Microsoft Rolls Out Windows 10 Redstone 4 Preview Build 17025

Microsoft today released Windows 10 Redstone 4 Preview Build 17025 to Insiders in the Fast ring. This is the second Redstone 4 preview build following preview build 17017 which was released just a few days before Fall Creators Update. While it’s still in the early testing days, there are some new features to try out including an improved Fluent Design, Startup app control, Ease of Access settings, and more.

Windows 10 Preview Build 17025

Here is a look at some of the key new features in this Redstone 4 build that you can start trying out once you’ve installed this preview.

Ease of Access Settings. The new settings are designed to make your device easier to use and fit your specific needs. Related settings that help you see, hear, and interact with your Windows 10 system are grouped together and updated with easier to understand descriptions. You can access them by going to Settings > Ease of Access.

New Startup App Control Settings. Microsoft introduced a new home and experience for startup apps in the last Redstone 4 preview, Build 17017. This build improves upon that and allows you to configure UWP apps to run during startup and see all available tasks specified by the developer.

There is also an evolving Yahei font for Chinese text that the company is improving. Here is a list of the other improvements and fixes you can expect in this latest Redstone 4 preview.

• 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.

And, as is the case with all preview builds, there’s a list of known issues, too. One of the most notable according to Dona Sarkar’s announcement is that Mail, Cortana, and Windows Media Player are broken. You will find a workaround in the Feedback Hub, and you can view a full list of changes in Microsoft’s changelog.

Are you an Insider running Build 17025? Leave a comment below and let us know how things are going. Or, for all things Microsoft, including troubleshooting advice, check out our Windows 10 Forums.