Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17686 Paves Way For Fall 2018 Update

Microsoft is adding some tweaks to its privacy settings, including providing a popup notification to inform you if your computer's microphone has been disabled. The popup will give the opportunity to change the setting if necessary from the privacy settings window.

For users of Microsoft's fledgling Windows Mixed Reality platform, there are a couple of updates that you should take note of. For starters, you won't need to attach a physical monitor to a PC to run Mixed Reality experiences. Microsoft specifically cites backpack PCs as a situation where this could have previously been a hindrance. Microsoft says that while you will still need a monitor to initially configure the Mixed Reality Portal, you will be able to configure your settings to bypass the monitor requirement.

In addition, Windows Mixed Reality apps will be able to leverage the Camera Capture UI API for grabbing images in the mixed reality environment, and Microsoft has simplified controls when capturing video.

On a lesser note, Microsoft has improved the "local experience" by including a new Region page within Settings that allows you to adjust settings for your Calendar, first day of the week, default currency, etc. "Local Experience Packs are Microsoft Store apps that deliver Windows display language quality improvements," Microsoft adds. "You can now access them easily via the Settings App. Please go to Settings App – Time & Language – Language."

Microsoft has also addressed following issues with this latest build:

• We fixed an issue resulting in frequent bugchecks on the previous build with CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error.
•  Settings > Gaming > Game DVR has been renamed “Captures”.
• We fixed an issue where Paint and WordPad settings and recent files weren’t migrated during upgrades.
• While we still have some work to do, you’ll find that when you update to this build, File Explorer will look a lot more complete in dark theme.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the “Replace or skip files” dialog having some unexpected dark elements in recent flights.
• We fixed an issue where the Japanese IME’s big mode indicator would appear in the center of the screen when bringing up UAC even if the mode indicator had been disabled in Settings.
• We fixed an issue where the taskbar flyouts (network, volume, etc) didn’t have a shadow.
• We fixed an issue where clicking on the plus button in the Clock and Calendar flyout from the taskbar didn’t do anything in recent flights.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Command Prompt’s cursor appearing invisible in the last few flights.
• We fixed an issue resulting in a high number of reliability issues when switching to the Microsoft Pinyin IME in recent flights.
• We fixed an issue where the Emoji Panel might not dismiss if you clicked somewhere else on the screen.

The Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17686 is currently available to download now for all Windows Insiders on the Fast ring. If installing test software isn’t exactly your idea of a good time, you can always install the Windows 10 April 2018 Update.