Microsoft has rolled out its latest Windows 10 20H1 preview build to members of the Windows Insider Program. Available now on the Fast Ring and Skip Ahead branches, Windows 10 Preview build 18980 and adds improvements to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Cortana.
As we reported in May, Microsoft is working on WSL 2.0, which introduces a full Linux kernel in Windows 10. In the latest Windows 10 20H1 preview, Microsoft has included support for ARM64 devices in WSL 2.0.
Furthermore, the subsystem also gains the ability to set a distributions default through the /etc/wsl.conf file. Elsewhere in WSL, Microsoft has received some bug fixes, among them a fix for a legacy Windows symlinks problem that has persisted for some time.
Looking at Cortana, Microsoft has added a new easy access icon for the voice assistant on Windows 10. This is part of the company’s new Cortana experience and allows users to talk with the assistant in their language even if Windows 10 is set to another language.
Now available for Insiders, the new Cortana provides a chat-based UI. Users can type or speak in natural language and receive replies from the assistant. The app also fits with the Windows 10 aesthetic by supporting both the dark and light themes.
Bug fixes
This 20H1 build includes the following bug fixes and improvements:
- There was an upgrade block on the previous flight in order to ensure that Insiders with certain versions of Outlook weren’t impacted by an issue in the build.
- Fixed a deadlock in netprofmsvc.dll that was occurring in recent builds. Symptoms for those impacted potentially included upgrade to the build freezing at 98%, or (if you were able to upgrade) various aspects of the system unexpectedly freezing and becoming unresponsive.
- Addressed an issue where Outlook wouldn’t launch if you clicked an incoming email notification.
- Fixed an issue impacting touch keyboard reliability in recent builds.
- Fixed an issue impacting WIN+(Period) reliability.
- Returned to the retail build version of the Korean IME as feedback is addressed.
- Fixed an issue impacting screen snipping reliability in the last few flights.
- Fixed an issue that could result in the login screen acrylic on the previous flight sometimes unexpectedly showing squares around UI elements.
- Fixed an issue that could result in certain app thumbnails going unexpectedly blank when you right-clicked them in Task View.
- Fixed an issue where removable devices were erroneously labeled as HDD in Task Manager’s performance tab. They will now be labeled Removable.
- Converted MS Paint and WordPad into Optional Features. You can choose to uninstall them or reinstall them via Optional Features in Settings.
- Made some adjustments to help improve performance of the Apps & Features page in Settings when searching.
- Fixed an issue that could result in Settings crashing when updating your account picture.
- Ease of Access settings are no longer participating in settings synchronization (roaming). The Ease of Access toggle in Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings has thus been removed.
- Magnifier reading now works better in applications like Google Chrome and Firefox.
- Magnifier reading no longer clicks the application when using the “Read from here” button or the Ctrl + Alt + Left Mouse Click keyboard shortcut.
- Fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator would not display when switching between left-to-right and right-to-left languages.
- Fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator would sometimes appear on read-only areas of the screen.
- Fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator would appear over the Start menu instead of staying in the Search edit box after typing text in the Search edit box.
- Improved the ability of reading the title of the window with Narrator while reading messages in Outlook.
- Improved auto-reading in Outlook with Narrator to make it more reliable.
- Made changes to more reliably read the message headers using Narrator while reading when using the Shift + Tab command while in Scan Mode.
- Improved the verbosity of Narrator when reading lists at verbosity level one.
- Fixed an issue where an edit field on some webpages was not getting properly updated on a configured braille display when editing the contents with Narrator.
- Fixed an issue where certain Local Experience Packs (LXPs) may revert to English.
- Fixed an issue resulting in certain Wi-Fi adapters not being able to load (code 10 error) after upgrading from a previous release of Windows and needing to be disabled and re-enabled for it to work.
Known issues
This build has seven known issues:
- The Reset this PC cloud download option is not currently calculating the correct amount of space you need to free up if you do not have enough disk space to proceed. To work around this until the fix is available, free up an extra 5GB beyond what is prompted.
- The Reset this PC cloud download option is not currently working when specific optional features are installed. The process will begin, but an error will occur and roll back the changes. To work around this issue, remove the optional features before trying the cloud download option. The optional features are: EMS and SAC Toolset for Windows 10, IrDA infrared, Print Management Console, RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit (CMAK), RIP Listener, all RSAT tools, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Windows Fax and Scan, Windows Storage Management, Wireless Display, and WI SNMP Provider.
- There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. Make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system.
- Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly.
- Adding a new Language Pack reports successful installation but is not installed.
- Certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) are incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality. During video capture, these 2D apps block their content from being recorded.
- When capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you won’t be able to select Stop video, due to the protected content issue noted above. If you want to submit a repro video, you will need to wait 5 minutes for the recording to time out. If you’d like to file the bug without a repro video, you can close the Feedback Hub window to end the recording and resume filing your bug when you reopen the app in Feedback > Drafts.
