The Windows Insider team has released build 18298 to the Fast Ring. Some new features, a lot of fixes, and a few issues. Make sure to check out the known issues before updating to avoid any show stoppers!

Known issues

• The hyperlink colors need to be refined in Dark Mode in Sticky Notes if the Insights are enabled.

• Settings crashes when clicking on the “View storage usage on other drives” option under System > Storage.

• The Windows Security app may show an unknown status for the Virus & threat protection area, or not refresh properly. This may occur after upgrade, restart, or settings changes.

• Delete previous version of Windows in Configure Storage Sense is not selectable.

• Settings will crash when opening Speech Settings.

• The cmimanageworker.exe process may hang causing system slowness or higher than normal CPU usage. This can be bypassed by rebooting the machine if it occurs.

• Launching games that use BattlEye anti-cheat will trigger a bug check (green screen) – we’re investigating.

The Windows Insider team has released build 18290 to the Fast Ring. A few new features, but a few good notes to pay attention to this time. First, these builds do have an expiration date, so make sure to keep your Insider builds updated. Next, the upcoming Bug Bash for the 19H1 release is coming up January 11th-20th. Always a fun time to do quests and share your input. As usual, check out the release notes and known issues to make sure there isn’t a show stopper in there for you.

As pre-release software, Insider Preview builds have a built-in expiration date that we call a “timebomb”. This has been included ever since the first Windows 10 Insider Preview build and helps ensure Insiders stay up to date with the latest features and quality updates. Once a build expires, Insiders will be provided a warning that the build has expired and will get that warning once a day. In addition to that, Insiders will also see User Access Control (UAC) warnings as well. Insiders in both the Fast and Slow rings need to make sure they are running the latest builds offered to those rings. Insiders in the Fast ring need to make sure they take the update to 19H1 Build 18290 (today’s flight) in order to avoid hitting the timebomb set to Dec. 14th . Additionally, Insiders who used ISO for Build 18272 also need to take the Build 18290 flight to avoid hitting the timebomb. We will be removing these ISOs from the download page shortly. Insiders in the Slow ring running older builds need to update to Build 17763 (the final build for the October 2018 Update) to avoid hitting the timebomb in older RS5 builds. Insiders can check their flight settings and verify they have the latest builds by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program.

The Insiders team has released build 17751 to the fast ring today. Some sites have said that this is the final build, but as Brandon LeBlanc has said via Twitter and this blog post :

• The build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop is no longer present in this build. This does not mean this is the final build as we are not done yet. We’re just now beginning the phase of checking in final code to prepare for the final release.

So, we are getting close to the final release to consumer for this latest update, but this build it not quite there yet. As usual, it’s ready when it’s ready. So, what’s the official name of this update? Creators Update, Spring Update, etc.? Just called “Windows 10 October 2018 Update”.  Simple and sweet.

Just a few small known issues this build. Make sure they won’t affect you too much before you update!

Known issues

• When you use the Ease of Access Make Text bigger setting, you might see text clipping issues, or find that text is not increasing in size everywhere.

• Narrator sometimes does not read in the Settings app when you navigate using Tab and arrow keys. Try switching to Narrator Scan mode temporarily. And when you turn Scan mode off again, Narrator will now read when you navigate using Tab and arrows key. Alternatively, you can restart Narrator to work around this issue.

• Clicking on web links in PWAs such as Twitter doesn’t open the browser in this build. We’re working on a fix.

Another new build for the Fast ring and Skip Ahead, build 17704 has been released! Along with a Bug Bash and a Contest. There are way too many updates to this build to include it here, so check out the blog for more info. So, here’s the Known Issues which is always nice to know.

Known issues

• We’re working on adding dark theme in File Explorer and the Common File Dialog, but we still have some things to do. You may see some unexpectedly light colors in these surfaces when in dark mode and/or dark on dark text.

• When you upgrade to this build you’ll find that the taskbar flyouts (network, volume, etc) no longer have an acrylic background.

• We’re working on improving settings for HDR videos, games and apps in a new Windows HD Color page under System > Display. Some things temporarily will not work; notably, some users will not be able to enable/disable HDR display support.

• Applications that use ICC color profiles may encounter errors such as Access Denied. This includes the Color Management control panel, and color profile switching on certain Surface devices.

• When you use the Ease of Access > Make Text bigger setting, you may see text clipping issues, or find that text is not increasing in size everywhere. Also if your System > Display > Scaling and layout is not set to 100%, some text might appear unexpectedly tiny after reverting the “Make text bigger” value back to 0%.

• Windows Mixed Reality may get stuck after going to sleep and display a persistent error message in Mixed Reality Portal or a “Wake up” button that doesn’t work. To work around this, restart your computer or explorer.exe to use Windows Mixed Reality again.

Microsoft has a blog post about what is new for IT pros in the latest release of Windows 10, version 1803. The version is officially released for end users and enterprises via the regular channels and MSDN.

For those that are deploying Windows 10 or that already have and are looking at the upcoming update, the post has some good information to start your research on the latest features included. Upcoming on May 22nd is a 1 hour webinar and a 24 hour AMA (Ask Me Anything) session for Microsoft to answer any questions you may have about the new release.

On Tuesday, May 22^nd, from 10:00-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time (PT), Pieter and Nathan will walk you through the latest features for configuring, deploying, and managing Windows 10 devices, as well as the security capabilities that can help you protect your data and devices end-to-end. There’s a lot to cover in just one hour so, instead of our usual live Q&A at the end, we’ll be hosting a 24-hour Windows 10 IT Pro Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) event on Tech Community that will start immediately following the conclusion of the live webcast and end at 11:00 a.m. PT the following day, May 23^rd.

Today, a new build for both fast ring and skip ahead users – Build 17661 has been released. Bringing in some new features, fixes, and a few new issues, it is the start for Red Stone 5 builds for the Fast Ring (Skip Ahead have been receiving them for a while). As usual, check out the Known Issues before updating, just in case there is a show stopper in there!

Known issues

• Certain notifications from Action Center may cause regular Explorer.exe crashes. We’re working to get this fixed in the next flight.

• VPN may not be working after updating to this build. To get VPN working again, delete the %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Network\Connections\pbk* directories. Check if the VPN profile you need shows up already and if not, reinstall the appropriate VPN client app you need.

• After updating to this build and installing the latest app updates from the Microsoft Store, when you log in to additional user accounts on the PC there may be missing apps. You can run the following PowerShell script when logged in to users with missing apps on your PC to fix the issue: Get-AppXPackage *WindowsStore* -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

• On resuming from sleep, the desktop may be momentarily visible before the Lock screen displays as expected.

• When Movies & TV user denies access to its videos library (through the “Let Movies & TV access your videos library?” popup window or through Windows privacy settings), Movies & TV crashes when the user navigates to the “Personal” tab.

• We’re aware of an issue that causes Narrator to read extra text when invoking Alt + Tab, and we’re working on a fix.

• If you complete the setup for a Windows Mixed Reality headset on this build, the headset will remain black until it is unplugged and reconnected to the PC.

With the latest release of Windows 10 version 1803, Microsoft has also released the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for the build. For those administrators wanting to manage Windows Server remotely, be sure to grab this latest build.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 includes Server Manager, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, consoles, Windows PowerShell cmdlets and providers, and command-line tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server.

Microsoft has announced the newest version of it’s server platform – Server 2019, which will be available the latter half of 2018. There is a preview build available via the Insider program (sign up if you haven’t already, and try it out on test hardware or VM!).

Windows Server 2019 is built on the strong foundation of Windows Server 2016 – which continues to see great momentum in customer adoption. Windows Server 2016 is the fastest adopted version of Windows Server, ever! We’ve been busy since its launch at Ignite 2016 drawing insights from your feedback and product telemetry to make this release even better.

We also spent a lot of time with customers to understand the future challenges and where the industry is going. Four themes were consistent – Hybrid, Security, Application Platform, and Hyper-converged infrastructure. We bring numerous innovations on these four themes in Windows Server 2019.

A new build for Windows 10 Fast Ring insiders – build 17127 has been released. Again, another build with a few improvements, but nothing mind blowing being added as ‘new’. No new known issues as we get closer to the final release of this version.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

• We fixed an issue where if you had your phone linked to your PC prior to upgrading, you’ll find it has become unlinked after upgrading.
• We fixed an issue that could result in Microsoft Edge crashing when turning off certain extensions.
• We fixed an issue where Narrator would crash when using scan mode to read dialogs in Microsoft Edge.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the page up and page down keys not working when using Microsoft Edge in Reading View.
• We fixed an issue resulting in focus being lost after using WIN+A to close the Action Center.
• We fixed an issue where if you switched your formatting to Japanese without having the Japanese language in your language list, newly installed apps wouldn’t appear in Start.

Known issues

• There are currently no known issues for this flight however if any issues are discovered based off Insider feedback, we’ll add them here.

Michael Niehaus has a new blog post up that goes over a sensitive topic (and sometimes confusing) for many. When you install Windows 10, a set of applications are installed from the Windows Store. However, those apps are different based on a few things – the edition of Windows you are running and/or the type of account that you are using to log into the installation, and the region of the world that you are in.

So a quick summary: You’ll get games on Windows 10 Pro 1709 only when using local or MSA accounts; you’ll lever get games for AD or AAD users, or for anyone on Windows 10 Enterprise.

Also note that Windows 10 Pro for Workstations will soon have the same behavior as Windows 10 Enterprise, as described in the Windows Insider blog:

Productivity focused out of box applications: In the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the out of box experience for Windows 10 Pro for Workstations draws from the Pro edition of Windows 10. One area where this is noticeable is the suite of applications installed out of the box visible as tiles in the start menu. In the next release for Windows, you will see for Windows 10 Pro for Workstations productivity and enterprise focused applications in place of consumer applications and games. This was one of the top feedback shared with us by our partners and users and we’re delivering this in our next update.

Also note that on Windows 10 Enterprise, you can turn off the installation of apps from the store altogether by configuring the “Turn off Microsoft consumer features” GPO or the equivalent MDM policy.