Microsoft rolls out Windows 10 insider builds for 21H2 and 21H1

Insiders still on Windows 10 have new builds to install with plenty of fixes.

What you need to know

• Microsoft recently released builds of Windows 10 to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel.
• Builds of Windows 10 version 21H2 and 21H1 are available for Insiders.
• The builds include a long list of fixes but don't include any major new features.

Microsoft recently released builds of Windows 10 version 21H2 and 21H1 to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel. Windows 10 build 19043.1319 is available for Insiders on version 21H1, and build 19044.1319 recently shipped to Insiders on version 21H2.

The changelogs for the two builds are identical. They don't include many new features but have a long list of fixes. Here's everything new in both builds:

• We fixed an issue that prevents you from accessing the pre-provisioning page during the out-of-box experience (OOBE). This issue occurs when the credentials page for signing in to Azure Active Directory appears, and you press the Windows key five times.
• We added a feature that facilitates certain cross-browser data transfers.
• We fixed an issue with Assigned Access kiosks that are configured with Microsoft Edge as a kiosk application. These kiosks might sometimes fail to restart Microsoft Edge if users close the browser window.
• We fixed an issue in which the use of App-V intermittently causes black screens to appear when signing in on the credentials page.
• We fixed an issue that might prevent subtitles from displaying for certain video apps and streaming video sites.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Windows 10 virtual private network (VPN) users from connecting to Windows Server 2019 Routing and Remote Access service (RRAS) servers.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Software-Defined Networking (SDN) virtual machines from working when you configure the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) VPN bandwidth limitation.
• We fixed a Primary Refresh Token (PRT) update issue that occurs when VPN users sign in using Windows Hello for Business when the VPN connection is offline. Users receive unexpected authentication prompts for online resources that are configured for user sign-in frequency (SIF) in Azure Active Directory-Conditional Access.
• We fixed an issue that causes Windows to go into BitLocker recovery after a servicing update.
• We fixed an issue that might cause Kerberos.dll to stop working within the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). This occurs when LSASS processes simultaneous Service for User (S4U) user-to-user (U2U) requests for the same client user.
• We fixed an issue in Code Integrity that might cause a memory leak.
• We enhanced Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's ability to identify and intercept ransomware and advanced attacks.
• We fixed an issue in the OOBE that might cause Windows AutoPilot provisioning to fail.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Kana input mode users from inserting a question mark (?) using the Shift-0 key combination.
• We fixed an issue that sometimes causes the lock screen to appear black if you enable slideshow.
• We fixed a reliability issue with LogonUI.exe, which affects the rendering of the network status text on the credentials screen.
• We fixed an issue that causes Server Message Block (SMB) Query Directory Requests to fail when the buffer size is large.
• We fixed a memory leak issue in lsass.exe on domain controllers in the forest root domain that occurs when you have multiple forests and multiple domains in each forest. The SID-Name mapping functions leak memory when a request comes from another domain in the forest and crosses forest boundaries.
• We fixed an issue with the virtual machine (VM) Load Balancing feature, which ignores a site's fault domain.

While Windows 11 is generally available, Microsoft plans to support Windows 10 for several years. Windows 10 version 21H2 is part of that support. It doesn't have an official release date yet, but it is the next feature update for Windows 10. It should arrive before the end of 2021 and will have minor enterprise features, under the hood enhancements, and bug fixes. Our senior editor Zac Bowden recently wrote about the feature update for Windows 10.