Microsoft have released a new build for Windows Insiders on the dev channel. Build 20246 changes the branch name to FE_RELEASE and many of the recent new feature removed. So, the new emoji picker, touch keyboard and theme-aware splash screens have been temporarily removed.

Starting with today’s build, Windows Insiders will notice that the name of the branch we are releasing builds from has changed to FE_RELEASE. Just like we did back in May when we released builds from the MN_RELEASE branch, we are practicing our ability to change which branch flight builds from.

I think this must be related to 20H2 being complete and Microsoft getting ready to start testing the next update. Features in the dev channel are not tied to a specific release of Windows 10. Hopefully, the missing features will be back once the branch switches back to pre-release.

UPDATE: Here is my hands on video

Here are the fixes and known issues with build 20246:

Changes and Improvements

We added automatic Linux distro installation to the wsl.exe –install command! This means that users who wish to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux quickly can just type in `wsl.exe –install` into the command line and then will have a fully set up WSL instance ready to go, including their Linux distro of choice.

Fixes

We fixed an issue that could result in the Pick Time button in the Windows Update dialog not doing anything.

We fixed an issue where hovering over a thumbnail in Task View would display an unexpected border around the item.

We fixed an issue where chkdsk could appear to be stuck at 100% due to not printing the message saying it was done.

We fixed an issue that could result in a crash when disconnecting certain audio devices while playing audio in recent builds.

We fixed an issue where the Windows Update page in Settings could fail to load if connected to a Wi-Fi network with no internet connection.

We fixed an issue resulting in Settings crashing sometimes when clicking the Update and Security category.

We fixed an issue resulting in Storage Settings unexpectedly showing incorrect category sizes (a higher number than what was visible in File Explorer).

We fixed an issue that could lead to a crash when managing partition size in Storage Settings.

We fixed an issue that stopped GPU compute scenarios such as CUDA and DirectML not working for some users inside of the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Known issues

We’re investigating reports of installing games from the Store to a secondary non-OS drive will result in the secondary drive becoming inaccessible. To prevent this from occurring you must change the default storage for new content to the secondary drive PRIOR to installing the game. This can be done in Settings > Storage > Change where new content is saved.

We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.

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.

We’re working on a fix for an issue causing some devices to experience a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION bugcheck.

We’re investigating an issue reported by some Insiders wherein the taskbar is obscuring the Power button in the Start menu. If this is happening on your PC, you may need to use the Windows key plus X menu to shutdown for the time being.

Windows Insiders on ARM PCs such as the Surface Pro X will notice that Windows PowerShell will fail to launch on this build. As a workaround, please use “Windows PowerShell (x86)” or “Windows PowerShell ISE (x86)” from the Start menu if you need to use PowerShell. Or download the new and modern PowerShell 7 which takes advantage of ARM by running natively. Plus the icon is prettier.

Via

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