Microsoft delivers new Windows 11 test build and first Windows 11 ISOs
Microsoft is rolling out another new test build of Windows 11 (Build 22000.160) to testers in the Dev and Beta channels today, August 19. Microsoft is also releasing the first official ISOs for Windows 11 (for build 22000.132) for those who want clean installations or in-place upgrades.
Microsoft also is making available a test build of another of its "inbox" apps for Windows 11: The updated Windows clock with support for Focus Sessions. Focus Sessions is a feature for those who want to set aside blocks of time. This feature includes integrations with the Microsoft To Do product and with Spotify for those who want background music during their Focus Session. Last week, Microsoft released test builds of the refreshed Snipping Tool, Calculator and Mail/Calendar apps for Windows 11.
In today's blog post, Microsoft officials note that installing Windows 11 from the ISO will walk users through the new setup/"out of box" experience. During these steps, users can name their PCs and see the new "Get Started" app.
In the release notes for Build 22000.160, Microsoft officials said they're making a tweak to the feature, which allows users to see estimates as to how long a restart for updates will take. This change will result in this feature only showing up on PCs with SSDs. PCs with standard HDDs won't see estimates on restart time, but Microsoft officials said they hope to bring estimates back to HDD PCs once they fix some bugs in the feature.
Microsoft's blog post has a list of other fixes and known issues in Windows 11 build 22000.160.
In case you missed it, Microsoft also released new preview builds for Windows 10 21H1 and the coming Windows 10 21H2 release to testers this week. The new Windows 10 21H2 preview brings no surprises. Still, it does deliver promised features, including GPU support Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows (EFLOW) deployments for machine learning. It moves 21H2 to build number 19044.1200. Microsoft is expected to roll out the 21H2 release for Windows 10 this fall, likely in or around October.