Nov 22

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17046 for PC

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Microsoft has released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17046 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. nice new stuff for Edge & input enjoy upgrading & testing!

What’s new in Build 17046

Microsoft Edge Improvements

Form Fill for Address fields: Microsoft Edge can now save and automatically fill your preferred information in addresses and related forms. When filling in fields on a form, such as an address or other contact information, Microsoft Edge will prompt to save your form information. In the future, you can simply select the preferred information from a drop-down menu to complete all the related fields.

Addresses you save will be roamed between your Windows 10 devices, and you can manually add or remove form entries in Advanced Settings.

Text Spacing comes to Reading View: Much like when reading an EPUB book, you can now adjust the text spacing when you’re in Reading View. To enter Reading View, open an article or blog post you’re interested in, then tap the book icon next to the address bar. Adjusting the page to use wider spacing can improve reading fluency.

Windows Shell Improvements

Access advanced UWP app options right from Start: We’ve added a new quick way to get to advanced options! Rather than click through Settings > Apps > Apps & Features > (finding your app) > Advanced Options, if you right-click a UWP app or UWP app tile in Start with this build you’ll find a new Settings option under More which will take you straight there, where you can repair, manage app add-ons, and see startup tasks (if available). We have a goal to make this page the one stop shop for all of the app-related settings you can find across Settings – the Startup tasks work was the first part, but there’s more to come, stay tuned!

If you right-click a UWP app or UWP app tile in Start with this build you’ll find a new Settings option under More which will take you straight there, where you can repair, manage app add-ons, and see startup tasks (if available).

Input Improvements

Emoji data overhaul for the touch keyboard: We’ve taken a look at the emoji data across all of the languages we support and have updated it so that more of the emoji you love will appear as you’re typing related words with the touch keyboard. We’ve also added support for a number of languages that didn’t previously support emoji candidates. Please give it a try and let us know how it goes! Try typing words like unicorn, kiwi, artist, or turtle (in your language, of course ????) – primary candidate will be listed in the candidate list, any secondary candidates will be listed in the candidate list once you tap the emoji button. We still have a bit more work to do on the data that will come with a later flight, but you should see a noticeable improvement with this build.

This flight includes new and updated emoji data for over 150 languages including: Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Danish (Denmark), German (Germany), Greek (Greece), English (Great Britain), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), Finnish (Finland), French (France), Hebrew (Israel), Hindi (India), Italian (Italy), Dutch (Netherlands), Norwegian (Norway), Polish (Poland), Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian (Russia), Swedish (Sweden), and Turkish (Turkey).

NOTE: To see the emoji predictions as you type in a particular language, as well as typing predictions, you will need to have the optional typing feature applied for that language. It should download on its own as long as you have internet connection when you add the language to your language list, or once you connect to the internet thereafter. If you’re not seeing predictions and have internet connectivity, try removing the language and then adding it back again.

Now you can use Emoji Panel to insert a bunch of emoji at once! Based on your feedback, we’re adjusting the design of the Emoji Panel so that after opening up the panel by pressing hotkey Windows logo key + “.” or “;”, you could browse, search and then select more than one emoji. The panel won’t go away until you click close button or press “Esc” key.

Based on your feedback, we’re adjusting the design of the Emoji Panel so that after opening up the panel by pressing hotkey Windows logo key + “.” or “;”, you could browse, search and then select more than one emoji.

Note: The Emoji Panel is currently only available when the en-us keyboard is active.

Keyboard Improvements: We’re introducing a new keyboard for Tamil language called Tamil 99, as well as updated Sinhala, Myanmar, and Amharic keyboards

  • Tamil 99 keyboard (hardware keyboard, touch keyboard) is now available on Windows PC! We’ve added a new Tamil keyboard – if you speak this language and would like to try it out, make sure Tamil (India) is in your language list. Click that language entry in Region & Language Settings, then select Options > Add a keyboard > Tamil 99. Here’s an example of how it looks on the touch keyboard:
    Tamil 99 keyboard (hardware keyboard, touch keyboard) is now available on Windows PC!
  • The Sinhala and Myanmar keyboards have been updated to support more comprehensive ways of inputting sequences, for example these now work: Sinhala: ෙ + ක -> කෙ, Myanmar: ေ + မ = eမ
  • In order to improve the Amharic typing experience, we’ve fully updated the Amharic keyboard so that you can now input compositions more comfortably. Instead of seeing English letters and a dropdown list of candidates while you type, you’ll now see the Amharic script directly inserted into the text field.

We would love to hear your feedback as you try out these changes!

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

  • We’ve added settings that let you view and manage your activity history, which Cortana uses to let you pick up where you left off. Find these settings in Settings > Privacy > Activity history.
  • We fixed an issue where the Properties dialog for This PC in File Explorer wasn’t working in the last two builds.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Insiders with certain third party antiviruses and OneDrive Files on Demand enabled seeing an error in recent builds citing “OneDrive cannot connect to Windows”.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in delays during logoff and shutdown when a UWP app was open and in suspended state.
  • We fixed a community reported issue where display colors became distorted after upgrading on some TV’s and monitors that incorrectly advertised support for 10/12 bit wire formats.
  • We fixed an issue from the previous flight that could cause heavily-threaded DirectX 12 apps to crash on launch after the first launch.
  • We’ve adjusted the application of acrylic in the touch keyboard to better align with the fluent design standards.
  • We fixed an issue where keys might remain highlighted when typing on the wide touch keyboard layout.
  • We fixed an issue where keys might be dropped when typing with the Chinese (Simplified) touch keyboard.
  • We fixed an issue where when writing a long sentence in the handwriting panel it might scroll while your pen was writing, resulting in an ink stroke across the panel.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the hardware keyboard text suggestions potentially not working until the touch keyboard had been launched once.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the mouse noticeably flickering between + and the mouse pointer icon when moving across cells in Excel 2016.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing their Start menu layout being reset after upgrading to the previous flight.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in miniview windows (for example in Movies & TV or Skype) flying offscreen when attempting to be resized in the last few flights.
  • We fixed an issue where clicking search results for settings in Settings in the last few flights would always take you to the top level category in the last few flights, rather than the actual category you searched for (for example, Display Settings instead of Storage Settings).

Known issues

  • If you are experiencing broken functionality in Mail, Cortana, Narrator or missing some features like Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: https://aka.ms/Rsrjqn. While this issue has been addressed, if you ever upgraded from 16299.xx to 16299.15 (and then to newer builds) you may still need to take the steps to get your PC back into a good state.
  • Popular Tencent games like League of Legends and NBA2k Online may cause 64-bit PCs to bugcheck (GSOD).
  • VPNs which use custom pop-up windows during connection attempts may fail to connect with error 720.
  • Due to a bug that was introduced on this build, you may not receive all of your notifications from Cortana. Reminders are unaffected by this bug, but you may not receive other Cortana notifications that you are expecting. The fix for this should be in the next flight.
  • [DEVELOPERS] Deploying an x86 app to a x64 PC remotely result in “FileNotFound” deployment failures if the target PC is running Build 17040. Deploying an x64 app to a x64 PC remotely or a x86 app to a x86 PC will work fine.
  • All types of dynamic volumes listed here will not mount properly or be accessible from Windows. The data remains intact on the volume, it is just not accessible from this OS build. If you need access to the data you can roll back to an earlier build.  A fix for this issue will be released in the next build.
  • After upgrading to build 17035 or later you may lose certain dictionary files, resulting in not being able to input Japanese or Traditional Chinese via IME, Touch Keyboard, or Handwriting if you are using a non-Japanese or non-Traditional Chinese language-based OS (like an English-based OS). We are working to fix it. In the meantime, this should help to get you unblocked:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Time & Language > Region & language.

2. Under Language, select your language (e.g. “Japanese”).

3. Click [Option] and if the [Download] button is available for “Basic typing” under the Language options, please click it to start download.

4. Once the dictionary files have been downloaded, you can check the status of the necessary optional feature in Settings > Apps > “Apps & features” > “Manage optional features”. The name will be something like “Japanese

source: Windows Blogs

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Nov 18

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17040 for PC

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Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17040 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring, lost of fixes & the AMD block has block lifted in this build. Enjoy upgrading!

What’s new in Build 17040

Settings Improvements

Adjust the brightness of SDR content on your HDR display: Starting with Build 17040, Windows now lets you adjust how bright SDR content appears when running in HDR mode on the desktop. On an HDR capable system, you will see a slider in the “HDR and advanced color settings” page under Settings > System > Display. This is one of the improvements to HDR image quality that we have planned based on feedback from Insiders.

Windows now lets you adjust how bright SDR content appears when running in HDR mode on the desktop. On an HDR capable system, you will see a slider in the “HDR and advanced color settings” page under Settings > System > Display.

New Cursor, pointer, and touch feedback section in Ease of Access Settings: Continuing our recent efforts to reorganize this section in Settings, you’ll notice that “change cursor thickness”, “Change pointer size and color”, and “Change touch feedback” have been moved to this new place.

Touch keyboard Improvements

Shape-writing with wide touch keyboard: With the Fall Creators Update we introduced shape-writing input for one-handed keyboard. We’ve heard your feedback, and with today’s build we’re happy to announce that it’s now also available when using the wide keyboard!

With the Fall Creators Update we introduced shape-writing input for one-handed keyboard. We’ve heard your feedback, and with today’s build we’re happy to announce that it’s now also available when using the wide keyboard!

As a reminder, shape-writing is currently available for the following languages: Catalan (Catalan), Croatian (Croatia), Czech (Czech), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), English (India), English (United States), English (United Kingdom), Finnish (Finland), French (Canada), French (France), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), Greek (Greece), Hebrew (Israel), Hungarian (Hungary), Indonesian (Indonesia), Italian (Italy), Norwegian, Persian (Iran), Polish (Poland), Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian (Romania), Russian (Russia), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish (Sweden), Turkish (Turkey), and Vietnamese (Vietnam).

Handwriting panel Improvements

Improved Insertion Gesture: Based on your feedback about gesture recognition, we’ve updated the insertion gesture (to add space between words or letters) to now be a small caret (see below gif for a demo of what it looks like, along with a cameo of our joining gesture).

A New Commit Gesture: We’ve added a new gesture so you can automatically commit your text and clear out the text in the handwriting panel. This gesture looks like a 90 degree angle bracketing the end of your text – see gif below for an example of how it works.

Improved button layout for Chinese (Simplified) Handwriting: If you use Chinese (Simplified), you’ll now see a layout similar to the one announced for other languages with Build 17035. The buttons in the handwriting panel are collapsed by default – tap the button with the ellipsis to expand them.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

  • We’ve added settings that let you view and manage your activity history, which Cortana uses to let you pick up where you left off. Find these settings in Settings > Privacy > Activity history.
  • We fixed an issue where network profiles might change from Private to Public after upgrading to the previous build.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in checkboxes being missing from certain win32 apps.
  • We fixed a typo in the Windows Defender Security Center’s Controlled Folder Settings.
  • We fixed an issue resulting not being able to fully remove Windows.old in the last two flights.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Narrator not saying anything when the candidate bar for hardware keyboard prediction opened. We also fixed an issue where Narrator wasn’t reading the word candidate when the focus moved into candidate bar.
  • We fixed an issue where the “Working on updates” screen was black with a small theme colored box instead of entirely theme colored.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a green screen on the previous flight with the error BAD_POOL_CALLER.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in UWP app sometimes leaving drop shadow leftovers after closing the window.
  • We fixed an issue where inactive window scrolling wouldn’t work if Excel 2016 was in focus.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in a noticeable flicker when using hotkeys or a precision touchpad to switch between virtual desktops.
  • We fixed an issue where the XAML Reveal light wouldn’t follow your mouse until the first mouse click – instead showing the entire element lit. This issue was visible in Settings and other XAML based UI in the last few builds.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in changes to Feedback Frequency in Feedback & Diagnostics Settings not persisting after leaving the page and returning.
  • We fixed an issue where Start wouldn’t open if you pressed the Windows key when the system menu from elevated Command Prompt or Task Manager window was open.
  • We fixed a rare issue where if you had certain streaming-capable apps on your PC before upgrading you might end up seeing a black screen with only a cursor for some time after logging in.
  • We fixed an issue from recent flights where the “Add” button in the PIN section of Sign-in Option Settings didn’t work for local accounts.
  • We’ve updated the icon for Collections in Cortana.
  • We’ve updated the touch keyboard so that the margin between each key is visual only. This change will be noticeable if you accidentally overshoot the key press by just a tiny bit – before it might seem as if key presses were being dropped in this scenario.
  • Based on your feedback, the feature to restore applications that have registered for application restart after you reboot or shutdown (through power options available on the Start Menu and various other locations) has been set to only occur for users that have enabled “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting my device after an update or restart” in the Privacy section under Sign-in Options Settings.

Known issues

  • If you are experiencing broken functionality in Mail, Cortana, Narrator or missing some features like Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: https://aka.ms/Rsrjqn.
  • Popular Tencent games like League of Legends and NBA2k Online may cause 64-bit PCs to bugcheck (GSOD).
  • VPNs which use custom pop-up windows during connection attempts may fail to connect with error 720.
  • Due to a bug that was introduced on this build, you may not receive all of your notifications from Cortana. Reminders are unaffected by this bug, but you may not receive other Cortana notifications that you are expecting. We are working to resolve this issue and will release the fix in an upcoming flight.
  • The Properties dialog for This PC in File Explorer isn’t working and can’t be invoked from the context menu.
  • Insiders with certain third party antiviruses and OneDrive Files on Demand enabled may see an error citing “OneDrive cannot connect to Windows”.
  • ADDED: [DEVELOPERS] Deploying an x86 app to a x64 PC remotely result in “FileNotFound” deployment failures if the target PC is running Build 17040. Deploying an x64 app to a x64 PC remotely or a x86 app to a x86 PC will work fine.
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Oct 27

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17025 for PC

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Earlier this week Microsoft released Build 17025 to the Fast Insiders,

What’s new in Build 17025

Revamped Ease of Access Settings: This build adds new Ease of Access settings to make your device easier to use and fit your needs. We also grouped related settings together which help you see, hear or interact with your computer to assist in discovering settings more quickly. Additionally, we heard your feedback and improved setting descriptions to help you more easily understand the available accessibility features. Go to the Ease of Access section in Settings to see what’s available to make your computer easier to use!

We have grouped related settings together which help you see, hear or interact with your computer to assist in discovering settings more quickly under Ease of Access.

Controlling your Startup tasks: Continuing our work from the previous flight, with today’s flight we’ve updated the Advanced options under Settings > Apps & Features so that UWP apps that are configured to run at startup will now have a new option to see all available tasks specified by the app developer and their status will now have a new option to see all available tasks specified by the app developer and their status.

We have updated the Advanced options under Settings > Apps & Features so that UWP apps that are configured to run at startup will now have a new option to see all available tasks specified by the app developer.

[ADDED 10/26] NOTE: The above screenshot is a sample app showing the functionality that app developers can take advantage of in their UWP apps. If you are unable to see this functionality for any of your apps shown under Settings > Apps & Features > Startup that’s because none of the apps on your PC under Startup currently have this functionality enabled.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

  • Continuing our effort towards Fluent Design, in this build you’ll notice that not only have we soften our light press effect based on your feedback, we’ve also enabled Reveal by default in CalendarView (seen, for example, in the Clock and Calendar flyout). UWP apps leveraging the Preview SDK for this build or higher will see this change automatically.
  • We fixed the issue where if you RDP into a PC running this build with certain GPU configurations, when you go to sign in to the PC locally it will appear stuck at a black screen with only the cursor available.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the touch feedback appearing visually corrupted in the last flight, with strange artifacts rather than the expected circle.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in UNC paths not being recognized when typed using the touch keyboard with the Japanese layout.
  • To improve the speed in getting you where you want to go, when typing with the Japanese IME into Internet Explorer’s address bar or search box, you will now see the search suggestions dropdown while composing the string, rather than having to wait until the candidate string is committed.
  • We fixed an issue where using an app in mini mode (for example Groove Music) would result in the taskbar appearing on top of a remote desktop session. We also fixed an issue where using Cortana to launch an app while playing a game fullscreen on another monitor could result in the taskbar drawing on top of the game.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to scroll to the very bottom of Start using touch when in tablet mode on small devices.
  • We fixed an issue where mouse input in Start might become offset.
  • We fixed an issue where clean installing Windows while not connected to the internet might result in default Start tiles showing download arrows indefinitely rather than the expected image.
  • We fixed an issue where right-clicking a folder already pinned to Start in File Explorer would still show the option “Pin to Start”.
  • We fixed an issue where attempting to log into Windows using a VM with Enhanced Session Mode might result in being prompted for your password twice.
  • We fixed an issue where toggling some DX9/DX10/DX11 games between windowed and fullscreen (for example using Alt + Tab) could result in the game window become black on certain PCs.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders with x86 PCs experiencing a blue screen with a HAL INITIALIZATION FAILED error when upgrading to the previous flight.
  • We fixed an issue where Insiders with restore points set might have experienced a volsnap.sys Green Screen error on boot.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge taking an unexpectedly long time to load the new page after clicking on certain links, appearing hung.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge being unexpectedly slow to respond when tabbing through controls with certain third party screen readers active.
  • We fixed an issue where settings under Windows Update’s Delivery Optimization page were unexpectedly disabled in the last flight.
  • We fixed an issue with the Courier New font where the numeral 2 was not displaying clearly on some display configurations.
  • Improved the Yu Gothic Bold font focusing on consistent baseline alignment and clarity of various Kana characters.

Known issues

  • If you are experiencing broken functionality in Mail, Cortana, Narrator or missing some features like Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: https://aka.ms/Rsrjqn.
  • Using a swipe gesture with touch to dismiss notifications from the Action Center is currently not working. We’re investigating – for now you’ll need to use the clear all button, or use mouse/keyboard.
  • There’s a noticeable screen flicker when using hotkeys or the touchpad to switch between Virtual Desktops.
  • Invoking the Game bar with Win + G may cause the mouse cursor to become unresponsive while Game bar is up. Keyboard navigation still works and pressing Win + G again will close the Game bar, restoring the mouse cursor to the game.
  • Calendar toast dismiss and snooze icons may be missing from notifications in Action Center.

Source: Windows Blog

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Oct 27

How to configure file associations for IT Pros?

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Ran into this neat post on the MS Blogs by Ismaël Limbada:

After reading it, you will be able to configure file associations in Windows 10 and avoid this notification: An app default was reset.

All steps described in this blog post have been tested on following Windows 10 versions:

  • Windows 10 1709
  • Windows 10 1703
  • Windows 10 1607

Configuring file association prior Windows 10

There were different ways and guidance to set default program prior to Windows 10 (see Managing Default Applications).

Before Windows 10, an application could check default apps, ask for user consent and set default app programmatically using Windows API.

But some programs skip the user consent and set the app defaults into the registry. The main requirement for default file association is often forgotten: the end-user is in control.

Now in Windows 10 checks if registry file extension keys have not been modified to prevent file association hijacking.

File association changes in Windows 10

The way that default file associations work changed in Windows 10.

There is a new UI for the end-user. This new way puts the user in control with a new file association notification.

This notification will be displayed:

  • On the first launch of a file extension, if multiples programs are registered for handling that file extension.
  • Each time a new application registers a file extension, except if the Always use this app to open .xxx files is checked.

If an application used Windows API to set default apps, the user will receive the following notification:

For more information about these changes : https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2015/05/20/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-10122-for-pcs/

You will find some explanation on The Old New Thing blog: Why do my PDF file associations get reset every time I restart?

Windows 10: An app default was reset

But what happens if an application is not using Windows API and writes some stuff and hijacks user preferences?

Now,Windows 10 detects that the registry is corrupted and will reset the default program for this file extension. Additionally, the end-user will receive this notification: An App default was reset. These change is documented in KB4001770: Reset app default when a registry setting is deleted or corrupted and streamlined notification about the corruption.

In Windows 10, if you are using applications or scripts that tamper registry entries to configure default apps associations, you will get app reset notifications.

How to configure file association in Windows 10?

It’s possible for IT Pro to configure or force default association using supported methods.

The best way to do it is to set up a reference computer, install applications, configure default programs and use Dism to export/import the custom default app associations or use a group policy.

  1. Set up a reference computer
  2. Install applications
  3. Go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs and configure default apps associations. In Windows 10 1709, this control panel item is now in Settings app.

    Let’s try to configure Internet Explorer as the default browser

    Choose Internet Explorer

    Internet Explorer is now the default web browser

  4. Export/import the custom default app association with dism.exe
    Note that you need administrator rights to use dism.exe. And to export properly the associations use the same account used in step 3, otherwise you will get a malformed XML file.
  1. Dism.exe /online /export-defaultappassociations:C:\temp\CustomFileAssoc.xml

PS C:\Windows\system32> dism /online /export-defaultappassociations:”C:\Temp\IE-DefaultBrowser.xml”

  1. Open the xml file and check if everything looks good.

Usually at this step you will be tempted to delete other lines because you simply don’t care about them and get a file like this:

FTA-IE-Only.xml

VERY IMPORTANT: If you want to import your file with DISM.exe, DO NOT delete any file associations entries!
A missing entry will trigger the App default reset notification and you will get a notification storm at the first logon.

Refresh your XML on a regular basis

As some recommended applications can manage more extensions with each new Windows 10 version available, it’s a good practice to refresh your XML. For example, in Windows 10 1703, Microsoft Edge registers the epub extension. If you’re using an XML file from Windows 10 1607, epub is missing. As a result, you will get an app reset notification for epub.

Tips for building your XML file

  • Manually editing the file could result in a non-valid XML file. Ensure that your XML file is valid. Opening XML file in the old Internet Explorer is a good idea to check if the XML is valid. You can try XML Notepad to edit/validate XML files.
  • If you do not see your file extension in XML file, go back to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs and configure default apps associations, select file extension, click on Change Program and confirm the program in the dialog box. Then, export again you’re XML file.

Deploy your custom XML

Now it’s time to apply your XML file. You have two options:

  • Set up file association in your Windows 10 image. File associations will be configured for new users’ profiles. Existing profiles are untouched. Users can change file associations.
  • Configure a policy for your domain-joined computer: file association will be configured at each logon. User will be able to change file association, but at the next logon file association will be configured using XML file. This policy works only for domain-joined computer.

Configure the XML file for your Windows 10 reference image:

Dism.exe /online /import-defaultappassociations:c:\temp\CustomFileAssoc.xml

Your file will be copied in \Windows\System32 with the following name OEMDefaultAssociations.xml

Configure the XML file for your domain-joined computer

Configure the following policy Set a default associations configuration file located in Computer\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\File Explorer.

If this group policy is enabled and the client machine is domain-joined, the file will be processed, and default associations will be applied at logon time.

Note: this policy will not prevent user to change the file association. But at each logon the default association configured in XML file will be applied.

How to force only a set of file associations?

Some IT Pros want to force only some file associations and let users in control for others file associations. For example, they want to configure Internet Explorer as default for HTTP/HTTPS only for HR people.

So, they removed everything in the XML file except Internet Explorer entries. As previously seen, removing entries in XML file could result in app reset notifications.

But don’t panic, there is a solution to do it in your Windows 10 reference image.

You just need to have two XML files, one for configuring the defaults and another one to force file association.

The main XML, CustomDefaultAssoc.xml must contain all extensions. You need to import this file using:

Dism /online /import-defaultappassociations:C:\CustomDefaultAssoc.xml

The second XML, FTA-IE-Only.xml will contain only a set of file extensions. You need to use this XML file with the group policy Set a default associations configuration file.

At the first logon, Explorer.exe will apply both XML.

The end user will have this results without any app reset notifications:

  • PDF files associated with Microsoft Reader.
  • HTM/HTML files associated with Internet Explorer.

OEMDefaultAssociations.xml contains the following lines:

IEOnly.xml contains the following lines:

Why I’m getting an app reset notification?

Raymond Chen talked about this problem. If a program is trying to set some registry keys, Explorer will detect it and the file association will be reset.

Stop using script or other pre-Windows 10 ways for configuring file association.

You can check the Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Core/AppDefaults event log for clues about file associations reset.

If you want to troubleshoot this, keep calm and run Procmon
?

You should be able to track which application is hijacking your file associations. Once you identified the bad application, the best way to solve this, is to use a more recent version, or contact your vendor.

Why I’m getting the User Choice notification even if I used an XML file?

You could get the following notification starting Windows 10 1703 when you choose an application as the default viewer instead using Microsoft Edge.

These notification windows are displayed only once if you’re clicking on OK. It’s because Microsoft Edge is detected as a new application.

If a new app is installed and is registered to an existing file extension or protocol you will get this notification.

If you want to get rid of these notifications, there is a group policy to hide these notifications:

Do not show the ‘new application installed’ notification

This policy removes the end-user notification for new application associations. These associations are based on file types (e.g. *.txt) or protocols (e.g. http:) If this group policy is enabled, no notifications will be shown

Group Policy Settings related to File Associations settings

You can find in the table below some group policies related to default file associations settings:

Policy Setting Name Policy Path
Do not reinitialize a pre-existing roamed user profile when it is loaded on a machine for the first time Windows Components\File Explorer
Turn off Internet File Association service System\Internet Communication Management\Internet Communication settings
Turn off access to the Store System\Internet Communication Management\Internet Communication settings
Do not show the ‘new application installed’ notification Windows Components\File Explorer
Set a default associations configuration file Windows Components\File Explorer

Bonus for Adobe Reader XI users

If you are still using Adobe Reader XI, you should get a new application to open PDF, as Adobe Reader XI is out of support.

With Adobe XI installer, you can get an app reset notification for PDF extensions and it will be reset to Microsoft Edge.

You should look at Adobe Reader documentation and launch the Adobe Reader 11 installation with the following command line:

AdbeRdr11010_en_US.exe /rs /sAll /msi EULA_ACCEPT=YES OWNERSHIP_STATE=0

With OWNERSHIP_STATE=0 Adobe Reader stops to change file association for PDF with an unsupported way.

Resources:

Source: TechNet
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Oct 18

Upgraded to The Fall Creators Update & Missing Files on Demand?

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It’s possible after upgrading to the 1709 build you can’t find the option to enable the Files on Demand option for OneDrive, this is caused by not having the latest & greatest version of the OneDrive client.

To get the option in your settings tab, you can wait for the update to be rolled out or manually install this one https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=851311 (version 17.3.7073)

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Oct 15

Fall Creators Update, Windows 10 1709 Comming October 17th

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For IT organizations, that means that Windows 10, version 1709 will be available on the 17th on all relevant distribution channels: the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC), Windows Update for Business, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and Visual Studio Subscriptions. The updated Windows ADK for Windows 10 will also be available by that date.

You might notice that there have been some packaging changes with volume licensing media and upgrade packages with Windows 10, version 1709. Now, instead of having separate media and packages for Windows 10 Pro (volume licensing version), Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education, all three will be bundled together.

For ISOs that you download from the VLSC or Visual Studio Subscriptions, you will still be able to search for the individual Windows editions. Just note that each of the editions (Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 10 Education) will point to the exact same ISO, so you only need to download the ISO once. Included in the ISO will be a single Windows image (WIM) file that contains all the volume licensing images.

Source: Technet

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Oct 05

Edge Mobile Browser is comming to your Android & iOS device

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Great news,

Microsoft has announced Edge to be on it’s way to your iOS and Android Mobile Devices,

A test version can be requested via the iOS testflight app on iOS,

Android users can sign up to be notified when a preview is available

Get your early access here: Sign up Link

 

Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android

One of the most common requests we hear from people who use Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 PCs is “we want our browser experience to move to our phones”. You spoke, we listened.

Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android shown on an iPhone and Android phone

Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android brings familiar features like your Favorites, Reading List, New Tab Page and Reading View across your PC and phone, so, no matter the device, your browsing goes with you. But what makes Microsoft Edge really stand out is the ability to continue on your PC, which enables you to immediately open the page you’re looking at right on your PC—or save it to work on later.

Continue on PC with Microsoft Edge, shown on an Android phone, iPhone and a Windows 10 laptop.

 

Beginning today, iOS users can test the preview app via Apple TestFlight, and Android users can sign up to be one of the first to test the preview app which will be available soon. Go here to sign up to test the Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android preview apps.

 

A few more details about the preview: Initially Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android will launch only in US-English, but we’ll ramp to other countries/languages as we expand the preview. And some features—like roaming passwords and support for iPads/Android tablets—aren’t available at preview launch but will come in the future.

Source: Windows Blog

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Sep 27

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16299 for PC

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Loads of new build have come out the last few weeks (16291, 16294, 16296 since last post), leading up to the Fall Creators update, mostly bug fixes are added, here’s what’s new in 16299, released yesterday:

Happy Upgrading!

 

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

  • We fixed an issue some Insiders were experiencing where after upgrading to recent flights their optical drive wouldn’t be listed under This PC.
  • We fixed an issue where Microsoft Edge might crash when scrolling embedded PDFs.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing 0x80070005 when trying to upgrade to the last few flights.
  • We fixed an issue where using the Automatic File Download notification to block an app from downloading files wasn’t working for UWP apps.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Windows Defender potentially downloading files selected to be online-only after using the file picker dialog and viewing their thumbnails.

 

Source: Windows Blogs

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Sep 14

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16288 for PC & Build 15250 for Mobileck

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We’re back, holidays are over with a new release from Microsoft:

a quick & fast upgrade from the previous build, have fun discovering the new stuff!

Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16288 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring only (not Skip Ahead). As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world. This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes. You’ll notice that this build continues to include a bunch of good bug fixes Insiders will enjoy.

On Build 16288, you will notice that the watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop has disappeared. You will also see that the OS now reports as “Version 1709” which is the official version number for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update release. However, this is NOT the final build as we’re not done yet. We’re just now beginning the phase of checking in final code to prepare for the final release. So we will have more builds to release to Windows Insiders between now and then. And the desktop watermark may re-appear in these builds.

We are also releasing Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15250 to Insiders in the Fast ring.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

Windows Shell Improvements

  • We fixed an issue resulting in the Facebook Messenger app failing to accept the enter key when sending messaging in recent flights.
  • We fixed an issue where the “New” text displayed under the names of newly installed apps in Start wouldn’t go away after launching the app.
  • We fixed an issue where using the letters in Start to jump to different locations in the alphabet wasn’t consistently working in the last few flights.
  • We fixed an issue where local app search in Cortana failed to return the expected app if the user profile directory contained non-ASCII characters.
  • We fixed an issue where pressing WIN + X would sometimes not show the accelerator key underlines.
  • We fixed an issue where when the People button was present in taskbar, and toast-only banners (for example from Outlook 2016) were sent, the Action Center badge counter would become inaccurate.
  • We fixed a bug from recent flights where upon unlock you’d be bombarded with any notifications that occurred while your PC was locked. If you’d like to review notifications received while your PC was locked, they can be found in the Action Center

Input Improvements

  • We fixed an issue where pressing delete when using the full touch keyboard layout in UWP apps would input a period rather than deleting a character.
  • We fixed an issue where the Pinyin IME’s emoji picker wouldn’t load in recent flights.
  • We fixed a tablet mode issue where launching the touch keyboard in UWP apps might sometimes take multiple taps on the edit field before the keyboard would come up.
  • We fixed an issue where when using the Chinese (Simplified) handwriting panel InputPersonalization.exe could get into a state where it would unexpectedly have a continually high CPU usage.
  • We fixed an issue with the handwriting panel where the “&123” and Emoji button didn’t work when the device was in portrait orientation.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to turn on the Japanese IME after the focus was moved from a UWP (like Sticky Notes) to another app and back.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in a stutter when selecting long strings in certain single line editable text boxes (for example when naming favorites in Microsoft Edge).
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to type text via the touch keyboard into Internet Explorer when using the Japanese, Chinese, or Korean keyboards.
  • We fixed an issue where the Dayi and Array IMEs couldn’t input Chinese characters in certain apps in recent flights when using the touch keyboard.

Microsoft Edge Improvements

  • We fixed an issue where the tab preview for PDFs was just black with two white stripes.
  • We fixed an issue where the first time you used Ctrl + F in a tab the search box wouldn’t get focus. We also fixed an issue where after clicking the Find on Page text box you might not be able to type in the address bar.
  • We fixed an issue where sometimes the Hub would appear to open twice when you clicked the icon.
  • We fixed an issue where typing a web address into the address bar from the New Tab and Start Page and would sometimes clear the text and not result in any page navigation.
  • We fixed an issue where Ctrl + Click on a link in a PDF wouldn’t open the link in a new tab.
  • We fixed an issue where “Open with previous pages” wouldn’t recover tabs if the tabs had been dragged between frames prior to closing Microsoft Edge.
  • We fixed an issue which could result in uploads failing on some sites, such as Behance.net.
  • We fixed an issue where website tooltips could end up displaying behind the Microsoft Edge window after opening a link in new tab in the background.
  • We fixed an issue resulting copy/paste and the print dialog not working for those using the updated Youtube.com website design.
  • We’ve updated editable fields in PDFs to now have a subtle color to help indicate that they’re editable.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in PDFs potentially rendering blank after panning down a few pages and back up.
  • We fixed an issue from recent flights where Alt + D wouldn’t bring input focus to the address bar when certain keyboards were active.

Gaming

  • We fixed an issue resulting in Ghost Recon: Wildlands not starting in recent flights since the Easy anti-cheat component wouldn’t load.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Mod Organizer no longer load mods into Skyrim in recent flights.

Devices

  • We fixed the issue where USBhub.sys was causing spontaneous reboots due to bugchecks (GSOD).
  • We fixed an issue where your PC might not go to sleep automatically after remoting into it and signing out of the remote session.

Other fixes and improvements

  • We fixed an issue where Settings could crash if a Bluetooth device was turned off while the Bluetooth settings page was open.
  • We fixed an issue from recent flights resulting in some Insiders experiencing an issue where Store apps would begin to fail to activate after being launched a few times.
  • We fixed an issue where if the lock screen slideshow was set to a OneDrive folder containing offline-only images, these pictures would all be downloaded to the PC while the PC was locked (going through each picture). These pictures will now be skipped.
  • If you’ve encountered an issue where Spotlight appears stuck on a particular image, we’ve added logic such that it should now reset after at most 7 days.

What’s new in Build 15250 for Mobile

Two factor Authentication: We are excited to announce that we’ve introduced a two factor authentication unlock mechanism for Windows 10 Mobile. With two factor unlock, an enterprise can enforce an additional security layer to their sensitive data via an MDM policy. Once two factor unlock is enabled, a phone user will have to enter a numeric pin followed by an enterprise-defined factor to unlock the phone. An example of an enterprise-defined factor is a companion device such as an NFC tag which can be used to unlock a phone using our Companion Device Framework sample app and documentation.

AppLocker Improvements: A number of customers have provided feedback on the warning prompts for apps that are blocked by enterprise policies. We’ve improved the UX and updated the MDM SyncML scripts associated with the policies. Application restrictions can be configured by either the ApplicationManagement CSP or AppLocker CSP.

ApplicationManagement/ApplicationRestrictions
ApplicationManagement/ApplicationRestrictions

AppLocker/ApplicationLaunchRestrictions 
AppLocker/ApplicationLaunchRestrictions 

VPN Improvements: In the modern corporate workplace, mobility is mainstream and secure access to corporate data via VPN has become the norm. We are bringing a range of improvements and features that enhance the reliability of VPN on Windows 10 Mobile. The key updates to our VPN capability are:

  • Lots of reliability improvements for VPN connectivity in Windows 10 Mobile.
  • IKEv2 Sleep and Power Enhancements.
    • VPN completes all pending actions before sleep and disconnects.
    • Automatic reconnection on resume.
  • Force tunneled improvements for UWP platform.
  • Proxy improvements for UWP VPN profile.
  • Enabling MMS usage when VPN is connected.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for Mobile

  • We fixed a regression that was introduced in build 15245 where the fingerprint reader on the HP Elite X3 did not turn on the screen. You needed to turn on the screen before you could use Windows Hello.
  • We fixed some issues where the Maps app navigation would start navigating a route and after performing a reroute, would present a list of possible routes instead of adjusting to the current route.
  • We also improved map-matching particularly for routes using ferries.
  • We fixed an issue where an app using the routing engine (e.g. Maps) would timeout on providing the route if suspended for more than 30 seconds.
  • We fixed an issue where tiles on the Start screen would occasionally be blank.
  • We fixed an issue where a VPN profile that was created via the VPN Management API would always be a dial-up profile.
  • We fixed an issue with the MDM policy used to control Build Flighting by Mobile Enterprise.
  • We fixed a couple of navigation issues when changing from highway to highway (occasionally, signposts were copied from the original highway to the destination highway) and highway to non-highway (erroneous instruction to “enter highway”).
  • We fixed a rare issue where the user’s call history was shown as corrupt after an upgrade.

Source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 23

Announcing Windows Server Insider Preview Build 16267

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Yes it’s here Server 2016 preview builds, get your systems up2speed with what’s coming now for Server side too! enjoy!

Hello Windows Insiders!

Today we are pleased to be releasing Windows Server Insider Preview Build 16267 to Windows Insiders. To obtain the build, registered Insiders may navigate directly to the Windows Server Insider Preview download page. Matching symbols and the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) packages are available on the same page. When installed on a Windows 10 client, RSAT allows a user to remotely manage and administer Insider Preview builds of Windows Server via GUI tools. Valid on Windows 10 client builds greater than 16250.

For the best experience, the Windows Server team recommends a clean install.

If you have not yet registered as an Insider, register through the Windows Insiders for Business program or the Windows Insider program.

General Scenario Highlights

Developers and Containers:

  • New base container images (available on Windows Insider Docker Hub repo)
    • Optimized Nano Server base image (over 70% smaller)
      • The .NET team is providing a preview image based on Nano Server with .NET Core 2.0
      • The PowerShell team is providing a preview image based on PowerShell 6.0
    • Optimized Server Core base image (over 20% smaller)
  • Support for SMB volume mounting
  • Infrastructure for Orchestrators
    • Networking enhancements for ongoing Kubernetes work
    • Named pipe mapping support
  • Bug fixes, performance enhancements

Cloud Guest:

  • IIS
    • TLS info: administrators can make specific recommendations to default to HTTPS
  • Disaster Recovery
    • Storage Replica Test Failover
  • Guest + Host better together
    • vPMEM in Guest: Tenants can use and manage PMEM/SCM
    • Tenant-Aware VM Start Ordering: App Ready / OS Heartbeat for better load balancing
    • Guest RDMA
  • Improvement in time accuracy
  • Azure enlightened clusters – optimized to run on Azure IaaS

Cloud Host:

  • Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) host
    • Security
      • Shielded Linux VM
      • SDN: Encrypted virtual networks
      • Secure clusters
      • SMB 1 disabled by default
    • Resiliency and Availability
      • SDN: Reduced downtime for tenant connections through gateways
      • Spaces Direct: Scoped Spaces to mitigate impact of multi-node loss
      • Spaces Direct: Marginal drive handling for predictive detection of drive failures
    • Efficiency
      • Data Deduplication available for ReFS
      • New Data Deduplication DataPort API for optimized ingress/egress
      • Space efficiency with ReFS Compaction
      • Performant Spaces Direct Multi Resilient Volumes (MRV)
    • Hyper-converged Scale
      • Cluster Sets: Significantly increases hyper-converged SDDC cloud scale by grouping multiple clusters into a larger fabric
    • Hardware support
      • Support for Storage Class Memory (SCM) in Spaces Direct

What’s New in Build 16267 for Windows Server

There are no new features in build 16267

How to Download 

NOTE: If you signed up for Windows Insiders for Business using an AAD account, there is a temporary issue with access to the Windows Server Download page using AAD accounts. If you registered using an MSA account at the Windows Insider program, your MSA account may be used to access the page and to download builds until this is resolved.

The latest Windows Server build and matching symbols are available for download here.  Simply click on the desired file(s) and save locally. Matching Windows Server container images will be available via the Docker Hub. For more information about Windows Server containers and Insider builds, please visit http://aka.ms/containers/insiders.

The following keys are available for unlimited activations of Windows Server. These keys may be used throughout the pre-release cycle.

  • Windows Server Datacenter Core: B69WH-PRNHK-BXVK3-P9XF7-XD84W
  • Windows Server Standard Core: V6N4W-86M3X-J77X3-JF6XW-D9PRV

The RSAT version currently posted has not been updated, so if you already have it, you won’t need to download it again.

It’s all about your feedback! 

Use the Feedback Hub app to provide feedback on Windows Server builds. Feedback Hub comes pre-installed on Windows 10. Register a Windows 10 device with the Windows Insider or Windows Insider for Business programs. Open the Feedback Hub application. Choose the Server category and then the appropriate subcategory for your feedback. Please indicate what edition and build number you are providing feedback on. The Feedback Hub app cannot scan a server for diagnostic information, however you may manually attach screenshots or other files to your feedback entry.

We encourage you to visit the Windows Server Insiders space on the Microsoft Tech Communities forum to collaborate, share and learn from experts.

The expiration date for this server preview build is 12/4/2017.

Known issues 

  • Cluster Sets: A couple of key functionalities to enable end-to-end testing of Cluster Sets scenarios are not present in this build, so defer all evaluation of this scenario to a future build.
  • When a computer runs the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) from a local drive, the EFI system partition, which contains the WinPE image (boot.wim), does not have a drive letter assigned. This issue can adversely affect some automation.
  • Apps that call into the firewall, such apps that use networking, may become unresponsive until the user reboots because of an application hang end-task error (0xCFFFFFFF) in the Windows firewall API library (FirewallAPI.dll), which occurs when the library is blocked on an advanced local procedure call (ALPC) port while attempting to diagnose a connection failure and retrieve information.
  • A stop error may occur during volume repair in a cluster. The recommended workaround is to restart the computer. No corruption or data loss is expected.

Source: Windows Blog

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