Microsoft delivers update previews for Windows 10 and 11

The update previews for the non-security components of the upcoming February update for Windows 10 and Windows 11 are here. Microsoft already offers at least the documentation.

KB5050094 provides some bug fixes for Windows 11 24H2 and upgrades the operating system to build 26100.3037. Immediately after installation, the update corrects a bug that caused external digital-to-analog converters for the USB port, which still speak USB 1.0, to remain mute. This occurred on several versions of Windows. In addition, some USB audio device drivers may not be usable with the error message “Code 10”, “This device cannot start”, which the update should now fix.

Further improvements through the update preview

When using automatic HDR, some games displayed oversaturated colors. With some USB cameras, Windows could not recognize whether they were activated after the Windows security update from January had been installed. The next update should fix both problems. The developers have also removed the 1-minute timeout if passkeys were used with the smartphone. Further improvements concern the Remote Desktop Gateway and an updated list of dangerous drivers that attackers can misuse for “Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver” (BYOVD) attacks (DriverSiPolicy.p7b).

Microsoft intends to release further bug fixes in stages, including when devices are unable to join a domain or the task manager takes too long to close. There will also be a fix for the problem that cumulative Windows updates sometimes fail to install, with the error message 0x800736b3. Particularly annoying: the mouse pointer can sometimes disappear when it is positioned over text fields in certain applications – A fix for this is also coming with a slight delay.

Update preview for Windows 10

There is also an update preview for Windows 10. KB5050081 increases the build number of Windows 10 22H2 to 19045.5440. It brings the new Outlook to users, but should not affect the classic Outlook. The update also corrects errors with USB 1.0 DACs, USB audio device drivers and USB cameras under Windows 10. Problems with NFC readers, which could occur after many scans with point-of-sale apps and meant that the UUIDs of the cards could no longer be read, are a thing of the past with the update. Printing processes could fail during spooler initialization of printers that use USB-Print and IPP-Over-USB.

The update previews should have been available since Wednesday night. However, the preview for Windows 11 24H2 is not (yet) available on several test systems.

Microsoft published the previous update preview in November last year. In December, Microsoft did not want to burden the holidays with this additional work. They also fixed some annoying bugs.

(dmk)