Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20201

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20201 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Though downloading was kind of slow in the 1st hours after release, upgrades went smoothly, the window action buttons (minimize, maximize & close) now follow the edge of your app window again

Enjoy upgrading!

Fixes

  • We’ve fixed an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected by Easy Anti-Cheat failed to launch. Some games may still need to release an update to fully resolve the issue.
  • We fixed an issue where the IME mode indicator in the taskbar was indicating that the IME was enabled when it was actually in disabled state.
  • We fixed an issue in the last few flights resulting in HDR monitors appearing black when HDR was enabled.
  • We fixed an issue where the min/max/close buttons were stuck in their original positions after resizing a UWP app.
  • We fixed an issue where SetInputScope wasn’t working if it was called after the app had been initialized.

Known issues

  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • We’re investigating reports that the new taskbar experience for pinned sites isn’t working for some sites.
  • We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
  • We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where pinned sites don’t show all open tabs for a domain. In the meantime, you can fix this by pinning the site’s homepage rather than a specific page (e.g. pin microsoft.com rather than microsoft.com/windows).
  • We’re working on a fix to resolve syncing issues in the Mail app with certain mail services.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where Office documents may open blank when opened from File Explorer. If you encounter this issue on this build or Build 20197, the file should render correctly if opened from within the app rather than File Explorer.
  • We’re investigating reports of some Office applications crashing or missing after updating to a new build.
  • We’re investigating reports of some devices receiving a bugcheck with error code KERNEL_MODE_HEAP_CORRUPTION.
  • We’re investigating reports of the Settings app crashing when opening Manage Disks and Volumes.

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20197

Hi all, Yesterday Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20197 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel., slightly delayed due to a blocking issue to release 20195 on Wednesday

Download & upgrades went very smooth here, Modern Disk Management is here for everyone

Enjoy upgrading!

What’s new in Build 20197

Bringing Disk Management into Settings

We mentioned we had more Settings work on the way, and here’s the next one – as of today’s build you’ll now be able to manage your disks and volumes from within the Settings app. This includes tasks such as viewing disk information, creating and formatting volumes, and assigning drive letters.

Unlike the existing Disk Management MMC snap-in, this modern experience was built from the ground up to with accessibility in mind. It also features better integration with features such as Storage Spaces and the Storage breakdown page.

Go to Settings > System > Storage and click Manage Disks and Volumes to get started. We’d love to hear your feedback once you try it out.

The Manage Disks and Volumes page in Settings. C drive is selected and shows Explorer and Properties options.

The existing Disk Management MMC snap-in is still available for those that need it.

[ADDED] Note about the new post-update experience

The new post update experience with the Tips app mentioned with Build 20190 was a trial run for this experience to get feedback and gauge interest and specific only to Build 20190. You will not see this experience on newer builds. Insiders may see other experiences like this one on newer builds coming soon.

Other updates for Insiders

Your Phone Apps experience is now gradually rolling out to General Public

We are excited to announce that the Your Phone apps feature which was highlighted during Aug 5th Samsung Unpacked event is now gradually rolling out to General Public. As a reminder, Your Phone apps feature allows you to instantly access your Android phone’s mobile apps directly from your Windows 10 PC. You can conveniently pin your favorite mobile apps to your Taskbar or Start menu on your PC for quick and easy access. When you launch an app, it opens in a separate window outside of the Your Phone app enabling you to multitask. So, whether you need to quickly reply to a conversation, respond to your social posts, or order food, you can do it fast using your PC’s large screen, keyboard, mouse, pen and touch screen alongside your other PC apps!

Please see the feature requirements below including list of supported phones and well as this FAQ here on Microsoft Answers.

Apps feature requirements:

  • PC running Windows 10 October 2018 Update or later. However, we always recommend updating to the latest version of Windows 10.
  • Your Phone app (1.20071.88) and Link to Windows (2.0).
  • Available on select Android phones running Android 9.0 or greater with the Link to Windows integration. Check out the list of supported phones here.
  • Phone and PC must be on the same Wi-Fi network.

This is a gradual rollout, so it may take few days for Apps to show up within the Your Phone app. Give this feature a try and continue to provide us with your valuable feedback within the Your Phone app under Settings -> Send Feedback.

Changes and Improvements

  • We’re updating the ALT + Tab behavior with Microsoft Edge tabs to now have a default of displaying at most 5 tabs, rather than any recent tabs. If at any point you’d like to change this, you can under Settings > System > Multitasking.
  • We’re exploring including a Web Browsing section in the Settings header, and Insiders may start to see this.
  • Going forward only the currently active profile picture will display under Your Info in Settings.
  • Based on feedback we’re turning off ESENT Warning Event ID 642.
  • It’s now possible to select the new Microsoft Edge as your desired app in Assigned Access.
  • We’ve updated Narrator so that now when using the Microsoft Pinyin IME, Narrator is able to distinguish candidate characters/words by providing detailed reading information.

Fixes

  • We fixed an issue where the letter headers in the Start menu’s all apps list had unnecessary left padding when the all apps list was set to hidden.
  • We fixed an issue where ALT + Tabbing to a browser tab sometimes moved the previously active browser tab to the front of the Alt + Tab list as well.
  • We fixed an issue where if you’d pinned a website to your taskbar and then moved your Microsoft Edge window with that site open over to a different virtual desktop, the pinned sit wouldn’t show the corresponding open tabs on that new desktop.
  • We fixed an issue where the sysprep command was failing with the error 0x80073CFA in the last few builds.
  • We fixed an issue where Group Policy Editor was showing a popup error about WnsEndpoint_Policy in the last few flights.
  • We fixed an issue where the Get-Volume PowerShell command wasn’t recognizing volumes in the exFAT format.
  • We fixed an issue impacting explorer.exe launch performance when booting up and logging in for the first time.
  • We fixed an issue where pinned File Explorer folders in Start would appear with a darker background than other tiles in light mode.
  • We fixed a race condition that could result in the Font Settings page crashing.
  • We fixed an issue where Font Settings and Themes Settings were displaying the old style of Microsoft Store icon.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in the Network Status page in Settings showing an old network name, rather than the one that you’re currently connected to and inconsistent with what the network flyout displayed.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in certain VPNs with the option “Automatically use my Windows log-on name and password (and domain, if any) enabled no longer connecting automatically.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a bugcheck in recent builds citing a hyperguard violation.
  • We fixed an issue when using the search box in File Explorer, where pressing the enter key would result in keyboard focus jumping to the quick access section of the navigation pane rather than to the search results.
  • We fixed an issue with the Microsoft Pinyin IME, where typing certain phrases would result in the candidate pane unexpectedly dismissing.
  • We fixed an issue with the Microsoft Pinyin IME, where when using double pinyin style, when typing something like “goldb;du” where the first candidate could be an English word the conversion wouldn’t work.
  • We fixed an issue when typing with the Japanese IME that could result in not being able to input symbols using Shift+<number keys> into password fields sometimes.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in certain apps crashing when typing incorrect combinations with the Chinese Traditional DaYi IME.
  • We fixed an issue with the Microsoft Bopomofo IME where it was consuming Shift key up events when they resulted in IME mode toggle actions.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in a CTFMON.exe when changing focus to certain apps (like Outlook) while typing with an IME.
  • We fixed an issue where ImmGetCompositionString wasn’t returning the correct IME composition string for YOMI text fields.
  • We fixed an issue where the Windows key on the full touch keyboard layout wouldn’t become highlighted after tapping on it in recent builds.
  • We fixed an issue when using Narrator where Scan Mode wouldn’t stay off in Microsoft Teams.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Flight Simulator failing to launch on the previous two flights with an error citing: “The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect”.

Known issues

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch.
  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where the min/max/close buttons are stuck in their original positions after resizing a UWP app. If you move the app window the position should update.
  • We’re investigating reports that the new taskbar experience for pinned sites isn’t working for some sites.
  • We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
  • We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where pinned sites don’t show all open tabs for a domain. In the meantime, you can fix this by pinning the site’s homepage rather than a specific page (e.g. pin microsoft.com rather than microsoft.com/windows).

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20190

Hi all, Last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20190 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Smooth upgrades here, took a while longer on my Surface Laptop but made it fine 😉 –

This Build feels soo much faster than the previous ones we’re on the right track here!

Transparent Top bar with Explorer maximized is back

What’s new in Build 20190

New post-update experience

We know that it doesn’t always feel clear what changed with a major update, or even how you can learn about and try out new features and improvements. This means that updates can feel time consuming without real benefit to you, and we want to change that. We’re introducing a new first run experience via the Tips app that highlights the most exciting changes on your PC after a major Windows 10 feature update is installed. After installing this build, Insiders will see the Tips app is launched highlight some of the most recent new features from the latest Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel. To see this experience on your device, make sure the “Show me the Windows welcome experience” checkbox in Settings > System > Notifications & actions is checked.

The Tips app launches post-update to highlight new features from the latest Insider Preview builds.

This experience will show up for Windows Insiders in EN locales such as US, UK, AU, IN, and CA.

Improved Graphics Settings experience

While this isn’t a new feature all together, we have made significant changes based on customer feedback that will benefit our customers’ Graphics Settings experience. We have made the following improvements:

  • We’ve updated the Graphics Settings to allow users to specify a default high performance GPU.
  • We’ve updated the Graphics Settings to allow users to pick a specific GPU on a per application basis.

If you’re a power user that has multiple high performance GPUs and would like to specify which of those GPUs should be the one used for high performance uses cases, you can now do that by going to Settings > System > Display > Graphics settings or Settings > Gaming > Graphics settings. What this means is that an application that asks for a high-performance GPU will by default use the high-performance GPU you specify on this page.

Default high performance GPU selection page.

Now if you want even more control, we have also added the ability for you to specify exactly which GPU you want an app to run on using the new “Specific GPU” option. As you can see below, an application can be set to run on your GPU of choice.

The new per-application specific GPU selection option.

Changes and Improvements

  • Based on feedback, we’re updating the new Japanese IME to support switching between Hiragana and Katakana by using CTRL + CAPSLOCK and ALT + CAPSLOCK (respectively), as was supported with the previous version.

Fixes

  • We fixed a Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 related error that would output: ‘The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request’. Please see this Github issue for details.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in explorer.exe being unresponsive on touch-capable devices after resuming from hibernation.
  • We fixed an issue with the new search box in the default apps settings pages, where search results would appear to draw on top of one another when deleting characters from the search box.
  • We fixed an issue where if you switched to an English keyboard using WIN + Space and then switched back to the Chinese Pinyin IME, typed punctuations would Chinese even if “Use English punctuations when in Chinese input mode” was enabled.
  • We fixed an issue where when Narrator was enabled it could result in the on-screen PIN pad unexpectedly appearing when focus is set to the login screen.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Features on Demand (FOD) failing to enable with error 0x8000FFFF in recent builds. This is also believed to be the root cause for some Insiders finding that the sfc /scannow command would repeatedly fail citing a pending reboot.
  • We fixed and issue that could result in the calling window (for example, Microsoft Edge) hanging if an authentication prompt was raised and then not interacted with and timing out.

Known issues

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch.
  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where the min/max/close buttons are stuck in their original positions after resizing a UWP app. If you move the app window the position should update.
  • We’re investigating reports that the new taskbar experience for pinned sites isn’t working for some sites.
  • We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
  • We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where pinned sites don’t show all open tabs for a domain. In the meantime, you can fix this by pinning the site’s homepage rather than a specific page (e.g. pin microsoft.com rather than microsoft.com/windows).
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where Alt + Tabbing to a browser tab sometimes moves the previously active browser tab to the front of the Alt + Tab list as well.
  • The letter headers in the Start menu’s all apps list have unnecessary left padding when the all apps list was set to hidden.

source: Windows Blogs

Tip: Camera not working in Skype, Zoom,…

Recently a handful of types of webcams turned dark in Skype, Zoom and other video chat programs, while the Windows Camera app still showed the video perfectly.

The cases I ran into were running Windows 10 1909 or 2004 running on older models of hardware. Cams were showing up as ‘easycam’ or ‘HP HD webcam’

The resulting video test in skype settings would look something like this:

Due to the older hardware models new drivers are hard or impossible to find, but an easy fix is here:

  1. open device management (Windows key + x / select device management)
  2. locate your webcam
  3. right-click & select properties
  1. Select the driver tab
  2. Select update driver
  3. Select Browse my computer for drivers
  1. Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer
  1. Uncheck Show compatible hardware
  1. Now Select Microsoft in the left pane
  2. Select USB Video Device in the right pane
  3. Select Next & accept the waring about possible not compatible driver

Result, camera back working fine in all your apps happy video chatting 😉

Note: If this does not work for your device, right click the camera in device manager, select uninstall & when the device asks to reboot let it, it will redetect the camera on boot with the previous driver you had installed

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19042.423 (20H2)

Hi all, July 31st Microsoft released 20H2 Build 19042.423 (KB4568831) to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. This release is a re-release of 20H2 19042.421 from last week but brings it to parity with the Windows 10 May 2020 (20H1) servicing as of today.

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20185

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20185 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Upgrading took quite a bit longer than the last build, lost of new stuff we get in return 🙂

Had some GSOD’s resuming from standby on IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL – tcp.sys https://aka.ms/AA98grq

What’s new in Build 20185

Improving DNS configuration in Settings

We’re making a few changes to the Network section in Settings:

  1. Making DNS settings more easily accessible: Editing your DNS server assignment is now a top-level option when you go into your network’s properties page.
  2. Encrypted DNS controls in the Settings app: Encrypted DNS (DNS over HTTPS, or DoH) can help increase privacy and security while browsing the web. You can now configure DoH directly in the Settings app to more easily take advantage of this feature:
  • For ethernet connections: Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Status. Click Properties, then select Edit IP assignment or Edit DNS server assignment and it will be available in the popup
  • For Wi-Fi connections: Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi. Click the adapter properties link, then select Edit IP assignment or Edit DNS server assignment and it will be available in the popup. Currently you will not see the encryption options if you go to the individual network’s property page

You can add any IP address listed here to unlock the DoH dropdown and choose to use encryption. Once encryption is enabled, you can confirm it’s working by looking at the applied DNS servers in the network properties and see them labeled as “(Encrypted)” servers. If you want to try a custom DoH server we don’t recognize yet, you can configure an IP address to be recognized as a DoH server by using the netsh command documented here at the end of the blog post.

The new Edit Network DNS settings popup in Settings.

As always, appreciate your feedback!

New ADMX Backed Policies for MDM

Starting with Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20175, we have enabled 647 new MDM policies across 56 ADMX files to enable commercial customers to configure policies that are also supported through Group Policies. Contains ADMX based Policies such as App Compat, Event Forwarding, Servicing and Task Scheduler. These new policies can be configured using Intune custom profile. Intune UX is planned to be available later this year.

ADMX file name:

  • AddRemovePrograms.admx
  • AppCompat.admx
  • AuditSettings.admx
  • CipherSuiteOrder.admx
  • COM.admx
  • Cpls.admx
  • CtrlAltDel.admx
  • DigitalLocker.admx
  • DnsClient.admx
  • DWM.admx
  • EncryptFilesonMove.admx
  • EventForwarding.admx
  • FileServerVSSProvider.admx
  • FileSys.admx
  • FolderRedirection.admx
  • Help.admx
  • HelpAndSupport.admx
  • kdc.admx
  • LanmanServer.admx
  • LinkLayerTopologyDiscovery.admx
  • MMC.admx
  • MMCSnapins.admx
  • MSAPolicy.admx
  • nca.admx
  • NCSI.admx
  • Netlogon.admx
  • OfflineFiles.admx
  • PeerToPeerCaching.admx
  • PerformanceDiagnostics.admx
  • PreviousVersions.admx
  • QOS.admx
  • Reliability.admx
  • Scripts.admx
  • sdiageng.admx
  • Securitycenter.admx
  • Servicing.admx
  • Setup.admx
  • SharedFolders.admx
  • Sharing.admx
  • Shell-CommandPrompt-RegEditTools.admx
  • Smartcard.admx
  • Snmp.admx
  • TaskScheduler.admxtcpip.admx
  • Thumbnails.admx
  • TPM.admx
  • UserExperienceVirtualization.admx
  • W32Time.admx
  • WinCal.admx
  • WindowsAnytimeUpgrade.admx
  • WindowsConnectNow.admx
  • WindowsMediaDRM.admx
  • WindowsMediaPlayer.admx
  • WindowsMessenger.admx
  • WinInit.admx

Other updates for Insiders

Introducing Your Phone Apps – access your Android phone’s apps directly from your PC

UPDATE: The apps experience in Your Phone is gradually rolling out only to Windows Insiders on a PC that is configured to be in the Dev, Beta, or Release Preview Channels and is a server-side change that takes time propagate out. Please see the feature requirements below including list of supported phones and well as this FAQ here on Microsoft Answers.

The Your Phone app continues to evolve. We are happy to announce another exciting feature, a seamless continuation of our vision and promise to help you be more productive and keep you in your flow. Tap into the power of Your Phone app with Link to Windows integration on select Samsung devices to instantly access your phone’s mobile apps directly from your Windows 10 PC. There’s no need to install, sign-in or set up your apps on your PC, saving you time and hassle. You can conveniently pin your favorite mobile apps to your Taskbar or Start menu on your PC for quick and easy access. When you launch an app, it opens in a separate window outside of the Your Phone app enabling you to multitask. So, whether you need to quickly reply to a conversation, respond to your social posts, or order food, you can do it fast using your PC’s large screen, keyboard, mouse, pen and touch screen alongside your other PC apps!

Mobile phone and Windows laptop highlighting Your Phone Apps feature.

And we are not stopping here. Later in the year, Samsung Galaxy Note20 users will experience the power and convenience of running multiple apps side by side and we will continue to work with Samsung to bring this feature to additional devices. Apps will launch in separate windows enabling you to interact with multiple apps at the same time. So, whether you are working on a document, keeping up on your social media feed or simply staying connected with family and friends, everything is accessible in one place, so your flow is never broken.

Starting today, Android phones supporting Your Phone app’s Phone screen feature will be able to preview the Apps feature. See list of supported devices here. The ability to run multiple apps simultaneously is currently not available and will be introduced later this year. Give this feature a try and provide us with your valuable feedback as we continue to test, learn, and improve the overall experience. You can provide feedback within the Your Phone app under Settings -> Send Feedback.

Key Features:

  • See a list of your installed Android apps directly within the Your Phone app.
  • Add your frequently used apps to the favorites section or search among your apps for even quicker access.
  • Launch any mobile app directly from your PC.
  • Apps and your mirrored phone screen launch in a separate window on your PC.
  • Pin your mobile apps to Windows Task bar or Start menu.
  • Stay in the know by keeping an eye on the app notification badging (unread notifications) in the All apps list or your Favorites.
Screen showing mobile phone’s apps and open Instagram panel.

Apps feature requirements:

  • PC running Windows 10 October 2018 Update or later. However, we always recommend updating to the latest version of Windows 10, Your Phone app and Link to Windows.
  • Available on select Android phones running Android 9.0 or greater with the Link to Windows integration. Check out the list of supported phones here.
  • Phone and PC must be on the same Wi-Fi network.

Known Issues/Limitations:

  • Some apps might block the ability to cast to other screens and you will see a black screen instead.
  • Some games and apps might not respond to interactions from your PC mouse or keyboard. You will need to use a touch-enabled PC to interact with them.
  • Audio from apps will play from your mobile device.
  • Ability to run multiple apps will rollout out later in the year.

Changes and Improvements

  • We’re moving the 3D Viewer app into the Windows Accessories folder in the Start menu all apps list.

Fixes

  • We fixed an issue where sometimes the “close all windows” action in the Taskbar wasn’t closing all of the open tabs for pinned sites.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in the network icon in the Taskbar saying there was no internet although there was an active connection.
  • We fixed an issue where dragging and dropping an app from Start’s all apps list over to the tile grid to pin it wasn’t working for certain apps.
  • We fixed an issue where the letter headers in the Start menu’s all apps list had unnecessary left padding when the all apps list was set to hidden. This fix isn’t in this build, will be in the next flight.
  • In order to address an issue where the tiles were difficult to read against certain backgrounds when using full screen Start we’re adjusting the background to be slightly less transparent.
  • We fixed an issue where when using a Start menu layout applied by MDM, tile groups may disappear after a few days of uptime without rebooting.
  • We fixed an issue where if a notification included an inline image the app icon would be slightly out of line with it.
  • We fixed an issue where launching an app from its taskbar jumplist wasn’t working for certain desktop bridge apps and instead would result in the app disappearing from the taskbar.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in excessive network traffic when using the Open File dialog to navigate to shared network folders where previous versions where enabled.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in a blank icon displaying instead of a plus button on the main Default Apps page in Settings after uninstalling the app set as default.
  • We fixed an issue where opening Storage Settings then immediately going into one of the sub-pages and then back could result in the page not loading.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the new Microsoft Edge not being listed in the App History section of Task Manager.
  • We fixed an issue impacting touch keyboard launch reliability.
  • We fixed an issue where TextInputHost.exe would enter an unresponsive state, leading to clipboard history, the Emoji Panel, and dictation not appearing when pressing their corresponding keyboard shortcuts.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in not being able to paste the first entry in clipboard history.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in ARM64 devices bug checking when resuming from hibernation.

Known issues

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch.
  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where the min/max/close buttons are stuck in their original positions after resizing a UWP app. If you move the app window the position should update.
  • We’re investigating reports that the new taskbar experience for pinned sites isn’t working for some sites.
  • We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
  • We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where pinned sites don’t show all open tabs for a domain. In the meantime, you can fix this by pinning the site’s homepage rather than a specific page (e.g. pin microsoft.com rather than microsoft.com/windows).
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where Alt + Tabbing to a browser tab sometimes moves the previously active browser tab to the front of the Alt + Tab list as well.
  • Opening a WSL 1 distribution can result in the error: ‘The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request’. Please check out this Github issue for the latest updates.

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20180

Hi all, it’s been over a week now that Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20180 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Holidays got this post delayed, but here it is mostly tweaks on this build, upgrading went smooth & fast on this one

What’s new in Build 20180

We are turning on much of the new features mentioned on July 1st in Build 20161 including theme-aware tiles on Start. The new pinned sites capability mentioned with last week’s flight of Build 20175 is still only available to a subset of Insiders.

Changes and Improvements

  • Based on feedback, we’re changing the tablet posture logic for 2-in-1 devices to now only apply when using a single screen.
  • Based on feedback we’re updating the new folder icon in the Start menu’s All app’s list to be a little smaller so it better aligns with the size of the other icons.
  • We’ve updated the search box in the Default Apps settings pages to improve performance.

Fixes

  • We fixed an issue in the last flight where Magnifier wasn’t following the curser in the previous build when the zoom was higher than 100%.
  • We fixed an issue where Task Manager wasn’t showing the Publisher name for UWP apps.
  • We fixed an issue when using the Pinyin IME where tapping “/” on the keyboard wouldn’t produce the right character when using full width mode.
  • We fixed a couple issues that could result in crashes when using Alt + Tab to switch to browser tabs.

Known issues

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch.
  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where the min/max/close buttons are stuck in their original positions after resizing a UWP app. If you move the app window the position should update.
  • We’re investigating reports that the new taskbar experience described above isn’t working for some pinned sites.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where sometimes the “close all windows” action in the taskbar doesn’t close not all of the open tabs
  • We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
  • We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where pinned sites don’t show all open tabs for a domain. In the meantime, you can fix this by pinning the site’s homepage rather than a specific page (e.g. pin microsoft.com rather than microsoft.com/windows).
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where Alt + Tabbing to a browser tab sometimes moves the previously active browser tab to the front of the Alt + Tab list as well.
  • Opening a WSL 1 distribution can result in the error: ‘The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request’. Please check out this Github issue for the latest updates.

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19042.421 (20H2)

Hi All, The Beta Channel got a net Build for 20H2, Build 19042.421 (KB4568831) to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. New Start Layout is here 🙂

Enjoy!

What’s new in Build 19042.421

Theme-aware tiles in Start

We are freshening up the Start menu with a more streamlined design that removes the solid color backplates behind the logos in the apps list and applies a uniform, partially transparent background to the tiles. This design creates a beautiful stage for your apps, especially the Fluent Design icons for Office and Microsoft Edge, as well as the redesigned icons for built-in apps like Calculator, Mail, and Calendar that we started rolling out earlier this year.

Before and After: Windows 10 Start menu in dark theme.

This refined Start design looks great in both dark and light theme, but if you’re looking for a splash of color, first make sure to turn on Windows dark theme and then toggle “Show accent color on the following surfaces” for “Start, taskbar, and action center” under Settings > Personalization > Color to elegantly apply your accent color to the Start frame and tiles.

ALT + TAB between apps and sites

Are you a multitasker? With this build, your tabs open in Microsoft Edge will start appearing in Alt + TAB, not just the active one in each browser window. We’re making this change so you can quickly get back to whatever you were doing—wherever you were doing it.

All tabs open in Microsoft Edge will start appearing in Alt + TAB!

If you’d prefer fewer tabs or the classic Alt + TAB experience, we’ve added some settings for you under Settings > System > Multitasking. You can configure Alt + Tab to only show your last three or five tabs or choose to turn this feature off completely.

This feature requires a Canary or Dev build of Microsoft Edge (version 83.0.475.0 or higher).

Improving pinned sites in Microsoft Edge

We have another new feature we’ve been working on to make you more efficient when browsing the web: quick access to tabs for your pinned sites. Clicking a pinned site on the Taskbar will now show you all of the open tabs for that site across any of your Microsoft Edge windows, just like you’d expect for any app with multiple open windows.

Clicking a pinned site on the Taskbar will now show you all of the open tabs for that site across any of your Microsoft Edge windows.

This feature requires Microsoft Edge Insider Build 85.0.561.0 or higher (Canary or Dev Channel).

NOTE: Since this is an early preview, existing sites on your Taskbar will not experience this new behavior until you remove and re-pin them.

A more personalized Taskbar for new users

We want to help customers get the most out of their PCs from day one, and that starts with offering a cleaner, more personalized, out-of-box experience to give you the content you want and less clutter. This provides us with a flexible, cloud-driven infrastructure to test customer reception of default Taskbar content and tailor these layouts based on user and device signal.

We will evaluate the performance of individual default properties, monitoring diagnostic data and user feedback to assess an audience’s reception. Using this information, we will tune default layouts to minimize clutter and perceptions of bloatware.

Please note that this experience is limited to new account creation or first logon scenarios. We will not use Programmable Taskbar to alter the Taskbar layout on existing accounts.

Tailored default Taskbars for different users.

Improving the notification experience

We are making some changes to improve the notifications experience in Windows 10.

First, know where your toast is coming from by checking out the app logo at the top. Done with the notification? Select the X on the top right corner to quickly dismiss and move on with your life.

Notification toast with app logo at the top and X on the top right corner to quickly dismiss.

And second, we are turning off the Focus Assist notification and summary toast by default, so we will no longer let users know that Focus Assist has been turned on through an automatic rule via a notification. This can be changed back to the previous behavior via Settings.

Making Settings even better

We’re continuing to work on bringing capabilities from Control Panel forward into Settings. As part of this ongoing effort, we are migrating information found in Control Panel’s System page into the Settings About page under Settings > System > About. Links that would open the System page in Control Panel will now direct you to About in Settings. We are also bringing new improvements like making your device information copyable and streamlining the security information shown. And don’t worry—if you’re looking for more advanced controls that lived in the System page in Control Panel, you can still get to them from the modern About page if you need them!

Device information is now copyable and security information is streamlined under Settings > System > About.

There will be more improvements coming that will further bring Settings closer to Control Panel. If you rely on settings that only exist in Control Panel today, please file feedback and let us know what those settings are.

Improving the tablet experience for 2-in-1 devices

Previously, when detaching the keyboard on a 2-in-1 device, a notification toast would appear asking if you wanted to switch into tablet mode. If you selected yes, you would switch into tablet mode. If you chose no, it would give you the new tablet posture experience introduced in the May 2020 Update (or simply the desktop on earlier versions of Windows 10). We are further updating this experience by changing the default, so that this notification toast no longer appears and instead will switch you directly into the new tablet experience, with some improvements for touch. You can change this setting by going to Settings > System > Tablet. Some users may have already seen this change on Surface devices.

And to address confusion with some users getting stuck in tablet mode on non-touch devices, we are removing the tablet mode quick action on non-touch devices.

In addition, new logic is incorporated to let users boot into the appropriate mode according to the mode they were last in and whether the keyboard is attached or not.

Modern Device Management (MDM) improvements

The new Local Users and Groups modern device management (MDM) policy allows an administrator to make granular changes to a local group on a managed device, on par with what has been available to devices managed with on-prem Group Policy (GP).

Changes, Improvements, and Fixes

  • We fixed an issue that causes error messages to display in the English US (en-US) language instead of in the non-English language you selected. This occurs when you install a non-English language pack before installing the latest cumulative update.
  • We fixed the toast notification that appears at restart when you update from Windows 10, version 2004.
  • We fixed an issue that causes non-English strings to disappear, which might affect the text on the tiles of the Start menu.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents you from using sharing functionality in Microsoft Office. This occurs when Conditional Access is enabled.
  • We fixed an issue that occurs when a third-party application loads hidden tabs into Internet Options.
  • We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge IE mode that occurs when you open multiple documents from a SharePoint site.
  • We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge IE mode that occurs when you browse using anchor links.
  • We fixed an issue with pasting mixed content of images and text from Microsoft Word into Internet Explorer.
  • We fixed an issue that might cause Microsoft browsers to incorrectly bypass proxy servers.
  • We fixed an issue in the Windows Push Notification (WNS) service that prevents you from selecting a virtual private network (VPN) interface to make outbound connections. As a result, you lose connectivity with the WNS service when forced tunneling is used.
  • We fixed an issue that might cause the Magnifier to stop working in Microsoft Excel in certain scenarios. As a result, Microsoft Excel might also stop working.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents you from installing some .msi apps. This occurs when a device is managed by a Group Policy that redirects the AppData folder to a network folder.
  • We fixed an issue that might display 4K high dynamic range (HDR) content darker than expected when you configure certain non-HDR systems for HDR Streaming.
  • We fixed an issue that causes new child windows to flicker and appear as white squares on server devices that are configured for stark visual contrast.
  • We fixed an issue that causes the Settings page to close unexpectedly, which prevents default applications from being set up properly.
  • We fixed an issue that causes all open Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps to close unexpectedly. This occurs when their installer calls the Restart Manager to restart File Explorer (explorer.exe).
  • We fixed an issue that prevents Windows 8.1 apps from projecting to a secondary display when those apps use the StartProjectingAsync API.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents family safety features, such as time limits and activity reporting, from working on ARM64 devices.
  • We fixed an issue with File Explorer’s preview of .msg files when Microsoft Outlook 64-bit is installed.
  • We fixed an issue that causes a KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (139) stop error when Windows resumes from Sleep and turns on certain Bluetooth headsets.
  • We fixed an issue that might prevent certain display driver reset utilities from properly reinstalling the same driver on the system.
  • We fixed a reliability issue in WDF01000.sys.
  • We fixed an issue that causes memory leaks when an application calls the CryptCATAdminCalcHashFromFileHandle() function. The leaked memory is reclaimed when the application closes.
  • Improves support for non-ASCII file paths for Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Auto Incident Response (IR).
  • We fixed an issue that prevents some machines from automatically going into Sleep mode under certain circumstances because of Microsoft Defender ATP Auto IR.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents some machines from running Microsoft Defender ATP Threat & Vulnerability Management successfully.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents Microsoft Defender ATP from applying file exclusions in some cases, which leads to application compatibility issues.
  • We fixed an issue in Microsoft Defender ATP that prevents some machines from reporting the installed applications to Threat & Vulnerability Management.
  • We fixed an issue that causes automatic investigations to fail in Microsoft Defender ATP.
  • Improves Microsoft Defender ATP’s ability to identify malicious code injection activities.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents some applications from printing to network printers.
  • We fixed an issue that might cause a printer to be a hidden device in Device Manager after a restart.
  • We fixed an issue that might cause the Print Management console to display script errors when you enable the Extended View option.
  • We fixed an issue that causes printing to fail in certain scenarios.
  • We fixed an issue that might prevent a Windows 10 device from reaching the internet when using a wireless wide area network (WWAN) LTE modem. However, the Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) in the notification area might still indicate that you are connected to the internet.
  • We fixed an issue that might prevent internet connectivity on some cellular modems after upgrading to Windows 10, version 2004.
  • We fixed an issue that causes telephony applications to lose the first four digits.
  • We fixed an issue with in-memory parity bitmaps that can cause data integrity issues on Parity Storage Spaces.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents the creation of a storage pool using Manage Storage Spaces in Control panel.
  • We fixed an issue that might cause the Microsoft Remote Assistance process (msra.exe) to stop working when a user is receiving assistance during a computer session. The error is 0xc0000005 or 0xc0000409.

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20175

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20175 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Windows Insiders with PCs that have AMD processors will be able to receive this build.

Not getting this build? check out this possible Fix: will need to follow these steps to receive this build.  

IMPORTANT NOTE: Insider Preview Builds 20161 and below will expire on July 31st. To avoid hitting this expiration, please update to Insider Preview Builds 20170 or newer.

What’s new in Build 20175

Improving pinned sites in Microsoft Edge

Earlier this month, we announced ALT + TAB between apps and sites, the first of our new productivity enhancements coming to Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. Today, we’re announcing another feature we’ve been working on to make you more efficient when browsing the web: quick access to tabs for your pinned sites. Clicking a pinned site on the Taskbar will now show you all of the open tabs for that site across any of your Microsoft Edge windows, just like you’d expect for any app with multiple open windows. Please let us know what you think!

Clicking a pinned site on the Taskbar will now show you all of the open tabs for that site across any of your Microsoft Edge windows.

This feature is currently rolling out to a subset of Insiders today and requires Microsoft Edge Insider Build 85.0.561.0 or higher (Canary or Dev Channel).

NOTE: Since this is an early preview, existing sites on your Taskbar will not experience this new behavior until you remove and re-pin them.

For more details on our new multitasking improvements, check out our post on the Microsoft Edge blog.

Introducing Reset-AppxPackage

For some time now, you’ve been able to reset your UWP apps in Settings – with today’s build we’re now exposing this ability via PowerShell as well. To do this, you’ll need the appx package name, so your use of the command may look like this:

>> Get-AppxPackage *calculator* | Reset-AppxPackage

The benefit of enabling this via PowerShell is that if needed you will now be able to run the reset commands for certain system components that are not currently listed as available to reset in Settings, for example Start.

Please note by nature of this command, if you choose to run it it will reset your experience back to the default experience and you will lose the associated app data.

Make a more personal connection with Eye Contact on Surface Pro X

Powered by artificial intelligence capabilities of the Microsoft SQ1(TM) processor, Eye Contact helps to adjust your gaze on video calls so you appear to be looking directly in the camera on your Surface Pro X. Windows Insiders can turn this feature on via the Surface app on their Surface Pro X.

Turn on Eye Contact on the Surface Pro X via the Surface app.

Other updates for Insiders

More new icons:

As part of our ongoing efforts to update the iconography across Windows, Insiders will notice we have begun rolling out a new icons for both Sticky Notes and the Snip & Sketch app via updates from the Microsoft Store. Just like with the new Settings icon in the last build, these new icons look great on the Start menu with the theme-aware tiles introduced in Build 20161!

It looks like a pair of scissors cutting a ribbon.
Thew new Sticky Notes icon in light and dark theme.

Fixes

  • We fixed an issue causing some systems to crash with a HYPERVISOR_ERROR bugcheck.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in tiles sometimes flashing unexpectedly in the Start menu when animating
  • We fixed an issue where the option the set Alt + Tab to “Windows Only” wasn’t working.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in apps unexpectedly appearing black when viewed under Magnifier with a large magnification.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in some stutter when gaming.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Narrator not working with touch when touching a XAML item.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Search not closing after selecting certain items in the search results.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in flickers when logging in.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in fonts not displaying correctly in some apps in the last two flights.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in Settings crashing if it’d been opened but minimized to the Windows Update page, and then you navigated to another settings page by clicking a URI.
  • We fixed an issue where clicking a link to System would result in an empty and unclosable Control Panel instance.

Known issues

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch.
  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • If you are impacted by an issue where when pressing space while using the Korean IME in Edge and Chrome the last character was deleted, this has been fixed in Chromium as part of Bug 1099125. We’ll be removing this from the known issues with the next flight.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where the min/max/close buttons are stuck in their original positions after resizing a UWP app. If you move the app window the position should update.
  • We’re investigating reports that the new taskbar experience described above isn’t working for some pinned sites.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where sometimes the “close all windows” action in the taskbar doesn’t close not all of the open tabs
  • We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
  • We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where pinned sites don’t show all open tabs for a domain. In the meantime, you can fix this by pinning the site’s homepage rather than a specific page (e.g. pin microsoft.com rather than microsoft.com/windows).
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where Alt + Tabbing to a browser tab sometimes moves the previously active browser tab to the front of the Alt + Tab list as well.

source: Windows Blogs

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20170

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20170 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Happy to seem my keyboard working again on my Surface Laptop Gen 1

This build also brings back the performance of before (latest 2 builds had some slowness after reboot / logon)

All upgrades went smooth & fast enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE: Windows Insiders with PCs that have AMD processors will not be offered this build today due to a bug impacting overall usability of these PCs. The issue should be fixed for the next flight.

What’s new in Build 20170

Improving your Sound Settings experience

Last week we mentioned we were planning on bringing more Control Panel capabilities forward into Settings, and here’s another one – we’re updating Settings > System > Sound > Manage sound devices to now let you know which device is default, and if not, enable you to set it as your default device or default communication device.

We’ve also updated the volume mixer to include a link to the per app audio settings, which you can use to redirect audio endpoints per app.

There is more work on the way in this area – stay tuned!

Other updates for Insiders

All new Microsoft Launcher v6 is now rolling out to General public

We are excited to announce the rollout of Microsoft Launcher v6 (download here!) to general Public. This launcher is built on a new codebase allowing us to bring multiple new features to you – such as Personalized News, Landscape mode, Customizable App Icons, Bing-Supported Wallpaper, Dark Theme, and numerous performance improvements like speed to load, low memory utilization, battery optimization and fluent animations. Download the new launcher to try it out and use the feedback button in the app to let us know what you think.

New features:

  • Personalized news: Stay in the know. The personalized news feed updates throughout the day with top trending stories, making it easy to stay on top of whatever’s relevant to you.
  • Landscape mode: Microsoft Launcher supports vertical and horizontal orientations to enhance your viewing preference.
  • Customizable icons: Give your phone a consistent look and feel with custom icon packs and adaptive icons.
  • Beautiful wallpapers: Enjoy a fresh new wallpaper from Bing every day or choose your own photos.
  • Dark theme: Reduce eye strain when using your phone at night or in low light environments. This feature is compatible with Android’s default dark mode settings.
  • Improved performance: Microsoft Launcher now loads faster, uses less memory, is more battery efficient, and offers fluent animations.
The new look and feel in Microsoft Launcher.
Dark theme in the new Microsoft Launcher.

New App Icon:

Microsoft Launcher app icon.

Microsoft Launcher requirements:

  • Phone supporting Android version 7.0 or higher
  • You must download Microsoft Launcher from Google Play Store. Downloading Microsoft Launcher will replace the default launcher. Microsoft Launcher does not replicate the user’s PC home screen on the Android phone. Users must still purchase and/or download any new apps from Google Play.

Known issues:

  • Native Android 10 navigation gestures may not work for all phone manufacturers and models.
  • System dark theme is supported on devices with Android 8.0 and above.
  • Setting 3rd-party launchers as Default is only supported on select OEM devices.
  • Sticky notes sync issues may occur after upgrading to v6.
  • Notification badges may need to be enabled again after v6 upgrade.

This is a gradual rollout to general public so you may not be able to download immediately.

If you encounter any issues or have bugs to report, file them under Settings > Help and Feedback > Report a bug or via Feedback shortcut on your home screen.

For additional questions, you can reference our Microsoft Launcher FAQs.

Improving search from the taskbar in Windows 10

We’ve recently unveiled two improvements to the search bar in Windows that make it even easier to find what you need.

Click on Search in the taskbar or press the Windows key + S to view an updated design for Search Home. A new two-column layout offers easy readability, as well as fast access to Quick Searches, where you can see local weather, top news, and more helpful info. To find other web results or navigate directly to a website, just type in the search bar like normal.

The new layout is available in markets that enable Quick Searches, including the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the UK.

In addition, the Windows search bar now supports web search for Dutch-speaking customers in the Netherlands. Users with their Windows region set to Netherlands and their language set to Dutch can now search the web from their search bar without using a browser. Previously the feature was limited to English-speaking users in the region.

We welcome your feedback on these updates. You can share your comments by clicking the feedback button on Search Home.

Updated taskbar search experience in Windows 10.

Note: This is a server-side rollout and will be visible to those running Windows 10 version 1809 up to the latest Dev Channel build.

Changes and Improvements

  • As part of our ongoing efforts to update the iconography across Windows, Insiders will notice we’re introducing a new Settings icon in this build. The new Settings icon looks great on the Start menu with the theme-aware tiles introduced in Build 20161!
  • While we work on improving reliability, we’re temporarily turning off Notepad’s ability to persist open windows across restarts and updates.
  • An experimental implementation of Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 is enabled by default starting with Insider Preview Build 20170. IIS/HTTP.SYS have TLS 1.3 enabled by default. SSPI callers can use TLS 1.3 by passing the new crypto-agile SCH_CREDENTIALS structure when calling AcquireCredentialsHanlde. SSPI callers using TLS 1.3 need to make sure their code correctly handles SEC_I_RENEGOTIATE.

Fixes

  • We fixed an issue resulting in flickering when resizing certain apps when snapped side by side in tablet mode.
  • We fixed an issue when using an IME where holding down the mouse left click key would eventually lead to input hanging.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the master volume slider in Sound Settings not working after removing and re-pairing certain Bluetooth devices.
  • We fixed a race condition that could result in update notifications not appearing or appearing multiple times in quick succession.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in typing not working on certain keyboards in the previous flight – appreciate your patience while we investigated.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in modifier keys like Shift and CTRL sometimes being dropped over a remote desktop connection.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in a small number of Insiders experiencing an issue where Start wouldn’t launch in the previous build.
  • We fixed an issue that was increasing the amount of time it took for logoff to happen for some Insiders in the last few builds.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders finding that their screens became dimmer after upgrading to the last few builds.
  • UPDATE 7/17: We fixed the issue causing sleep to not work for some Insiders.
  • UPDATE 7/17: We fixed the issue causing Task Manager to report 0.00 GHz CPU usage in the Performance tab.

Known issues

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue causing some systems to crash with a HYPERVISOR_ERROR bugcheck.
  • We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
  • We’re aware of an issue where Task Manager reports 0.00 GHz CPU usage in the Performance tab. FIXED.
  • We’re working to fine tune the tile animations in Start to avoid flashes of color.
  • We’re investigating reports that sleep is not working for some Insiders. FIXED.

source: Windows Blogs