After releasing a Fall Creators Update build yesterday, Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs with Fluent Design, Edge, and input improvements. While yesterday’s build was part of finalizing the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which is expected to arrive on October 17, today’s build is part of developing the update that will come after it.
Windows 10 is a service, meaning it was built in a very different way from its predecessors so it can be regularly updated with not just fixes, but new features, too. Microsoft has released many such updates, including three major ones: November Update, Anniversary Update, and Creators Update.
Since Microsoft is currently focusing on stability for the Fall Creators Update, those builds don’t include new features. The builds for the next update, part of the “Skip Ahead” group, don’t really either, but there is still more to show.
First up, new elements of Microsoft’s Fluent Design are starting to break through. The Reveal effect is now visible on Start in All apps:
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Edge received the most improvements in this build, as is typically the case. There are improvements to the address bar, keyboard layout, tab previews, search box, tabs, copy and paste, and PDFs. Input improvements, meanwhile, spanned Facebook Messenger, the full touch keyboard, and text boxes.
This desktop build also includes the following general bug fixes and improvements:
- Many of the same fixes as in previous Fall Creators Update builds.
- A new color wheel to Color & High Contrast Settings to help you get a feel for the effect of each of the different available color filters.
- A Microsoft Edge shortcut on your desktop might show up, but you can delete it and it will not return.
- Fixed an issue resulting in Mod Organizer no longer loading mods into Skyrim in recent flights.
- Fixed an issue resulting in the last flighted build sometimes green screening with a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION in win32kfull.sys.
- Fixed an issue resulting in the WIN+X menu sometimes unexpectedly missing the accelerator key underline hints.
Today’s update bumps the Windows 10 build number for PCs from 16362 (made available to testers on September 13) to build 17004. The big jump is normal — it merely marks the development of a new Windows 10 feature update.
Microsoft no longer tracks or lists known issues, so install at your own risk.
