Microsoft has released W10 build 14901 for PC

Aug 12, 2016 04:38 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just shipped the first Windows 10 Redstone 2 builds to PC insiders enrolled in the fast ring, thus officially starting work on the OS update that’s scheduled to see daylight in spring 2017.

Windows 10 build 14901 doesn’t bring any big changes, and Dona Sarkar, the head of the Windows Insider program, explains in an announcement that this happens because the Windows team still needs to do some structural work and refactoring before starting shipping new features in Redstone 2.

What’s important to know, however, is that this build is only available on PCs because the company is still finalizing the Anniversary Update for mobile devices, so unless this release takes place, Redstone 2 builds cannot be shipped to smartphones.

Just one new feature

New features in Redstone 2 builds should arrive “in a few months,” Dona says, so it’s very important to stick with these first builds even though they do not bring very big changes. Feedback is still essential, but Microsoft needs to get OneCore right before new features are introduced.

“We’re doing some code refactoring and other engineering work to make sure OneCore is optimally structured for teams to start checking in new features and improvements in a few months. As a result, these builds may include more bugs and other issues that could be slightly more painful for some people to live with,” Dona Sarkar explains.

There is only one new feature in this build - File Explorer notifications, which we’ll detail in a separate article in a few minutes. On the other hand, there are also two known issues, namely a bug that makes Adobe Acrobat Reader crash at launch, and no more support for kernel debugging over 1394 (this feature will be available soon, Microsoft guarantees).

As usual, this new build is available via Windows Update, but Microsoft says that “it may take a couple of hours for this build to show up for some insiders as updated device targeting needs to roll out.”