New Windows 10 Insider Preview Build Makes Changes To Windows Update

By Derek Forrest
published

Microsoft released a new Windows 10 Insider Preview build that is designed to be more proactive at keeping PCs up to date.

The Windows 10 Insider Preview build 17107 (RS4) is available now to Insiders in the Fast ring (those who opted into Skip Ahead will not receive an update this week) and includes what Microsoft described as improvements to the way Windows Update scans, downloads, and installs new patches. It will now prevent the PC from going to sleep for up to two hours when it is not in active use and receives an update. The company says it will give the update more opportunity to succeed, indicating that sleep mode may have been problematic to applying Windows 10 updates in the past.

Several other general changes and fixes have also been deployed in the new build, resolving issues with the Settings menu (crashes in various scenarios), Windows Defender (button overlaps, offline scan), and other random hang and crash problems. The new patch also adds a new message when holding down the power button to recover from an unresponsive system for some Insiders. It asks users to “Please release the power button. We just need a few more seconds to shut down,” so that additional diagnostic data about the unexpected shutdown can be collected.

A few nagging problems linger still, with Microsoft disclosing some of the known issues that it plans to address in future builds. Gamers may notice that the Game bar is centered incorrectly, and selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opens the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the media. Tearing a PDF tab in the Edge browser will result in a bugcheck, and a small number of devices are apparently experiencing a reboot loop state in a scenario where the OS fails to load properly after the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown. The company suggests a workaround for the boot loop, noting that disabling the motherboard’s fast boot feature may alleviate the issue. However, it may be necessary to create a bootable ISO on a USB drive to boot into recovery mode if that doesn’t work.

The new Windows 10 Insider Preview build 17107 (RS4) is available now to Fast ring Insiders, and you can read the full release notes at Microsoft's website.

Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He writes hardware news and reviews gaming desktops and laptops.
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • techy1966
    So they are now even trying harder to force updates on people that make a choice to only install the ones that they chose to install. I noticed in fall creators update they made it so you can yes turn off the updates but it will turn itself back on in about 30 minutes to an hour and do whatever it wants. I have no problem with being up to date but it is my PC I bought it and also bought the windows license so with that said I want control of how my machine runs not the choices being made from someone else.

    I had to gut windows update on a work system because the update which was a feature upgrade took control of the system during my work hours and made the PC useless for 2 hours while it upgraded to the latest version of Windows 10. This was down time for the PC and the work it had to do while MS took control of it and money lost. So when I got the PC back up to windows desktop I gutted the update system and did the same on the other machines in the building as well I now get updates else where when I choose to do it and that is on weekends when the business is closed and the machines are not needed.

    I know there will be oh but you are making the internet unsafe for the rest of us complaints. Well whatever money talks bull crap walks if MS can make sure that when they do a forced update and the PC's in the building go down all of a sudden to do updates then I will let them handle the updating tasks until then I will do it myself when I have the time to do so. Side note when MS decided to turn the PC off and do the update that PC was actually in control of a machine which made it go funky and waste a lot of product..Thanks MS for that but we won't have to worry about that any longer now will we. ALso we never actually installed Windows 10 on any of these machines it was also a forced upgrade form Windows 7 Pro on all of the machines but that is another story and how it took the whole business down for an afternoon.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    20736020 said:
    So they are now even trying harder to force updates on people that make a choice to only install the ones that they chose to install. I noticed in fall creators update they made it so you can yes turn off the updates but it will turn itself back on in about 30 minutes to an hour and do whatever it wants. I have no problem with being up to date but it is my PC I bought it and also bought the windows license so with that said I want control of how my machine runs not the choices being made from someone else.

    I had to gut windows update on a work system because the update which was a feature upgrade took control of the system during my work hours and made the PC useless for 2 hours while it upgraded to the latest version of Windows 10. This was down time for the PC and the work it had to do while MS took control of it and money lost. So when I got the PC back up to windows desktop I gutted the update system and did the same on the other machines in the building as well I now get updates else where when I choose to do it and that is on weekends when the business is closed and the machines are not needed.

    I know there will be oh but you are making the internet unsafe for the rest of us complaints. Well whatever money talks bull crap walks if MS can make sure that when they do a forced update and the PC's in the building go down all of a sudden to do updates then I will let them handle the updating tasks until then I will do it myself when I have the time to do so. Side note when MS decided to turn the PC off and do the update that PC was actually in control of a machine which made it go funky and waste a lot of product..Thanks MS for that but we won't have to worry about that any longer now will we. ALso we never actually installed Windows 10 on any of these machines it was also a forced upgrade form Windows 7 Pro on all of the machines but that is another story and how it took the whole business down for an afternoon.
    They have this new invention called an IT department. Any competent one can handle the aforementioned issues. If you are too small to have an IT department, hire some random nerd that sort of knows what he's doing. Any random dork can schedule an update to happen when they're not doing whatever.
    Reply
  • Tanyac
    Windows 10 is so wonderful (That's sarcasm).
    It thrashes my hard disk, hammers my internet connection and continually turns itself on causing noticeable increases in my energy costs. There are 10 PCs in my home so multiply that all by 10. And now they want to foce my computers to stay awake sucking up more electricity.

    Dear Microsoft, can you please pay my electricity bills.

    Hey, everyone's entitled to a little bit of a rant every now and then... I feel so much better now.

    But seriously.. I think Microsoft have definitely gone of the rails since the release of Window 8
    Reply
  • phobicsq
    I'm so sick of these forced updates that I have to deal with. Every time they do these updates I have to change or modify crap because you can't delete anything. I'm so ready to just get pro.
    Reply
  • boju
    tear jerker

    Reply
  • hannibal
    Hmmm... Newer have had any problems with win10, but PC world is so diverse that problems has to happen from time to time.
    So this is a dilemma. Patches make computer more safe, but can cause havoc if you have more exotic hardware. So there has to be an option to choose!
    Reply
  • Nintendork
    Just install or pirate win7, you don't need any update post 2014, so lock down the service.
    Reply
  • therealduckofdeath
    Tom's is a great source for tech news. But, isn't it time the comment system gets a fix? It's rather frustrating to see long comments vanish into oblivion with the nonsensical error "The form is not valid".
    Reply
  • Giroro
    So what are you supposed to do when Windows new and "Improved" hard-shutdown hangs? Unplug the PC? Pull the battery? Good luck doing either of those on a modern laptop.
    If windows was working properly in the first place, then I wouldn't be holding down the power button would I?
    Reply
  • Ilya__
    I feel like the updates are much more manageable on Win10 Pro, they should make this experience the same across all Win10 versions.
    Reply