Windows 10 May 2020 Update is now officially finished and has been pushed out to Microsoft’s Release Preview ring.
In other words, testers on that ring can now get hold of build 19041.207 of the May 2020 Update – as it has been officially named – which should be the final version of the upgrade that is released to consumers at some point in May (presumably – barring any major last-minute fails). Although it might come out later in May, rather than sooner, for reasons we’ll come on to momentarily.
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It’ll be no surprise to hear that there are no feature introductions at this point, but Microsoft has made some minor tweaks and fixes, including the solution for an issue which can stop the rear flash working on Windows 10 tablets with a rear-facing camera.
Also note that those in the Release Preview ring may not get this final build delivered straight away – it’s only being automatically deployed to a small number of testers to begin with, and that rollout will then be ramped up.
However, if you don’t want to wait, you can manually grab the May 2020 Update on your PC running the Windows 10 preview simply by heading to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, and then clicking on Check for updates.
Virtually here
There is one major caveat here which Microsoft highlighted in the release notes for build 19041.207, namely that those using Windows Mixed Reality hardware may find it doesn’t work properly with the May 2020 Update (also known as 20H1) at this stage. So if you use your headset a lot – or indeed even a bit – it’s probably best to leave the build alone at this point.
Microsoft says it’s working on a fix for this issue which should be pushed out in early May, or that’s the hope. It’s pure speculation, naturally, but even though there aren’t many Windows Mixed Reality users out there in terms of the total Windows 10 population, there are certainly some, and we’d imagine that this solution would have to be ready for the release of the May 2020 Update. Therefore, it’ll likely be deployed after its implementation – in other words, not early May.
Of course, Microsoft could unleash the May 2020 Update on the general computing public at any point in the near future, but typically it’s a month or so between the upgrade hitting the Release Preview ring and its general release (that was certainly the case with the previous November 2019 Update, was made available almost exactly a month later). Assuming this is the case again, that would mean we’re looking at mid-May.
When it does arrive, the May 2020 Update will usher in a number of new features, which include a big overhaul for Cortana – which will now be a separate app, and offer more ‘conversational’ interactions, being repositioned as a ‘personal productivity assistant’ to boot.
We can also expect a more efficient and improved Windows search experience, better video playback, and a Cloud Download feature that should make resetting Windows 10 back to the default configuration when you first installed it much easier. There are more features besides, along with interface tweaks, and the promise of better security as Microsoft moves towards a password-less world.
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