Windows 10 v1909 Released

Windows 10 v1909 was released November 12, 2019.

This released carries an 18 month lifecycle for Home, Pro, Pro Education, and Pro for Workstations editions and a 30 month support lifecycle for for Enterprise and Education editions. Accordingly, Microsoft has update their Windows lifecycle fact sheet page to show the new version end-of service dates follow:

This new version contains just minimal set of new features, hoewever it focuses on stability and optimization of the platform Per blog post by John Wilcox:

Windows 10, versions 1903 and 1909 share a common core operating system with an identical set of system files. As a result, the new features in Windows 10, version 1909 were included in the latest monthly quality update for Windows 10, version 1903 (released October 8, 2019), but are currently in a dormant/disabled state. These new features will remain dormant until they are turned on via an “enablement package,” a small, quick-to-install “master switch” that simply activates the Windows 10, version 1909 features.

John Wilcox on Blog post: Windows 10, version 1909 delivery options

Aside from a few feature improvements (see below), this version release is being handled very different than any other past Feature Update Microsoft has delivered in the past in two basic ways:

1. Not many updates
2. Installs as a cumulative update instead

More Details

Feature updates are technically new versions of Windows 10, which become available twice a year (roughly every six months) during spring and fall.

While a quality update installation installs the just the updates (patches) into the existing device, the installation process of a Feature Update includes at its basic level, the following steps: –

• Move the existing Windows 10 installation into the .old folder
• Install new Windows 10 version
• Restore copy Data, Profiles and applications

This process takes anywhere between 30 -90 minutes depending on your device speed as well as a number of other user-specific factors (Like number of applications installed)

Windows 10 version 1909 (v1909) Feature Update is much faster (10-15 minutes) as it does not follow the steps above described, but instead follows the steps of a Quality Update.

As noted by John Gable on Microsoft’s blog post:

New features include capabilities for:

• Quickly creating an event directly from the Calendar flyout on the Taskbar.
• Better managing notifications, including a new button at the top of the Action Center and the ability to sort notifications by most recently shown.
• Integrating OneDrive content online with traditional indexed results in the File Explorer search box.
• The navigation pane on the Start menu now expands when you hover over it with your mouse to better inform where clicking goes.
• Using your voice to activate third-party digital assistants from the Lock screen.

If you are looking for additional information, some resources I list below:

• Microsoft’s  What’s new for IT pros in Windows 10, version 1909.
• Microsoft’s Updates for Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows Server, version 1909
• A great blog post by Rafia Shaikh: What’s New with Windows 10 1909: No Boatload of Untested Features; Focused Completely on Optimizations