Microsoft releases Windows 10 Build 21296

Microsoft today released Windows 10 Build 21296 to Insiders in the Dev channel. It comes from the RS_PRERELEASE branch. It doesn't include any new feature, but includes a ton of fixes and general improvements.

Also, the company has mentioned that Windows Insider Preview build 20262 or earlier will be expiring on January 31, 2021. It is recommended to get the most recent preview build available.

What's new in Windows 10 Build 21296

Changes and Improvements

Microsoft has noted the following two changes made to the user interface and Storage Spaces.

• A new clipboard history design is rolling out to Insiders. The updated flyout, which made its first appearance in build 20206, allows printing, unpinning, deleting, and syncing individual entries.
• The new Storage Spaces UI in Settings is now available to all Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Besides the above, there is a huge list of fixes.

Fixes in this release

• The issue that could prevent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War from launching has been fixed and is in the process of rolling out. Please update your game(s) to apply the fix.
• We fixed an issue from the previous flight where Xbox Game Bar was launching on its own for certain games, without pressing WIN + G.
• We fixed an issue where when the Xbox Game Bar was launched (like when pressing WIN + G), the PC might appear unresponsive.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the Program Compatibility Assistant sometimes unexpectedly taking up a large amount of CPU resources in the last few flights.
• We fixed an issue that could result in explorer.exe hanging when mounting ISOs.
• We fixed an issue where the Windows Security app might show both a check for updates button and link at the same time.
• We fixed and issue causing some Insiders to experience rendering / graphic issues after resizing certain app windows.
• Installing this build will restore x64 emulation on ARM64 if it had previously broken after installing Build 21292.1010.
• For Insiders using x64 apps on ARM64, there is an updated preview of the ARM64 C++ redistributable (version 14.28.29812) now available to install from https://aka.ms/arm64previewredist. This updated redist adds vcruntime140_1.dll and fixes crashes occurring in a number of CAD applications.

Traditionally for pre-release builds, there are known issues.

Known issues

• We’re working on a fix for an issue Insiders have reported where certain games like State of Decay 2, or titles from the Assassin’s Creed franchise, may hang or crash when launching.
• We’re investigating an issue where some 32-bit systems may lose network connection after taking this build. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, you may wish to pause updates until the issue is resolved.
• Miracast users may experience very low frame rates in this build.
• We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
• We’re investigating an issue impacting the reliability of Start and other modern apps, which started in the previous flight. If you are impacted, you may experience the Start menu layout resetting.
• Aero Shake is disabled in this build. To enable it, you will need to go here in Registry Editor and create a new DWORD entry named DisallowShaking with a value of 0: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
• Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
• We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
• [News and interests] Upgrading to this build will cause your news and interests taskbar setting to be reset to “Show icon and text”. This is fixed going forward.
• [News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout cannot be dismissed with pen.
• [News and interests] News and interests uses more taskbar space on the left than expected.
• [News and interests] The taskbar button can show stale information each time the user signs into their Windows session.
• [News and interests] The news and interests flyout shows content in a single column before quickly switching to double column.
• [News and interests] Text in taskbar button can look pixelated in high resolution screens.
• [News and interests] The taskbar context menu and news and interests overlap.
• [News and interests] In certain circumstances, news and interests uses 100% of CPU when first launched.
• [News and interests] Attempting to share content dismisses the flyout.
• [ARM64] Insiders who installed the preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver on the Surface Pro X may experience reduced brightness of the display. This will be addressed in a future update.

That's all about this release. The official announcement is here.

If you have configured your device to receive updates from the Dev Channel/Fast Ring ring, open Settings - > Update & recovery and click on the Check for Updates button on the right. This will install the latest available Insider Preview of Windows 10.