Windows 10 1903 update nears: Microsoft removes another barrier to its release

With April now here, Microsoft is gearing up to release the Windows 10 April Update or version 1903, which it's been testing with Windows Insiders for months. 

The company announced late last week it had removed an upgrade block for devices with games that use anti-cheat software. The block has been in place since late February and depended on fixes from third-party vendors to resolve the issue, which affected preview builds from the 19H1 branch. 

"Many games that use anti-cheat software have released fixes for the issue causing PCs to bugcheck (GSOD)," wrote Windows Insider lead Dona Sarkar. 

"The upgrade block that prevents Windows Insiders from updating to the latest build will be removed soon." 

The lift on the block means users in the slow and fast ring should see 19H1 Build 18362 in Windows Update soon. 

However, Sarkar noted that Microsoft has been working through a glitch causing build 18362 to fail to install for some Slow ring users. This issue affected users on build 18356.16 who tried to update to Build 18362 and has not been resolved. 

For all other Slow ring users, Microsoft has enabled the 'seeker' experience, meaning build 18362 will not automatically download and install from Windows Update. Instead users will need to go to Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update and click the 'Check for updates' button. 

Known issues remaining in this build include problems affecting Creative X-Fi sound cards. Microsoft says it is working with Creative to resolve this issue. Also some Realtek SD card readers aren't working. 

Windows 10 version 1903 is likely to arrive this month and will come as adoption of the current Windows 10 version 1809 remains uncharacteristically low for the period around a new feature release.   

Windows-focused ad analytics firm AdDuplex estimates that version 1809 is installed on just 26 percent of Windows 10 PCs in its survey of 100,000 devices. Most Windows 10 devices are still running version 1803 that was released around this time last year. 

Microsoft only last week announced that Windows 10 1809 is now ready for broad deployment, following early troubles it faced with several serious bugs, including the one that destroyed some users' files.

More on Microsoft Windows 10 and software updates

• Microsoft to Windows 10 users: Are we doing a good job warning you on update bugs?
• Windows 10 1809, 1803: Microsoft confirms new bug in cumulative update
• Microsoft: You really should bookmark this Windows 10 update history page
• Microsoft: To ensure Windows 10 update quality, these are the tools we use
• Microsoft: Windows 10 can now automatically uninstall buggy updates
• Windows Update problems: Fixed now but here's what went wrong, says Microsoft
• Windows 10 bugs: Microsoft reveals more on automatic removal of broken updates
• How to turn features on and off in Microsoft Windows 10 from the Control Panel TechRepublic 
• How to reinstall updates that Windows 10 automatically uninstalled CNET