have individual icons associated with them. These individual icons will also be shown when you pin a settings page to Start. And we have also added a dropdown flyout with page suggestions that will appear as you type into the Settings search box. These changes are designed to make it easier to find the settings you are looking for.
Updated Pen settings page:The Pen settings page under Settings > Devices > Pen has been updated to include the ability to adjust your pen shortcuts (e.g. click one to open OneNote), a new option to ignore touch input when using the pen, and Windows Ink Workspace settings. The touch keyboard and handwriting panel settings have been split up and you can choose to ignore touch input when using the pen.
Improved app management: We have added the ability to reset an app if it gets into a bad state under Settings > Apps and features. This is useful if an app gets into a bad state and you want to delete its data and start over. Just choose “Advanced options” for a specific app under Settings > Apps and features and you will see the reset button. Note that not all apps currently support reset however. You will also be able manage app add-ons and downloadable content here too if the app supports this capability as discussed at Build 2016. While there are currently no apps that support add-ons or downloadable content in the Store, please stay tuned for availability of apps that do once they are released.
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Windows Insider Program settings page: We have moved the Windows Insider Program settings to its own settings page. This is where you can go to join the Windows Insider Program (or stop receiving Insider Preview builds) and adjust which ring you are in. On Mobile – for Build 14327 and higher, the Windows Insider app is no longer required. To get to this new page, go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Insider Program.
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Switching desktops with the touchpad
Virtual desktop users can now switch quickly between desktops using their touchpads. To do this, swipe four fingers left or right on your touchpad. Try switching desktops with a quick-flick. And if you want to refer to two adjacent desktops you can keep your fingers down and drag back and forth. You will need a precision touchpad that supports four or more fingers, such as the precision touchpads found on Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 Type Cover. While you’re at ittry these other touchpad gestures supported in Windows 10.
Lock screen Improvements
Email addresses are hidden on the Lock screen: Your privacy is important to us and we received feedback that people did not want their email addresses displayed on the Lock screen. Email addresses are now hidden by default. If you would like your email address to show in the Lock screen, you can change this setting by going to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Privacy.
Media controls show on top of the Lock screen: Media controls will now appear embedded at the bottom right corner of the Lock screen, along with a picture of the album art from the song currently playing.
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Updated Credential & UAC Dialog UI
When you are prompted to enter your credentials or elevate a program, you will notice the dialog now has a fresh and modern UI to align with the design language in use across Windows 10. And now when prompted to enter credentials, you can choose to sign-in with Windows Hello, a PIN, certificates or a simple password.
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Updated Skype UWP Preview app
With the updated version of the Skype UWP Preview app, you can now create and send group messages, as well as make group audio and video calls. For more information on this update to the Skype UWP Preview app, see this blog post here.
Updated File Explorer icon
Windows Insiders love finding new icons. This one is pretty noticeable so we wanted to call it out. We’ve updated the File Explorer icon to align with the monochrome design language used for the icons across Windows 10. However, you will notice a little bit of color still present in the icon. The design team was a bit hesitant to completely let go of the yellow because it has become such a familiar part of the File Explorer branding.
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They explored a variety of different ways to keep the yellow and still match the cleanliness of the black and white Windows app icons. The new icon you see in this build is where the design team landed that is closer to monochrome, but still has the familiar shape that users recognize, and has a nod to the yellow that you see all throughout File Explorer. Let us know what you think.
File Explorer Unpinned from the Taskbar
We hear feedback from Windows Insiders about how important the space on the taskbar is for them, and we made a major change in Windows 10 early last year based on their feedback when we added an option to hide the search box. We’re continuing to look at things we can do to make this the best use of space possible, including what gets pinned by default. In this build we are unpinning File Explorer by default to see whether Insiders prefer it pinned, or would rather have the space for their own use and launch File Explorer when they need it from Start. You can also re-pin it to your taskbar by opening Start, right-clicking on File Explorer in the left rail, choosing “More” and then “Pin to taskbar”. Tell us what you think about this via the Feedback Hub. This study is similar to the one we did a year ago where Insiders helped determine what windows were represented on the taskbar in virtual desktops.
Japanese IME Improvements
Prediction capability enhancements on Japanese IME: You can expand prediction candidate window by hitting Tab key at the bottom of the candidate window to find various formats of date expressions. Conversion result is also shown in prediction candidate window when your text is relatively long.
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Improved typing history management in Japanese IME: You can now choose to store your typing history to a temporary repository and have it cleared automatically to avoid an inadvertent exposure to other people through the IME candidate window, without losing the important typing history you had accumulated over time. Just enable the mode from the context menu available on IME mode indicator. When you have finished typing, disable the mode from the same menu to have the temporary repository cleared. This functionality is automatically enabled during InPrivate browsing with Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer.
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Improved Cloud suggestions in Japanese IME: The IME UI has been improved to indicate the availability of Cloud suggestions! You will be notified in the candidate window when Cloud suggestions are available to use and can enjoy the rich vocabularies empowered by Bing. The flyout navigates users to the Settings, allowing them to switch to use Cloud suggestions more seamlessly as you type text.
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Here’s what’s fixed for PC
Known issues for PC
- We fixed the issue causing the Visual Studio emulator for Windows 10 Mobile and Hololens to fail with “An authentication error has occurred. The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted”. Developers should be able to use the emulator on this build.
- We fixed the issue causing the Xbox One Controller to lag and become hard to use when connected to your PC.
- We fixed an issue where the two factor authentication dialog wasn’t formatted correctly after an error is received.
- When you open a second app in tablet mode, it will appear side-by-side with the first app (split-screen). When you close one of these apps, it should become full screen.
- We fixed an issue where default column widths for Task Manager were too narrow on high DPI devices.
- We fixed an issue where restarting your PC might become stuck on “Restarting…” screen rather than prompting “Are you sure you want to Restart?” when unsaved work is present.
- We’ve updated the Shutdown Windows dialog to use a modern icon.
- We fixed an issue where you couldn’t see the Chinese Input Method Editor candidate list while in full screen mode for games, as well as resolved an issue where using it in the Settings search box would cause Settings to crash
- We fixed an issue that might result in a notification that cannot be dismissed.
- We fixed an issue resulting in overlapped icons and clipped text in File Explorer when display is using a very large font size.
- We fixed an issue causing Quicken to not launch. However, you will need to uninstall and reinstall Quicken to get out of a bad state.
Coming soon: Windows 10 Anniversary Update Bug Bash!
- After upgrading to this build, there may be some cases in which when your PC enters Connected Standby, it may have a bluescreen (bugcheck). For more information on how to mitigate this issue if this happens to you – see this forum post.
- We are continuing to make changes to our extension datastore schema in Microsoft Edge. As a result, after updating to this build any extensions installed in Microsoft Edge will be removed. You can reinstall these extensions to get them back.
- Feedback Hub is not localized and the UI will be in English (U.S.) only, even with language packs installed.
- Feedback Hub takes about 20-30 minutes after updating to this build to download and hydrate itself. If Feedback Hub is not fully hydrated, if you receive a mini-survey notification it will take you nowhere in the app, search in Feedback Hub won’t show results, and if you click to go to Feedback Hub from another app or setting, Feedback will not open.
- The Desktop App Converter Preview (Project Centennial) will fail to run on the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14328. If you are a developer utilizing the converter tool to convert your desktop app to UWP, we suggest skipping Build 14328 until we can fix this issue.
- All Tencent online games no longer work in current builds from the Development Branch.
- The updated UAC UI (mentioned above) breaks the ALT + Y keyboard shortcut to choose “yes”.
- If you are in an app and click on a link with a URL longer than 260 characters, it will bring up the “Open with…” dialog instead of opening with your default browser.
- We are aware of situations in which Groove Music will crash on launch at the splash screen and working to get a fix out soon. As a workaround, you can use Groove Music online.
- Playing music in the Groove Music within 2 minutes after logging into your PC will result in 0xc10100ae playback errors. If you wait more than 2 minutes after logging in to play music in Groove Music you will avoid this issue.
- In Microsoft Edge, some large downloads may appear to get stuck at 99% completion. You can work around this issue by renaming the file in your downloads after closing Microsoft Edge. This workaround skips security checks on the file, so it should be used only with files from a trusted source.
- If you have BitLocker/Device Encryption enabled and try go back to a previous Insider Preview build via “Go back to an earlier build” under Settings > Update & security > Recovery – the app will crash and you will be unable to rollback. To work around this issue, disable BitLocker/Device Encryption and try again.
- Settings will crash if you try to pin one of the pages to Start, resulting in page not being pinned
- You may see square boxes in certain apps when using some of the new emoji – we’re still getting things set up, this will be resolved in a future build.
- If you upgraded from 14316, you may see stuck apps in the Store. Those apps will also be duplicated in Start’s all apps list (one real, one pending). To resolve this: 1) Start downloading some other app. 2) Pause the download, then go to the downloads and update view. 3) Click the “Resume All” button. Once everything has downloaded, the issue should be resolved.
As part of the culture here at Microsoft, we like to dedicate certain days and have everyone in the team spend the time focused on finding new unreported issues. We call this a “Bug Bash.” We are kicking off a Bug Bash inside the Windows and Devices Group next week and we’d like to invite you to join us! A large amount of the feedback we have already is from Windows Insiders so we thought it was appropriate to include you in our upcoming Bug Bash as well. Next week we will have 4 days of multiple Quests inside the Feedback Hub that will highlight different areas of the product each day. We will be looking for feedback on each quests or whatever part of Windows and our apps you are most passionate about. We will have more details to share with you next week, so keep your eye on the Feedback Hub or Link Removed for news.
As always – thank you for being a Windows Insider and make sure to send us feedback on any issues you run into with these builds in the Feedback Hub.
Thanks,
g
ReferenceWindows 10 Taskbar just got better thanks to build 14328
Microsoft released one of the more exciting Windows 10 Insider builds this morning, chock-full of new features and fixes. Build 14328 incorporates a number of the new stuff the company introduced at Build 2016, and so there are quite a bit of new toys for Windows Insiders to check out. One of the newest are updates to the Windows 10 Taskbar, which promise to make things a little easier to manage.
Calendar Integration
First up is the new calendar integration in the Taskbar clock flyout. Simply put, your daily calendar is now displayed in the otherwise far-less-useful TaskBar clock. Just click on it to see what events you have upcoming.
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Now you can glance at your upcoming calendar events right from the Taskbar.
Taskbar Clock On All Monitors
Just as it sounds, the Taskbar clock will now show up on all monitors. That will be particularly helpful for this author, who uses three monitors to keep up with the Microsoft news cycle.
Taskbar Badging for UWP Apps
If you’ve ever used iOS, you’re likely familiar with app badges, which provide quick insight into apps that have pending notifications. Microsoft has decided to implement the same concept in Windows 10, adding badges to the Taskbar icons for Universal Windows Apps. And so, no need to go to the Start Menu with its live icons just to see if you have any new email messages–just glance at the icon on the Taskbar.
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Taskbar icons now have badges showing pending notifications.
Taskbar Settings in Settings App
Taskbar settings are no longer contained in their own dialog. Instead, they’re aggregated into the Settings app, which can be accessed by itself from the Action Center or via right-click on the Taskbar itself.
Manage Multiple Playback Devices
If you have more than one audio device available, you can now click on the volume icon on the Taskbar to select which device you’d like to use for playback.
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You can now select the playback source from the speaker icon on the Taskbar.
New Explorer Icon and Enhanced Action Center Button
Sometimes it’s the little things that matter, and Microsoft has made a couple of other smaller updates that further enhanced the Taskbar. First, there’s a new File Explorer icon that’s a bit more fancy.
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Updated File Explorer icon.
Second, the Action Bar button is also badged, showing you any missed notifications, and the button is now moved all the way to the right of the Taskbar to make it easier to access.
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New Action Center button.
That’s it for the Taskbar in build 14328.
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14332Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14332
Hi everyone,
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14332 for both PC and Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. Some languages and editions are still being propagated at the time of going live with this flight, but we expect these to be available within the hour. All languages and editions should be live.
The Bug Bash begins!
With this new build today for PC and Mobile – we’re officially kicking off the Bug Bash with Windows Insiders we mentioned last week. Over the course of the next 4 days, we will be publishing multiple Quests inside Feedback Hub that will highlight different areas of the product each day. We will be looking for feedback on each Quest, but you can also just use the parts of Windows and our apps you are most passionate about – the key is just to work together now through Sunday to get the best bug reports possible!
The Quests that you will see for the Bug Bash are not traditional Quests that list steps of trying a feature or scenario out. Many of them are open ended intentionally so that you can perform the steps that come naturally to you in order to finish the Quest and give us feedback on it. Many of them also list more than one scenario that can be tried out to finish the Quest. All the Quests for the Bug Bash will lead back to Feedback Hub so that you can upvote existing feedback or give new feedback based on your experience of completing the Quest. Please make sure to search for existing feedback to upvote before entering a new report.
We are also doing a few different types of Quests:
LIMITED TIME Quests: Quests marked as “LIMITED TIME” will expire within 24hrs of being published so make sure you get to these before the time runs out and they’re replaced with new Quests.
ADVANCED Quests: Quests marked as “ADVANCED” are more technical and may require changing the system configuration on your device and require an understanding on how to revert the changes after the Quest is done. You should only perform Quests that you feel comfortable doing, if something goes wrong you’ll need to be able to troubleshoot how to get back to a good state on your PC.
After you get this new build installed, open up Feedback Hub and get started. We’re REALLY excited about being able to include you for the first time on something that is part of our internal engineering culture at Microsoft. As I’ve been talking to people all week, I keep seeing big smiles and lots of excitement as people talk about how awesome it is to include Insiders as part of our activities. We hope you have fun as well, and send us some great bug reports. For more information on this week’s Bug Bash – Link Removed.
Here’s what’s new in Build 14332
Bash and Command Prompt Improvements: In previous builds, you may have experienced networking issues that prevented tools running in Bash on Ubuntu on Windows from being able to access the Internet. For example, you may have seen apt-get fail to find its servers and download apps. This release fixes these issues and users should no longer need to modify their resolv.conf file by hand. We also fixed an issue when calling mv between the /mnt and non-/mnt drives – files and directories will now move correctly between the two points. For more information about the Bash updates in this build, check out our release notes.
For Command Prompt, we’ve made several improvements including improved windows scaling on PCs with High-DPI displays, better font selection and rendering for international characters, several cursor rendering and hiding improvements, improved background color painting, as well as improved scrolling for nano & EMACS editors.
Cortana can now search Office 365: On your PC, Cortana can now search your content in Office 365 including your emails, contacts, calendar as well as files in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint. To get started, just add your Office 365 work or school account in the Connected Accounts section of Cortana’s Notebook. When you search, choose the appropriate filter (email, contacts, calendar, or documents) at the top to see relevant Office 365 search results. Try this out and let us know what you think!
UPDATE: Due to server-side issues happening at the moment, this capability may not work. We’re working to get these server-side issues resolved shortly. We’ll update this post once that happens!
Improved Battery Life for Connected Standby PC’s: We’ve integrated the same underlying technology that Battery Saver uses to quiet down some of the less-valuable activity that occurs during Connected Standby while still keeping your PC connected to the Internet and allowing key connectivity scenarios to work. As a result, if you’re using a Surface or other Connected Standby PC, many of you will notice improved and more consistent standby battery life.
Tip: To see if you are running a PC with Connected Standby, you can run the “powercfg /a” command from an admin Command Prompt. If the first state listed says “Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected”, you’re running on a PC capable of Connected Standby.
While we have worked hard to get the technology behind this to work optimally for what we think will be the vast majority of users, we’d like your feedback. If you notice any major issues (things you expected to work in Connected Standby but that do not), you have 2 options:
powercfg /setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_ENERGYSAVER ESPOLICY 0
- Go into Settings > System > Battery and enable the app that you want to run during Connected Standby to “Always allowed” in the background. You can read more about these battery settings in last week’s blog post.
- If you want to revert fully back to the old behavior in Connected Standby, you can run the following command lines from an admin Command Prompt:
powercfg /setactive scheme_current
Note: To re-enable the new Connected Standby behavior, you can run the same command lines as above but just change ‘0’ to ‘1’.
If you find that a scenario you depend on doesn’t work in the way you expect it to, please send us feedback via the Feedback Hub!
Here’s what’s fixed for PC
Here’s what’s fixed for Mobile
- We fixed the issue causing some PCs to bluescreen (bug check) when entering Connected Standby after updating to the latest build from the Development Branch.
- We fixed the issue where some large downloads may appear to get stuck at 99% completion in Microsoft Edge.
- We fixed an issue which made it look like you couldn’t drag and drop to reorder your favorites on the Favorites Bar.
- We fixed the issue causing Groove Music to crash on launch at the splash screen.
- We fixed an issue where adding a song to Groove Music’s Now Playing list might cause the current song to stop playing and start over.
- We fixed the issue where PCs are unable to go back to a previous Insider Preview build via “Go back to an earlier build” under Settings > Update & security > Recovery if they have BitLocker/Device Encryption enabled.
- We’ve made improvements to the share UI for Cortana Reminders. The experience is much more polished now.
- We improved reliability of the Chinese IME.
- Going forward (from this build), apps for which you’ve selected “Show windows from this app on all desktops” will be remembered after you update to a new build.
- We fixed an issue where the taskbar’s overflow tray for notification area (systray) icons was not being padded correctly for certain multi-monitor setups.
- We fixed an issue where the Game Bar would not appear if the DPI had been changed from 150% to 100%.
- We fixed an issue where notifications with more content sometimes could not be expanded in the Action Center.
- We fixed an issue where tiles on the Start menu might flash at the wrong size after exiting tablet mode.
- We fixed an issue where the battery icon in the notification area might display incorrectly after a DPI change.
- We fixed an issue where clicking on the “X” button on a window in Task View removed the thumbnail, but the title and X button would still be shown.
- When an app is displayed in the Start menu with the name “@{<app package name>}”), there will now be an option to uninstall it.
- We fixed an issue where re-directed folder Libraries would appear as duplicate folder entries in the File Explorer navigation pane.
- We fixed an issue for multi-monitor users, where launching a desktop (Win32) app from Start would result in the full screen video being played on the other monitor getting minimized.
- We fixed an issue where the Settings app would crash if you tried to pin a settings page to Start.
- We fixed an issue where opening Windows Defender from the Settings app would fail.
- We fixed an issue resulting in blurry and/or overlapped text in Start’s All apps list.
- We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard might not come up in the password field after you switched users on the Lock screen.
- We fixed an issue where Windows Spotlight wouldn’t remember if you had already said you liked that image the last time you locked your PC.
Known issues for PC
- We’ve made improvements to the share UI for Cortana Reminders. The experience is much more polished now.
- We fixed an issue where a press and hold on the Camera Quick Action in Action Center wouldn’t do anything. Now it will launch the Camera app.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the Lumia 435, 532, 535 and 540 being unable to take photos with the Camera app.
- We fixed an issue where typed text would be invisible in Cortana when the OS was set to light mode under Settings > Personalization > Colors.
- We fixed an issue with the Italian keyboard where certain words would get auto-capitalized after a comma (acting as it would if it was a period instead).
- Improved the performance of opening Settings > Update & security > For developers.
- We fixed an issue where Cyrillic characters would be lowercase in list headers (for example, in the All apps list).
- We fixed an issue where pulling your headphones out to answer a call would result in the music playing out loud once the call had ended.
- For phones that support adjusting the brightness automatically, this setting will now be enabled by default after a restore or hard reset.
- You can now set the time for how long it should be for Windows to require you to sign in again via Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options with Windows Hello set up.
- We fixed an issue that blocked you from renaming your device.
- We fixed an issue where the Lock screen quick status numbers might appear drawn under the navigation bar.
Known issues for Mobile
- We’re adding a built-in network speed test under Settings > Network & Internet > Status however it doesn’t work just yet. The UI is there but we still have some backend work to get it turned on and working.
- Feedback Hub is not localized and the UI will be in English (U.S.) only, even with language packs installed.
- Feedback Hub takes about 20-30 minutes after updating to this build to download and hydrate itself. If Feedback Hub is not fully hydrated, if you receive a mini-survey notification it will take you nowhere in the app, search in Feedback Hub won’t show results, and if you click to go to Feedback Hub from another app or setting, Feedback will not open.
- The Desktop App Converter Preview (Project Centennial) will fail to run on the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14332. If you are a developer utilizing the converter tool to convert your desktop app to UWP, we suggest skipping this build until we can fix this issue.
- All Tencent online games no longer work in current builds from the Development Branch.
- The updated UAC UI breaks the ALT + Y keyboard shortcut to choose “yes”.
- You may receive 0x8004C029 errors when attempting to play Groove Music Pass (DRM) content in Groove Music.
- Playing music in the Groove Music within 2 minutes after logging into your PC will result in 0xc10100ae playback errors. If you wait more than 2 minutes after logging in to play music in Groove Music you will avoid this issue.
- You may see square boxes in certain apps when using some of the new emoji – we’re still getting things set up, this will be resolved in a future build.
- We are continuing to make changes to our extension datastore schema in Microsoft Edge. As a result, after updating to this build any extensions installed will be removed. You can reinstall these extensions to get them back.
- If you are using a non-English keyboard, you can’t accept Bash prompts.
- We are investigating an issue where if you’re running Insider Preview builds in certain languages, the All apps list on Start appears empty. A workaround for this is to use search to launch apps.
As a reminder – we release builds for Mobile from our Development Branch toLink Removed. As we stated previously, only devices which are eligible to receive the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will be able to get preview builds from the Development Branch going forward.
- Speech Packs are unable to be downloaded. However, Language Packs for keyboards should download without any issues. We have identified the issue and working to get a fix out as soon as possible.
- Feedback Hub is not localized and the UI will be in English (U.S.) only even with language packs installed.
- When you navigate to your camera roll directly from the Camera app, it may crash. To view the photos taken with the Camera app, go directly to the Photos app instead to avoid the crash.
- You may receive 0x8004C029 errors when attempting to play Groove Music Pass (DRM) content in Groove Music.
- You may encounter “Can’t Play – Another app is controlling your sound right now. 0xc00d4e85” errors when attempting to play Groove Music Pass (DRM) content in Groove Music.
- You may see square boxes in certain apps when using some of the new emoji – we’re still getting support for the new emoji added throughout the systems, this will be resolved in a future build.
- There is a bug we’re investigating that prevents some apps such as Tweetium from launching.
- Your phone will lock up and reboot when it receives a notification from an app that has “Keep notifications private on the lock screen” turned on under Settings > System > Notifications & actions. This is particularly painful if you have this turned on for the Messaging app and could result in the loss of text messages. If you have this turned on for specific apps – it is recommended you turn it off until we fix this issue.
- The Settings app may crash when you are re-arranging Quick Actions under Settings > System > Notification & actions. If it does, it could result in one of the Quick Action spots disappearing. If you see this happen, please refrain from changing your Quick Action settings on this build. If you have been impacted by this issue, only a hard reset will revert your Quick Action settings back to default.
As always – thank you for being Windows Insiders and make sure to send us feedback on any issues you run into with these builds in the Feedback Hub.
Thanks,
g
UPDATED APRIL 26, 2016 4:05 PM
ReferenceFacebook, Messenger and Instagram apps coming to Windows 10
Today, we are excited to share that the official Facebook app and Messenger app for Windows 10 PCs and Tablets, and the official Instagram app for Windows 10 mobile are available to download from the Windows Store.
You can download Facebook for Windows 10 PCs and Tablets Link Removed, Messenger for Windows 10 PCs and Tablets Link Removedand Instagram for Windows 10 mobile Link Removed.
Designed to run quickly and easily within Windows 10 and have the most up-to-date features, Facebook built Windows-only experiences into all three of these apps such as Live Tiles, which lets you quickly see new posts, messages and photos right from your home screen.
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Keeping up with friends is faster than ever with the new Facebook app for Windows 10, the best way to experience Facebook on Windows. With Live Tiles, you can easily find out what your friends and family are up to at a glance. And now, reading and sharing articles from News Feed is quick and easy with an in-app browser. Other features include Reactions, stickers in comments, notifications so that you don’t miss important updates, and a right-hand column that shows birthday, event reminders and trending topics.
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Along with many of your favorite features of Facebook’s Messenger — like photo sharing, stickers, group conversations and GIFs — Messenger for Windows 10 PCs has desktop notifications so you never miss an important message. And when you pin the app to your Start menu you’ll get notified of new messages with Live Tiles.
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The team over at Instagram is rolling out Instagram for Windows 10 mobile with all of the community’s favorite features — including Direct Messaging, updated Search and Explore, Videos and Account Switching. Instagram also supports Live Tiles, so if you pin the app to your home screen you’ll get notifications from Instagram right on your start screen.
We’re thrilled to have this collection of apps available from Facebook for Windows 10 users coming to the Link Removed to download for free today and we’re excited to share that more great experiences from Facebook will be coming to Windows 10 mobile soon – stay tuned. Learn more about today’s news by heading to Facebook’s Newsroom and the Link Removed.
*The new Facebook app will replace the existing Windows desktop Facebook app once fully rolled out in the store in the coming hours. For those on Windows 10 mobile, the new Facebook app is coming soon. The new Instagram app will replace the current Instagram (beta) app on Windows 10 mobile.
UPDATED APRIL 28, 2016 11:12 AM
MAY 5, 2016 7:00 AM
Windows 10 Now on 300 Million Active Devices – Free Upgrade Offer to End Soon
By Yusuf Mehdi / Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group
As we near the one year anniversary of the availability of Windows 10, we’re excited to share that Windows 10 is now running on 300 million active devices around the world.
We’re pleased to see Windows 10 become one of the largest online services in less than a year. Core to delivering our more personal computing vision, Windows 10 offers experiences that are familiar, safer and more secure, and more personal and productive – enabling innovative new experiences.
We’re seeing people at home, at schools, at small businesses, at large companies, and other organizations adopt Windows 10 faster than ever, and use Windows 10 more than ever before. A few examples:
These Windows 10 services are getting better and better each month, with significant new innovations shipped in November, and many more coming in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update this summer. Of course, as part of delivering Windows 10 as a service – any Windows 10 customer can enjoy these innovations – for free.
- Over 63 billion minutes were spent on Microsoft Edge in March alone, with 50% growth in minutes since the last quarter. Exclusively available on Windows 10, Microsoft Edge is our modern browser for helping you get things done.
- Cortana, the personal digital assistant in Windows 10, has helped answer over 6 billion questions since launch.
- People are playing games on Windows 10 more than ever before, with over 9 billion hours of gameplay on Windows 10 since launch.
- Apps that come with Windows 10, including Photos, Groove Music, and Movies & TV are seeing millions of active users each month, including more than 144 million people using Photos.
- And, the Windows Store continues to grow daily with new Universal Windows Platform apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger; updated UWP apps from Vine, Hulu, Netflix and Twitter; and popular PC games including Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quantum Break.
With the highest customer satisfaction of any version of Windows, we want everyone to enjoy the benefits of Windows 10. We continue to see awesome new Windows 10 devices becoming available – at a price point for everyone. And, today, we want to remind you that if you haven’t taken advantage of the Link Removed, now is the time. The free upgrade offer to Windows 10 was a first for Microsoft, helping people upgrade faster than ever before. And time is running out. The free upgrade offer will end on July 29 and we want to make sure you don’t miss out. After July 29th, you’ll be able to continue to get Windows 10 on a new device, or purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home for $119.
If you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10 – thank you. If you haven’t upgraded yet – we hope you’ll consider upgrading today.
Thanks,
Yusuf
Link RemovedAdBlock and AdBlock Plus appear to have shown up in the Windows Store for Windows Insiders running build 14332 on desktops. Users can now download AdBlock and AdBlock Plus extensions for use with Microsoft Edge, which is great news for many who have been waiting to make the switch over from Chrome or Firefox.
ReferenceWell, it’s a bit later than usual, but Microsoft accidentally on purpose released Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14342. Apparently a button was partially pressed that shouldn’t have been, and rather than try the impossible and pull the build back, King of the Big Red Button Gabe Aul decided to go ahead and push the button all the way down.
Here’s what’s new in build 14342:
Updates for Extensions in Microsoft Edge
First, all of the available Edge extensions can now be installed from the Windows Store. No more sideloading, but you’ll have to reinstall from the Store because your currently installed extensions will be removed.
Next there are some new ones to check out. Microsoft specifically makes note ofLink Removed, which we’ve already reported on. That gives us Pin It Button, Mouse Gestures, Reddit Enhancement Suite, Microsoft Translator, and OneNote Web Clipper to go along with them as the officially available extensions.
Microsoft does want you to know about a specific bug in this build:
Important note: There is a bug in this build that occurs if you turn off all extensions without uninstalling them, you may not be able to close the browser or get context menus to work. To avoid this issue, uninstall any extensions you no longer want to use instead of turning them off. If you do hit this issue, to get out of this state you will need to turn on one or more extensions or uninstall all extensions, kill any Microsoft Edge processes running in Task Manager, and restart Microsoft Edge.
Real-time web notifications in Microsoft Edge
Just as it sounds, Edge will now provide real-time web notifications that will be accessible to websites and published in the Action Center–with permission, of course.
Swipe navigation in Microsoft Edge
As we reported on previously, the much-requested swipe gestures from the Windows 8.X version of mobile Internet Explorer have made their way to Edge.
Bash on Ubuntu on Windows improvements
Skype UWP Preview Update
- Symlinks within the Windows Subsystem for Linux are now functional on the mounted Windows directories. This fix helps support many scenarios including the npm installer.
- Users with non-Latin Windows usernames are now able to install Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.
- Many more improvements can be found in the WSL release notes here!
The Skype UWP Preview app has been updated with a dark theme and the ability to switch between Skype accounts. A mobile release is upcoming in the “next few weeks.”
Updated Windows Ink Workspace icon
The Windows Ink icon has been updated, with a “more expressive ink stroke” and more consistency with other notification area icons. The new icon sizes better as well.
Updated visuals for User Account Control dialog
The UAC dialog also now has its own dark mode. The header is blue instead of yellow.
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Dark mode UAC Prompt
Middle-click for dismiss in Action Center
You can now dismiss a individual notifications with a middle button click. An app’s name can be middle-clicked to dismiss all of its notifications.
Apps for websites
The ability to redirect websites to apps is coming soon. No apps support it, but a new page has been added at Settings > System > Apps to support the feature.
Feedback Hub improvements
You’ll get suggested categories and subcategories based on title and description when you create feedback. That should make it a bit more efficient in sending your feedback along.
ReferenceMicrosoft has been very tight lipped on when exactly we’ll see the Anniversary Update launch to the public, with official comments extending no further than “sometime this Summer.” But now, as Microsoft begins finalising the Anniversary Update, “Version 1607” is official as internal Windows 10 builds are now being referenced as such. Surprise! The Anniversary Update is arriving around the anniversary of Windows 10!
ReferenceOpening Windows Holographic to Partners for a New Era of Mixed Reality
Today at Computex, I joined Nick Parker and Alex Kipman on stage to celebrate incredible devices from across the Windows ecosystem – from PCs to gaming to IoT and beyond – and to share how the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update will bring all new innovation, creating opportunities for modern computing devices.
The big news in our presentation today was a look forward to the future of computing, where the physical and virtual worlds intersect in all new ways, and create further scale for the Windows platform.
We’ve been on an incredible journey with Windows 10 to deliver more personal computing, where you interact with your devices as naturally as you interact with the world around you, your experiences travel with you, and designed from the ground up with security in mind. With over 300 million active devices already running Windows 10, we’re off to a great start.
Today we focused on the next frontier – mixed reality. Providing devices with the ability to perceive the world, breaking down the barriers between virtual and physical reality is what we call mixed reality. Imagine wearing a VR device and seeing your physical hands as you manipulate an object, working on the scanned 3D image of a real object, or bringing in a holographic representation of another person into your virtual world so you can collaborate. In this world, devices can spatially map your environment wherever you are; manipulating digital content is as easy and natural as picking up a box or sitting at a table; and you can easily teleport into your next meeting or travel together as a team.
The market for virtual reality devices is expected to be 80 million devices per year by 2020. However, many of today’s devices and experiences do not work with each other, provide different user interfaces, interaction models, input methods, peripherals, and content. And most virtual reality experiences can’t mix real people, objects, and environments into the virtual world, making creation and collaboration difficult. This is because they lack the human, environmental and object understanding that is already built into Windows 10.
Today, we announced that Windows Holographic is coming to devices of all shapes and sizes from fully immersive virtual reality to fully untethered holographic computing. Today we invited our OEM, ODM, and hardware partners to build PCs, displays, accessories and mixed reality devices with the Windows Holographic platform.
For our partners, this creates new business opportunities, unlocking mixed reality experiences across devices. For developers, Windows Holographic apps can be written today with confidence that they will run on the broadest set of devices.
We are excited to be working with Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, HTC, Acer, ASUS, CyberPowerPC, Dell, Falcon Northwest, HP, iBuyPower, Lenovo, MSI and many others supporting great virtual reality experiences on Windows 10, and we are looking forward to opening up Windows Holographic to the partner ecosystem for the future.
Windows: The Only Mixed Reality Platform
Windows 10 includes Windows Holographic, the platform that powers the amazing mixed reality experiences available on Microsoft HoloLens today. It offers a holographic shell and interaction model, perception APIs, and Xbox Live services.
Consistent with our approach to Surface, our development efforts on HoloLens are designed to push the limits and create opportunity across the ecosystem.
We began shipping Microsoft HoloLens in March and customers across industries are embracing the potential of mixed reality already, including NASA, Volvo, Lowe’s and more. The development opportunity is significant – as all holographic apps are Universal Windows apps, and all Universal Windows apps can be made to run on the Windows Holographic platform. In fact, there are already hundreds of Universal Windows Apps in the Windows Store today that run on Windows Holographic. I’m so impressed by the creativity of the community using Windows Holographic today – some of my favorite examples range from gardening to architecture to fashion design to flying drones and other apps.
Welcoming our Partners to Mixed Reality
We would love for you to join us as we deliver this new world of mixed reality. Interested partners should go to WinHec.com to learn more and sign-up to join us at WinHEC this fall in Shenzhen and Taipei.
I can’t wait to see what our partners do with Windows Holographic.
-Terry
Sorry I was a bit slow with the information:Now on Build 14367.rs1
They are coming thick an fast now. (Or maybe MS panic)
ReferenceIn other words, those who do not jump on the free upgrade offer to Windows 10 and are still running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you will have to purchase a license from the Microsoft Store or from any other retailer who carries the operating system. Windows 10 Home runs for $119.99 (plus tax) and Windows 10 Pro runs for $199.99 (plus tax).
Microsoft also offers a “Windows 10 Pro Pack” which allows a consumer to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro, and it runs for $99 (plus tax).
Once you upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft will continue to keep it current via Windows Update for the lifetime of the device and it will not cost you a penny.