Although Microsoft prefers to not publish new builds on Friday's in order to prevent weekend work by the product team, it seems the Windows engineers and program managers were willing to do just that to get Insiders a new build for testing today.
Windows 10 Build 10547 was pushed to Insiders to install on their desktop and tablet devices which they have opted into the Fast Ring distribution channel. It has already begun showing up in Windows Update
This build, which comes from the Threshold 2 (TH2) branch - the update that is expected this fall, brings along the normal bug fixes and stability improvements of past builds but also has a few new items.
- Start Menu now supports a fourth column of tiles - an option that can be toggled on and off.
- The previous limit of 512 tiles on Start has been bumped up to 2,048. I am not sure what the usage scenario would be for that many tiles on the Start Menu but now there is room for even more.
- Tablet Mode updated to allow users to snap apps left or right from Task View and swipe down to close an app.
- Updates for built in apps have also shipped.
- The background picture on the sign-in screen can now be turned off under Personalization settings.
- Microsoft Edge receives a new build that now includes Object RTC. Learn more at the Microsoft Edge blog.
- Text input panel update provides more space for Latin writers; no longer opens by default unless in Tablet Mode, improved help suggestions.
Fixes in this build include:
- We have fixed a lot of the underlying causes of the critical error dialog Insiders were seeing with Start. And search should work more consistently now when interacting with Start.
- The notification icon for Action Center should no longer light up even though there weren’t any new notifications.
- We fixed an issue where the Battery fly-out text was truncated in certain languages.
- When choosing background shuffle, we’ve enabled the ability to shuffle backgrounds randomly instead of the order they appear in the folder.
- You can now use Cortana with local accounts as well as with a Microsoft account.
- We have fixed several issues with audio – including issues specific affecting Realtek audio devices.
Take note of that next to last one - Cortana can now be used with local accounts on Windows 10 - that is HUGE!
Now on the know issue side of this:
- Languages packs are being published, but will be rolling out to the update servers throughout the day.
- Windows Store apps may not update automatically. To receive app updates, open the Store, click on your profile picture at the top right, choose “Download and updates” and check for updates manually.
- Using Notepad.exe from the command line to open files when using only a file name, such as ‘file.txt’, will fail with a permissions error. This will be fixed in a future build, but this can be worked around by using a full or partial path, such as ‘.\file.txt’, or using File->Open options in the UI.
- Clicking on the system icons in the notification area quickly can result in Windows Shell blocking the launch of fly-outs like Audio, Networking, etc. This can be resolved by rebooting your PC.
- You will see a warning message in the Settings app > Update & Security > Windows Update regarding preview builds. Don’t worry about this – It is safe to ignore for now. We’re adding some new functionality to help you diagnose what’s going on if a new build isn’t getting to you, but it’s not fully implemented yet.
The download and install went very quickly on my device. I will also be installing this on my HP Stream 7 to check out the new Tablet Mode features to see how that impacts usage.
Look for more on that later.
