Microsoft Releases New Windows 10 Preview with Linux Files, Game Enhancements and Chrome Scenario

Microsoft yesterday released a new preview of Windows 10 that supports Linux files, game enhancements, and a Chrome extension for Timeline. The update replaces Windows 10 of version 18334 (made available to testers on February 9) and version 18342. These versions come from branch 19H1, which represents the update of Windows 10 that will arrive in the first half of this year.

Windows 10 is developed as a service, which means that it regularly receives new features. Until now, Microsoft has released six major updates: November update, birthday update, creator updates, fall creators update, updates to day of April 2018 and update of October 2018.

The seventh update will give users the ability to access Linux files in a WSL distribution from Windows. You can access these files via the command line by accessing \ wsl $ (see the list of running distributions by accessing \ wsl $). Windows applications such as File Explorer and Visual Studio Code can also interact with these files.

In the previous release, Microsoft introduced a technology specifically designed for games and asked Windows Insiders to test it by playing the game State of Decay. Today's release implements some fixes: the game runs correctly with parental controls enabled, and the installation process is more stable (including a fix for the pending game instead of the download).

Finally, Microsoft has released a Chrome extension called Web Activities, which collects activities from your Chrome browser and adds them to your Windows timeline. After installation, sign in to the extension with your Microsoft account and visit a site in Chrome. It will appear on the timeline and you can resume your work where you left off. Your Chrome activities will also sync with Timeline on Android devices using the Microsoft Launcher application.

Bug fixes and known issues

This 19H1 release includes the following general bug fixes and enhancements:

• The new tamper protection setting of the Windows Security Application protects your device by preventing malicious actors from changing the most important security settings. The setting is now enabled by default for Insider Preview versions.
• Issue resolved: Windows Sandbox could not start on localized versions.
• Improved error report in Windows Sandbox. Now the error dialog includes the error code and a link to the comment hub.
• Issue resolved: Windows Sandbox generated an unexpected error due to reference to a deleted file on Windows.old.
• Windows Sandbox now captures keyboard shortcuts in full screen.
• Windows Sandbox now supports configuration files, which allow users to configure certain aspects of the sandbox, such as vGPU, networking, and shared folders.
• Improved functionality of the wsl.exe command-line interface by adding new features such as importing and exporting distributions and consolidating existing features from wslconfig.exe, such as the list of distributions and the definition of default values.
• Issue resolved: If Magnifier was enabled and set to docked mode, the machine would crash and reboot on connection, creating a boot loop.
• Fixed a problem preventing the build from connecting to WinRE with an administrator account during the last two flights.
• Issue resolved: If you removed the Start groups from Start, applications might end up thinking that their thumbnails were still pinned.
• Fixed an issue preventing rearranging pinned folders in Start's thumbnail grid.
• Issue resolved: The text explaining the Storage Sense Downloads section contained unexpected characters.
• Issue resolved: Settings sometimes crashed when opening "Advanced Display Settings" from the display settings.
• Issue resolved: After changing the audio endpoint of an application, the application could no longer follow changes to the primary volume.
• Issue resolved: It was not possible to add a drive to the list of folders to exclude when configuring advanced search in the settings.
• Fixed a problem with the header settings in some window sizes, where long names could be truncated in the middle, instead of being properly wrapped.
• Fixed a previous flight issue where a right click on the desktop would bring up a light colored popup menu in a dark theme.
• Fixed a problem affecting the reliability of the history of Emoji panels and clipboard.
• Another solution has been found to solve the "Hibernating …" text blocking issues that appear on screen when hibernation resumes.
• Fixed a problem due to which the Windows login could forget the last logged in user and would display the default user logon prompt in the list after exiting the locked screen.
• Issue resolved: An issue preventing the activation of some of the real-time protection options of Malwarebytes Premium.
• Issue resolved: The Internet Explorer menu bar did not always appear if it was enabled.
• Fixed a problem causing CDPUserSVC to use an unexpected amount of CPU resources for long periods of time.
• Fixed a problem causing frequent DWM blocking for some insiders of the previous flight.
• Fixed an issue where some games were recently running on a black screen / did not respond if their resolution was below 1920 * 1080 and the game was in full screen mode.
• Fixed an issue that prevented some games from rendering user interface updates (appearing visually blocked) after using Alt + Tab to quickly switch to the game.
• Fixed a problem causing a significant delay in video and audio when projecting videos from some devices on recent releases.
• Fixed an issue where multiple clicks were required to disable the location from the Maintenance Center.
• Fixed a problem causing the failure of inserting a single Unicode character for IMEs, the touch keyboard and the Emoji panel in some types of editing controls recently.
• Fixed a problem resulting in the insertion of 4 and 6, respectively, in some languages, left and right arrows of the touch keyboard.
• Issue resolved: Newly installed applications might not appear in search results.
• Issue resolved: The Search pane became truncated when it was launched after rotating the device orientation horizontally vertically.
• Fixed a high impact issue resulting in a decrease in Start reliability during recent flights.
• Fixed a recent problem in which if you hide the search icon in the taskbar, a number of Win32 applications would be redrawn unexpectedly when you open the Start menu. .
• Fixed a problem that could cause unexpected flickering if you use a stylus or key in some win32 applications to launch a second instance of the application in tablet mode.
• Do you need to create a file that starts with a dot? The file explorer will now allow you to rename a file into something like ".gitignore". Previously, you needed a location error for which you had to give a name.
• Fixed a problem causing a potential crash of the File Explorer when attempting to rename, delete or move MKV files during the previous flight.
• Fixed an issue preventing some insiders from opening Cortana in tablet mode.
• Fixed a problem causing the taskbar to flash if an AC adapter was connected while the device had less than 20% battery.
• Fixed a problem causing the taskbar to disappear for a second while returning Start / Cortana / Search on a secondary monitor.
• The theme name "Windows Light" has been changed to "Windows (Lightweight)".
• Issue resolved: Cortana's icon on secondary monitors did not update colors after switching between light and dark themes.
• Issue resolved: when using a bright theme + small icons + a vertical taskbar orientation, the text written in the taskbar remained blank and therefore could not be read.
• Fixed a problem that could prevent open applications from displaying on the taskbar (but not visible in Alt + Tab).
• Fixed a problem that caused a slight unexpected shade of pink / purple on some cameras in recent flights.
• Fixed a problem that could cause DWM to hang after activating high contrast.
• Fixed a problem in the cursor and pointer settings of Ease of Access: the size and color of the mouse pointer are now preserved during the upgrade. There is still a problem with the mouse pointer displaying the white color instead of the selected color after disconnecting and reconnecting.
• When you use the magnifying glass with larger pointers, scrolling is progressive when the pointers change shape.
• Issue resolved: The navigation mode on the Orbit display could not be changed.
• Issue resolved: Narrator unexpectedly interrupted while reading a PDF file.
• Fixed an issue preventing users from joining or switching between Windows Insider ringtones.
• Issue resolved: The Windows Security application could display an unknown status for the virus and threat protection zone or fail to refresh properly.

This version has nine known issues:

• Launching games using anti-cheat software may trigger a bug check (GSOD).
• Creative X-Fi sound cards do not work properly.
• Although we have worked to improve the reliability of the night light in this version, we continue to study the problems in this space.
• When you perform a reset of this PC and select Keep my files on a device that has reserved storage enabled, the user will need to initiate an additional restart to ensure that reserved storage is working properly again. .
• Some Realtek SD card readers do not work properly. We study the problem.
• In Windows Sandbox, if you try to access the Narrator settings, the Settings application crashes.
• It is possible that the color of the mouse pointer is incorrectly blank after disconnection and reconnection.
• The Chinese version of several games does not work.
• If you install one of the recent versions of the fast ring and switch to the slow ring, the optional content such as developer mode activation will fail. You will need to stay in the Quick Ring to add / install / activate optional content. This is because the optional content installs only on approved versions for specific rings.

As always, do not install this on your production machine.