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Microsoft pauses Windows 10 preview builds ahead of 'Windows 11' event

Don't expect any significant updates in new Windows 10 preview builds for the next few weeks. It's all about testing the servicing pipeline with new cumulative updates.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

With the big 'Windows 11' event in the wings, Microsoft has paused the release of new Windows 10 preview builds in order to test its servicing pipeline with cumulative updates. 

Microsoft released the Windows 10 Insider preview build 21390to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel on May 26 and has now released a cumulative update in the form of build 21390.1000. It contains no new features and no fixes for known issues in build 21390.  

The company updated its original blogpost for build 21390 to inform Insiders that it won't be doing the usual weekly release of new builds, but rather will be packing cumulative updates on build 21390 purely to test its servicing pipeline. 

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"We have been testing our servicing pipeline with Cumulative Updates to the builds released to the Dev Channel. Each week, we would release a new build and then follow up with a Cumulative Update on top of that build before moving to the next build," said Microsoft's Windows Insider team.  

"However, we need to test the process of releasing multiple Cumulative Updates on top of each other on top of the same build. As a result of this, over the course of the next several weeks, our focus will be on releasing multiple Cumulative Updates on top of Build 21390."

Microsoft is gearing up for its big Windows event on June 24 to explain what it's doing with the new variant of Windows. This is likely to include a major user interface refresh codenamed Sun Valley. 

Some Windows watchers are speculating this version of Windows could be called Windows 11 while others believe it will be just called Windows. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reckons the announcement will not be about the Windows 10 21H2 update, but a new variant of Windows aimed at consumers. 

Microsoft only last month released the 21H1 Windows 10 feature update, but it was a minor one that was designed to make it easy for users on Windows 10 2004 to upgrade. Last week, Microsoft announced it would roll out the update more broadly using machine learning to determine which Windows PCs were safe to upgrade. 

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For now Windows 10 2004 users can manually check for the update, but more users on this version should see it become available as Microsoft continues its machine-learning assessments. 

"We also started the first phase in our rollout for machine learning (ML) training, targeting devices on Windows 10, version 2004 to update automatically to Windows 10, version 21H1. We will continue to train our machine learning through all phases to intelligently rollout new versions of Windows 10 and deliver a smooth update experience," Microsoft said on its Windows 10 health dashboard.

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