Windows 10 May 2021 Update - RTM ( cod 21H1 )

What’s new in Build 20241

Introducing theme-aware splash screens for apps
Building on theme-aware tiles in Start, we’re introducing theme-aware splash screens for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. Now, when an eligible UWP app is launched, the splash screen color will match your default app mode. For example, if you have light theme turned on, you’ll see a light theme splash screen, and if you have dark theme turned on (for the “default app mode”) then you’ll see a dark theme splash screen.
Settings app splash screen before and after in light theme:
Settings splash screen before and after in light theme.
Settings app splash screen before and after in dark theme:
Settings splash screen before and after in dark theme.
The following apps support theme-aware splash screens today:
Settings
Store
Windows Security
Alarms & Clock
Calculator
Maps
Voice Recorder
Groove
Movies & TV
Snip & Sketch
Microsoft ToDo
Office
Feedback Hub
Microsoft Solitaire Collection
Over time, more apps will be updated via the Store to support having a theme-aware splash screen.
NOTE: Some apps like Store and Feedback Hub may show an extended splash screen in your accent color instead of the theme-aware light or dark theme.
This feature is rolling out to a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel at first to help us quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. Rest assured they will be gradually rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel.

Enhancing your defrag experience
We’re making a few changes to the Optimize Drives page (Settings > System > Storage > Optimize Drives), including:
Adding a new “Advanced View” checkbox to list all volumes including hidden volumes. Please note we’re still getting this one up and running, so you’ll see the checkbox in this build, but may not notice any differences when you click it.
Listing more details in the “Current status” column when volumes are not available for defrag (for example, “Partition type not supported” and “File system type not supported”).
Adding support for pressing F5 to refresh.

Updates for developers
The Windows SDK is now flighting continuously with the Dev Channel. Whenever a new OS build is flighted to the Dev Channel, the corresponding SDK will also be flighted. You can always install the latest Insider SDK from aka.ms/InsiderSDK. SDK flights will be archived in Flight Hub along with OS flights.

Changes and Improvements
To help ensure Narrator users are aware of notifications on the screen, if a high priority notification appears while the computer is locked and stays on the screen, we will now also read it out when unlocking your PC and not just at arrival time.
We’re removing the Japanese Address and Rinna candidate suggestion services from the Japanese IME – thank you Windows Insiders who’ve shared feedback on them.

Fixes
We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing APC_INDEX_MISMATCH bugchecks in recent builds.
We fixed an issue where scrolling and pinch to zoom were not working correctly on devices with touch such as the Surface Pro X, Surface Pro 7 and others.
We fixed an issue where selecting an IME candidate or hardware keyboard text prediction candidate was sometimes inserting the candidate adjacent to the one selected.
We fixed an issue where new applications will fail to install with a Windows Installer service error on x86 systems.
We fixed an issue where when attempting to perform a Reset this PC using the Keep My Files option will fail with the error, “There was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made”.
We fixed an issue where robocopy wouldn’t preserve the directory dates when using the move command.
We fixed a high hitting dwm.exe crash from the last few flights.
We fixed an issue resulting in the System Information window (msinfo32) crashing on launch.
We fixed an issue resulting in the System Information window (msinfo32) unexpectedly having a blank icon in the taskbar.
We fixed an issue that could result in Bitlocker encryption failing with error 0x803100b2.
We fixed an issue resulting in flickering in certain apps when the media controls pop-up was visible on screen and you moved your mouse.
We fixed an issue resulting in the screen flickering on certain devices when accessing the power options on the login screen.
We fixed a recent issue where closing a tab in Microsoft Edge while Task Manager was up and running could result in Task Manager crashing.
We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing a “Sorry, something went wrong” message when running through the workflow to improve recognition for Windows Hello Face.
We fixed an issue from recent builds where if Settings was open when the PC went into hibernation, connected pens may fail to reconnect until Bluetooth was toggled off and back on.
We fixed an issue that could result in Windows Sandbox showing a 0x80070003 error.
We fixed an issue where a non-functional link to Rename your PC was displaying for non-admin users on the Projecting to this PC page in Settings.
We fixed an issue where the Activation page in Settings would crash if you navigated to it recently while not connected to the internet.
We fixed an issue in Printers & Scanners Settings, where clicking the Get App button available for some printers was resulting in Settings crashing recently.
We fixed an issue where clicking the Copy button under “View hardware and connection properties” in Network Settings would result in extraneous lines saying “Proxy Auto Detect” appearing on the settings page.
We fixed an issue impacting certain VPN connections, where clicking the entry in the Network flyout wasn’t doing anything.
We fixed an issue that could result in Windows updates failing with error 0xc0000005.
We fixed an issue that could result in windows.old being unexpectedly large for some Insiders.
We fixed an issue resulting in the new gesture to control the text cursor position using the spacebar on the touch keyboard wasn’t working for some Insiders.
We fixed an issue that could result in Internet Explorer crashing when typing certain combinations into websites with the Dayi IME.
We fixed an issue where incorrect characters were being inserted into passwords fields when typing using the Japanese IME in Kana mode.
We fixed an issue where when using the previous version of the Japanese IME, if you set the IME to off mode during a composition, then immediately starting typing, it could result in the underlying app crashing.

Known issues
We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
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 causing some devices experiencing a KMODE_EXCEPTION bugcheck when using certain virtualization technologies.
We’re looking into reports where some devices are still experiencing a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION bugcheck after taking build 20236.
We’re investigating reports that some devices are receiving a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL bugcheck on tcpip.sys.
We’re working on a fix where after taking build 20236 devices running Malwarebytes Web Protection are no longer able to connect to the network. Users can roll back to 20231 and pause updates or disable Web Protection as a workaround.
We’re investigating an issue reported by some Insiders wherein the taskbar is obscuring the Power button in the Start menu. If this is happening on your PC, you may need to use the Windows key plus X menu to shutdown for the time being.
We’re investigating GPU Compute scenarios, such as using CUDA and DirectML, not working inside of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Windows Insiders on ARM PCs such as the Surface Pro X will notice that Windows PowerShell will fail to launch on this build. As a workaround, please use “Windows PowerShell (x86)” or “Windows PowerShell ISE (x86)” from the Start menu if you need to use PowerShell. Or download the new and modern PowerShell 7 which takes advantage of ARM by running natively. Plus the icon is prettier.

Mark your calendars for the November webcast
Join us on November 18 at 6 PM GMT | 10 AM PST for the next Windows Insider webcast where we’re taking a look at storage and disk management.

Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20246
Written By Brandon LeBlanc published October 29, 2020

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20246 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
Starting with today’s build, Windows Insiders will notice that the name of the branch we are releasing builds from has changed to FE_RELEASE. Just like we did back in May when we released builds from the MN_RELEASE branch, we are practicing our ability to change which branch flight builds from. As our engineers work in development cycles internally, we may prioritize work being done in a specific branch and may need to move Insiders between branches. As a result of the switch to the FE_RELEASE branch, Insiders will notice that some features like the updated emoji picker, redesigned touch keyboard, voice typing, theme-aware splash screens, and others have been removed temporarily. We look to bring these features back to Insiders in the future. As an important reminder – builds from the FE_RELEASE branch are not matched to a specific Windows 10 release.

Other updates for Insiders
Starting soon, the preview experience of the Calendar app will be removed in an upcoming update and return to its classic look and feel. Windows Insiders will see a pop-up notifying them of the changes to the preview experience. No action is needed at this time.  We appreciate all your great ideas and are excited to continue building the best Calendar experience.

Updates for developers
The Windows SDK is now flighting continuously with the Dev Channel. Whenever a new OS build is flighted to the Dev Channel, the corresponding SDK will also be flighted. You can always install the latest Insider SDK from aka.ms/InsiderSDK. SDK flights will be archived in Flight Hub along with OS flights.

Changes and Improvements
We added automatic Linux distro installation to the wsl.exe --install command! This means that users who wish to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux quickly can just type in wsl.exe –install into the command line and then will have a fully set up WSL instance ready to go, including their Linux distro of choice.

Fixes
We fixed an issue causing some devices experiencing a KMODE_EXCEPTION bugcheck when using certain virtualization technologies.
We fixed an issue causing devices running Malwarebytes Web Protection to no longer be able to connect to the network.
We fixed an issue causing some devices to receive a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL bugcheck on tcpip.sys.
We fixed an issue that could result in the Pick Time button in the Windows Update dialog not doing anything.
We fixed an issue where hovering over a thumbnail in Task View would display an unexpected border around the item.
We fixed an issue where chkdsk could appear to be stuck at 100% due to not printing the message saying it was done.
We fixed an issue that could result in a crash when disconnecting certain audio devices while playing audio in recent builds.
We fixed an issue where the Windows Update page in Settings could fail to load if connected to a Wi-Fi network with no internet connection.
We fixed an issue resulting in Settings crashing sometimes when clicking the Update and Security category.
We fixed an issue resulting in Storage Settings unexpectedly showing incorrect category sizes (a higher number than what was visible in File Explorer).
We fixed an issue that could lead to a crash when managing partition size in Storage Settings.
We fixed an issue that stopped GPU compute scenarios such as CUDA and DirectML not working for some users inside of the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Known issues
We’re investigating reports of installing games from the Store to a secondary non-OS drive will result in the secondary drive becoming inaccessible. To prevent this from occurring you must change the default storage for new content to the secondary drive PRIOR to installing the game. This can be done in Settings > Storage > Change where new content is saved.
We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
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 causing some devices to experience a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION bugcheck.
We’re investigating an issue reported by some Insiders wherein the taskbar is obscuring the Power button in the Start menu. If this is happening on your PC, you may need to use the Windows key plus X menu to shutdown for the time being.
Windows Insiders on ARM PCs such as the Surface Pro X will notice that Windows PowerShell will fail to launch on this build. As a workaround, please use “Windows PowerShell (x86)” or “Windows PowerShell ISE (x86)” from the Start menu if you need to use PowerShell. Or download the new and modern PowerShell 7 which takes advantage of ARM by running natively. Plus the icon is prettier.


Celebrating with our 6th anniversary badge
As a thank you for being with us these last six years, last week we released a special anniversary badge to all Windows Insiders. Visit Feedback Hub > Achievements now to check out yours. Thank you so much for helping us improve Windows 10 over that time!
The Windows Insider Program 6th Anniversary badge, which shows a cake and says, thank you for flighting Insider Preview builds and being with us over the last six years.

REMINDER: Mark your calendars for the November webcast
Join us on November 18 at 6 PM GMT | 10 AM PST for the next Windows Insider webcast where we’re taking a look at storage and disk management.

Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.
Thanks,
BLB

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20251 (FE_RELEASE) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Updates for developers
The Windows SDK is now flighting continuously with the Dev Channel. Whenever a new OS build is flighted to the Dev Channel, the corresponding SDK will also be flighted. You can always install the latest Insider SDK from aka.ms/InsiderSDK. SDK flights will be archived in Flight Hub along with OS flights.

Fixes
    We fixed an issue resulting in the background of some dialogs to unexpectedly appear grey instead of white in the last couple flights.
    We fixed an issue resulting in the taskbar occluding the Power button in the Start menu for some Insiders recently.
    We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing a SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED bug check.
    We fixed a crash with opengl32.dll.
    We fixed an issue that could result in the Settings app hanging when checking for updates right after upgrade.
    We fixed an issue that could result in the Settings app sending a notification that just said “new notification”.
    We fixed an issue resulting in the Search Indexer not being able to retrieve metadata from HEIF and WebP files, so you couldn’t search for those files using metadata like date taken.
    We fixed an issue resulting in the Cast to Device option in Movies & TV (and other media playback apps) not taking any action when clicking on a listed device in recent builds.
    We fixed an issue in recent builds that could result in the screen you were projecting with Miracast freezing shortly after connecting.

Known issues
    We’re working on a fix for an issue starting with Build 20236 where installing games from the Store to a secondary non-OS drive will result in the secondary drive becoming inaccessible. To prevent this from occurring you must change the default storage for new content to the secondary drive PRIOR to installing the game. This can be done in Settings > Storage > Change where new content is saved.
    We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
    Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
    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 causing some devices to experience a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION bugcheck.
    Windows Insiders on ARM PCs such as the Surface Pro X will notice that Windows PowerShell will fail to launch on this build. As a workaround, please use “Windows PowerShell (x86)” or “Windows PowerShell ISE (x86)” from the Start menu if you need to use PowerShell. Or download the new and modern PowerShell 7 which takes advantage of ARM by running natively. Plus the icon is prettier.
    We’re investigating reports that some users are seeing error 0x80070426 when using their Microsoft account to sign into various apps. If you encounter it, rebooting your PC may resolve this.

REMINDER: Mark your calendars for the November webcast
Join us on November 18 at 6 PM GMT | 10 AM PST for the next Windows Insider webcast where we’re taking a look at storage and disk management.

Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21286
Written By Brandon LeBlanc
published January 6, 2021

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21286 (RS_PRERELEASE) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. This build is being offered to ALL Insiders in the Dev Channel. All Insiders in the Dev Channel will now receive the same build going forward.

What’s new in Build 21286

Introducing news and interests on the taskbar
With news and interests on the Windows taskbar, you get quick access to an integrated feed of dynamic content such as news and weather that updates throughout the day.
News and interests on the Windows taskbar gives you quick access to an integrated feed of dynamic content such as news and weather that updates throughout the day.
You can personalize your feed with relevant content tailored for you. Instead of switching between apps or your PC and phone to stay up to date with the news and interests you care about – seamlessly peek into your feed directly from the taskbar anytime you want throughout your day.
Showing news and interests on the taskbar with the flyout of content just for you.
Staying up to date: Quickly glance at your news and interests directly from the taskbar. Get caught up on the latest headlines, weather, sports, and more, then go back to whatever you were doing without disrupting your workflow. You have convenient access to news and interesting content from over 4,500 global brands such as The New York Times, BBC or The Verge, and gorgeous live weather maps. Select an article to open a streamlined reading view with fewer distractions, so you can save time and stay focused.
Personalize your feed: You can tell us which content you like seeing or don’t like seeing (select More options … and choose “More stories like this” or “Fewer stories like this”) and over time, more stories about the things you care about will show up in your feed, including ones you might otherwise miss. You can also use emoji to react to stories, too.
You’re in control: At Microsoft, we believe privacy starts with putting you in control and giving you the tools and information, you need to make informed choices. Through news and interests, there is quick access to the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. Through the Microsoft Edge browser, there are built-in controls to limit tracking from advertisers and third parties. And if news and interests doesn’t appeal to you, you can easily turn it off by right-clicking on the taskbar.
As more of us are spending time on our PCs to work, learn, connect, and play, news and interests on the taskbar is a nice companion for those who want to stay connected with information on the latest current events. Over time, we hope to bring your feed of news and interests to other places, such as in Microsoft Edge, so no matter where you are, you’ll be able to stay up to date.
We are beginning to roll out news and interests to Windows Insiders today starting with Build 21286 in the Dev Channel and Insiders will need to reboot after installing Build 21286 to enable this feature. Managing the rollout of features like this allows us to quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. We plan to evolve this experience over time, so please let us know what you think and how we can make it better through Feedback Hub (go to Desktop Environment > News and interests). The team is excited to hear what you think!
IMPORTANT NOTE: This feature is currently only available to Windows Insiders in United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and India. This feature also requires the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser to be installed on your PC. We are also testing different variations of this experience so some Insiders may see a different experience than others.

Modernized Storage Spaces Settings
You can now create and manage Storage Spaces from within the Settings app. This includes creating storage pools and storage spaces, adding, and removing disks, and optimizing pools. This new experience provides an accessible, modern experience integrated with other storage features.
Managing Storage Spaces in the Settings up via Settings > System > Storage.
Go to Settings > System > Storage and click the Manage Storage Spaces under “More storage settings” to get started.
This feature is rolling out to a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel at first, to help us quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. Rest assured they will be gradually rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel.

Introducing New File System Command Line Tool DiskUsage
As some Insiders have noticed, we’re working on an enhancement to the file system utilities family – called DiskUsage, enabling users to view and query disk space usage via the command line. With DiskUsage, you can now track files and directories which are consuming excessive amount of space on the drive. It scans the specified directory recursively or the entire drive with detailed information on how much each subfolder is using. It also supports extensive filtering and output customization options.
For example: >> diskusage /d:1
This will display the used space under each folder of the current directory.
Get started today by typing diskusage /? in a command line window for more options and usage information.
Running the DiskUsage command in Windows Terminal.

Run commands on start up in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
We have added an option that allows you to run any specified Linux command on startup of a WSL distribution. You can accomplish this by editing the /etc/wsl.conf file in your distribution and adding an option titled “command” under a section titled “boot”. This command will run whenever your specific WSL distribution starts up. The example below shows using this functionality to create a method to log the time and date for each startup of this WSL distro.
A screenshot of Windows Terminal displaying a user interacting with WSL.
This command will run when a WSL distribution is first started. WSL distributions will remain running for a few minutes even after the last Linux process inside of them is closed. You can view if your WSL distro is running using wsl --list --verbose and you can manually shut down all WSL distributions using wsl --shutdown.

Improving your experience when transitioning between time zones
Based on feedback, we’re making a couple small adjustments for users of “Set time zone automatically” in Date & Time Settings:
When your time zone is updated because of a high confidence detected location change, we’ll now send a notification letting you know about it. The notification will include information about the new time zone and clicking it will open the Date & Time Settings.
If we detect a low confidence location change and there is a single administrator on the device, we will now send a notification asking if you would like to update your time zone – clicking the OK button in the prompt will make the change.
Displaying examples of the two possible time zone notifications.

Other updates for Insiders

Windows File Recovery – Winter 2020 Update
Since the initial release of Windows File Recovery, the team has received tons of feedback and inquiries about the app. This update includes performance improvements, bug fixes, and the introduction of 2 simplified recovery modes! Regular mode is a fast recovery option for NTFS file systems and extensive mode is a thorough search that applies to most file systems. The update is available to Windows Insiders and will be released to the general public (Windows 10 May 2020 Update and higher) in early 2021. If you don’t have Windows File Recovery installed, you can download it here from the Microsoft Store.

Changes and Improvements
Based on feedback, (GitHub issue #1495) we’re adding an option to disable automatic controller-to-virtual-key mapping for UWP apps. If you have a need to do this, add the following registry key, with a DWORD value of Enabled set to 0: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Input\Settings\ControllerProcessor\ControllerToVKMapping.

Fixes
We fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a popup that says “Your PC ran into a problem and will automatically restart” after logging in to Windows with either an Azure Active Directory or Active Directory account on Build 21277.
We fixed an issue where no drives appeared under Settings > System > Storage > Manage Disks and Volumes.
We fixed an issue resulting in some printers getting stuck on connecting when added from Settings.
We fixed an issue that could result in sometimes unexpectedly being signed out of apps and websites after rebooting your PC.
We fixed an issue where the Windows Security icon would sometimes be unexpectedly large in the context menu when shift-right-clicking taskbar icons.
We fixed an issue that could result in MediaTranscoder hanging when transcoding certain files.
We fixed an issue where audio playing from UWP apps wasn’t ducking after pressing the microphone icon to start Cortana listening.
We fixed an issue that could result in VPN entries in the network flyout getting stuck at Action Needed until you pressed Cancel and Connect again.
We fixed an issue impacting touch targeting when resizing windows using touch.
We’ve made some fixes to our emoji keyword search results based on feedback, including adding a new keyword so that typing “lgbtq” will now return the rainbow flag emoji. Please continue sharing feedback with us in the Feedback Hub under Input and Language > Emoji Panel.
We fixed an issue that could result in the Read Aloud options in Magnifier being unexpectedly greyed out.
We fixed an issue where the “Help make Narrator better” toggle in Narrator Settings was disabled for Insiders.
We fixed an issue so that Narrator will now read Excel cell contents when verbosity is set to 2.
We fixed an issue where Narrator might not announce whether a combo box was in expanded or collapsed state.
We fixed an issue impacting Narrator’s ability to read the names of certain hyperlinks on websites in Microsoft Edge.
We fixed an issue impacting Narrator’s ability to read code windows in Visual Studio.
We fixed an issue for high contrast users that could result in Settings crashing when going to Ease of Access.

Known issues
We’re working on a fix for an issue Insiders have reported where certain games like State of Decay 2, or Assassin’s Creed, may hang or crash when launching.
We’re investigating an issue where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War may not launch starting with this build. If you play these games, you may wish to pause updates until the issue is resolved.
You may experience some rendering / graphic issues after resizing certain app windows. If you minimize all your app windows and open them again it should resolve the issue (Press the Windows key plus D twice).
We’re investigating an issue where some 32-bit systems may lose network connection after taking this build. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, you may wish to pause updates until the issue is resolved.
When Xbox Game Bar is launched from Start or via the Windows key + G when using a text editor, the computer may appear unresponsive. If you encounter this, dismiss the Xbox Game Bar with WIN + G and end the GameBar.exe process from Task Manager.
Miracast users may experience very low frame rates in this build.
We’re investigating reports that started with Build 21277 that explorer.exe / the Windows shell would hang and or crash.
We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
Aero Shake is disabled in this build. To enable it, you will need to go here in Registry Editor and create a new DWORD entry named DisallowShaking with a value of 0: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
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.
[News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout may show as offline even when the user is online.
[News and interests] Users cannot navigate into the news and interests flyout using keyboard.
[News and interests] In some scenarios, the news and interests flyout may appear empty with no content.
[News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout cannot be dismissed with touch and pen.
[News and interests] News and interests uses more taskbar space on the left than expected.

Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Are you not seeing any of the features list for this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21292 (RS_PRERELEASE) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. This build is being offered to ALL Insiders in the Dev Channel. All Insiders in the Dev Channel will now receive the same build going forward.

What’s new in Build 21292

Improvements to news and interests on the taskbar
Thanks for all the feedback on news and interests, which we announced in last week’s blog post. The team has been reading it all! We’re continuing to improve the experience and this week are happy to announce a handful of fixes:
We fixed multiple issues impacting performance and reliability.
We fixed an issue where an empty flyout would be shown after opening news and interests.
We fixed an issue where the text on the taskbar button wasn’t being read by screen readers and some tooltips were missing.
We fixed an issue where news and interests in the taskbar was not displaying correctly when using small taskbar icons.
We fixed an issue where the news and interests button would temporarily show no content.
We fixed an issue where the news and interests flyout would not dismiss by tapping outside the window or again on the taskbar button.
We fixed an issue where the content of the taskbar button would look blurry.
We fixed an issue where news and interests would not show fresh content after toggling the background apps setting.
We fixed an issue where the flyout would not dismiss when you hover off the right edge.
We fixed an issue where it was not possible to navigate into the flyout using keyboard.
We fixed an issue where the news and interests taskbar setting would be reset to show icon and text after updating to a new windows version.
With news and interests on the Windows taskbar, not only do you get quick access to the latest headlines and weather, but you also get real-time traffic conditions and alerts that update throughout the day. If you click on the Traffic card, you’ll see details on the traffic alerts, traffic cameras, and traffic times between nearby cities with a bigger map experience.
News and interests on the Windows taskbar showing new, weather, sports scores, stocks, and traffic.
We also wanted to take a moment and talk a little more in detail about the weather experience that news and interests on the Windows taskbar provides. Current weather conditions are shown to you directly on the taskbar, so that you can stay up to date on weather conditions at a glance. The weather information displayed on the taskbar updates throughout the day, so that you see an accurate visual representation of current weather conditions in your location, along with the temperature. You can change the location of the weather you see by clicking on the three dots on the Weather card and then clicking Edit location. It’s easy to click through for the forecast, too—just click on the Weather card to see an immersive weather experience via the browser with accurate, state-of-the-art forecasts, on interactive, animated maps that make the weather easy to understand, along with timely news for severe weather events.
By clicking on the Weather card, you get an immersive weather experience with accurate, state-of-the-art forecasts, on interactive, animated maps.
When you click the Weather card, you’ll see a full-page view of the weather, with details such as the current ‘feels like’ temperature, wind, and humidity level, along with hourly predictions for the day’s temperature and chances of precipitation, so you can plan your day. For those who really like to plan ahead, we also show a quick view of the 10-day forecast to help if, for example, you have some outdoors errands to run in the coming week.
Our forecasts are powered by radar images that are augmented by social, spatial, and temporal data processed by deep learning in our neural weather model. These forecasts reflect small topographical variances in your specific area so you can get forecasts for your street, not your county, with predictions on a minute-to-minute basis.
Weather forecasts are powered by radar images that are augmented by social, spatial, and temporal data processed by deep learning in our neural weather model.
If you want to dive Deeper beyond the weather summary, scroll down to see a rich, interactive map of predicted weather conditions over time in your area, powered by Bing Maps and MSN Weather predictions. You can change views and zoom in to your specific location to see animations over time of the predicted temperature, precipitation, wind, and more. For users in the U.S., the map also provides detailed views of severe weather events such as winter storms, wildfires, and hurricanes.
As a reminder, news and interests is currently available to a subset of Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel right now. Managing the rollout of features like this allows us to quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. We plan to evolve this experience over time, so please let us know what you think and how we can make it better through Feedback Hub (go to Desktop Environment > News and interests). The team is excited to hear what you think!
IMPORTANT NOTE: This feature is currently only available to Windows Insiders in United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and India. This feature also requires the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser (Stable) to be installed on your PC. We are also testing different variations of this experience so some Insiders may see a different experience than others.

Changes and Improvements
Based on feedback, we’re updating Settings > System > Sounds to now display a message when microphone permissions have been turned off for the whole system or for all apps, with a link to the microphone privacy settings page.

Fixes
We’re continuing to work on improving x64 emulation on ARM64 thanks to your feedback. This build fixes issues in several apps, including crashes in Zwift, Serif Affinity Photo, and Your Phone as well as blank pages in Steam.
We fixed an issue resulting in an increase in Insiders seeing a message saying “Critical Error: Your Start menu isn’t work” in recent builds.
We fixed an issue from the last two builds where explorer.exe / the Windows shell was hanging and or crashing, particularly after interacting with audio/video.
We fixed an issue where NTFS was logging false positive torn write events.
We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Teams and certain other apps unexpectedly displaying as just “Program” (instead of the app name) in Task Manager’s Startup tab.
We fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to sort processes in Task Manager by Status.
We fixed an issue that could result in not seeing notifications following WIN + Shift + S shortly after clean installing or resetting your PC.
We fixed an issue from the previous build where when Xbox Game Bar was launched from Start or via the Windows key + G when using a text editor, the computer might appear unresponsive.
We fixed an issue where when using Windows with scaling greater than 100% in recent builds, if you opened and closed Task View, open windows would appear unexpectedly large in the transition back to the desktop.
We fixed an issue where typing “-“ on a number pad when using the Japanese IME wasn’t taking into consideration whether the IME was in full width or half width mode.
We fixed an issue where Hanja word conversion with the Korean IME wasn’t working in Excel when the Korean Language pack for Office was installed.

Known issues
We’re working on a fix for an issue Insiders have reported where certain games like State of Decay 2, or Assassin’s Creed, may hang or crash when launching.
We’re investigating an issue where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War may not launch starting with this build. If you play these games, you may wish to pause updates until the issue is resolved.
You may experience some rendering / graphic issues after resizing certain app windows. If you minimize all your app windows and open them again it should resolve the issue (Press the Windows key plus D twice).
We’re investigating an issue where some 32-bit systems may lose network connection after taking this build. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, you may wish to pause updates until the issue is resolved.
Miracast users may experience very low frame rates in this build.
We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
Aero Shake is disabled in this build. To enable it, you will need to go here in Registry Editor and create a new DWORD entry named DisallowShaking with a value of 0:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
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.
[News and interests] Upgrading to this build will cause your news and interests taskbar setting to be reset to “Show icon and text”. This is fixed going forward.
[News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout cannot be dismissed with pen.
[News and interests] News and interests uses more taskbar space on the left than expected.
[News and interests] The taskbar button can show stale information each time the user signs into their Windows session.
[News and interests] The news and interests flyout shows content in a single column before quickly switching to double column.
[News and interests] Text in taskbar button can look pixelated in high resolution screens.
[News and interests] The taskbar context menu and news and interests overlap.
[News and interests] In certain circumstances, news and interests uses 100% of CPU when first launched.
[News and interests] Attempting to share content dismisses the flyout.
[ARM64] Insiders who installed the preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver on the Surface Pro X may experience reduced brightness of the display. This will be addressed in a future update.

Listen to episode 39 of the podcast now!
Listen to our latest episode of the Windows Insider Podcast and join the Windows Insider team in looking back at the last year and its changes, then ahead at 2021 and what we expect to see next.
Listen via your favorite podcast app or on our website.

Mark your calendars for the January webcast
Save the date to join us on January 26 at 6 PM UTC | 10 AM PST for the next Windows Insider webcast.

Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Are you not seeing any of the features listed for this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.

Varianta de LTSC, dacă respectă numele folosite anterior, ar trebui să se numească "Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021", iar la Windows Server ar veni "Windows Server 2021".

Cam ciudat dat fiind ca 21H2 practic ar fi un fel de SP ptr 21H1. Toate functiile si elementele noi vor fi primite de 21H1 sub froma de update-uri normale si in toamna cu lansarea 21H2 doar vor fi activate.

Windows 10 Insider Preview Dev Build 21296 (RS_PRERELEASE) - Jan. 21
Dev Channel (Fast ring) version 2004
Category: Insider
Posted: 21 Jan 2021

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21296 (RS_PRERELEASE) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. This build is being offered to ALL Insiders in the Dev Channel. All Insiders in the Dev Channel will now receive the same build going forward.


Changes and Improvements
We’re starting to roll out an update our converged clipboard history design (WIN + V) to support pinning, unpinning, deleting, and syncing individual entries. Appreciate your patience and feedback while we’ve been working on this. If you have any other feedback in this space, we welcome it in the Feedback Hub under Input and Language > Clipboard.
The ability to manage and create Storage Spaces from within Settings is now rolling out to all Insiders in the Dev Channel. If you have any feedback as you explore the changes, please file it under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > Storage spaces in the Feedback Hub.

Fixes
The issue that could prevent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War from launching has been fixed and is in the process of rolling out. Please update your game(s) to apply the fix.
We fixed an issue from the previous flight where Xbox Game Bar was launching on its own for certain games, without pressing WIN + G.
We fixed an issue where when the Xbox Game Bar was launched (like when pressing WIN + G), the PC might appear unresponsive.
We fixed an issue resulting in the Program Compatibility Assistant sometimes unexpectedly taking up a large amount of CPU resources in the last few flights.
We fixed an issue that could result in explorer.exe hanging when mounting ISOs.
We fixed an issue where the Windows Security app might show both a check for updates button and link at the same time.
We fixed and issue causing some Insiders to experience rendering / graphic issues after resizing certain app windows.
Installing this build will restore x64 emulation on ARM64 if it had previously broken after installing Build 21292.1010.
For Insiders using x64 apps on ARM64, there is an updated preview of the ARM64 C++ redistributable (version 14.28.29812) now available to install from https://aka.ms/arm64previewredist. This updated redist adds vcruntime140_1.dll and fixes crashes occurring in a number of CAD applications.

Known issues
We’re working on a fix for an issue Insiders have reported where certain games like State of Decay 2, or titles from the Assassin’s Creed franchise, may hang or crash when launching.
We’re investigating an issue where some 32-bit systems may lose network connection after taking this build. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, you may wish to pause updates until the issue is resolved.
Miracast users may experience very low frame rates in this build.
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 an issue impacting the reliability of Start and other modern apps, which started in the previous flight. If you are impacted, you may experience the Start menu layout resetting.
Aero Shake is disabled in this build. To enable it, you will need to go here in Registry Editor and create a new DWORD entry named DisallowShaking with a value of 0: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
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.
[News and interests] Upgrading to this build will cause your news and interests taskbar setting to be reset to “Show icon and text”. This is fixed going forward.
[News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout cannot be dismissed with pen.
[News and interests] News and interests uses more taskbar space on the left than expected.
[News and interests] The taskbar button can show stale information each time the user signs into their Windows session.
[News and interests] The news and interests flyout shows content in a single column before quickly switching to double column.
[News and interests] Text in taskbar button can look pixelated in high resolution screens.
[News and interests] The taskbar context menu and news and interests overlap.
[News and interests] In certain circumstances, news and interests uses 100% of CPU when first launched.
[News and interests] Attempting to share content dismisses the flyout.
[ARM64] Insiders who installed the preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver on the Surface Pro X may experience reduced brightness of the display. This will be addressed in a future update.

   IMPORTANT Build Expiration Notice
Older builds in the Dev Channel will be expiring on January 31, 2021. If you are on Build 20262 or earlier, please be sure to update to the newest build provided in the Dev Channel to avoid getting into a bad state.
REMINDER: Mark your calendars for the January webcast
Save the date to join us on January 26 at 6 PM UTC | 10 AM PST for the next Windows Insider webcast.
Watch Windows Insider Webcast on Twitch on January 26, 2021

   Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Are you not seeing any of the features listed for this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21301
Written By
Brandon LeBlanc
published January 27, 2021


Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21301 (RS_PRERELEASE) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. This build is being offered to ALL Insiders in the Dev Channel. All Insiders in the Dev Channel will now receive the same build going forward.


What’s new in Build 21301
Improving the touch keyboard design
Building on the design changes already live in the Dev Channel, Windows Insiders will start to notice some more refinements rolling out for the touch keyboard based on their feedback. Those refinements include:
When undocking the keyboard, it now switches to the Small keyboard layout, and you can easily move the keyboard around using the gripper region at the top of the keyboard.
Small and split layouts will now feature an updated symbol’s view based on the default layout.
The settings menu now has a nested structure for improved clarity and less clutter.
Finally, we have a new password feedback icon to the left of the space bar for when you are in a password field and would like to turn on visual key press feedback on the touch keyboard.
The revamped touch keyboard settings menu allows you to quickly change between keyboard modes, access more settings and give feedback.
Some Insiders may also see updates to the default keyboard layout on 12” or larger screens with the keyboard having a more traditional keyboard layout featuring an ESC, Tab, and Windows key and other small tweaks.
The updated default layout now features the Esc, Tab, Windows, and Alt keys.
One thing we heard from our customers is that the candidate bar can feel cluttered and hard to quickly process. To reduce the cognitive overload, we will be displaying 5 candidates maximum and centering them into position above the keyboard.
[UPDATE] The above-mentioned candidate bar improvement hasn’t started rolling out yet but will start rolling out early next week. Apologies for the confusion.
The candidate suggestion bar is now centered and features 5 candidates for you to choose from.
This feature is rolling out to a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel at first, to help us quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. Rest assured they will be gradually rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel.

Changes and Improvements
We made a change so that when you right click locally saved files displayed in jump lists, in addition to Open you will now have the option to Open File Location.
We updated our N’Ko keyboard layout to add access to currency and some other symbols by tapping the keys along the top row of your keyboard while holding the Shift key.
We updated the Touchpad on/off toggle under Settings > Devices > Touchpad such that it no longer requires admin privileges to change.
We updated our backend dictionaries to help improve spellchecking and text prediction relevance.

Fixes
We fixed an issue so that the taskbar context menu and news and interests should no longer overlap.
We fixed an issue where in certain circumstances, news and interests would use 100% of CPU when it is first launched.
We fixed an issue that could result in Task Manager crashing when switching to the Details tab.
We fixed a recent issue for some Insiders related to the Clock and Calendar flyout that could result in ShellExperienceHost using an unexpectedly high amount of CPU.
We fixed an issue resulting in the State Repository Service being prematurely terminated during service startup. If you were impacted, one possible symptom was it taking longer to load the desktop when signing in. If you’re continuing to experience performance issues when logging in, please file them with a trace under Install and Update > Logon hangs.
We fixed an issue where if you searched for “change your password” and used the result to launch Settings, Settings would crash.
We fixed an issue where Aero Shake was unexpected disabled in the last few flights.
We fixed an issue where when moving a window between mixed DPI monitors it could result in the window margins being calculated with the wrong DPI, leading to the window overflowing on the other monitor when maximized.
We fixed an issue that could result in certain HEIF files not rendering although the correct codecs were installed.
We fixed an issue resulting in pinning a website to your taskbar from Microsoft Edge not working in the last few flights.
We fixed an issue that could result in VPN repeatedly connecting and disconnecting in a loop.
We fixed an issue resulting in some 32-bit systems losing the network connection in recent flights.
We fixed an issue resulting sometimes in nothing happening after clicking a “Wi-Fi password needed” notification.
We fixed an issue where certain games like State of Decay 2, or Assassin’s Creed, may hang or crash when launching.
We fixed a few issues resulting in Narrator not reading elements of our troubleshooters when in Scan Mode.

Known issues
Miracast users may experience very low frame rates in this build.
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 an issue impacting the reliability of Start and other modern apps, which started in the previous flight. If you are impacted, you may experience the Start menu layout resetting.
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
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.
[News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout cannot be dismissed with pen.
[News and interests] News and interests uses more taskbar space on the left than expected.
[News and interests] The taskbar button can show stale information each time the user signs into their Windows session.
[News and interests] The news and interests flyout shows content in a single column before quickly switching to double column.
[News and interests] Text in taskbar button can look pixelated in high resolution screens.
[News and interests] Attempting to share content dismisses the flyout.
[News and interests] In certain situations, the flyout may not dismiss until the taskbar button is clicked or the hover effect may appear stuck.
[ARM64] Insiders who installed the preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver on the Surface Pro X may experience reduced brightness of the display. This will be addressed in a future update.

Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Are you not seeing any of the features listed for this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.