Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Microsoft doesn’t use RC [Release Candidate] or RTM [Release To Manufacturing] anymore, but both are still relevant & useful. The latest Insider build looks like it should be a Release Candidate – if no show-stopper bugs are found, it will be the next major release, 1903, due this month, & set for general release in April. There will be hot fixes for more minor bugs between now & general release, & often a cumulative hot fix is released along with the new version when it’s pushed out to everyone.

   What happens next could be the release of an ISO, &/or the build’s release to the Insider Preview ring, though Microsoft has skipped both steps in the past. Then once this [or another] build hits RTM status, after it’s been used by more people for longer testing, there are typically leaks to journalists confirming that it's indeed the RTM.

   While some people are just interested in getting the latest version soonest, to me these builds are useful for spotting problems before Microsoft pushes out a new version of win10 – when that happens, they don’t give me much choice, whether I want to upgrade or not, nor much time to find & test any fixes. Put another way, this puts me in control rather than Microsoft.

   This PC has enough disk space to have a separate copy of win10 installed that’s enrolled in the Insider program’s slow ring. I’ll fire it up to upgrade & test compatibility etc. 1 – 3 times during the development cycle – using it I upgraded last night to the newest version [that hopefully will be the RTM]. And so far, so good – no real hardware compatibility problems that I can see. Next step will be a Windows To Go drive if Microsoft releases an ISO, which I can use to test everything else. If not, then after a disk/partition image backup, I’ll enroll the rest of our devices in the Insider program just long enough to get the RTM build.

   Posted 5 years ago #
2. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Turns out there's a problem if you had the previous build released to the Insider Slow Ring -- with the previous Slow Ring build installed, plus the latest cumulative update for that build, then this latest build will not install. Microsoft has halted downloads to the Slow Ring until it gets things sorted. Don't know if a fix is coming to this build, or if they'll release an entirely new build.

   You'd think that someone at Microsoft would have thought to test that scenario, as if it will install or not is at the most basic level of functionality. Since the last 2 win10 releases were such disasters, in terms of not catching incompatibilities, you'd be forgiven for thinking that just maybe Microsoft might revisit their QA. Guess not. At any rate, before this snafu happened, Thurrott wrote that this was intended to be the RTM.

   neowin[.]net/news/microsoft-removed-windows-10-build-18362-from-the-slow-ring-due-to-installation-issues

   Posted 5 years ago #
3. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Microsoft 1st released KB4496796, which fixed the problem of the newer build not installing if you were running the prior Slow Ring build + its cumulative update. 2nd they released KB4497464 to fix some [but not all] known issues with the latest build. Next, they'll be releasing this tentative RTM to the Preview Ring next week. It'll be tested by Insiders in all 3 rings until the general availability rollout at the end of May, 2019.

   Now the most important stuff...
   With the last 2 version updates/upgrades, if you checked for win10 updates manually the new version would begin downloading & installing -- that's over. Win10 will be updated this April [2019] to show the win10 version update separately when available, so you can choose whether you want to install it or not. Furthermore, new win10 version updates will not be forced until the win10 version in use reaches its EOL, so version updates can be delayed up to 18 months. And there's more... All versions of win10, including Home, will be able to pause updates, 1 week at a time, for up to 5 times, for a total of 35 days. Setting Active Hours -- avoiding updating when you normally use your device -- is also improved, with Windows making this setting for you, I assume based on records of your activity. Finally, there's a new Windows release health dashboard, which will tell you if there's a new version available, along with any known gotchas for that build.

   blogs.windows[.]com/windowsexperience/2019/03/20/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-18362/

   neowin[.]net/news/microsoft-announces-the-windows-10-may-2019-update-coming-to-release-preview-next-week

   Posted 5 years ago #
4. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   If you're thinking of checking out what is slated to be Windows 10 v.1903, it's probably best to use the ISO if it becomes available, or join the Insider Slow or Preview rings. That's because the Fast Ring is going to move beyond 1903 soon -- those in the Fast Ring that have opted into the Skip Ahead program have been testing next year's version, and that's what will be pushed out to the Fast Ring next. No word yet on plans for any sort of preview or testing of the updated version due this fall (?).

   There's a reason for Microsoft focusing so strongly on next year's Windows 10. Microsoft execs get paid -- & stay employed -- based on stock prices. Microsoft prefers to focus on their cloud biz because that's growing, which Wall St. loves to see. PC sales OTOH have been declining for years, so they'd rather Wall St. forget about the [still huge] Windows part of their biz. So much so that there is no longer any sort of Windows department -- instead the staff working on Windows has been split among other departments. Those working on Windows' kernel, the more-or-less very core of the OS, now work for Microsoft's cloud biz. Their new bosses have reset the kernel team's priorities -- the updated kernel due in 2020 has been designed explicitly for Microsoft's Cloud servers. **Hopefully** it'll still work reasonably well with our PCs, but who knows? One can't help but assume that Microsoft is doing all this extended testing so they don't wind up in the same boat as us lowly minions, trying to get a new win10 version working on our PCs & laptops.

   Posted 5 years ago #
5. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Windows 10 1903 is now available to those Insiders in the Preview Release Ring -- you have to check for updates manually to get it.

   Posted 5 years ago #
6. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   windowscentral[.]com/how-get-windows-10-may-2019-update-final-release-anyone-else

   This article doesn't tell you anything new, But, it walks you through the process of joining the Insider program with plenty of pictures.

   Posted 5 years ago #
7. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   windowscentral[.]com/why-you-should-opt-out-windows-insider-program-after-april-2019-update-releases

   Windows Central followed that article with one walking you through the process of turning off Insider builds in a copy of win10 -- you'll still be enrolled as an Insider, and you're just telling Windows not to install any more Insider builds. Once enrolled you can turn the feature on again at any time.

   On a related note, today [4/10/19] Microsoft started pushing out next year's version to Insiders in the Fast Ring.

   Posted 5 years ago #
8. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Microsoft's made 1903 available to MSDN subscribers -- hopefully ISOs for Insiders will follow shortly. If not, or if you don't want to wait, there's a tool called UUP Downloader that will download the same files as Windows Update for the Insider Slow Ring build, and convert those into an ISO. I ran it in my win7 32 bit VM, running InstallWatch Pro at the same time to see if it made any changes to Windows itself -- as far as I can tell it did not do anything naughty, but ran as a portable app. I then used that ISO to upgrade my win10 Home 64 bit VM from win10 1809 to 1903.

   It was NOT troublefree, but at this point I have no good way to tell if that was because of VirtualBox -- there was a new version this week, & it might be buggy -- or if it was because I was upgrading a VM, & 1903 didn't like that, or if it was the pre-release version of 1903, which still has bugs, or if it was the ISO I downloaded with the tool. This PC blanked the screen for power saving, & when it came back up the display in the VM window was corrupted garbage. Task Mgr. showed the VM was still working, and after a while I got the standard upgrade screen, but the window had resized, and it stalled at 79%. Once Task Mgr. showed that the VM was pretty much inactive I powered off the VM & restarted it -- it went to the win10 lock screen, & I was able to enter the PIN & Windows started with the Hi, We're setting Things Up screens. There's been an update released, which Windows Update found when I checked manually, but hadn't found on its own. That appeared to install normally, and the VM seems stable.

   At any rate, that's all I can say for now -- use the tool & any ISOs you get with it at your own risk, but it did get 1903 installed without having to activate Insider Builds & then turn them off etc.

   gitlab[.]com/uup-dump/downloader/tags

   Posted 5 years ago #

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