Microsoft has just announced the release of Windows 10 19H1 build 18362.385 and 19H2 build 18363.385 to Release Preview Insiders. Because Microsoft is still testing its “throttled delivery approach” for 19H2, only a subset of Release Preview Insiders are currently receiving 19H2 builds, with the rest of them receiving 19H1 builds.
If you’re a Release Preview Insider currently on the 19H1 Build 18362.329, you’ll get the 19H1 Build 18362.385 today. On the other hand, Release Preview Insiders running the 19H2 Build 18363.329 today can now download the 19H2 build 18363.385 today.
Here are all the new 19H2 features included in the build 18363.385, which are also available for Slow Ring Insiders currently testing the 19H2 update:
- Windows containers require matched host and container version. This restricts customers and limits Windows containers from supporting mixed-version container pod scenarios This update includes 5 fixes to address this and allow the host to run down-level containers on up-level for process (Argon) isolation.
- A fix to allow OEMs to reduce the inking latency based on the hardware capabilities of their devices rather than being stuck with latency selected on typical hardware configuration by the OS.
- Key-rolling or Key-rotation feature enables secure rolling of Recovery passwords on MDM managed AAD devices upon on demand request from Microsoft Intune/MDM tools or upon every time recovery password is used to unlock the BitLocker protected drive. This feature will help prevent accidental recovery password disclosure as part of manual BitLocker drive unlock by users.
- A change to enable third-party digital assistants to voice activate above the Lock screen.
- You can now quickly create an event straight from the Calendar flyout on the Taskbar. Just click on the date and time at the lower right corner of the Taskbar to open the Calendar flyout and pick your desired date and start typing in the text box – you’ll now see inline options to set a time and location.
- The navigation pane on the Start menu now expands when you hover over it with your mouse to better inform where clicking goes.
- We have added friendly images to show what is meant by “banner” and “Action Center” when adjusting the notifications on apps in order to make these settings more approachable and understandable.
- Notifications settings under Settings > System > Notifications will now default to sorting notification senders by most recently shown notification, rather than sender name. This makes it easier to find and configure frequent and recent senders. We have also added a setting to turn off playing sound when notifications appear.
- We now show the options to configure and turn off notifications from an app/website right on the notification, both as a banner and in Action Center.
- We have added a “Manage notifications” button to the top of Action Center that launches the main “Notifications & actions” Settings page.
- We have added additional debugging capabilities for newer Intel processors. This is only relevant for hardware manufacturers.
- We have made general battery life and power efficiency improvements for PCs with certain processors.
- A CPU may have multiple “favored” cores (logical processors of the highest available scheduling class). To provide better performance and reliability, we have implemented a rotation policy that distributes work more fairly among these favored cores.
- We have enabled Windows Defender Credential Guard for ARM64 devices for additional protection against credential theft for enterprises deploying ARM64 devices in their organizations.
- We have enabled the ability for enterprises to supplement the Windows 10 in S Mode policy to allow traditional Win32 (desktop) apps from Microsoft Intune.
- We’re updating the search box in File Explorer to now be powered by Windows Search. This change will help integrate your OneDrive content online with the traditional indexed results. More details here.
- We have added the ability for Narrator and other assistive technologies to read and learn where the FN key is located on keyboards and what state it is in (locked versus unlocked).
Additionally, this update will now be offered if you use Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) or containers.
NOTE: We are continuing to push 19H2 out to 10% of Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring automatically.
As a reminder, Microsoft announced on September 5 that all “seekers” in the Release Preview ring could now jump on the 19H2 bandwagon by downloading the 19H2 Build 18363.329. At the time, the company also said that 10% of Insiders in the Release Preview should see 19H2 Build 18363.329 offered automatically. The Windows Insider team said today that it’s continuing to push 19H2 out to 10% of Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring automatically, and that the 19H2 Build 18363.385 is also available for all “seekers” in that ring.
If you find this all very confusing, you’re probably not alone. To summarize, Microsoft is currently testing the 19H2 update with Slow Ring Insiders, plus a subset of Release Preview Insiders who get 19H2 builds automatically. If you’re on the Release Preview ring and didn’t receive any 19H2 build until now, you can install the freshly-released 19H2 Build 18363.385 today by checking for updates in Windows Update, and start testing all the aforementioned new features.
The 19H2 Update, or Windows 10 version 1909 should start rolling out later this Fall to all users running Windows 10 version 1903 (May 2019 Update). Microsoft may share more details about the public rollout during its upcoming Surface event on October 2, though the company may prefer to stay focused on its new hardware. Anyway, the testing process for 19H2 has been a very unusual process for Windows Insiders, but we hope this “throttled delivery approach” did help the team get the feedback it was looking for.
