Microsoft starts testing Windows Feature Experience Pack updates with Windows Insiders

[steven36]

By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft

 

 

Microsoft has released a version of the Windows Feature Experience Pack, a collection of features that are updated independently of the OS, to testers in the Beta Channel.

 

On November 30, Microsoft released for the first time a test build of the Windows Feature Experience Pack to Insider testers. Version 120.2212.1070.0 of the pack is available to testers in the Beta Channel.

Microsoft execs have declined, until today, to talk about what the Windows Feature Experience Pack is. I reported earlier this year that the Feature Experience Pack is a collection of features that can be updated independently of the Windows 10 operating system itself. In today's blog post about the pack, officials confirmed that this is what the Windows Feature Experience Pack actually is.

(Those with recent releases of Windows 10 installed on their PCs can see the Windows Feature Experience Pack already is installed. When I wrote about the pack in June, it included the updated Snipping tool, text input pannel and a shell-suggestion user interface.)

Microsoft's goal is to make the Windows Feature Experience Pack a vehicle for delivering new feature improvements to customers outside of major Windows 10 feature updates.

"By testing this process first with Windows Insiders, we hope to expand the scope and the frequency of releases (of the Feature Pack) in the future," blogged Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc.

Microsoft's goal is to make Windows Feature Experience Pack updates available to Insiders -- and ultimately, mainstream customers -- through Windows Update just like builds and cumulative updates are.

Today's Windows Feature Experience Pack release includes a couple of new improvements in the snipping experience and touch keyboard. Testers will be able to use the built-in screen snipping experience (WIN + SHIFT + S) to create a snip of a screen and paste it directly into afolder in File Explorer. And testers also will be able to use split keyboard mode in a portrait posture on a 2-in-1 touch device.

In order to test today's feature pack release, Insiders in the Beta Channel need the 20H2 build 19042.662 installed. Microsoft released Windows 10 20H2 to mainstream users in October and has been testing cumulative updates to that finished released via the Insider program in the past few weeks. 

 

Microsoft officials still have notdiscussed when and if there will be a Windows 10 21H1 release. Based on various leaks, it sounds like the Windows 10 21H2 release (codenamed "Cobalt") will be a fairly major update when it comes out late next year.

 

Source

[zanderthunder]

Windows 10 gets two new features in the Beta channel without a new build

 

 

Microsoft is testing a new way of delivering new features to Windows 10 users without requiring completely new builds of Windows 10. The company has just released an update to the Windows Feature Experience Pack for Windows Insiders in the Beta channel, bringing it to version 120.2212.1070.0.

 

Just like new builds or cumulative updates, updates to the Windows Experience Feature Pack are available through Windows Update, and you can simply check for updates to find them. The goal is to use these updates to distribute updates to features and products that are developed independently of the OS itself, allowing new features to be added without the need for a whole new build of Windows.

 

Here's what's new in this release for Insiders in the Beta channel:

• Based on Insider feedback, you can now use the built-in screen snipping experience in Windows (WIN + SHIFT + S) to create a snip of your screen and paste it directly into a folder of your choice in File Explorer to save the screenshot there. Try it out!
• Using the touch keyboard in a portrait posture on a 2-in-1 touch device now supports split keyboard mode.

For now, this new method of delivering features is just being tested, and that's why it's only available in the Beta channel. Eventually, Microsoft plans to expand the scope of Windows Feature Experience Pack updates to more people, and they will just become part of the servicing structure that already exists in Windows Update, existing alongside new builds and cumulative updates.

 

References to the Windows Feature Experience Pack actually showed up in Windows 10 some time ago, but the company hadn't done much with it until now or said what purpose it would serve. It's been speculated that Windows 10 feature updates may shift to an annual release schedule, so the Windows Feature Experience Pack updates appear to be a way to supplement them going forward. However, Microsoft hasn't been very open with how it plans to move forward with development for either Windows 10 or Windows 10X, so we'll have to wait for the company to clear things up.

 

Source: Windows 10 gets two new features in the Beta channel without a new build (via Neowin)

[d5aqoep]

 

Very handy feature and working quite well on 19042.662.

 

• KB4592784 (cab) 64-bit | Download
• KB4592784 (cab) 32-bit | Download

 

Source: MDL forums. Install the cab file with the GUI based installer enclosed below.

You have to be on 19042.662 build to be able to try the new features. If you are on 19041 (20H1) build, the following three things are required before you install the above cab package.

 

1) Servicing Stack Update

• KB4586864 (msu) 64-bit | Download
• KB4586864 (msu) 32-bit | Download

2) 19042.662 Preview CU

• KB4586853 (msu) 64-bit | Download
• KB4586853 (msu) 32-bit | Download

3) Finally, you will also need enablement package

• KB4562830 (msu) 64-bit | Download
• KB4562830 (msu) 32-bit | Download

msu files can be double clicked to install. Use Below to install cab file at the end.

InstallUpdate-GUI-v1.0.0.exe.zip