What’s New in Windows 10 Version 1909 (19H2)

The change log for Windows 10 Version 1909 (19H2)

Windows 10 Version 1909 is the upcoming feature update to Windows 10. Unlike all its predecessors, it won't be released as a full OS image. Instead, Microsoft is about to push it as a cumulative update over the Windows Update. Here are the changes introduced in Windows 10 Version 1909 (19H2).

Windows 10 version 1909, code named '19H2', is a minor update with a smaller set of enhancements focused primarily on select performance improvements, enterprise features, and quality enhancements. It is now officially known as Windows 10 November 2019 Update.

The final build [as of now] is Windows 10 Build 18363.418.

Microsoft is going to ship Windows 10 19H2 as a cumulative update to Windows 10 users once its development is finished. It will be available to Windows 10 May 2019 Update users as a regular update package, just like the monthly cumulative updates that Microsoft issues for supported Windows 10 versions.

Сheck out the following blog post: Microsoft Details Its Plans for Windows 10 19H2.

Here are the changes introduced in this update.

What's new in Windows 10 Version 1909 (19H2)

Desktop and Taskbar

• The navigation pane on the Start menu now expands when you hover over it with your mouse to better inform where clicking goes.
• An option to create a new calendar event directly from the calendar flyout in the taskbar.
  
• Notification toasts now come with extra options to configure and turn off notifications from an app. The same can be done from the Action Center.

Settings

Notifications & actions

• The System > Notifications and actions page has been updated to include extra options. One of them is the ability to turn off notification sounds.
• Microsoft has added friendly images to show what they mean by “banner” and “Action Center” when adjusting the notifications on apps in order to make these settings more approachable and understandable.
• Notification settings under Settings > System > Notifications will now default to sorting notification senders by most recently shown notification, rather than sender name. This makes it easier to find and configure frequent and recent senders.

Windows Apps

• File Explorer has been updated to show web-powered suggestions in addition to files locally indexed on the PC in the search results.

Hardware support

• Additional debugging capabilities have been added for newer Intel processors. This is only relevant for hardware manufacturers.
• General battery life and power efficiency improvements for PCs with certain processors.
• A CPU may have multiple “favored” cores (logical processors of the highest available scheduling class). To provide better performance and reliability, Microsoft has implemented a rotation policy that distributes work more fairly among these favored cores.
• A fix to allow OEMs to reduce the inking latency based on the hardware capabilities of their devices rather than being stuck with latency selected on typical hardware configuration by the OS.
• Key-rolling or Key-rotation feature enables secure rolling of Recovery passwords on MDM managed AAD devices upon on demand request from in-tune/MDM tools or upon every time recovery password is used to unlock the BitLocker protected drive. This feature will help prevent accidental recovery password disclosure as part of manual BitLocker drive unlock by users.

Virtualization

Windows containers don't require matched host and container version any more. This allows the host to run down-level containers on up-level for process (Argon) isolation.

Accessibility

• The ability for Narrator and other assistive technologies to read and learn where the FN key is located on keyboards and what state it is in (locked versus unlocked).
• A change to enable third-party digital assistants to voice activate above the Lock screen.

Security

• Windows Defender Credential Guard is now enabled for ARM64 devices for additional protection against credential theft for enterprises deploying ARM64 devices in their organizations.
• The ability for enterprises to supplement the Windows 10 in S Mode policy to allow traditional Win32 (desktop) apps from Microsoft Intune.

Windows 10 Release History

• What’s new in Windows 10 version 22H2
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 21H1
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 20H2
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 2004 'May 2020 Update' (20H1)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1909 'November 2019 Update' (19H2)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1903 'May 2019 Update' (19H1)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1809 'October 2018 Update' (Redstone 5)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1803 'April 2018 Update' (Redstone 4)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1709 'Fall Creators Update' (Redstone 3)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1703 'Creators Update' (Redstone 2)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1607 'Anniversary Update' (Redstone 1)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1511 'November Update' (Threshold 2)
• What’s new in Windows 10 version 1507 'Initial version' (Threshold 1)