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Version 2004 of Windows 10, release of Windows Server
Microsoft this week announced the latest update milestones for Windows 10 and Windows Server.
The 2004 version of both products was released on Wednesday. The 2004 version of Windows Server is intended for organizations that obtain “Semi-Annual Channel” versions of this product. This server feature update is notable for delivering smaller Sever Core container images, Microsoft said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft had a lot to say about Windows 10 version 2004, known as the “May 2020 Update”. Highlights for mainstream users of Windows 10 version 2004 are described in this announcement. IT pros learn what’s new in this Windows IT Pro blog post by Joe Lurie, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Windows and Microsoft 365 Commercial Marketing. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s this documentation.
Availability of the 2004 version of Windows 10
This new version of Windows 10 is apparently only available to so-called “seekers”, i.e. people who are actually trying to get it, provided their machines are running the latest two versions of the product. .
Here’s how that idea was expressed by John Cable, Director of Program Management for Windows Servicing and Delivery, in another blog post on how to get Windows 10 version 2004:
To ensure you continue to have a reliable and productive experience with your Windows 10 devices, we’re taking a measured and phased approach to how we deliver the May Update, initially limiting availability to devices running Windows 10, versions 1903 and 1909 looking for the update via Windows Update.
Getting a Windows 10 feature update by searching for it means going to the Windows Settings menu and selecting “Check for updates”. There’s now an extra, more polite “Download and Install” step that makes getting a new OS more intentional, but this step is only available for Windows 10 version 1903 or 1909 users.
Delivery of the new operating system will be blocked if Microsoft “telemetry” data indicates a possible problem. Microsoft’s “notifications” page for the 2004 versions of Windows 10 and Windows Server lists 10 “known issues” associated with this release. Additionally, Microsoft released a support article on Wednesday stating that it is blocking this update for machines that use hypervisor-protected code integrity until a display driver issue can occur. to be determined.
Alternatively, the new operating system can be downloaded from the Volume Licensing Service Center. It is also available through management tools, such as Windows Server Update Services or Windows Update for Business.
Notable Features
Many new features of Windows 10 version 2004 were outlined last month during the preview phase, but Microsoft has since managed to squeeze many more into the final product.
Lurie described a number of servicing improvements associated with Windows 10 version 2004. He suggested that the May 2020 Update could be installed in as little as 16 minutes, with a reboot.
“With Windows 10, version 2004, offline time continues to decrease, going from a median time of over 80 minutes in version 1703, to 16 minutes in version 2004, of which only one single reboot for many users,” Lurie wrote.
There are also new PowerShell commandlets that can be used to better see how Microsoft’s delivery optimization scheme is being used. Delivery Optimization allocates bandwidth and uses local machines in a peer-to-peer scenario to perform Windows 10 feature updates in a computing environment.
The ability to recover a Windows 10 machine by getting Windows files from Microsoft’s data centers is available with this 2004 version of Windows 10, although it apparently erases installed applications. It’s the “Reset PC option: cloud upload” option.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux capability, which allows developers to run Linux tools on Windows 10, benefits from support for running “ELF64 Linux binaries”, as well as device support ARM64.
The Windows Sandbox in Windows 10 version 2004 now supports running configuration files. Users can test configuration files without any PC-affecting issues because they run inside a virtual machine.
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