Windows 10 20H1 Insider Build 18975 Brings Key Updates For Cortana And Linux Subsystem

Microsoft continues to tweak and polish an upcoming major update to Windows 10 that is scheduled to roll out in the first half of next year. As such, the latest Windows Insider 20H1 preview build (18975) contains some new things to play with, including the ability to move the Cortana window around to anywhere on the screen.

This is tied to a new Cortana experience coming to Windows 10. Around a month and a half ago, Microsoft began rolling out a new chat-based Cortana UI as a beta update to Windows Insiders. It supports most of the same features, such as Bing answers and Assistant conversations, and over time, Microsoft will add more the mix.

Now with the latest preview build, that chat UI can be moved around like a regular window rather than permanently docked. Users can also resize the window. At present, Microsoft is testing this on around 50 percent of machines in the Windows Insider program.

Microsoft also continues to improve its Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) implementation. It is currently working on WSL 2, which has not yet shipped, with the newest preview build containing fixes for a "number of localhost reliability issues." This is the latest in a long string of updates—you can keep track of the changes by navigating to Microsoft's running list of release notes.

As usual, Microsoft injected a bunch of general changes, improvements, and fixes in the latest preview build. The list of these is long, with over three dozen entries.

While not every feature will make the final cut, many of the things Microsoft is testing in its 20H1 builds will find their way to the general public sometime in the first half of next year. In the more immediate future, Microsoft will roll out its 19H2 update to Windows 10, likely in October, though it's expected to be more in line with the Service Pack releases of yesterday rather than like any of the previous major updates to Windows 10.