Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16281 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16281 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead). As we mentioned in last week, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.
Also – check out the news from earlier today from IFA 2017 in Berlin that the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update will be available worldwide October 17th.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
- We fixed an issue resulting in Train Simulator 2017 failing to launch on recent flights.
- We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to tab into an open PDF in Microsoft Edge after interacting with the any of the Microsoft Edge window elements using mouse.
- We fixed an issue where the Windows Defender Security Center app icon was missing in taskbar when the app was open, as well in Start’s all apps list. You will also notice that the icon is now un-plated in the taskbar.
- We’ve made some adjustments to address an issue resulting in sudden and brief CPU spikes where you couldn’t move your mouse. If you’ve encountered this, please try it in this new build and let us know if your experience has improved.
- We fixed an issue where minimized app windows on mixed-DPI monitor setups might end up drawing offscreen after your PC resumed from sleep.
- We fixed an issue where if you changed your display language preference to something other than the machine’s default then any app which did not take an update while also getting the updated language resource package from the Store would end up continuing to display its tile in Start in that default language rather than the new language displayed within the app and other system UI.
Dona
Ref:In short, skip ahead is a new option for Insiders in the Fast ring that allows users to jump ahead, past the current Fall Creators Update preview builds, and onto the development branch where the update coming after the Fall Creators Update is being developed. It puts Insiders on the Redstone 4 channel of development builds, meaning Insiders who choose to skip ahead won't be given the chance to test the Fall Creators Update RTM.
AUGUST 31, 2017 10:02 AM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16353 for PC (Skip Ahead)
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16353 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring who have opted in to Skip Ahead only. As we mentioned in last week, Insiders who joined Skip Ahead will continue to receive builds from the RS_PRERELEASE branch which has transitioned to RS4 which is the release that will come after the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (RS3). Insiders will notice that the build numbers have jumped ahead to 1635x. Previously, we jumped ahead with build numbers at the beginning of development for RS3. Because we are just beginning development for RS4, Insiders shouldn’t expect to see a lot of big changes or new features just yet. Our focus remains getting the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update ready for release!
More on Skip Ahead
We have had some Insiders ask us some questions about Skip Ahead and to clarify what it is. Back in July, we announced Windows Insiders in the Fast ring could opt-in and “skip ahead” to builds that would be part of the next feature update for Windows 10. There was a limit on how many Insiders in the Fast ring we would allow to skip ahead and that limit had been reached several weeks ago. Insiders can no longer opt-in their PCs to Skip Ahead.
Up until last week, we had been releasing identical builds to Insiders who didn’t opt in to Skip Ahead and to those who did. As of today, the builds are no longer the same as mentioned above.
The following graphic breaks down the essentials of Skip Ahead:
To summarize:
We recognize this might seem a bit confusing to some Insiders but with Skip Ahead, we are able to test our ability to release builds from two different branches at the same time. Once the Windows 10 Fall Creators, Skip Ahead goes away and everyone in the Fast ring will be on RS4 builds.
- If you DIDN’T opt in to Skip Ahead, you’re receiving the latest builds of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (RS3). You will eventually start receiving builds for the next feature update of Windows 10 (RS4) once we release the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
- If you DID opt in to Skip Ahead, you’re receiving early builds for the next feature update of Windows 10 (RS4).
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
- When the Action Center is black (the default option) the “clear all”, “expand”/”collapse”, and “see more” link text will now all use your accent color – making them pop more and improving discoverability.
- We’ve updated the Action Center to now support a two finger touch gesture to dismiss all notifications. Place two fingers vertically within the Action Center near the edge opposite to the side of your screen. Then slide these fingers towards the side of the screen. You will notice all notification groups following your fingers and then dismissing as you slide your fingers off the side of the screen.
- We fixed an issue in XAML resulting in text animations appearing slightly blurry in the last flight until the animation had stopped (for example, when loading the main page of Settings).
- We fixed an issue resulting in the taskbar being unexpectedly thick if you booted up the PC while plugged in to an external monitor with a different DPI.
- We fixed an issue that caused minimized per-monitor DPI aware windows to miss DPI changes and end up with a mix of DPI scaling upon restoring.
- We fixed an issue from recent flights where when Slideshow was enabled resuming from sleep a second time might place the Lock screen in a state where it couldn’t be dismissed without pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del.
- We fixed an issue resulting in an unexpected change in mouse sensitivity in the last flight for PCs using non-default display scaling.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Asphalt 8 not accepting input in recent flights.
- We fixed an issue resulting in progress wheels on certain websites in Microsoft Edge unexpectedly moving out of place during their rotation.
- We fixed an issue where the Windows Hello strings would appear on top of the page when performing a pin reset from the login screen.
Dona
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16288 for PC & Build 15250 for Mobile
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
UPDATE 9/15: We have released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16288 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Slow ring.
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16288 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead). As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.
On Build 16288, you will notice that the watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop has disappeared. You will also see that the OS now reports as “Version 1709” which is the official version number for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update release. However, this is NOT the final build as we’re not done yet.We’re just now beginning the phase of checking in final code to prepare for the final release. So we will have more builds to release to Windows Insiders between now and then. And the desktop watermark may re-appear in these builds.
We are also releasing Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15250 to Insiders in the Fast ring.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Windows Shell Improvements
Input Improvements
- We fixed an issue resulting in the Facebook Messenger app failing to accept the enter key when sending messaging in recent flights.
- We fixed an issue where the “New” text displayed under the names of newly installed apps in Start wouldn’t go away after launching the app.
- We fixed an issue where using the letters in Start to jump to different locations in the alphabet wasn’t consistently working in the last few flights.
- We fixed an issue where local app search in Cortana failed to return the expected app if the user profile directory contained non-ASCII characters.
- We fixed an issue where pressing WIN + X would sometimes not show the accelerator key underlines.
- We fixed an issue where when the People button was present in taskbar, and toast-only banners (for example from Outlook 2016) were sent, the Action Center badge counter would become inaccurate.
- We fixed a bug from recent flights where upon unlock you’d be bombarded with any notifications that occurred while your PC was locked. If you’d like to review notifications received while your PC was locked, they can be found in the Action Center
Microsoft Edge Improvements
- We fixed an issue where pressing delete when using the full touch keyboard layout in UWP apps would input a period rather than deleting a character.
- We fixed an issue where the Pinyin IME’s emoji picker wouldn’t load in recent flights.
- We fixed a tablet mode issue where launching the touch keyboard in UWP apps might sometimes take multiple taps on the edit field before the keyboard would come up.
- We fixed an issue where when using the Chinese (Simplified) handwriting panel InputPersonalization.exe could get into a state where it would unexpectedly have a continually high CPU usage.
- We fixed an issue with the handwriting panel where the “&123” and Emoji button didn’t work when the device was in portrait orientation.
- We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to turn on the Japanese IME after the focus was moved from a UWP (like Sticky Notes) to another app and back.
- We fixed an issue resulting in a stutter when selecting long strings in certain single line editable text boxes (for example when naming favorites in Microsoft Edge).
- We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to type text via the touch keyboard into Internet Explorer when using the Japanese, Chinese, or Korean keyboards.
- We fixed an issue where the Dayi and Array IMEs couldn’t input Chinese characters in certain apps in recent flights when using the touch keyboard.
Gaming
- We fixed an issue where the tab preview for PDFs was just black with two white stripes.
- We fixed an issue where the first time you used Ctrl + F in a tab the search box wouldn’t get focus. We also fixed an issue where after clicking the Find on Page text box you might not be able to type in the address bar.
- We fixed an issue where sometimes the Hub would appear to open twice when you clicked the icon.
- We fixed an issue where typing a web address into the address bar from the New Tab and Start Page and would sometimes clear the text and not result in any page navigation.
- We fixed an issue where Ctrl + Click on a link in a PDF wouldn’t open the link in a new tab.
- We fixed an issue where “Open with previous pages” wouldn’t recover tabs if the tabs had been dragged between frames prior to closing Microsoft Edge.
- We fixed an issue which could result in uploads failing on some sites, such as Behance.net.
- We fixed an issue where website tooltips could end up displaying behind the Microsoft Edge window after opening a link in new tab in the background.
- We fixed an issue resulting copy/paste and the print dialog not working for those using the updated Youtube.com website design.
- We’ve updated editable fields in PDFs to now have a subtle color to help indicate that they’re editable.
- We fixed an issue resulting in PDFs potentially rendering blank after panning down a few pages and back up.
- We fixed an issue from recent flights where Alt + D wouldn’t bring input focus to the address bar when certain keyboards were active.
Devices
- We fixed an issue resulting in Ghost Recon: Wildlands not starting in recent flights since the Easy anti-cheat component wouldn’t load.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Mod Organizer no longer load mods into Skyrim in recent flights.
Other fixes and improvements
- We fixed the issue where USBhub.sys was causing spontaneous reboots due to bugchecks (GSOD).
- We fixed an issue where your PC might not go to sleep automatically after remoting into it and signing out of the remote session.
What’s new in Build 15250 for Mobile
- We fixed an issue where Settings could crash if a Bluetooth device was turned off while the Bluetooth settings page was open.
- We fixed an issue from recent flights resulting in some Insiders experiencing an issue where Store apps would begin to fail to activate after being launched a few times.
- We fixed an issue where if the lock screen slideshow was set to a OneDrive folder containing offline-only images, these pictures would all be downloaded to the PC while the PC was locked (going through each picture). These pictures will now be skipped.
- If you’ve encountered an issue where Spotlight appears stuck on a particular image, we’ve added logic such that it should now reset after at most 7 days.
Two factor Authentication: We are excited to announce that we’ve introduced a two factor authentication unlock mechanism for Windows 10 Mobile. With two factor unlock, an enterprise can enforce an additional security layer to their sensitive data via an MDM policy. Once two factor unlock is enabled, a phone user will have to enter a numeric pin followed by an enterprise-defined factor to unlock the phone. An example of an enterprise-defined factor is a companion device such as an NFC tag which can be used to unlock a phone using our Companion Device Framework sample app and documentation.
AppLocker Improvements: A number of customers have provided feedback on the warning prompts for apps that are blocked by enterprise policies. We’ve improved the UX and updated the MDM SyncML scripts associated with the policies. Application restrictions can be configured by either the ApplicationManagement CSP or AppLocker CSP.
ApplicationManagement/ApplicationRestrictions
AppLocker/ApplicationLaunchRestrictions
VPN Improvements: In the modern corporate workplace, mobility is mainstream and secure access to corporate data via VPN has become the norm. We are bringing a range of improvements and features that enhance the reliability of VPN on Windows 10 Mobile. The key updates to our VPN capability are:
General changes, improvements, and fixes for Mobile
- Lots of reliability improvements for VPN connectivity in Windows 10 Mobile.
- IKEv2 Sleep and Power Enhancements.
- VPN completes all pending actions before sleep and disconnects.
- Automatic reconnection on resume.
- Force tunneled improvements for UWP platform.
- Proxy improvements for UWP VPN profile.
- Enabling MMS usage when VPN is connected.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
- We fixed a regression that was introduced in build 15245 where the fingerprint reader on the HP Elite X3 did not turn on the screen. You needed to turn on the screen before you could use Windows Hello.
- We fixed some issues where the Maps app navigation would start navigating a route and after performing a reroute, would present a list of possible routes instead of adjusting to the current route.
- We also improved map-matching particularly for routes using ferries.
- We fixed an issue where an app using the routing engine (e.g. Maps) would timeout on providing the route if suspended for more than 30 seconds.
- We fixed an issue where tiles on the Start screen would occasionally be blank.
- We fixed an issue where a VPN profile that was created via the VPN Management API would always be a dial-up profile.
- We fixed an issue with the MDM policy used to control Build Flighting by Mobile Enterprise.
- We fixed a couple of navigation issues when changing from highway to highway (occasionally, signposts were copied from the original highway to the destination highway) and highway to non-highway (erroneous instruction to “enter highway”).
- We fixed a rare issue where the user’s call history was shown as corrupt after an upgrade.
Dona
SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 2:01 PM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16291 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16291 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead). As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.
What’s new in Build 16291
Resume from phones to PC with Cortana: Cortana users can now resume articles, news from their iPhones and Android phones to PC from within the Cortana app. This exciting feature comes in addition to the existing features where users can sync reminders, notifications and SMS across their devices and stay connected on the go!
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Update for Insiders with a Surface Pro 3
- We fixed an issue where sometimes after an upgrade Windows Update’s update history would be missing a listing for the feature update you’d just done.
- We fixed an issue where scrolling with touch or precision touchpads wasn’t working with the F12 Developer Tools.
- We fixed an issue where pin reset above lock (“I forgot my PIN”) would only work the first time the password was reset.
- We fixed an issue where Microsoft Edge would crash if you added a Favorite to a Favorites folder and then immediately sorted that folder by name.
- We fixed an issue with the indexer from recent flights that could result in Outlook 2016 search failing to index the body of messages.
- We fixed a recent issue resulting in the Skype UWP app not being launched if it was minimized when you clicked an incoming call notification.
If you are a Windows Insider who has a Surface Pro 3 and hit the bug causing the device to end up in an “unbootable” state where the Windows OS will not load and it appears to be stuck on a “spinning dots” screen – click here and read this forum poston how to get your Surface Pro 3 up and running again.
Team Updates
Next week, our entire team is going to be at Microsoft Ignite in Orlando. Please do come by the Windows Insider booth as well as our two sessions WIP 100 and WIP 300 for some 1:1 time with us. We’re SO looking forward to meeting you!
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 8:02 PM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16294 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Tonight we are rolling out Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16294 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead). This build might not be available for everyone as it rolls out so just be patient.
IMPORTANT NOTE (ADDED 9/21): You will be unable to install *new*/additional language packs on this build. Pre-existing language packs (language packs you’ve installed previously) will carry over and work just fine.
As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
- This build has the fix for the bug that was causing some Surface Pro 3 devices to end up in a “unbootable” state where the Windows OS will not load and it appears to be stuck on a “spinning dots” screen. After installing this build, Surface Pro 3 devices should no longer get into this state. If you have a Surface Pro 3 in a bad state – follow the instructions on this forum post to get back up and running.
- We fixed an issue on Dutch builds where explorer could go into a crash loop if an app-requested downloads notification popped up from OneDrive.
- We fixed an issue where expand.exe couldn’t expand CABs that contained Japanese characters in the file name.
- We fixed a race condition that could result in window content being transparent (but showing the window frame) or stale after unlocking your desktop.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing error 0x800B010C when attempting to upgrade to the last few flights.
- ADDED 9/21: If you were hitting a 0x80070057 or 0x8007071 error trying to install Build 16291, see this blog post for details.
Dona
SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 3:01 PM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16296 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
UPDATE 9/26: We have released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16296 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Slow ring.
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16296 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead).
IMPORTANT NOTE: You will be unable to install *new*/additional language packs on this build. Pre-existing language packs (language packs you’ve installed previously) will carry over and work just fine.
As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Team Updates
- We fixed an issue where Hyper-V couldn’t create a VM on 3rd party network storage.
- We fixed an issue where for the first few minutes after clean installing a non-English build many inbox app names might unexpectedly appear with English app names.
- We fixed an issue where gaming apps using WebView with heavy use of HTML canvas might have unexpectedly had very low FPS in recent flights.
Just a reminder that next week, our entire team and a few of our Community Champs is going to be at Microsoft Ignite in Orlando. If you’re going to be at Ignite, please come and visit us at the Windows Insider Program booth as well as our two sessions WIP 100 and WIP 300 for some 1:1 time with us. We’re SO looking forward to meeting you!
We’re also doing a Insider Pulse survey every week (usually on Fridays) where you can tell us how we’re doing! Please do these surveys!
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No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 2:03 PM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16299 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16299 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead).
As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Team Updates
- We fixed an issue some Insiders were experiencing where after upgrading to recent flights their optical drive wouldn’t be listed under This PC.
- We fixed an issue where Microsoft Edge might crash when scrolling embedded PDFs.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing 0x80070005 when trying to upgrade to the last few flights.
- We fixed an issue where using the Automatic File Download notification to block an app from downloading files wasn’t working for UWP apps.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Windows Defender potentially downloading files selected to be online-only after using the file picker dialog and viewing their thumbnails.
It’s an incredibly exciting week for us. For the FIRST TIME EVER, the entire Windows Insider Team is at a conference to meet all of you. We are all at Ignite in Orlando this week. It’s been such an honor and a privilege to have gotten a chance to meet you all online all these years and this week it’s been simply magical to meet face-to-face. SO MANY of you have come by our booth, our round-table and our sessions to say hi and to talk to us about the program. You have given us hundreds of new ideas of things we want to do with you—and it’s only Tuesday! We’ll have a full trip report article on our website soon.
This morning, we had a really fun 300-level session where all of us got on stage and had a chance to engage in conversation with you.
Thank you for everything you do—even getting on planes to come see us. We love you.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 2:12 PM
September 27, 2017 3:02 pm
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17004 for PC (Skip Ahead)
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
Skype
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17004 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring who have opted in to Skip Ahead only. Insiders who joined Skip Ahead will continue to receive builds from the RS_PRERELEASE branch which has transitioned to RS4 which is the release that will come after the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (RS3). Because we are just beginning development for RS4, Insiders shouldn’t expect to see a lot of big changes or new features just yet. Our focus remains getting the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update ready for release!
Insiders will notice that the build numbers have jumped ahead again but this time to 17xxx. This is what we do normally at the beginning of development of a new feature update for Windows 10.
Also – you may notice that the Windows Insider Preview branding has disappeared from the build (shown via the desktop watermark at the lower right hand corner). This should be back with the next build.
What’s new in Build 17004
Fluent Design: As we progress into the next feature update, you’ll begin to see more and more elements of Fluent Design light up. We love the enthusiasm we’ve seen for Fluent Design, and with today’s build you’ll notice that Reveal is now visible on Start in All apps.
Microsoft Edge Improvements:
Input Improvements:
- We fixed an issue where typing a web address into the address bar from the New Tab and Start Page and would sometimes clear the text and not result in any page navigation
- We fixed an issue resulting in keyboard layout changes potentially not being applied when using Microsoft Edge after setting focus to the address bar.
- We fixed an issue where the tab previews for PDFs were black with a white bar on each side.
- We fixed an issue where the first time you pressed Ctrl + F to open Search, the search box doesn’t get focus. We also fixed an issue where you might be unable to type in the address bar after clicking on CTRL+F text field.
- We fixed an issue where “Open with previous pages” wouldn’t recover tabs after dragging a tab between two Microsoft Edge windows.
- We fixed an issue resulting copy/paste and the print dialog not working for those using the updated Youtube.com website design.
- We fixed an issue where Ctrl + Click on a link in a PDF wouldn’t open the link in a new tab.
- We fixed an issue resulting in PDFs potentially rendering blank after panning down a few pages and back up.
- We fixed an issue from recent flights where Alt + D wouldn’t bring input focus to the address bar when certain keyboards were active.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
- We fixed an issue resulting in the enter key not working properly in Facebook Messenger.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the Delete key on the full touch keyboard layout unexpectedly inserting a period in UWP apps.
- We fixed an issue resulting in a stutter when selecting long strings in certain single line editable text boxes (for example when naming favorites in Microsoft Edge).
Windows Insider Program + LinkedIn = AWESOME
- RS4 builds include many of the same fixes included in the latest RS3 builds.
- We are introducing a new color wheel to Color & High Contrast Settings to help you get a feel for the effect of each of the different available color filters.
- You may see a Microsoft Edge shortcut on your desktop after upgrading to this build. You can delete the shortcut, upgrade from this build and it will not return.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Mod Organizer no longer load mods into Skyrim in recent flights.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the last flighted build sometimes green screening with a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION in win32kfull.sys.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the WIN+X menu sometimes unexpectedly missing the accelerator key underline hints.
Windows Insiders! You’re going to see us doing a lot more with our friends in LinkedIn this year in order to provide YOU the best possible career and learning opportunities as part of our program. This week at Ignite, the LinkedIn folks are giving away 6 free courses on Deploying, Administering and Troubleshooting Office 365 that you might be interested in. Since we know many of you are following along on our MS Ignite adventures, we thought we’d share that info with you too. If you’d like to try these, click here!
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
Updated September 27, 2017 3:21 pm
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16299 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
UPDATE 10/2: We have released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16299.15 to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. As we prepare to release the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update to the world on October 17th, we will now start testing out servicing this build with the Cumulative Updates via Windows Update.
OCTOBER 13, 2017 10:02 AM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17017 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17017 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and for those who opted in to Skip Ahead.
Going forward, we plan to release new builds for RS4 from the RS_PRERELEASE branch to Insiders in the Fast ring and those who opted in to Skip Ahead at the same time. Because we are just beginning development for RS4, Insiders shouldn’t expect to see a lot of big changes or new features just yet. But teams are just now beginning to check in new code!
What’s new in Build 17017
Introducing Cortana Collections: Cortana now saves you time and stress by noticing and remembering things for you and putting them at your fingertips. Cortana can gather things you’re interested in such as items you shop for, restaurants, recipes, and books you’d like to check out, movies and TV shows you want to watch – and puts them all into neatly organized lists from which you can pick the ones you like best. Cortana is always learning, so the more you let Cortana help you, the more Cortana does for you. Check out the quest we’ve set up for more info on how to try this out and let us know what you think! (Available for EN-US Insiders only.)
Simplifying actions between Cortana and Action Center: In the previous feature updates of Windows 10 (including the Fall Creators Update), there were two places to go to see the next action you might need to take: Cortana and Action Center. We heard feedback that this was confusing as it wasn’t clear where to go. The fact that Cortana’s insights and recommended actions lived outside of Action Center also made it impossible to focus Cortana’s user interface on Cortana’s natural language and search capabilities. To fix both of these problems, Cortana’s proactive content is going to migrate to Action Center so that you have one place to go to find out what action to take next and to see the important insights Cortana has for you. This frees up Cortana’s user interface to provide tips, educating customers about what can be said to Cortana, and to provide tools for search so that you can get the information you need as quickly as possible. You will see the first part of this change starting with this build with Cortana no longer offering proactive content. Over time, you will see the proactive content that used to be available in Cortana show up in Action Center.
Startup Settings: The list of apps that are configured to run at startup or user log-in is currently maintained via the Startup tab in Task Manager. As part of our ongoing effort to consolidate our settings experience, now you can configure them in Settings! In our new Startup page under Settings > Apps, you can see all startup tasks installed for the current user, and enable/disable each of them. We will also display the impact they have on your startup time, as shown in the below picture.
For more info about how UWP apps can appear listed as startup apps, see here. For more info about how win32 apps can appear listed as startup apps, see here.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Known issues
- We fixed an issue a small percent of Insiders were experiencing where uninstalled apps might unexpectedly reinstall after a reboot.
- We fixed an issue where wallpaper changes might not roam to devices on the Windows 10 Creators Update with “Sync your settings” enabled.
- We fixed an issue from the previous flight where Storage Settings would crash on launch.
- We fixed an issue where changing time zones would result in the lock screen clock being incorrect until logging out and back in.
- We fixed an issue where the Action Center wouldn’t scroll with touch if you started the scrolling motion on top of a notification.
- If a notification doesn’t support being dismissed into the Action Center, the toast will now show an X instead of an arrow.
- We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard might unexpectedly auto launch after a system restart on non-touch PCs if you’d used the touch keyboard prior to restarting.
- We’ve updated the language settings icon in the input flyout to be consistent with that used in the touch keyboard.
- We fixed an issue where the “2” character wasn’t rendering correctly in some apps when using the Courier New font.
- We fixed an issue where duplicate icons might be displayed in the Volume Mixer when playing certain games or online videos.
- We fixed an issue causing reduced performance in some DirectX 9 games running at high framerates. If you’re a fan of gaming, please take a moment to try playing your favorite games on this build and share feedback.
- We fixed an issue where certain graphics drivers might result in night light displaying with unexpected colors when enabled in recent builds.
- Going forward from this build, the settings to disable hibernate and Fast Startup will be preserved across upgrade.
- We fixed an issue some Insiders were experiencing where after upgrading to recent flights their optical drive wouldn’t be listed under This PC.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing 0x80070005 when trying to upgrade to the last few flights.
- We fixed an issue from recent flights where you might see code 0x80070002 when trying to update apps from the Store.
- We fixed an issue where Hyper-V couldn’t create a VM on 3rd party network storage.
- We fixed an issue where for the first few minutes after clean installing a non-English build many inbox app names might unexpectedly appear with English app names.
- We fixed an issue where gaming apps using WebView with heavy use of HTML canvas might have unexpectedly had very low FPS in recent flights.
Upcoming Webcast
- If you are missing some Feature-on-Demand (FOD) packages such as Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: Insider Hub - Windows Insider.
- Using a swipe gesture with touch to dismiss notifications from the Action Center is currently not working. We’re investigating – for now you’ll need to use the clear all button, or use mouse/keyboard.
- If you RDP into a PC running this build with certain GPU configurations, when you go to sign in to the PC locally it might appear stuck at a black screen with only the cursor available. If you let it sit for a bit, the PC will eventually recover and you’ll be able to use it normally.
We will be holding our next Windows Insider webcast on Mixer on October 24th at 10am Pacific. Join us as we’ll be covering the Feedback Hub! Pre-submit your questions here: https://aka.ms/fbhwcq.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
OCTOBER 25, 2017 10:01 AM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17025 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17025 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and for those who opted in to Skip Ahead.
REMINDER: Going forward, we plan to release new builds for RS4 from the RS_PRERELEASE branch to Insiders in the Fast ring and those who opted in to Skip Ahead at the same time.
What’s new in Build 17025
Revamped Ease of Access Settings: This build adds new Ease of Access settings to make your device easier to use and fit your needs. We also grouped related settings together which help you see, hear or interact with your computer to assist in discovering settings more quickly. Additionally, we heard your feedback and improved setting descriptions to help you more easily understand the available accessibility features. Go to the Ease of Access section in Settings to see what’s available to make your computer easier to use!
Controlling your Startup tasks: Continuing our work from the previous flight, with today’s flight we’ve updated the Advanced options under Settings > Apps & Features so that UWP apps that are configured to run at startup will now have a new option to see all available tasks specified by the app developer and their status will now have a new option to see all available tasks specified by the app developer and their status.
Evolving the Microsoft Yahei Font: As our Insiders from China likely know, Microsoft Yahei is the font we use to display Windows UI text in the Chinese (Simplified) language. We’ve heard your feedback, and with this build we’re updating this font to improve the legibility, symmetry and appearance.
Notable improvements include:
Here’s a sample of the updated font – the blue is the new version, the grey is an outline of the previous font:
- We’ve added three additional weights for Microsoft Yahei: Semilight, Semibold and Heavy. The additional weights will be installed by default in ZH-CN builds, and available as an optional feature to download for non-ZH-CN builds.
- We’ve scaled the glyphs to improve inter-character spacing. This makes reading easier and increases character recognition.
- We’ve tuned the fonts with our new hinting algorithm so that the glyphs will be less jagged at small sizes.
- We’ve redesigned all punctuations and symbols in the new fonts per customer feedback.
If you use this display language, we would really appreciate you keeping a close eye on how the display font looks with this build, and logging feedback to share your thoughts.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Known issues
- Continuing our effort towards Fluent Design, in this build you’ll notice that not only have we soften our light press effect based on your feedback, we’ve also enabled Reveal by default in CalendarView (seen, for example, in the Clock and Calendar flyout). UWP apps leveraging the Preview SDK for this build or higher will see this change automatically.
- We fixed the issue where if you RDP into a PC running this build with certain GPU configurations, when you go to sign in to the PC locally it will appear stuck at a black screen with only the cursor available.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the touch feedback appearing visually corrupted in the last flight, with strange artifacts rather than the expected circle.
- We fixed an issue resulting in UNC paths not being recognized when typed using the touch keyboard with the Japanese layout.
- To improve the speed in getting you where you want to go, when typing with the Japanese IME into Internet Explorer’s address bar or search box, you will now see the search suggestions dropdown while composing the string, rather than having to wait until the candidate string is committed.
- We fixed an issue where using an app in mini mode (for example Groove Music) would result in the taskbar appearing on top of a remote desktop session. We also fixed an issue where using Cortana to launch an app while playing a game fullscreen on another monitor could result in the taskbar drawing on top of the game.
- We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to scroll to the very bottom of Start using touch when in tablet mode on small devices.
- We fixed an issue where mouse input in Start might become offset.
- We fixed an issue where clean installing Windows while not connected to the internet might result in default Start tiles showing download arrows indefinitely rather than the expected image.
- We fixed an issue where right-clicking a folder already pinned to Start in File Explorer would still show the option “Pin to Start”.
- We fixed an issue where attempting to log into Windows using a VM with Enhanced Session Mode might result in being prompted for your password twice.
- We fixed an issue where toggling some DX9/DX10/DX11 games between windowed and fullscreen (for example using Alt + Tab) could result in the game window become black on certain PCs.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders with x86 PCs experiencing a blue screen with a HAL INITIALIZATION FAILED error when upgrading to the previous flight.
- We fixed an issue where Insiders with restore points set might have experienced a volsnap.sys Green Screen error on boot.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge taking an unexpectedly long time to load the new page after clicking on certain links, appearing hung.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge being unexpectedly slow to respond when tabbing through controls with certain third party screen readers active.
- We fixed an issue where settings under Windows Update’s Delivery Optimization page were unexpectedly disabled in the last flight.
- We fixed an issue with the Courier New font where the numeral 2 was not displaying clearly on some display configurations.
- Improved the Yu Gothic Bold font focusing on consistent baseline alignment and clarity of various Kana characters.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
- If you are experiencing broken functionality in Mail, Cortana, Narrator or missing some features like Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: Insider Hub - Windows Insider.
- Using a swipe gesture with touch to dismiss notifications from the Action Center is currently not working. We’re investigating – for now you’ll need to use the clear all button, or use mouse/keyboard.
- There’s a noticeable screen flicker when using hotkeys or the touchpad to switch between Virtual Desktops.
- Invoking the Game bar with Win + G may cause the mouse cursor to become unresponsive while Game bar is up. Keyboard navigation still works and pressing Win + G again will close the Game bar, restoring the mouse cursor to the game.
- Calendar toast dismiss and snooze icons may be missing from notifications in Action Center.
Dona
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a bug that causes PCs with AMD processors to bugcheck during upgrading to current builds, we are blocking PCs with AMD processors from receiving this build. We are investigating and working to fix so we can remove this block.
NOVEMBER 8, 2017 10:02 AM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17035 for PC
By Brandon LeBlanc
SKYPE
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17035 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and for those who opted in to Skip Ahead.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a bug that causes PCs with AMD processors to bugcheck during upgrading to current builds, we are blocking PCs with AMD processors from receiving this build. We are investigating and working to fix so we can remove this block.
What’s new in Build 17035
Microsoft Edge Improvements
Mute-a-Tab! This build introduces a new experience for muting a tab playing audio. The audio icon that displays when a tab is playing media is now clickable and will mute the audio streams that tab is playing when clicked. The tabs audio will unmute when clicked again. This feature is also available from the context menu via the right click action on the tab. Thanks everyone who shared feedback requesting this! Have an opinion on what we should implement next? Please log feedback!
Save free EPUB books: If you’re reading a free EPUB book from the web in Microsoft Edge and want to save it, you can now do that.
New context menu options for books: For your convenience, we’ve added a few new options when you right-click books in the Book pane, including View in Microsoft Store, Pin to Start, and Refresh books. Remove from here has been renamed Remove from device.
Introducing Near Share
Say you’re in a meeting with your boss and need to quickly send them the report you’re looking at on your screen? Or you and a sibling are hanging out on the couch using your laptops, and you want to send him a screenshot of your latest Minecraft creation? You can now wirelessly share files and URLs to nearby PCs using the new Near Share feature.
So how do you use it? If your PC supports Bluetooth:
Shop Surface hardware using the Microsoft Store app
- Ensure that Near Share is turned on for your PC (and the PC you are trying to Share with – that means both PCs will need to be on RS4 Build 17035+) – there’s a new quick action in the Action Center that will need to be set to ON. If the quick action isn’t immediately visible and your PC has Bluetooth, check if it’s enabled under Settings > Notifications & Actions > “Add or remove quick actions”.
- Look for the Share icon in any of your favorite apps – e.g. Photos, Microsoft Edge, and or even File Explorer (right-click a file and choose Share).
- Click on Share! You will now see a list of devices at the top – select the one you want to share to, any nearby PCs in Bluetooth range with the feature enabled should show up.
- Once the recipient accepts (they will get a notification via Action Center to accept or decline), watch your file magically transfer wirelessly!
Navigate to this page in the Store: Microsoft - Official Home Page. This feature is available on Windows 10 PCs running version 11709.1001.7 or newer version of the Store app. Try it out and make sure to do this quest!
Note: Currently only available for U.S., U.K. and Australia markets, and looking to expand to more markets soon.
Settings Improvements
Windows Update Improvements: You can now limit the download bandwidth that is used in foreground downloads. Foreground downloads take place when you interactively start a download, for example – you click on “Check for updates” or start downloading an App from Windows Store.
Sound Settings are moving to Settings: You can now change some of your common sound settings, such as switching devices and troubleshooting, in Settings > System > Sound. Head on over for a preview of how sound settings are moving out of the legacy Control Panel and into the Settings app. We still have some things to add and fix on this page, so stay tuned!
Updated Ease of Access Settings: This build adds additional Ease of Access settings to further round out the revamping of settings which flighted for the first time with Build 17025. New sections on Display, Audio, Speech Recognition and Eye control (beta) have been added to group related settings. (NOTE: Eye control settings are not yet in this flight but coming soon.)
Also updated were Narrator settings to include a setting to control verbosity of text characteristics. And the layout in Color filters settings has been revised to provide filter descriptions.
Touch keyboard Improvements
Now with Acrylic! With this build we’ve updated the touch keyboard to now have an acrylic background. This change is reflected in all keyboard layouts hosted in the XAML touch keyboard, including the wide layout, the one-handed layout, and the handwriting panel. Thanks everyone who logged feedback about this!
The standard touch keyboard layout option comes to 190+ more keyboards:We’ve been hard at work addressing your feedback, and we’re happy to announce the touch keyboard now supports the standard keyboard layout for all languages except Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese (which we’re still working on). If you want to switch between wide, onehanded, and the standard touch keyboard layouts, just tap the button in the top left of the keyboard. This includes adding the standard keyboard layout to the following keyboards and more: English (United Kingdom), Irish, Czech, Danish, Greek, Canadian French, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Latvian, Dutch, and Polish. More details about touch keyboard usage here if you need it.
Handwriting panel Improvements
Streamlined text insertion: In this release, we’ve added some slick new animations and changed the button layout of the handwriting panel based on your feedback. Ink some words in the panel and watch them appear in your selected text field!
Improved re-recognition of words: Write a letter on top of another, and the handwriting panel will recognize your corrections more accurately than ever before.
Use a gesture to create more space between words: Draw a “split” gesture between two words in the handwriting panel by drawing a vertical line between them. More space will be created where you drew the line so that you can write more in the newly-created space. As a reminder you can also draw a split gesture inside a word to break apart the word and ink more characters in the new space.
Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) Improvements
Text suggestions from AI chatbot Rinna: Microsoft AI chatbot Rinna has more than 6 million friends (users) on LINE, which is the most popular messaging service in Japan. Starting with Build 17030, the Japanese IME can now leverage her strong communication skills to suggest possible phrases as you’re typing. Her suggestions are indicated by a Rinna icon next to the candidate. This feature is off by default, however you can enable it in the Japanese IME settings (right-click the IME mode icon “A” or “あ” in systray, select “Properties”, then “Advanced” – on the “Predictive Input” tab you will find a new checkbox to enabled “Rinna – AI Chatbot” under Suggestion Providers). Please try it out and share your feedback!
Bringing inclusive design to the hardware keyboard
We’re introducing the ability to see text suggestions while typing on a hardware keyboard. You can see three text suggestions near caret while typing and choose candidates in text suggestions if you find a word you want to insert. Set focus to the first suggestion by tapping the up arrow key on your keyboard and using the left/right arrow keys to change focus. To select the desired candidate, tap space or enter.
This is an opt-in feature targeting English language learners, education and accessibility. We only support en-US at this time. To enable the feature, make sure English (United States) language is added in Settings > Time & languages > Region & languages, then set this feature to On by enabling the “Show text suggestions as I type on hardware keyboard” setting under Settings > Devices > Typing.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Known issues
- ATTENTION DEVELOPERS: We fixed an issue from the previous flight where launching an app with a debugger attached caused it hang at the splash screen. Debugging UWPs now works again.
- When the default location is set on your home or office PC, Cortana now knows to show you location-based reminders in the area on your PC. Your default location can be set in the Maps app.
- We’ve updated Cortana Collections to now support light theme.
- We’re making some changes to the Data Usage settings page under Settings > Network & Internet — you’ll notice some differences in this build. Not everything is working so stay tuned for an announcement in a later flight when everything is up and running.
- We fixed an issue where some Store download errors were unexpectedly displaying on the Windows Update history page.
- We’ve updated the Action Center to now use Fluent Design’s Reveal. You’ll also notice we’ve updated “Clear all” to now say “Clear all notifications” to improve discoverability.
- We fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to swipe to clear notifications from the Action Center in the last few flights.
- We fixed an issue where dismissing an alarm notification above lock resulting in the alarm sound continuing to play despite being dismissed.
- We fixed an issue where after uninstalling an app, its pinned tile might still exist on the Start Menu.
- We fixed an issue where after connecting via Remote Desktop the first local launch of Start menu would show Start briefly clipped to the top half before animating in the bottom.
- We fixed an issue where after upgrading the Start Menu might contain multiple listings of apps with only the name “NoUIEntryPoints-DesignMode” and a grey tile.
- We fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to rename files in File Explorer when using the Small Icons view.
- We fixed an issue where using the File Picker from a UWP app would show an error saying “multiple selections aren’t allowed” when attempting to pick multiple images from a phone connected to the PC via USB.
- We fixed an issue resulting in “Occasionally show suggestions in Start” being reset after upgrading.
- We fixed an issue resulting in a drop in Start menu reliability in the last two flights.
- We fixed an issue where notifications with progress bars wouldn’t update while the Action Center was open.
- We fixed an issue where valid characters in the touch keyboard were unexpectedly disabled in password fields for certain keyboards.
- We fixed an issue where you couldn’t switch to alpha mode when using the touch keyboard using a third party Japanese IME since the key wasn’t available.
- We fixed an issue where the input indicator state wouldn’t be preserved across reboot if set to something other than the default value.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the touch keyboard coming up unexpectedly after setting focus to Start when in tablet mode.
- We fixed an issue resulting in ink strokes in OneNote sometimes unexpectedly changing thickness after interacting with buttons in the app.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the touch keyboard not coming up in certain text fields with the keyboard docked in tablet mode.
- We fixed an issue where words would sometimes get duplicated when using the handwriting panel in certain apps.
- We fixed an issue resulting in screen flickering in the last flight after bringing up the game bar, volume slider or other on-screen UI when playing fullscreen DirectX9 games.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Forza Horizon 3 unexpectedly failing to run with an “unsupported graphics card” error on some laptop configurations.
- We fixed an issue where pressing Shift + Del while editing the URL of a favorite would delete the favorite entry instead of performing a Cut action.
- We fixed an issue from the previous flight where changes made to About:flags in Microsoft Edge wouldn’t persist.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
- If you are experiencing broken functionality in Mail, Cortana, Narrator or missing some features like Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: Insider Hub - Windows Insider.
- There’s a noticeable screen flicker when using hotkeys or the touchpad to switch between Virtual Desktops.
- You might notice checkboxes missing from certain Win32 apps. We’re investigating.
Dona
DECEMBER 19, 2017 10:03 AMAnnouncing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17063 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17063 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and for those who opted in to Skip Ahead.
What’s new in Build 17063
Introducing Timeline
Timeline is here! We know that it can be difficult to get back to stuff you were working on in the past. If you’re like us, you might sometimes forget which site or app you were using or where you saved a file. Now you can finally close apps without worrying—with Timeline, you can get right back to where you left off.
Timeline introduces a new way to resume past activities you started on this PC, other Windows PCs, and iOS/Android devices. Timeline enhances Task View, allowing you to switch between currently running apps and past activities.
The default view of Timeline shows snapshots of the most relevant activities from earlier in the day or a specific past date. A new annotated scrollbar makes it easy to get back to past activities.
Figure 1. Task view has been enhanced to include a Timeline of past activities.
There’s also a way to see all the activities that happened in a single day—just select See all next to the date header. Your activities will be organized into groups by hour to help you find tasks you know you worked on that morning, or whenever.
Figure 2. Browse all your activities for a single day.
And if you can’t find the activity you’re looking for in the default view, search for it.
Figure 3. Search Timeline to find exactly what you are looking for.
Activities
In Timeline, a user activity is the combination of a specific app and a specific piece of content you were working on at a specific time. Each activity links right back to a webpage, document, article, playlist, or task, saving you time when you want to resume that activity later.
App developers are working hard to enhance their apps by creating high-quality activity cards to appear in Timeline. In this Preview release, you can see and resume web-browsing activities in Microsoft Edge, files you opened in apps like Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, and updated UWP versions of Maps, News, Money, Sports, and Weather.
We encourage app developers to update their apps to support timeline.
The new activity history settings page allows you to control which accounts appear in Timeline. This is most relevant for users with multiple accounts, such as a personal Microsoft account, and a work or school account. Settings here also let you disable activity collection and clear your activity history.
Figure 4. The activity history settings page lets you choose which accounts you want to appear in your timeline.
Cortana
In addition to resuming past activities through Timeline, your personal digital assistant Cortana will suggest activities you might want to resume to help you stay productive as you switch between your phone, laptop, and other Cortana-enabled devices. This experience is powered by the same activities that appear in Timeline.
Figure 5. Cortana helps you resume activities when switching between devices.
Getting started
Use your PC normally. After a while, select the new Task view icon in the task bar. (You can also open Task view by pressing Windows logo key + Tab.) Below your running apps, you’ll see past activities in Timeline.
Figure 6. The Task view icon has been updated to reflect new timeline capabilities.
If you have more than one PC, try using Timeline on all of them—you’ll see the same activities no matter which PC you’re using. And if an activity from one PC used a modern app that you don’t have installed on another PC, Windows will help you install that app.
We’d love to hear your feedback, so please press the feedback button in the upper-right corner of Timeline if you have any problems or suggestions.
Microsoft Edge Improvements
Fluent updates in Microsoft Edge: Microsoft Edge now supports an updated Dark theme, with darker blacks, and much better contrast with all colors, text, and icons. This addresses many accessibility contrast issues, making the Microsoft Edge UI easy to navigate and more visually pleasing. As well, Microsoft Edge now supports Reveal on our navigation buttons, action buttons, buttons in the tab bar, as well as on lists throughout Microsoft Edge (such as in the HUB: Favorites, Reading, History, Downloads), making navigating Edge UI even easier. We’ve heard your feedback and have also updated the Acrylic in the tab bar and in-active tabs, allowing more color to show through.
Bookmark button and flyout become one: With this build, Microsoft Edge has also simplified adding and managing bookmarks for EPUB and PDF books. Based on your feedback we now allow you to add bookmarks and manage your list of bookmarks from the same location. This provides a very consistent experience across the different book formats and makes it really easy for users to manage their bookmarks from one location.
Offline web sites and push notifications: Microsoft Edge now supports Service Workers and the Push and Cache APIs. These new web standards allow web pages to send push notifications to your Action Center or refresh data in the background, even when the browser is closed. In addition, certain web pages can now work offline or improve performance, by using locally cached data when the cache is up to date, or when your device has a poor connection. You can learn more about these features in our post Service Workers: Going beyond the page. These features lay the technical foundation for Progressive Web Apps on Windows 10 – we’ll have lots more to share about this topic soon on the Microsoft Edge Dev Blog!
Web Media Extensions Package: This build installs the Web Media Extensions package for Microsoft Edge, which extends Microsoft Edge and Windows 10 to support open-source formats (OGG Vorbis and Theora) commonly found on the web. Try out your favorite OGG content (such as Wikipedia videos or audio)! We will be monitoring feedback from this feature in Insider flights to eventually expand to broader availability to Microsoft Edge customers in the Current Branch.
Gesture Improvements for Precision Touch Pads: This build introduces a new gesture experience for Precision Touch Pads (found on Surface and other modern Windows 10 devices). You can now use gestures like pinch and zoom, or two-finger panning, to achieve the same interactions on web sites that you can do with a touch screen today. For example, you can now pinch-to-zoom on a map in Bing Maps to zoom in the map without zooming the entire page. Developers can learn more about how this change is implemented and how to make sure your sites are ready for modern input experiences over at our blog post, Building a great touchpad experience for the web with Pointer Events.
Sets
A few weeks ago, we announced a new Windows 10 feature called “Sets” (we may end up calling it something else by the time it ships) which would be coming to Windows Insiders as a controlled study. The concept behind Sets is to make sure that everything related to your task: relevant webpages, research documents, necessary files and applications, is connected and available to you in one click. Office (starting with Mail & Calendar and OneNote), Windows, and Edge become more integrated to create a seamless experience, so you can get back to what’s important and be productive, recapturing that moment, saving time – we believe that’s the true value of Sets. Starting with today’s build, Sets will be available to Insiders however because it is being introduced as a controlled study, not all Insiders will see Sets. For more on this – see my blog post here.
Cortana Improvements
Cortana’s Notebook has a new look: Notebook has undergone a UX transformation to be more responsive to Cortana’s evolving capabilities and allow users to easily complete their tasks.
- Your content has a new home called Organizer that lets you access your lists and reminders with ease. And all Skills are together, so you can easily configure Cortana to suit your needs. Configuration experience has also been significantly simplified.
- Tabbed view to cleanly segregate your content and configuration and single page to manage Cortana’s Skills and easy way to discover more.
- Simplified configuration experience page with easy interest management.
- This is a server side change currently rolling out for those using English (United States) and will be rolled out to other markets with time.
Account entry point in the navigation menu: To improve discoverability and consistency, we’re moving the account entry point out of Cortana’s Notebook and into the navigation menu (that’s the side bar that contains elements like Home, Notebook, and Collections).
Lists and Collections – better together! Cortana Collections have been merged with Lists, so you get personalized suggestions and help with List creation – all in a rich, attractive interface. Cortana helps you track your To-Do’s and manage Grocery lists. She also suggests items of interest – restaurants to try out, recipes to make, books to read, movies & shows to watch, things to shop for – and makes it easy to add them to your lists. See and use your Lists and suggestions in the List home:
You can access it from Notebook:
For now, this feature is only available for Insiders using English (United States), who are logged into both Windows and Cortana with their Microsoft Account.
A note about Collections: We’ve made an underlying breaking change to how Cortana’s Collection works – if you’ve been using this feature in previous builds we need to migrate your data to our new collection APIs. Because of this, once you upgrade to this build you’ll notice all of your existing saved list items have moved under suggestions. If you want to keep these suggestions, please drag and drop them back into the list. Thank you everyone who’s given us feedback so far about the Collections experience – please continue doing so!
Cortana loves music: You can now use Cortana to control music playback on more of your favorite music apps (EN-US only). Starting with this build, we are enabling natural language compatibility for Spotify just like the Harman Kardon Invoke! This will work on both, above the lock screen (PC is locked) as well as below! You can try queries like…
Once music is playing you can ask Cortana what’s playing like this:
- Play Christmas music on Spotify
- Play my discover weekly playlist on Spotify
- Play <Artist/Track/Title/Genre/Mood> on <AppName>
- Play some Drake
- Play focus music
- Play rock music
- Play my tracks
Cortana will keep you posted on your tracks.
- Hey Cortana, what’s playing?
To start rocking to your favorite tracks just get the latest app update and sign into Spotify in the notebook under the music section.
NOTE: For the above to work, you need to have a Spotify account (free or premium).
Windows Shell Improvements
Bring on the Fluent! Today, Start and Action Center support acrylic to align with Fluent design principles. And now we’re bringing the next wave of Shell UI to the party by applying acrylic to the taskbar, Share UI, Clock & Calendar flyout, Network flyout, Volume flyout, and Input flyout. Try it out and let us know what you think!
Note: The acrylic background is disabled if you enter battery saver mode. We’re also investigating an issue where if you have scaling > 100% the blurred background may appear distorted.
Save notification drafts: Notifications are inherently transient – one thing we’ve heard from you is how it can be frustrating to have started writing a response into a notification (such as one from Skype), only to have the response disappear if you didn’t submit it before the notification went away. Well, no more! If a toast gets dismissed with unsubmitted text, we will now save the draft; open the action center and your text will now be saved with the notification.
Simplified letter grouping in Start for East Asian languages: One of the top feedback items from our users is that it’s too hard and takes too long to find apps in the all apps list because of the way the apps are grouped when using East Asian languages. We hear you, and we’re happy to announce that with this build we’ve simplified the grouping of apps in the all apps list for Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, and Korean. This change is most noticeable for Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese, where we’ve reduced the number of groups by 29 and 36, respectively. If you use Windows in these languages, please take a moment to check it out once you get the build and let us know how it feels.
Chinese (Simplified) previous and new all apps list sections
Japanese previous and new all apps list sections
Cloud states for the Navigation Pane: In an effort to further keep you informed about the state of your OneDrive files and folders on demand, we’re looking at adding a state icon to use in File Explorer’s Navigation Pane. If you’d like to turn this off, there’s an option in the File Explorer ribbon View tab – click the Options button, then in the dialog that appears go to the Navigation Pane section of the View tab and uncheck “Always show availability status”.
A consistent Network flyout on the login screen: Continuing our work to modernize all the elements of Windows 10, we’ve now updated the network flyout on the login screen to use the same familiar network flyout you’ve grown to love in the taskbar.
Improving your update experience: In an effort to keep you informed about the state of your PC, if Windows Update Settings shows a warning or alert, we will now echo that via a new Windows Update system tray icon. If you right click the icon, you will see options relevant to the current state, such as restart, schedule the restart, or go to Windows Update settings. If visible, this icon can be turned off from within Taskbar Settings.
An improved My People experience
Based on your feedback we’ve been working on evolving the My People experience and taking it to the next level. This build brings with it a number of requested features, improvements and changes including:
Add a new dimension to what you capture in Snipping tool
- Drag and drop rearrange: Checking off one of our top feedback requests – you can now drag and drop contacts to rearrange them in the taskbar! You can also drop contacts into and out of the People flyout. Note: as part of this feature change, when you upgrade, if you have multiple contacts pinned to taskbar you will notice that their order will reverse direction on the taskbar
- You decide how many contacts to show in the taskbar: With the Fall Creators Update you could have a maximum of 3 people pinned to the taskbar, with any additional pins appearing in the People flyout. We’ve heard your feedback and today’s build brings a new setting so you can decide how many you’d like to show – from one to ten, or you can choose to show them all in the overflow. You can find the setting with the other People settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
- Animations for people in overflow: To improve discoverability you’ll now see an animation across the People icon to let you know when someone is pinned to the overflow list in the flyout. In addition, previously you could only receive emotive notifications from contacts that were directly on your taskbar – with today’s flight this experience is now available for people pinned within the People flyout as well! Here’s a glimpse of how it looks (showcased using our favorite “windows10” Skype emoji). Want to try it? Get one of your pinned contacts to send you a “(poke)”, or add, pin, and ping our emoji bot.
- Fluent in the flyout: As part of our larger ongoing effort to reach our Fluent Design goals, you’ll notice that the People flyout now makes use of acrylic, reveal, and light effects.
- Improving app discoverability: As developers work to integrate My People support into their apps, we’ll now suggest apps that you might be interested in. There’s an option to turn this on or off in the People settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
This build brings a new “edit in Paint 3D” button to the Snipping Tool so you can take your snip to the next level via Paint 3D. Move (or remove) objects with Magic select, augment and annotate with a variety of options, bring in 3D objects from Remix 3D, and more!
Windows Settings Improvements
Settings gets a new look: You’ve already seen we say “bring on the Fluent!” in other areas of Shell, and Settings is no different. With today’s build you’ll find not only have we refreshed the Settings UI leveraging Fluent Design principles, but we’ve also taken a look at the Settings homepage and redesigned it with an eye for visual acuity. As you explore the plethora of new and improved settings below, take a moment to get a feel for the updated design as a whole and let us know what you think.
Security questions for local accounts: With the Fall Creators Update, we started working on self help solutions for password recovery from the Lock screen. Today, we’re adding this functionality to local accounts as well, through the newly available use of security questions for local accounts. If you already have a local account, you can add security questions by going to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options > “Update your security questions”. If you’re installing a new PC using a local account, setup will walk you through adding these questions and answers right there in the workflow. Once your security questions are set up, if you find yourself unable to remember your password on the lock screen, you will see a link to reset your password, whereupon clicking you’ll be prompted to enter the answers to your security questions.
View your display info in one convenient location: Beginning with Build 17060, you can now view detailed information about your display by visiting the new “Advanced display settings” page linked at the bottom of Settings > System > Display.
Most of the information should be self-explanatory, but here are a couple of pieces that you might want more detail on:
- Desktop resolution vs active signal resolution. Typically, your desktop resolution and your active signal resolution will be identical. To provide a smoother experience, Windows prefers to keep your display running at its native signal resolution. If you change your display resolution under Settings > System > Display > Scale and layout > Resolution, you may see a difference between your desktop resolution and your active signal resolution.
- The mysterious 59 Hz refresh rate. Display enthusiasts may remember this conversation from the Windows 7 days. You may see 59 Hz listed as your refresh rate even though you have set it to 60 Hz, but rest assured that this is by design for monitors and TVs that report only 59.94 Hz but not 60 Hz. Learn more about it here.
Stay tuned for more improvements to display settings! Your feedback is important to us – if there are new features you would like to see in display settings in the coming releases, please let us know through the Feedback Hub. Search for and upvote your favorite features, or file your suggestion under the Desktop Environment > Settings.
Improving your scaling experience: In this flight we’ve made it easier for you to fix apps that become blurry if you dock/undock, RDP, or change display settings. Some desktop apps can become blurry in these scenarios. When this happens, you have to log out and back in to Windows to have these apps render properly. In this flight, you can turn on a feature that will enable these apps to be fixed simply by re-launching them. There are three components to this feature:
- A new setting in the Display Settings page: Under Settings > System > Display > Advanced scaling, you’ll find a new section called “Fix scaling for apps” where you can enable a setting to let Windows try and fix apps so they’re not blurry.
- A toast that pops up when we detect that you might have blurry apps on your main display.
- A per-app override of the global setting. By right clicking on the exe for a desktop apps and choosing properties, you can select “Change High DPI Settings”, then “Override System DPI”, then configure the behavior.
NOTE: This won’t work for all desktop apps and it only improves blurry desktop apps while they’re on the main display. If you’re using multiple displays with different scale factors and running in “Extend” display mode, these apps might still be blurry on secondary displays.
A new Keyboard Settings page: We’re introducing a new Keyboard Settings experience on PC! Now found under the Time & Language Settings, you’ll be able to easily add new keyboard layouts, switch between Japanese 106/109 and English 101/102 keyboard layouts, turn on and off settings like key sounds and autocorrect, and other advanced keyboard-related settings. Additionally you can now change the default keyboard independently of the display language, for example using the French display language and having English as the default keyboard (this option was previously available in Control Panel, but has now been moved to Settings). Duplicate settings from Control Panel have been removed.
A new and improved Region & Language Settings page: As part of our ongoing effort to converge Settings and Control Panel, as well as improve Settings usability, you’ll find with today’s build that we have reimagined the Region & Language Settings. We’ve added icons to each language entry to indicate when language support is installed for display language, text-to-speech, speech recognition, and/or handwriting. We’ve also added an entirely new language selection experience – enabling you to quickly identify available language features per language. This also marks the initial integration of Local Experience Packs, native AppX packages, that with Microsoft Store to enable us to regularly update language resources with translation improvements collected from Windows Insiders and other feedback channels. We’re still fine-tuning the UI, so expect some small changes over the next few flights.
Set data settings to prefer cellular usage: In Cellular Settings you can now choose to use cellular instead of Wi-Fi always or when Wi-Fi is poor. This updated Windows feature allows people with fast LTE connections and large/unlimited data plans to favor cellular whenever available and avoid being stuck on poor Wi-Fi connections.
NOTE: The Cellular Settings page will only be visible for people using PCs with cellular connections.
Improved Data Usage Management: You can now configure data limits and/or place background data restrictions to Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections, in addition to cellular connections, in the Data usage page. The updated settings page aims to support a diverse set of devices and users. Whether you have a PC with cellular connectivity or a metered ethernet network connection, tailor your data usage to your budget and needs. Want to see your data usage at a glance? Right click on the Data usage tab in Settings and pin it to the Start menu to see a data usage live tile.
Reset your Game Mode Settings: Under Settings > Gaming > Game Mode there is a new option called ”Reset Game Mode Settings” that allows you to restore Game Mode settings for their PC back to the default values for the feature.
Improved Per-app Settings: When we added a new context menu option to go straight from the app in Start to the per-app settings in Settings, we mentioned turning this page into a one stop shop for settings related to each app. In today’s build you’ll notice that we now bubble up any permissions the app has asked for, along with an easy option for you to toggle them. We’ve also added links to check background usage, lock screen notifications, and defaults, and options to terminate and/or uninstall the app.
Windows Defender Improvements
Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) update: You spoke, and we listened. Microsoft is bringing Windows Defender Application Guard to Windows 10 Professional in the next feature update of Windows 10. Now, like Windows 10 Enterprise users, Windows 10 Pro Users can navigate the Internet in Application Guard knowing their systems are protected from even the most sophisticated browser attacks.
Windows Defender Application Guard provides unprecedented protection against targeted threats using Microsoft’s industry leading Hyper-V virtualization technology. Check out this recent RSA talk on Window Defender Application Guard if you’d like to understand this feature in some more detail.
It is available now to our awesome Windows Insider community to give it a try and we would like to hear your feedback.
For more details please see our tech community page.
Quick access from the context menu: You can now right-click on the Windows Defender icon in the notification area and get an updated context menu that lets you quickly do a quick scan, update your Defender definitions, change the notifications and open Windows Defender Security Center.
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
WSL can run background tasks: Processes that set themselves up to run in the background such as sshd, tmux/screen, etc. will now continue running after the last console window has been closed. Read this blog for more information and a demo.
Elevated and non-elevated WSL instances can run simultaneously: Previously WSL instances all had to all run as elevated or all unelevated. Now you can run some elevated and some non-elevated instances. You can also use Scheduled Tasks to run WSL.
WSL runs in remote connections: WSL is now supported when connected via OpenSSH, VPN, Enter-PSSession, and/or other similar Windows remoting tools. Previously this would only work in cases where the user logged in interactively and started a WSL instance before connecting remotely. to the remote host and then launch WSL. With background processes you can background sshd in WSL so it persists in the background without having any open windows.
Tool to convert Linux paths to Windows-friendly paths: Wslpath is a tool that allows you to convert Linux paths to their Windows equivalent. Here is a quick reference for how you can use the wslpath tool:
-a force result to absolute path format
-u translate from a Windows path to a WSL path (default)
-w translate from a WSL path to a Windows path
-m translate from a WSL path to a Windows path, with ‘/’ instead of ‘\\’
New tools available to developers on Windows
Windows Command line Toolchain includes bsdtar (tar) and curl.
bsdtar and curl, two popular command line tools from the Unix shell, are now available in Windows and Windows Server. bsdtar provides handy extraction/creation of compressed files and curl offers data transfer capabilities so you can download files from a remote location. Read this blog to learn more about the addition of these two new tools and see how they’re shaping the developer experience on Windows.
Unix style sockets (AF_UNIX) are available on Windows
AF_UNIX is an address family which has enabled inter-process communication on Unix for countless years. The windows equivalent is named pipes, which offers similar facilities. Based on user feedback, we heard that you’d like an easier path when porting tools relying on AF_UNIX to Windows. As a result, two Win32 processes can now use the AF_UNIX address family over Winsock API to communicate with each other. Read this blog for more details.
Control Windows legacy apps access to your camera
Camera privacy settings under Settings > Privacy > Camera give you fine control over the apps that have access to your camera. Prior to this update, the toggle marked ‘Let apps use my camera hardware’ only applied to apps installed from the Windows Store (think Skype from Store). This meant that you could have the toggle set to off, but still have legacy apps use the camera (think Skype for Desktop). With this update, we are changing the toggle’s behavior to include all legacy apps. Note that each legacy app will not appear individually in the list today like Store apps do, but they will respect the toggle.
Another related change that is also part of this update will include the Windows Camera app in the list of apps that can use your camera; it was previously exempt from this list.
If your legacy camera application stops working after taking this update, please check your camera privacy settings and ensure that the toggle is enabled. Please try the new camera privacy features & remember to file all feedback via the Feedback Hub.
Input Improvements
Personalize the handwriting panel: In this release you can now change the font that your handwriting converts to in the handwriting panel! Go to Settings > Devices > Pen & Windows Ink > “Change the font of the handwriting experience”, select your preferred font from the dropdown, then write in the handwriting panel to see your chosen font.
You can now use the Emoji Panel in more languages! Based on your feedback, we’ve been working diligently on more added support for more languages and as of today’s build you can now use the emoji over 190 locals – 152 of which have tooltip support when you hover over each emoji. This includes English (Great Britain), French (France), German (Germany), Spanish (Spain), and more! You can open the Emoji Panel by pressing Windows logo key + period(.). Currently you can only browse and use mouse/touch/keyboard to pick an emoji in these languages, however we’re working on adding search. Stay tuned!
Single or multiple emoji at a time – you choose: With the previous flight we added support for inputting multiple emoji at a time. Today we’re adding a setting so that you can decide which behavior is best for you. Simply check or uncheck the new “Don’t close panel automatically after an emoji has been entered” setting under Settings > Time & Language > Keyboard > Advanced Keyboard Settings.
Emoji data update: Last flight we shared our initial emoji data update across multiple languages for this release – as promised with today’s flight we have the second bulk of the payload. We’ve added a number of additional words you can use to find the emoji you’re looking for in your language – use the touch keyboard and search for things like hedgehog, vampire, and pretzel.
Hardware keyboard suggestions update: Since our first flight with this new feature, we have two updates to share with you:
- Firstly: We now support dark theme! Use Color Settings to switch between light and dark and see how your text suggestions will now follow suit.
- Secondly: We’ve moved the settings for how to enable this feature, you can now find it under Keyboard Settings > English (United States) > Options > Hardware keyboard > “Show text suggestions as I type”.
Split layout comes to the touch keyboard: As many of you know we redesigned the touch keyboard to be XAML-based for the Fall Creators Update. We’ve been hard at work addressing your feedback, and are happy to announce that with this build the touch keyboard now supports the split layout – an ergonomic layout designed to be used with both hands, one on each side of your tablet.
The standard touch keyboard layout for Japanese, Korean, Quick and ChangJie for Traditional Chinese: Now the standard keyboard layout for East Asian languages are available except Simplified Chinese and Bopomofo for Traditional Chinese (which we’re still working on). Japanese Kana layout is also supported. If you want to switch between wide, one-handed, and the standard touch keyboard layouts, just tap the button in the top left of the keyboard.
New features for IT Pros in Delivery Optimization
We’ve added multiple policies in this release (both Group Policies and MDM Policies) that provide Admins with means to throttle bandwidth at certain times of day (for both foreground and background traffic), restrict peer selection to the same subnet, automatically join devices into peer groups by using a DHCP server’s User option or the connection’s DNS suffix as well as the ability to increase the usage of peers by delaying the use of the HTTP source.
To view the list of new configs, open the GP Editor and checkout the new policies under Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Delivery Optimization:
These features were added based on feedback from IT Pros who rely on Delivery Optimization to reduce the bandwidth consumption on their network. The throttling policies can be useful to you if you are looking to throttle Internet bandwidth during critical business hours while allowing update traffic to flow faster at other times. The new peer selection policies address feedback we’ve received from customers who are using AAD and Modern Management (Intune, WUfB) and needed more options to automatically group peers in each site they manage.
Registry Process
In recent Insider Preview builds, you may have noticed a new process labelled “Registry” in Task Manager. The purpose of this process is similar to that of the memory compression store process in that it is a minimal process whose address space is used to hold data on behalf of the kernel. However, while the memory compression process is used to hold compressed pages, the registry process is used to hold registry hive data (e.g. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE, HKEY_CURRENT_USER).
Storing registry hive data in the registry process gives the registry access to more powerful memory management capabilities which will allow us to reduce the registry’s memory usage in the future.
Today’s Insider Preview build is the first to store hive data in the registry process and this is visible in Task Manager as increased memory usage by that process. Since this data was previously in kernel paged pool there is also a corresponding decrease in paged pool usage so overall there is no net change in hive data memory usage.
Figure 1: Example increase in Registry process memory usage (before/after).
Figure 2: Example decrease in Paged Pool (before/after).
Other notable changes
A note about HomeGroup: Easily connecting to and sharing the important pieces of your digital life with those who matter most has never been easier with today’s Modern PCs and the cloud. Whether it’s connecting PCs and printers on your home network via the Share functionality in Windows or using OneDrive to share a photo album of your last vacation, Windows 10 makes connecting multiple devices and sharing content streamlined and simple. And it’s because of that evolution that with today’s build you’ll start to see us retire the HomeGroup service. HomeGroup was terrific for the pre-cloud and pre-mobile era, but today this functionality is built right into Windows 10 and apps. Starting with this build, the HomeGroup service is no longer operational in Windows 10. The user profile used for sharing and the file/folder/printer shares will continue to work.
Here are recommended alternatives to HomeGroup for you to get the best file-sharing experience in Windows 10 going forward:
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
- File Storage:
- OneDrive is a cloud-first, cross-device storage and collaboration platform for all of the pieces of data that matter most in your life – like your files, your photos, your videos, and more.
- OneDrive Files On-Demand takes cloud file storage a step further, allowing you to access all your files in the cloud without having to download them and use storage space on your device.
- Share Functionality: For those who prefer not to use the Cloud to connect their devices, the Share functionality for folders and printers allows you to see the available devices and connect them to and from other PCs on your home network.
- Easier Connection: No more remembering cryptic HomeGroup passwords in order to connect to another PC. You can now simply connect through your Microsoft Account email address across devices.
Known issues
- We fixed an issue where all types of dynamic volumes listed here wouldn’t mount properly or be accessible from Windows (the data remained intact but inaccessible on the volume on impacted builds).
- We fixed an issue where after opening and closing the People flyout notification toasts might stop appearing until the computer had been rebooted.
- We fixed an issue where Cortana’s notification settings were unexpectedly missing in Settings after upgrading to recent builds.
- We fixed an issue where when there was a problem with Cortana’s speech resources not being available, she could end up blocking Start.
- We fixed an issue resulting in potentially not receiving all of your notifications from Cortana in the last first flights. We fixed an issue where when using Windows in Hebrew no search results were shown in Search until a space was entered.
- We fixed an issue such that Recycle Bin will now show up in the search results when typing in Cortana. This was a server-side change so you will see it outside the bounds of this flight.
- We fixed an issue where opening the Action Center while there was a notification toast visible could result in the Action Center unexpectedly animating in from the bottom corner rather than the side.
- We fixed an issue where if you reinstalled or reset your PC without internet in the last few flights the default tiles in Start could get stuck as downward arrows.
- We fixed an issue where if the system was low on memory context menus might display in a narrow width missing all text.
- We fixed an issue with the File Picker dialog from recent builds where saving file names that included an additional period in the name (like A.ver2.exe) would result in the file extension not being included with the saved file (A.ver2).
- We fixed an issue where certain videos when watching in Microsoft Edge would stop playing and become unresponsive upon altering play speed to 4x or 8x.
- We fixed an issue resulting the expected tooltip not appearing when hovering the mouse over images on certain sites in Microsoft Edge.
- We fixed an issue where no search suggestions were displayed while typing in the Microsoft Edge address bar if the PC was set to a region not currently supported by Cortana.
- We fixed an issue that could result in an error message saying “device does not respond” when attempting to use Near Share.
- We fixed an issue where nearby devices that had near share enabled might not be listed in Share.
- We fixed an issue resulting in cursor lags on some devices when night light was transitioning.
- When you use the split gesture to add more space between two words in the handwriting panel (a caret, as showcased here) that space will now close back up after a pause.
- We’ve added a top level link to Storage Settings to “free up space” now, so you can get at it faster if you need it, rather than having to open Storage Sense first.
- We’ve made some small tweaks to the design of the Windows Update Settings page and subpages.
- To improve discoverability, when you have an update pending reboot in Windows Update Settings, beside the restart now button you will now also see a button for selecting other restart options.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders finding that Outlook 2016 crashed frequently on the previous flight.
- We fixed an issue where the group policy to set a custom lock screen image wouldn’t work if you had also set a policy that disabled the image on the login screen.
- We fixed an issue resulting in docker not working in the last few flights.
- We fixed an issue from recently flights where the Emoji Panel’s most frequently used page wasn’t updating.
- We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard showed a very small size on large monitors.
- We’ve updated the touch keyboard to now have an animation when invoking and dismissing.
- We fixed an issue where keys on the full touch keyboard might become stuck in a visually pressed state.
- We’ve updated the wide touch keyboard such that if you double tap the Shift key to turn on caps lock the key will now stay in a visual pressed state so you can see that caps lock is engaged.
- We’ve updated the full touch keyboard so that you can now use keyboard shortcuts that contain 3 keys (for example, WIN + Alt + D).
- We’ve made some small design changes to the dictation UI that appears when you press WIN+H.
- We fixed an issue where the Chinese (Simplified) Pinyin IME might hang when typing quickly into Cortana.
- We fixed the issue where VPNs that used custom pop-up windows during connection were failing with error 720 when attempting to connect.
- We fixed the issue causing users that have enabled the legacy console to be unable to launch any command line application.
Update about symbols for debugging
- Popular Tencent games like League of Legends and NBA2k Online may cause 64-bit PCs to bugcheck (GSOD).
- [DEVELOPERS] Deploying an x86 app to a x64 PC remotely result in “FileNotFound” deployment failures if the target PC is running Build 17040. Deploying an x64 app to a x64 PC remotely or a x86 app to a x86 PC will work fine.
- Microsoft Edge may not receive Push Notifications from websites in this flight, due to an issue saving permissions on a per-site basis. We expect this issue to be resolved in the next preview build.
- Launching an immersive 360 degree video from the Movies and TV app within Windows Mixed Reality will result in the video facing the wrong way. Subsequent launches of 360 degree videos will work correctly.
- When users try to create a Microsoft Edge InPrivate window from inside a Mixed Reality headset, a regular window will get created instead. Users won’t be able to use InPrivate inside Mixed Reality in this build. InPrivate on desktop is not affected.
- We’re preparing for the inclusion of OpenSSH Server as a deployment mechanism in Developer Mode. However the UI code got checked in ahead of the components, and so while there is a “Use OpenSSH (Beta) for remote deployment” switch in the UI under Settings, it won’t work, and turning it on will break remote deployment to that device until the switch is turned off.
- If you’re using any EUDC fonts Microsoft Edge, Cortana, and other apps that use a webview won’t launch. You can resolve this issue by deleting the HKCU\EUDC key in Registry Editor. Note, if you do this, you won’t be able to see EUDC characters. We recommend you export this regkey before deleting it, so it’s easy to reapply the key in a future flight once the issue has been fixed.
- After upgrading to this build you may find touch and pen to not work on the non-primary display. Related to this, mouse, touch, and pen input might not happen in the right place after an orientation change or if you’re using a non-native aspect ratio. We’re working on a fix.
With the cadence that we make Windows Insider Preview builds available, the Windows debugging symbol we publish via an installer on the Microsoft Download Center for Slow flights is quickly made out of date. We have made significant improvements to the online Microsoft Symbols Server by moving this to be an Azure-based symbol store and now include symbols for ALL Windows Insider flights to the Fast and Slow rings. You can find more about this in this MSDN blog entry. Going forward we will no longer publish the offline symbol installer for Insider Slow flights and would love to hear your feedback on how we can make developer debugging experience even better!
Giving feedback on Office products
We know that there is a large proportion of our Windows Insiders who are also Office Insiders as well. And if you’re not – sign-up to be an Office Insider here!Within the Feedback Hub, you can provide feedback on the Office suite of products as well. This is a great place to capture feedback, share ideas, or just tell us about your experiences and feed them directly back to the Office engineering teams. Simply tell us which app you are using from the drop down menu, tell us about the issue or idea, and click submit. It’s that easy to send feedback to the team to influence product development and new features and functionality that we roll out.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
UPDATED DECEMBER 20, 2017 3:49 PM
Sorry Ragnarock I meant to answer the other day. To be honest I'm not sure as I haven't read or seen anything to say either way.@kemical, do they intend to release redstone 4 as 179xx or 18xxx? the current increments you've posted show they are not pushing through 17000 for 18000 at the moment.
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17083 for PC
By Dona Sarkar / Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group
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Hello Windows Insiders!
Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17083 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and for those who opted in to Skip Ahead.
What’s new in Build 17083
Font Settings and Fonts in the Microsoft Store
Fonts are an important asset for your visual creativity. In this build, we’re introducing new experiences for managing your fonts in Settings, and for acquiring additional fonts from the Microsoft Store.
You may be familiar with the Fonts control panel, which you could use to see the fonts that are currently installed, or to install or uninstall fonts. That control panel hasn’t been able to show off newer font capabilities, such as color fonts or variable fonts, and a refresh has been needed. In Build 17083, we’re providing a new Fonts page within Settings.
The initial page for Fonts settings provides a short preview of each font family. The previews use a variety of interesting strings that are selected to match the primary languages that each font family is designed for together with your own language settings. And if a font has multi-color capabilities built into it, then the preview will demonstrate this.
When you click on one of the family previews, it will take you to a details page that provides previews for each of the fonts within that family, along with other information about each font. There is a default preview string, but you can enter your own, custom preview string as well.
For Web developers and advanced typographers that want to make use of OpenType Variable fonts, there is a separate variable-font details page that allows you to explore the continuous, variable-design capabilities of the font.
Along with the new Settings experience, we are introducing fonts as a new content type in the Microsoft Store. To find them easily, there is a link from the Fonts page in Settings directly to the Fonts collection in the Store.
Note that you need to be running build 17040 or later to be able to install the font packages in the Store. For now, we have a small set of curated offerings from Microsoft’s library of fonts, but this will grow over time. Make sure to come back regularly to see what’s new!
We hope you’ll find the new font experiences in Settings and in the Store will enhance your own creativity. We’d love to hear your feedback via the Feedback Hub, or your reviews of the font offerings in the Store.
Diagnostic Data Improvements
Microsoft uses Windows diagnostic data to focus our decisions and efforts to provide you with the most robust and valuable platform possible. By participating in our diagnostic data programs, you have a voice in the operating system’s development, improving the overall product experience and quality through your insights.
We value your privacy. Our commitment is to be fully transparent on the diagnostic data collected from your Windows devices and provide you with increased control over that data. As part of this commitment, we’re adding two new features in this build for Windows Insiders which can be found under Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.
Diagnostic Data Viewer
The Diagnostic Data Viewer is a Windows app that lets you review the diagnostic data your device is sending to Microsoft, grouping the info into simple categories based on how it’s used by Microsoft.
To get started, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback. Enable the Diagnostic Data Viewer Toggle and then click the button below to launch the app.
View your diagnostics events: In the left column, you can review your diagnostic events. Selecting an event opens the detailed event view, which shows the exact data uploaded to Microsoft. Microsoft uses this info to continually improve the Windows operating system.
Search your diagnostic events: The search box at the top of the screen lets you search all of the diagnostic event data. The returned search results include any diagnostic event that contains the matching text. Selecting an event opens the detailed event view, with the matching text highlighted.
Filter your diagnostic event categories: The app’s Menu button opens the detailed menu. In here, you’ll find a list of diagnostic event categories, which define how the events are used by Microsoft. Selecting a category lets you filter between the diagnostic events. More details about these categories can be found here.
Provide diagnostic event feedback: The Feedback icon opens the Feedback Hub app, letting you provide feedback about the Diagnostic Data Viewer and the diagnostic events.
Opt-in for Standard User
With our commitment to transparency and control, a standard user can now make changes to the Diagnostic Data levels. When an administrator sets the Diagnostic Data level, a user can choose to update the Diagnostic Data setting . This control also provides notifications when these settings have been changed by another user or an administrator.
Timeline Improvements
We’re thrilled to hear how excited Insiders are about Timeline! We’re also listening closely to your feedback and are pleased to announce several changes in this build to put you more in control of your privacy.
You’ve told us through the Feedback Hub that you want us to make it easier to delete activities from Timeline. We agree that deleting multiple activities is cumbersome, which is why we added the option to delete everything from a given hour or day from the context menu. When you are in the default view, you will see a new “clear all from day” option when right-clicking on an activity. If you clicked “see all” to see activities for just one day, this option changes to allow you to “clear all from hour” instead. Because this option can clear a lot of activities at once, we will ask you to confirm this choice before deleting the activities.
We made it easier to clear all activities for an hour or day.
The second change gives you more granular control of the privacy of your activities. A new setting allows you to sync your activities to the cloud for a seamless cross-device experience. You can enable “Let Windows sync my activities from this PC to the cloud” in the settings app, or you can enable it via an option provided at the bottom of Timeline. Until new users enable this setting, Timeline will only show four days of activities. (If you are upgrading from an earlier WIP flight, you may not see this option as the setting is already enabled.)
Windows Shell Improvements
Quiet Hours gets a new name and more! With the expanding feature set in this area, we will now be calling it Focus Assist. Speaking of which, you can now also switch between the three Focus Assist modes by right-clicking the Action Center icon in the taskbar.
Making Windows Hello setup easier: We’ve made it easier for Microsoft account users to set up Windows Hello on their devices for faster and more secure sign-in. Previously, you had to navigate deep into Settings to find Windows Hello. Now, you can set up Windows Hello Face, Fingerprint or PIN straight from your lock screen by clicking the Windows Hello tile under Sign-in options.
Windows Settings Improvements
See your UWP app version numbers: We’ve heard your feedback, and in addition to the other work we’ve been doing on the UWP app settings pages in Settings we’ve also updated them to include the app version number for easy reference. As a reminder, the easiest way to get to the app settings page for a particular UWP app is to right-click the app in Start and select More > App settings
New options for sorting your startup apps: Based on your feedback we’ve added a dropdown to the Settings > Apps > Startup settings page so you can choose to sort the apps listed by name, state, or startup impact.
Hyper-V/WSL Improvements
Windows Hypervisor Platform API: We have added an extended user-mode API for third-party virtualization stacks and applications to create and manage partitions at the hypervisor level, configure memory mappings for the partition, and create and control execution of virtual processors. A third-party client can run alongside a Hyper-V managed partition while maintaining its management, configuration, guest/host protocols and guest supported drivers. For further information, see Windows Hypervisor Platform.
Ease of Access Improvements
New setting to turn automatically hiding scrollbars on or off: We’ve heard your feedback and have added a new setting for those who would prefer their scrollbars stay always visible. It’s available under Settings > Ease of Access > Display. Turning this setting off will result in the scroll bars in UWP (XAML) apps persisting as scrollbars in their full expanded size, even when not interacting with them.
Note: In this build Start won’t follow the setting – we’re working on it.
You choose whether to enable or disable the color filters hotkey: In order to help reduce accidental invocation of this hotkey, we’ve added a new checkbox for this under Settings > Ease of Access > Color filters settings page. The default state is disabled.
We’ve made a number of other Ease of Access improvements in Settings, including:
Windows App Permissions
- We’ve added Narrator landmarks throughout Settings to quickly move between search, navigation list, and main landmarks. And for Narrator users, the page heading (shown visually at the top of each page) will no longer read out as being at the bottom of each page.
- In Settings > Ease of Access, we’ve shortened the name of the “Cursor, pointer and touch feedback” page to “Cursor & pointer size”.
- We’ve swapped the positions of Color Filters & High Contrast in the Settings > Ease of Access navigation list.
- In Settings > Ease of Access > High Contrast, we’ve switched the default theme to be “High Contrast Black”.
- We’ve added links to Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator Settings for learning how to use Narrator and for adding more voices. Also the cursor movement mode combo box in the “Use Narrator cursor” sub-section has been removed.
- We’ve updated the Settings > Ease of Access > Speech page to present information & settings about Dictation, Cortana, as well as Windows Speech Recognition.
- We fixed an issue where Settings > Ease of Access > Eye control was a blank page.
- We’ve updated the Ease of Access search terms & results to better align with the available settings. Duplicate search results have been removed.
- Throughout Settings > Ease of Access you’ll find new “Related settings” links.
Control access to your pictures, videos, or documents folders: With this build we’re giving you more control so you can now decide which UWP apps can access your pictures, videos, or documents folders. If a UWP app needs access to any of these, a consent dialog will pop up prompting you to accept or deny the request. If at any time you change your mind about the decision, you can go to Settings > Privacy where you’ll find 3 new Settings pages (one for each of the folders). If you deny access to a particular folder, to protect your privacy that UWP app will revert to only being able to access its local app folder.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Known issues
- Thank you for your support of the early testing we’ve done with Sets. Your feedback helps us as we continue to develop this feature. Starting with this build, we’re taking Sets offline as we ready RS4 for release. If you have been testing Sets, you will no longer see it – however, Sets will return soon in a post-RS4 flight! Thanks again for feedback, and we look forward to sharing new Sets features with you soon.
- We fixed an issue for those using Start menu with the all apps list hidden, where Start would crash if you clicked on one of the all apps list headers, changed the width of Start’s tile grid, then went back to the all apps list.
- We fixed an issue where clicking on a toast notification might take multiple tries since a single pixel drag initiated a swipe and resulting in the click being ignored.
- We fixed a high hitting reliability issue from recent flights resulting in explorer.exe potentially crashing if you dragged a Microsoft Edge tab from its window then put it back.
- We fixed an issue where the lock screen background would be lost after restart if “Show lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen” was turned off.
- We fixed an issue where the login screen over remote desktop would be blank instead of showing a password prompt in recent builds after waking the host from sleep.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Start not having the Reveal effect in recent flights.
- We fixed an issue where the all apps list in Start would become offset if you exited tablet mode while the all apps list was zoomed out to show only the headers.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the Uninstall, Share, and Rate & Review verbs not working from a UWP app’s context menu in Start in the previous flight.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the Store title bar overlapping the rest of the Store app when in tablet mode in the last two flights.
- With the recent redesign of Cortana’s Notebook, we’re shifting to use that as the primary entrance for Cortana’s lists, and removing the entry point for lists from Cortana’s navigation pane.
- We’ve updated Windows Defender’s systray context menu to now use the modern style.
- We fixed an issue resulting in rendering artifacts in the Clock and Calendar flyout when transparency was enabled.
- We fixed an issue that could result in Windows getting stuck on the rebooting screen for a long time.
- We fixed an issue where Settings would crash if you tried to change the state of the microphone or camera permissions in Privacy Settings.
- We fixed an issue where Settings would crash if you opened the notification settings for an app that had a notification waiting in the Action Center.
- We fixed an issue where Lock Screen Settings would crash if the “Force a specific default lock screen and logon image” group policy was set.
- We fixed an issue from recent flights where Settings might crash when navigating to “Email and App accounts”.
- We fixed an issue where Shared Experiences Settings took a really long time to load (30+ seconds).
- We fixed an issue resulting in microphone and camera settings in Privacy settings flipped to deny all device access after upgrading to recent builds.
- We fixed an issue where Windows Update Settings might show a red exclamation mark, but no text explaining why there was an alert.
- We fixed an issue where the width of the list of updates in Windows Update Settings would fluctuate as you scrolled it.
- We’ve made some tweaks to the Video Playback Settings page.
- We’ve made the decision to remove the recently added Keyboard Settings page under Settings > Time & Language and will consider returning it in a future release. If you’d like to add another keyboard to your language, you can do this as before from the Region & Language Settings page by selecting the language you wish to add to. Advanced keyboard settings (including overriding your default keyboard and emoji panel settings) are still available – the link to this page has been moved to Settings > Devices > Typing.
- Update and Shutdown is now available again as an option if you click the power button in Start when there’s an update pending.
- We fixed an upgrade issue resulting in a “Path Not found” error on “Staging apps on CreateMetadataDirectory” in the upgrade logs of you’d installed an app from the Store before upgrading and had moved it to a secondary drive (an option in Apps & Features Settings). If you were impacted by this issue upgrade would still succeed, however the app wouldn’t work after upgrading.
- We fixed an issue where the back button in Windows Defender Security Center would be invisible if you opened WDSC through a link in Settings.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the GraphicsPerfSvc service sometimes using an unexpectedly high amount of CPU in recent flights.
- We fixed an issue from the last two builds resulting in apps that came preinstalled with Windows potentially failing to update in the Store with error 0x80073CF9.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the copy action in Photos only working the first time it’s used.
- We fixed an issue where the embedded handwriting panel and the handwriting panel might show at the same time.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the handwriting panel unexpectedly appearing recently when tapping or panning certain win32 text areas.
- We fixed an issue where the numeric keypad of the touch keyboard didn’t work in certain password fields found on the web.
- We fixed an issue where using a child key on the Greek or Czech touch keyboard layouts to input accented keys wouldn’t work.
- We fixed an issue where the Emoji Panel’s Most Frequently Used section wasn’t updating.
- We fixed an issue where the Emoji Panel would close after a single emoji was entered in certain apps even if the option to enter multiple emoji at once was selected.
- We fixed an issue resulting in two finger scrolling using touch or mouse not working Word 2016 in the last two flights.
- We fixed an issue where running Magnifier with bitmap smoothing enabled and then closing Magnifier could result in text now appearing blurry, or the PC suddenly becoming slow/laggy.
- We fixed an issue from the previous flight where the Windows Defender icon might be missing from the systray, even if it showed as enabled in Settings. We also fixed an issue from the last two flights where the icon unexpectedly showed a warning even though no warning was visible once you opened the app.
- We fixed an issue where when opening Task View immediately after an upgrade you might need to wait 15-30 minutes before Timeline was visible.
- We fixed two issues impacting Timeline reliability.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge not creating Timeline activities if used immediately after login.
- We fixed an issue where PDFs opened in Microsoft Edge on the previous flight would appear off to the right instead of centered.
- We fixed a high impact issue resulting in Microsoft Edge launch failures in the last two flights.
- We fixed an issue resulting in the Microsoft Edge title bar sometimes being the wrong color.
- Thank you everyone who shared their thoughts on the updates made to the Microsoft Yahei font – we’ve made the decision to return the font to its Fall Creators Update state while take your feedback into consideration.
- We fixed an issue resulting in certain devices hitting a bug check (GSOD) with error System Service Exception on the last two builds.
- We fixed an issue with Linux containers on Windows using Docker Community Edition for Windows (edge) on many machines. The docker pull or docker run commands will fail with an error “Not enough memory resources are available to complete this operation”.
Developer Notes
- If you have a VPN client installed via the Microsoft Store, it won’t work after upgrading to this build. If you require your VPN client to work – you might consider holding off taking this new build.
- If you install a font product from the Microsoft Store, then later install a new build (feature update), the Store package will remain installed, but the fonts within the package are not installed. Until this is fixed, the temporary workaround is to uninstall the product from the Apps page in Settings, then re-acquire the product from the Store.
- When users try to create a Microsoft Edge InPrivate window from inside a Mixed Reality headset, a regular window will get created instead. Users won’t be able to use InPrivate inside Mixed Reality in this build. InPrivate on desktop is not affected.
- We’re preparing for the inclusion of OpenSSH Server as a deployment mechanism in Developer Mode. However, the UI code got checked in ahead of the components, and so while there is a “Use OpenSSH (Beta) for remote deployment” switch in the UI under Settings, it won’t work, and turning it on will break remote deployment to that device until the switch is turned off.
- Audio playback from Microsoft Edge is sometimes unexpectedly muted. A workaround is to minimize Edge, count to three, and then unminimize.
- We’re investigating reports that Win32 apps pinned to Start have blank live tiles that show only a name starting with “W~”.
- We’re investigating an issue where using Task View to switch to an app might result in touch not working properly in that app. If you encounter this, restarting explorer.exe will fix it.
- The link for “Advanced display settings” is missing in Display Settings. If you need to access this dialog for now you’ll need to open Run and run “rundll32 display.dll,ShowAdapterSettings 0”.
Participate in our 2018 Windows Insider Annual Survey
- Deploying an x86 app to a x64 PC remotely result in “FileNotFound” deployment failures if the target PC is running Build 17040 or higher. Deploying an x64 app to a x64 PC remotely or a x86 app to a x86 PC will work fine.
Our Annual Survey is one of the most important tools we have for shaping the Windows Insider Program. It’s your chance to tell us what interests you most about the program – and how we can make your Insider experience even better.
Looking for more news on the latest Windows features? Need more resources as a developer or IT Professional? Got an idea for taking the program in an exciting new direction? Or perhaps you’re simply happy with the program as it is now. Now is the time to let us know!
If you participated in last year’s Annual Survey – thank you! Based on survey results from you and other Insiders all over the world, we rolled out a long list of new tools, activities and content for the program, including:
What exciting new developments will this year’s survey inspire? That’s entirely up to you!
- The launch of the Windows Insider Program for Business to better service the specific needs of IT Professionals and their organizations.
- A new wave of “Inspired by Insiders” articles showcasing Windows features shaped directly by Insider feedback.
- Multiple enhancements to our feedback channels to better address Insider’s request for more information about how and when we use your feedback.
- An easier way to install and manage Windows 10 Insider Preview builds across your organization.
Just look for the email we sent earlier this week (subject line: Take our Windows Insider Annual Survey). Then click on the link to get to the survey in your language.
The survey only takes 10-15 minutes to complete. But the input you provide will help shape the program for the rest of the year – and beyond. We look forward to hearing from you!
Upcoming Bug Bash & Webcast
We will be kicking off the next Bug Bash on February 2nd and will run until February 11th. We’ll have more details to share soon. We’ll also be doing the Bug Bash webcast on our Mixer channel on February 6th. Join us for some bug-bashing!
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
UPDATED JANUARY 24, 2018 10:33 AM
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17093 for PC
By Dona Sarkar and Brandon LeBlanc
Hello Windows Insiders!
Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17093 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and for those who opted in to Skip Ahead.
What’s new in Build 17093
Game bar Improvements
- We’ve given Game bar a makeover so it’s even easier to find what you’re looking for.
- Go to your captures, toggle your microphone and camera, and edit the title of your Mixer stream—all from new buttons on Game bar.
- Quickly check the time using the new clock.
- Choose a theme—Dark, Light, or your current Windows theme.
- Game bar settings are easier to use.
Diagnostic Data Improvements
Last week, we announced some new privacy tools as part of Data Privacy Day which included the Diagnostic Data Viewer that showed up for Windows Insiders in Build 17083. With our commitment to transparency and control, users can now delete the Windows Diagnostic Data that Microsoft has collected from your device. In Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback, you will find a delete button that deletes the Windows diagnostic data associated with your device.
Note: The backend cloud system is currently under development and will be available to complete the Delete requests prior to public release of RS4.
Graphics Improvements
HDR Video on more Windows PCs: Many newer devices are capable of HDR video, but needed to be calibrated in the factory to enable HDR. Now, we are expanding HDR video access to more users via new functionality via Settings > Apps > Video playback. If the “Stream HDR video” toggle can be switched to “On”, your device can be calibrated for HDR video.
To try our experimental calibration tool, click the link “Change calibration settings for HDR video on my built-in display”. This allows you to change the way HDR video appears on your device, allowing you to find your preferred balance between details in dark scenes and details in bright scenes. This tool is still early stage, and we’d love any feedback you might have as we are getting this tool ready for release with RS4.
Note: By default, HDR video uses the full brightness of your screen, so it consumes a little more battery. Fear not: if you want the best of both, just check the box “Don’t increase display brightness when watching HDR video on battery” under “Battery Options” in Settings > Apps > Video playback.
New Graphics settings for Multi-GPU Systems: In this build we’re introducing a new Graphics settings page for Multi-GPU systems that allows you to manage the graphics performance preference of your apps. You may be familiar with similar graphics control panels from AMD and Nvidia, and you can continue to use those control panels. When you set an application preference in the Windows Graphics settings, that will take precedence over the other control panel settings. Find the page by going to Settings > System > Display and scrolling down to the “Advanced graphics settings” link. (In future flights, you will see this link as “Graphics settings”.)
The first step is to choose an application to configure. Choosing a “Classic app” will let you browse to an application on your system. Choosing a “Universal app” will let you choose a Store application from a list. By default, the application added to the Graphics settings page is given a “System default” preference. System default means that the system decides the best GPU for your application.
Once you’ve chosen the application, click on the application in the list and then click the “Options” button. The “Power saving” mode is a request to run the application on the most power saving GPU available. The “High performance” mode is a request to run the application on the most high performance GPU available. Generally, the power saving GPU is the integrated GPU on a system, and the high performance GPU is the discrete GPU or external GPU. If you have both a discrete GPU and an external GPU on a system, the external GPU is considered the high performance GPU.
Remove an application from the list by clicking the application and clicking the “Remove” button. Removing an application is the same as choosing “System default”.
Applications are always allowed to have the ultimate choice of which GPU to use, so you may see additional applications that do not follow the preferences you set. In that case, look for a setting within the application itself to choose a preference.
If you have feedback about the feature, please reach out to us directly on the Feedback Hub.
Go password-less with Windows 10 S!
Do you hate entering your passwords all the time? So do we. Passwords are inconvenient and insecure. With Windows 10 S you don’t have to! Just download the Authenticator App and use it to set up your Windows 10 S PC. You will be able to go through the out-of-box experience, set up Windows Hello and access all your favorite apps and services – all without ever having to enter your password.
With the changes in this build, your Windows 10 S PC will automatically make your experience password-free. You will notice that if you have Windows Hello set up, you won’t see passwords anywhere in the Windows experience – not on the unlock screen nor in Sign-in options.
Eye Control Improvements
We first released eye control for the Windows 10 Fall Creator’s Update back in October 2017 and we’re excited to share some of the new capabilities we’re adding with today’s flight to enable a richer eye control experience. We’ve received a lot of great feedback requesting improvements to eye control – like easier controls for scrolling and quicker access to common tasks. All up, here are three areas we’re updating based on your feedback:
Navigate more easily: We’re adding the ability to more easily scroll content, like email and websites. We also heard the need for a quicker way to click with the mouse, so in addition to precise mouse control we’ve incorporated direct left click and direct right click capabilities into the launchpad.
Get there quick: Accelerate to common tasks with quick access to Start, Timeline, Settings, and device calibration, now available right from the eye control launchpad.
Pause when you need to: We also received feedback on the importance of pausing or hiding the launchpad when not needed to avoid accidental clicks, so we’ve added a pause button on the launchpad. Eye control users now have the flexibility to hide the launchpad for uninterrupted reading, streaming, or relaxing without accidental clicking. Re-engaging the launchpad is simple too – just glance at the pause button in the top or bottom middle of the screen.
Eye control is still in preview, and we welcome your feedback to help improve the experience!
Windows Security Improvements
Windows Defender is now Windows Security in Settings: We have renamed the settings page under Settings > Update & Security from “Windows Defender” to “Windows Security. This settings page has also been redesigned – putting emphasis on the various protection areas to keep you safe and secure on your PC.
Account Protection Pillar in Windows Defender: We’ve made it easier for users to protect their identity when signing in to Windows with the new Account Protection pillar in Windows Defender Security Center. Account Protection will encourage password users to set up Windows Hello Face, Fingerprint or PIN for faster sign in, and will notify Dynamic lock users if Dynamic lock has stopped working because their phone or device Bluetooth is off.
Device Security Pillar in Windows Defender: We’re giving you greater insight into the security features integrated in your Windows device. The Device Security page provides you with status reporting and management of security features built into your devices – including toggling features on to provide enhanced protections.
Bluetooth Improvements
Streamlined Pairing and Connecting to Certain Bluetooth Devices:Starting with this build, Windows enables users to start pairing and connecting supported devices in a single click. When these devices are ready to pair and detected to be in range, Windows shows a notification to the user allowing them to quickly and conveniently start the pairing process. We want to thank the Surface Accessories team for partnering closely with us and having the first device available on the market supporting this great new experience, the Surface Precision Mouse. We are working with many other partners to grow the list of supported devices, and a number of them are on the way. To learn more, check out our blog post here.
Microsoft Edge Improvements
Evolving full screen mode (F11): With the Fall Creators Update we added F11 support to Microsoft Edge, to enable you to take full advantage of your screen real estate. Full screen removes the Edge frame so that only the webpage is visible. You can enter this mode by pressing the F11 key, and exiting using the same key. We’ve heard your feedback, and with this build we’re updating this experience so that without leaving full screen you can now access the address bar and navigate to other sites, add a site as a favorite, and more. To do this, simply hover your mouse at the top of the screen while in full screen mode, or using touch drag a finger down from the top of the screen, and the familiar controls will appear. As always, don’t hesitate to provide feedback so we can continue improving this feature.
Clutter-free printing: Now you can print webpages from Microsoft Edge without ads and unnecessary clutter from the web. Enable the “Clutter-free printing” option in the print dialog and print only the content you want. Note: this option will only be visible for certain type of webpages.
Input Improvements
Multilingual text support in Windows: If you type in more than one Latin script languages on Windows, you’re going to like this new feature. With the Touch Keyboard, you do NOT have to manually switch the language anymore! Simply continue typing in multiple languages and Windows will assist you by showing predictions from multiple languages to make you more productive.
The additional step of manually switching between languages creates a barrier for users that are multi-lingual. We’re hoping that this feature can reduce that barrier and allow you to easily type in multiple languages.
With this build, Windows supports up to 3 Latin script languages for multi-lingual text predictions. It picks the top 3 installed languages from Language Settings while suggesting predictions. You can turn the feature off by going to Settings > Devices > Typing > Multilingual Text Prediction.
Text Prediction support for a bunch more languages! If you’re using the touch keyboard in any of the following languages, you’ll now see words suggested as you type: Assamese, Bashkir, Belarusian, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Icelandic, Igbo, Irish, Kyrgyz, Luxembourgish, Maltese, Maori, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Sakha, Tajik, Tatar, Tswana, Turkmen, Urdu, Uyghur, Welsh, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu.
Windows App Permissions
Updated Privacy Settings navigation pane: To improve visual acuity, we’ve added new categories to the Privacy Settings navigation pane – here’s what it looks like:
View user dictionary: We’ve added a new section to Speech, Inking, & Typing settings under Privacy so that you can new view your user dictionary and easily clear it if need be.
Ease of Access Improvements
Narrator has been enabled in safe mode: You can now use Narrator when in safe mode! Note: It’s recommended for Narrator users to enter safe mode via msconfig.exe. On some devices you may need to use USB headphones to hear audio in safe mode.
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) updates
Note about launch speed: The first launch of each distro will be slow on this build. Some of our updates require sizeable changes to the Linux file system directories; applying those changes may take a few minutes. This should only happen once for each distribution you have installed from the store.
WSL is more configurable with wsl.conf: We added a method for you to automatically configure certain functionality in WSL that will be applied every time you launch the subsystem. This includes automount options and network configuration. Learn more about it in our blog post.
AF_UNIX allows socket connections between Linux processes on WSL and Windows native processes: WSL and Windows applications can now communicate with each other over Unix sockets. Imagine you want to run a service in Windows and make it available to both Windows and WSL apps. Now, that’s possible with Unix sockets. Read more in our blog post.
Better file handling via folder level case sensitivity: One of the tricky problems sharing data between Linux and Windows comes down to file case handling. Windows isn’t case sensitive, Linux is. In the past WSL used exclusively process-based case sensitivity. Starting in 17089, NTFS has a new flag that can be set on directories to indicate all operations in those directories should be treated as case sensitive, which allows Windows applications to correctly open files that differ only by case.
For an even more detailed list of WSL updates, read the WSL release notes.
General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC
Known issues
- We fixed an issue where the network flyout didn’t have an acrylic background (Yay Fluent Design!).
- We fixed the issue causing VPN clients installed via the Microsoft Store to not work after upgrading to Build 17083.
- We fixed an issue where the Home text label was missing from the Settings navigation pane.
- We fixed an issue where Windows Security in Settings was missing an icon in the navigation pane.
- We fixed an issue where dropdowns in the new App volume and device preferences page under Sound Settings were truncated when the Settings window wasn’t wide enough.
- We fixed an issue where the new App volume and device preferences page under Sound Settings might have duplicate apps listed.
- We fixed issues with the slider controls for sound under Settings > System > Sound and “App volume and device preferences”. Thanks @MSWindowsinside, @CrazyCatsGot2 and @TheScarfix for reporting this!
- We fixed an issue in Windows Update Settings where if you’d selected restart to kick off an upgrade and then canceled the restart, the restart button in Settings would no longer be functional.
- We fixed an issue where the data limit dialog on the Data Usage Settings page had no margins.
- We fixed an issue where permissions for inbox apps were cleared out when upgrading to recent builds, resulting in you being unexpectedly re-prompted to enable or disable these permissions when you launched an impacted app.
- We fixed an issue where the Advanced display settings link was missing from Display Settings.
- We fixed an issue where going to Focus Assist Settings might crash Settings.
- We’ve updated the “Use my sign-in info…” text in Sign-in Options settings to be more clear.
- We fixed an issue where clicking the search entry from the app command menu of certain apps would crash explorer.exe.
- We fixed an issue where the night light quick action in the Action Center sometimes didn’t work due to a long running calculation of the schedule to automatically turn on/off night light.
- We’ve updated the Action Center context menu such that the three focus assist states are now collapsed under one expandable entry.
- We fixed an issue where sharing to Cortana Reminders wasn’t working in recent flights.
- We’ve updated the OneDrive Files-on-Demand state icon in File Explorer’s navigation pane so they now display closer to the file icon.
- We fixed an issue where burning an ISO file to CD threw an unexpected error “Selected Disc image file isn’t valid” in recent builds.
- We’ve updated the People flyout to now use your accent color when “Show accent color” is selected in Color Settings.
- We have fixed the issue where Win32 apps pinned to Start would display as blank live tiles that show only a name starting with “W~”.
- We fixed an issue where the Start layout might get reset if you upgraded straight from the Anniversary Update.
- We have fixed the issue where using Task View to switch to an app might result in touch not working properly in that app.
- We fixed an issue where using the new right-click options to delete groups of activities from Timeline might not delete the entire group.
- As we prepare RS4 for release, we’re removing the feedback button in Task View that was introduced for Insiders to give feedback on Timeline – thanks everyone who’s logged feedback so far! We welcome you to continue giving feedback via the Feedback Hub under the Desktop Environment > Timeline category.
- We fixed an issue where the text label for creating virtual desktops in Task View was truncated in certain languages.
- We fixed an issue where the app icons in the Open With dialog might appear pixelated on high DPI screens.
- We fixed an issue where music wouldn’t re-route back to audio peripheral if you skipped to next track before connecting the USB or Bluetooth audio device.
- We fixed an issue where the Windows.old folder wasn’t completely emptied and removed after cleanup.
- We fixed an issue where using Ctrl + Alt + Break in Hyper-V didn’t work to make a VM re-enter full screen mode.
- We fixed an issue where vmconnect couldn’t insert or eject an ISO/DVD drive.
- We fixed an issue that could result in lower frame rates in games in certain monitor configurations.
- We fixed an issue resulting in audio from Microsoft Edge sometimes becoming unexpectedly muted in the last few flights.
- We fixed an issue where when using Microsoft Edge with dark theme the text in the address bar might become black on dark grey.
- We fixed a number of issues impacting Microsoft Edge reliability in the last few builds.
- We fixed an issue resulting in opening a new tab in Microsoft Edge in recent builds potentially taking an unexpectedly long time.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge file downloads to secondary drives failing in recent flights.
- We fixed an issue resulting in SVG images on certain websites not rendering in Microsoft Edge.
- When dragging a website from the address bar in Microsoft Edge in order to pin it to the favorites bar, you will now see the favicon and website name follow your mouse as you drag.
- We fixed an issue from recent builds where content copied to the clipboard using Web Notes in Microsoft Edge couldn’t be pasted.
- We fixed an issue where certain PDF files wouldn’t display their context menu correctly in Microsoft Edge.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge potentially crashing on launch when using roaming profiles.
- We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to scroll components of certain websites when viewed in Microsoft Edge despite a scrollbar being visible.
- We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to use Flash on certain sites in Microsoft Edge in recent builds.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge crashing recently if you clicked on the page when in caret mode.
- We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge in recent builds where clicking on link’s in the ‘Ask Cortana’ sidebar might open the page inside the sidebar instead of the main window.
- We fixed an issue from the last two builds where certain websites didn’t load in Microsoft Edge, although the name of the website was correct in the tab.
- We fixed an issue from the last two builds where an unexpected grey rectangle was visible in Microsoft Edge settings next to the word Settings.
- We fixed an issue from the last build where processes in Task Manager only showed at most 100mb of memory used.
- We fixed an issue where Narrator wouldn’t say anything if you were to use the arrow keys to navigate through text typed into Command Prompt.
- We fixed an issue an issue where the touch keyboard might be a pixel-width up from the bottom of the screen if the display scaling wasn’t 100%, leading to the keyboard unexpectedly dismissing if you tapped that area.
- We fixed an issue an issue resulting in the one-handed touch keyboard being unexpectedly large in recent builds.
- We fixed an issue from recently builds where shapewriting in the touch keyboard would stop showing text candidates if you were using it, dismissed the keyboard, re-invoked the keyboard, and tried to start shapewriting again.
- We fixed an issue from recent builds impacting Emoji Panel invocation reliability.
The Bug Bash continues!
- We have observed seeing longer-than-normal delays during install at the 88% mark. Some delays are as long as 90 minutes before moving forward. Please be patient as the install will complete successfully.
- Some PCs will fail to resume from hibernate requiring a hard reboot to recover.
- If you install a font product from the Microsoft Store, then later install a new build (feature update), the Store package will remain installed, but the fonts within the package are not installed. Until this is fixed, the temporary workaround is to uninstall the product from the Apps page in Settings, then re-acquire the product from the Store.
- If an East Asian keyboard is the only input method on your system the touch keyboard will show an English layout with no IME on/off key. Until this is fixed, the workaround is to add a second keyboard language from the Region & Language Settings page, or to use the IME mode button in the taskbar.
- We’re investigating an issue where the Japanese IME sometimes can’t turn on in UWP apps. If you encounter this issue switch to a Win32 application (e.g. Notepad), turn the IME on there, then switch back to the UWP app.
- We’re investigating reports that 3 and 4 finger gestures on the touchpad have become unresponsive starting with the previous flight.
- Windows Hello will fail to work on Surface Laptops with this build.
- Plugging in an external optical drive (DVD) will cause an Explorer.exe crash.
- Settings will crash if you open the Themes Settings page.
- Buttons on Game bar are not centered correctly.
- In some games—such as Destiny 2 and Fortnite—mouse and keyboard input will still go to the game while Game bar is open.
- Selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opens the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the screenshot or game clip.
- After Game bar closes, the mouse cursor resets to the position it was in when Game bar was opened.
- Keyboard and mouse input may not work correctly in Game bar when playing a first person game (e.g. Minecraft). Alt+Tab out of and into the game should fix this.
- In the text box for Mixer stream title, using non-character keys (e.g. Tab, Delete, Backspace, etc.) may cause the game to hang for a few seconds.
- Bringing up Game bar using the Xbox button on an Xbox One controller doesn’t work in some games.
We are currently in the middle of our RS4 Bug Bash which runs until 11:59pm PST on February 11th. This will be our only Bug Bash for this release and we’re looking forward to your feedback! The Bug Bash is your opportunity to really dig into the features we’ve been working on for this release and let us know how it’s going and what you’d like to see addressed before we ship. We have a whole pile of quests lined up to help give you an idea of what to poke at and we’ll be adding new content throughout the Bug Bash so be sure to keep an eye on the Feedback Hub for more info.
Yesterday, we held a Mixer webcast for the Bug Bash which you can view on-demand here.
New to Bug Bashes? Here’s an overview of how it all works. To receive a Feedback Hub achievement for participating in the Bug Bash, you’ll need to be on the latest Fast or Slow build, log a least one piece of feedback in the Feedback Hub, and complete at least one quest in the Feedback Hub – achievements will be sent out after the Bug Bash has been completed.
Microsoft Tech Summits
This February, the Microsoft Tech Summits will be in 12 cities around the world! Registration is still open for Frankfurt and Cape Town! Don’t miss this free learning and networking event where you get to ask hard questions and tailor your learning experience to your goals. Plus, Windows Insiders who register are eligible to enter to win a trip to Microsoft Ignite 2018!
2018 Windows Insider Annual Survey
There’s still time to participate in our 2018 Windows Insider Annual Survey! Thanks to everyone who has already completed our Annual Survey. If you haven’t had a chance to respond, there’s still time – and we’d love to hear from you. This survey is one of the most important tools we have for shaping the Windows Insider Program. It’s your chance to tell us what interests you most about the program – and how we can make your Insider experience even better.
Looking for more news on the latest Windows features? Need more resources as a developer or IT Professional? Got an idea for taking the program in an exciting new direction? Or perhaps you’re simply happy with the program as it is now. Let us know!
Click here to take the annual survey now.*
The survey only takes 10-15 minutes to complete. But the input you provide will help shape the program for the rest of the year – and beyond.
We look forward to hearing from you!
*Note: Link leads to the English US version of the survey.
No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,
Dona
UPDATED FEBRUARY 8, 2018 1:39 PM