Windows 10 21H1 new features and changes

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With fixes and a few new features, Windows 10 21H1 (May 2021 Update) is the first semi-annual feature update of 2021 and the eleventh update refresh since the original release. Microsoft will begin rolling it out on May 18, 2021.

Every year, Microsoft usually releases two feature updates. With new features, enhancements, and aesthetic changes, the spring release is typically regarded as the more important one. The fall release, on the other hand, is a little update meant to supplement the earlier one without adding anything noteworthy.

In order to give engineers more time to work on the second feature upgrade and Windows 11, the firm is altering its strategy in 2021 to continue updating Windows 10, making the first update a modest release.

Devices running versions 2004 and 20H2 can choose to upgrade to Windows 10 version 21H1. To avoid potential issues with devices that are not yet fully compatible, the business is first restricting availability and putting protection holds in place. You will receive a reminder to manually download the latest version of Windows 10, version 21H1 through Windows Update as soon as it becomes available for your device.

By selecting the Check for updates option in the Windows Update settings and then selecting the Download and Install button, you can force the upgrade if you’re a seeker. As an alternative, you can perform a clean install or in-place upgrade by utilizing the Media Creation Tool to install the May 2021 Update. To continue with the upgrade, you can also download the ISO file or use the Update Assistant to make a USB bootable media.

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The new features and enhancements that Windows 10 version 21H1 offers will be highlighted in this article.

Windows 10 21H1 new features

  • New Windows Hello multi-camera feature.
  • News and interests widget for Windows 10 21H1 taskbar.
  • Windows Mixed Reality new feature to set the sleep timer for headsets.
  • Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) improvements.
  • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) improvements.
  • New Microsoft Edge (Chromium) support for kiosk mode on Windows 10 May 2021 Update.
  • WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service improvements.
  • Updates the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device Management (DM) sync protocol.
  • Windows 10 startup times for apps with roaming settings improvements on version 21H1.
  • Windows Server Storage Migration Service new feature to migrate from NetApp FAS arrays to Windows Servers and clusters.

What s new on Windows 10 May 2021 Update

Version 21H1 (May 2021 Update), which includes new features, won’t drastically alter how you use Windows 10. Rather, it will concentrate on a few crucial aspects, such as security, remote access, and quality.

For instance, the new multi-camera capability will enable you to make another camera the default when utilizing high-end displays with built-in webcams if you utilize Windows Hello for biometric login.

A delay issue with Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) when opening Microsoft Office has been fixed with this latest edition. Using the Robocopy command-line tool enhances file copying for files larger than 400 MB. Additionally, it fixes an issue that results in excessive system memory utilization while the WDAG container is not in use.

Better support for remote work scenarios using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) is another feature of Windows 10 21H1. Additionally, when changing a user or computer group in Active Directory (AD), it corrects delayed membership propagation.

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Additionally, the news and interests widget will be added to the taskbar by Microsoft. The feature’s goal is to keep you using your computer throughout the day rather than reaching for your phone to check the news and other information.

The company is releasing the widget with the first feature update of 2021, even though it was initially intended for version 21H2.

In the Settings app, you will discover a new option to change the idle time before a headset goes to sleep if you are using Windows Mixed Reality with the May 2021 Update.

Additionally, the Windows Server Storage Migration Service offers a few enhancements to business clients, such as the ability to migrate from NetApp FAS arrays to Windows Servers and clusters. It increases dependability and fixes several problems.

Changes and improvements

This modest update has a few under-the-hood changes in addition to the limited collection of features, such as:

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  • New support for using the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the assigned access single kiosk app.
  • Improves startup times for applications with roaming settings when User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) is turned on.
  • Updates the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device Management (DM) sync protocol by adding a check-in reason for requests from the client to the server. The check-in reason will allow the mobile device management (MDM) service to make better decisions about sync sessions. The OMA-DM service must negotiate a protocol version of 4.0 with the Windows OMA-DM client with this change.
  • Turns off token binding by default in Windows Internet (WinINet).
  • New

    dfslogkey

    in

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MICROSOFT/dfslog

    . The

    RootShareAcquireSuccessEvent

    field has the following possible values, including a default value of 1 to enable the log and a value other than 1 disables the log.
  • Improves the ability of the WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service to ignore invalid Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Protocol (WPAD) URLs that the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server returns.
  • Enhances data loss prevention and insider risk management solution functionalities in Microsoft 365 endpoints.

Feature update fixes

The most recent patches for Windows 10 May 2021 Update (version 21H1) are as follows:

  • Fixed an issue that prevents a site from transitioning out of Microsoft Edge IE Mode when expected.
  • Addressed a problem that fails to remove mandatory profiles completely when you sign out using the Delete cached copies of roaming profiles Group Policy.
  • Fixed an issue that causes blank tiles to appear on the Start menu with names such as ms-resource:AppName or ms-resource:appDisplayName.
  • Addressed a problem with the Microsoft Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) that prevents an app s custom candidate window from displaying correctly.
  • Fixed an issue that occurs when you install inventory applications.
  • Addressed a problem that includes kernel-mode rules for .NET applications in Windows Defender Application Control policies. As a result, the generated policies are significantly larger than necessary.
  • Fixed an issue that causes devices to fail Device Health Attestation.
  • Addressed a problem that turns off S Mode when you enable System Guard Secure Launch on a system running Windows 10 in S Mode.
  • Fixed an issue that causes lsass.exe memory usage to grow until the system becomes unusable.
  • Addressed a problem with a race condition between Task Scheduler and the Workstation Service.
  • Fixed an issue that causes Azure Active Directory authentication to fail after signing in on Windows Virtual Desktop machines.
  • Addressed a problem that causes AAD Work Accounts to unexpectedly disappear from certain apps such as Microsoft Teams or Microsoft Office.
  • Fixed an issue with a partial Service Connection Point (SCP) configuration that causes dsregcmd.exe to stop working.
  • Addressed a problem that accidentally triggers hybrid AAD joining when the Group Policy Register domain-joined computers as devices is set to DISABLED.
  • Fixed an issue that might generate a stop error when Docker containers run with process isolation.
  • Addressed a problem that causes automatic enrollment and certificate retrieval to fail with the error, The parameter is incorrect.
  • Fixed an issue that might cause Microsoft Defender Application Guard virtual machines to stop responding when Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office opens a document.
  • Addressed a problem that prevents some media players from playing content on hybrid devices running with dGPU on iGPU displays.
  • Fixed an issue with race conditions that cause high CPU usage.
  • Addressed a problem with a deadlock in the New Technology File System (NTFS).
  • Fixed an issue that causes DWM.exe to stop working in some cases.
  • Addressed a problem that might prevent an application screen from working when using a Remote Desktop ActiveX control embedded in an HTML page.
  • Fixes an issue causing 0xC2 (BAD_POOL_CALLER) bug check when using IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH_DIRECT.

Microsoft is releasing these enhancements, corrections, and modifications ahead of the 20H2 feature update release, even though they are a part of the 21H1 upgrade development.

Editor’s note: Features and enhancements included in this article were included up until Windows 10 build 19043.964. Because Microsoft may be releasing features targeted at businesses that aren’t covered here, it should be highlighted that this guide concentrates on features for consumers. (Most recent update: May 2021.)

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