Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs with a few enterprise improvements. This build is from the RS4 branch, which represents the next Windows 10 update the company has yet to announce (but is likely to ship soon). There is no new build from the RS5 branch.
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 four major updates so far: November Update, Anniversary Update, Creators Update, and Fall Creators Update.
The only major changes in this release are for enterprise users. Enterprises can now run custom actions during a feature update and run post rollback scripts in system context.
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The former is a new feature the lets enterprises run custom actions/scripts synchronously with setup. Windows 10’s setup will execute custom actions during two update phases controlled by preinstall.cmd (before all the system and device compatibility scans run) or precommit.cmd (before the system reboots into the offline phase). Setup also migrates the scripts for future updates, and a failure.cmd script can be used to perform custom operations or undo actions of previous custom scripts in the event of an update failure or rollback.
If you want to migrate the scripts for future updates, place your files here:
C:\Windows\System32\update\run\\preinstall.cmd
C:\Windows\System32\update\run\\precommit.cmd
C:\Windows\System32\update\run\\failure.cmd
C:\Windows\System32\update\run\\reflectdrivers\foo.inf
C:\Windows\System32\update\run\\reflectdrivers\foo.sys
If you only want the scripts to run a single time and not be migrated, place your files here:
C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\\preinstall.cmd
C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\\precommit.cmd
C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\\failure.cmd
C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\\reflectdrivers\bar.inf
C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\\reflectdrivers\bar.sys
As for post rollback scripts, they can now be set to run in admin context or system context. The behavior of the existing /postrollback switch is not being changed, but rather a new, additional /postrollbackcontext switch can now be used.
To run /postrollback scripts in system context, use setup.exe /postrollback c:\Fabrikam\setuprollback.cmd /postrollbackcontext system.
To run /postrollback scripts with first user to login have admin privileges (admin context), use setup.exe /postrollback c:\Fabrikam\setuprollback.cmd /postrollbackcontext admin.
This desktop build includes the following general bug fixes and improvements:
- Fixed an issue where buttons on Game bar were not centered correctly.
- Fixed an issue where a small number of PCs might have experienced one CPU under persistent high load or even a bugcheck (GSOD with error DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION).
- Fixed an issue where tearing a PDF tab in Microsoft Edge would result in a bugcheck (GSOD).
- Updated Start so that it now follows the new Ease of Access setting to enable or disable hiding scrollbars.
- Fixed an issue resulting in some app icons appearing distorted in Task View.
- Fixed an issue where making a pinch gesture over the open apps in Task View might result in no longer being able to scroll down to Timeline.
- Fixed an issue where pressing and holding on a card in Timeline would open the corresponding app, rather than bringing up a context menu.
- Fixed an issue resulting in the title bar overlapping content when you opened your lists in Cortana’s notebook.
- Updated the new notification to fix blurry apps so that it now will persist in the Action Center to be accessed later once the toast has timed out and dismissed.
- Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to open a new inPrivate window of Microsoft Edge from the taskbar jumplist while in Tablet Mode.
- Fixed an issue where dragging a Microsoft Edge tab out of the window and releasing hold of it somewhere over the desktop might periodically result in a stuck invisible window.
- Fixed an issue resulting in DirectAccess not working in recent builds, where the connection would be stuck with status “Connecting”.
- Fixed an issue where the touch keyboard number pad would show the period as a decimal separator for countries that use the comma as a decimal separator.
- Fixed an issue resulting in not being able to turn on and off third-party IMEs using the touch keyboard.
Today’s update bumps the Windows 10 build number for PCs from 17107 (made available to testers on February 23) to build 17110.
This build has three known issues:
- Selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opens the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the screenshot or game clip.
- Post-install at the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown, a small number of devices have experienced a scenario wherein the OS fails to load properly and may enter a reboot loop state. For affected PCs, turning off fast boot may bypass the issue. If not, it is necessary to create a bootable ISO from an ISO on a USB drive, boot into recovery mode, and this will allow bypass.
- 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.
As always, don’t install this on your production machine.
