Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15014 for PC and Mobile arrives on the Fast ring, and delivers yet more new features

Microsoft is aiming for April for the Windows 10 Creators Update, so is rushing out new builds for Insiders to try. Last week we got not one but two new releases on the Fast ring -- Build 15002, which introduced a wealth of changes and new features, and Build 15007, which also introduced a fair amount of new functionality.

The latest release, Build 15014 fixes a ton of issues from the previous two builds, but also introduces some exciting new features.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft reveals more new features -- and problems -- in Windows 10 Insider Build 15007

New to this build, for PC and Mobile, is the ability to purchase ebooks in the Windows Store for reading in Microsoft Edge. This is for US Insiders only, for now. Purchased books will appear in the new Books library in Edge next to Favorites, History and so on.

If you’re forever running low on disk space the new build can help by automatically getting rid of files you don’t need -- such as temp files and recycle bin contents. You’ll need to enable this feature which you’ll find in System > Storage Settings, and you can choose what to clean up.

In addition to that, for PC there’s a lighter shade for Cortana’s search box, and bigger text in Cortana notifications. You can pick your own custom accent color in Colors Settings. Some of the advanced Wi-Fi settings have been merged in this build, and there’s a new power slider on select Windows 10 devices that you can use to improve battery life. If you see the feature (many users won’t) you can play around with it but don’t expect to see any improvement as it’s not currently wired up to the performance/power settings (Microsoft just wants to show off how it looks).

Other changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

• You may see the Mail app pinned to your Taskbar after updating to Build 15014. The Mail app is now pinned by default to the Taskbar starting with the Windows 10 Creators Update. If you unpin the Mail app after this change, it will not return.
• Some nerdy Insiders will notice that build branch strings and timestamps have been replaced with static values in the version resources of OS binaries (for example -- in the properties of a OS-specific .dll file). Microsoft compiles builds for a lot of engineering branches every day. Each branch would produce nearly identically binaries except for the build branch string and timestamps. Rather than rebuilding all binaries, it will only build binaries that have changed. With this change MS can now share binaries across branches making things more efficient for the company’s engineering systems!
• To improve keyboard accessibility, the Snipping Too has been updated -- moving the mode options under New over to a new Mode button. Clicking New will now immediately start the snip.
• Fixed an issue resulting in the "Working on updates" screen unexpectedly showing a box instead of a progress wheel for some Insiders.
• Fixed an issue where Desktop shortcuts containing the "%" character (usually URI shortcuts with escaped characters) would result in an Explorer.exe crash loop.
• Fixed an issue where projecting to a secondary monitor could result in an Explorer.exe crash loop.
• Fixed an issue where using CTRL + C to copy in Command Prompt wasn’t working.
• Made some polish adjustments to the Background Settings and Printers & Scanners Settings pages.
• Fixed an issue some Insiders may have experienced where their laptops would bugcheck when closing the lid to put it to sleep.
• Fixed an issue in the new Out-Of-Box-Experience (OOBE) where clicking "Skip this step" on the Microsoft Account creation page would unexpectedly loop back to "Who owns this PC?"
• Fixed a translation issue in the Start menu for those using the Catalan display language -- newly installed apps will now show "nou" next to them.
• Fixed an issue where the list of apps in the Surface Dial "Add an app" page via Settings > Devices > Wheel might unexpectedly be empty.
• Fixed an issue where Miracast wasn’t working on recent builds.
• Fixed an issue where if a second notification comes in after dismissing a first notification and immediately opening the Action Center, that notification toast would show on top of the Action Center, rather than within it. Also fixed an issue that could result in sometimes seeing unexpected space at the top of the Action Center.
• Fixed a deadlock from recent Insider builds that could result in the Action Center appearing blank.
• Adjusted the Action Center icon animation logic, so you will now no longer see the same app logo flash multiple times in quick succession after you first log in if many notifications have been received since last logging in.
• Stylized buttons in notifications are now aligned to the right -- consistent with other system buttons in dialogs.
• When you use Win + V to set keyboard focus to a notification, Windows 10 will now show a white focus rectangle around the X to dismiss button if you tab over to it.
• Fixed an issue where refreshing a PDF displayed in Microsoft Edge would result in a blank page and you would need to refresh it a second time for the PDF to appear.
• Updated the alignment of the VPN connect button in the Network flyout to be right-justified and fixed an issue where it was unexpectedly displaying a grey border.
• Fixed an issue where brightness changes made via Settings > System > Display would unexpectedly revert after closing the Settings app.
• Updated the WIN+X flyout to say "Apps and Features" instead of "Programs and Features".
• Polished the animation when dropping a tile onto another tile in Start in order to create a folder.
• Fixed an issue where, if the User Account Control (UAC) settings were set to "do not dim my desktop", running something from File Explorer as Admin could result in UAC displaying behind File Explorer.
• Fixed a capitalization issue in the "Open PowerShell here" context menu entry when you Shift + Right Click File Explorer whitespace.
• Fixed an issue for Insiders where customized desktop icon layouts were lost after rebooting. Also fixed an issue where when desktop icons were set to auto-arrange with a docked device and multiple monitors, undocking and docking the device could result in an unexpected desktop icon layout.
• Based on Insiders’ passionate feedback, Microsoft has adjusted the animation when lowering blue light to be a bit smoother. It also made some polish tweaks to Blue Light Settings with more coming soon.
• Updated the system tray logic to be more robust when faced with bad data that could potentially result in Explorer.exe reliability issues.
• Fixed an issue where 3rd party UWP apps would crash on devices if the DPI settings on the machine are >=150 percent.
• Fixed an issue where if you were to upgrade from Windows 8.1 directly to recent Insider Fast builds, all your Store apps would have been lost during the upgrade process.

Other changes, improvements, and fixes for Mobile

• Due to decreased usage, Apps Corner is no longer available in Windows 10 Mobile starting with Builds 15007 and above.
• Fixed the issue causing some devices on Build 15007 to frequently reboot.
• Fixed an issue resulting in the Windows Hello greeting being missing from the lock screen.
• Improved speed of displaying HTTP images on live tiles (for example, the images used on the MSN News app live tile).
• Fixed an issue where the phone’s display wouldn’t turn off in close proximity to your face when in a call and using Continuum.
• Stylized buttons in notifications are now aligned to the right -- consistent with other system buttons in dialogs.
• Fixed an issue that might cause an Insider’s custom typing dictionary to be unexpectedly deleted.
• Fixed an issue on the new Bluetooth & other devices Settings page where Miracast devices would always show as connected, even if they had been disconnected.

Known issues for PC

• IMPORTANT: The download progress indicator shown when downloading this build is currently broken under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update. It may look like you’re getting stuck at 0 percent or at other percentages. Ignore the indicator and be patient. The build should download fine and the installation should kick off. See this forum post for more details.
• After updating to this build, nonstop exceptions in the Spectrum.exe service may occur causing PCs to lose audio, disk I/O usage to become very high, and apps like Microsoft Edge to become unresponsive when doing certain actions such as opening Settings. As a workaround to get out of this state, you can delete C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Spectrum\PersistedSpatialAnchors and reboot. For more details, see this forum post.
• During the installation of this build, Insiders may experience a storport.sys bugcheck (GSOD) causing them to rollback to the previous build. There is currently no workaround.
• On some PCs, audio stops working sporadically with "device in use" error. Microsoft is investigating. Restarting the audio service may fix things for a bit.
• Under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update you might see the text "Some Settings are managed by your organization" even though your PC isn’t being managed by an organization. This is a bug caused by an updated flight configuration setting for Insider Preview builds and does not mean your PC is being managed by anyone.
• The Netflix app may crash on launch. Try again and it should work.
• Quicken 2016 will fail to run with an error stating .NET 4.6.1 is not installed. For Insiders familiar with Registry Editor, there is an optional workaround. Take ownership of the following registry keys and edit the "version" value to be 4.6.XXXXX instead of 4.7.XXXXX:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full

Take care when editing the registry. Changing the wrong value can have unexpected and undesirable results.

• Some Tencent apps and games may crash or work correctly on this build.
• Connecting an Xbox 360 or Xbox One Controller to your PC running this build will cause the DWM to crash resulting in your display flickering and/or appearing blank or black.
• The game DOT2 will fail to launch and pop up the message "Unable to start game" followed by error window.
• When using Microsoft Edge with Narrator, you may hear "no item in view" or silence while tabbing or using other navigation commands. You can use Alt + Tab when this happens to move focus away from and back to the Edge browser. Narrator will then read as expected.
• Taskbar preview icons are unexpectedly small on high-DPI devices.
• Windows Insiders will unexpectedly see a "Holographic" entry on the main page of Settings.
• When clicking on certain elements in desktop (Win32) games, the game minimizes and cannot be restored.
• Dragging apps from the all apps list to pin on Start’s tile grid won’t work. For now, please right-click on the desired app in order to pin it.
• Some websites in Microsoft Edge may unexpectedly show "We can’t reach this page". If you encounter this, please try accessing the site from an InPrivate tab.
• On certain hardware types, the Netflix app crashes when starting a movie.
• Saying "Hey Cortana, play <item> on <AppName>" doesn’t work immediately after installing the app. Wait 5 minutes for indexing to begin and try again.

Known issues for Mobile

• AAD Identity Settings Sync: Microsoft Edge does not sync Reading List from PC to phone unless there is a restart.
• AAD Identity Settings Sync: Microsoft Edge is syncing passwords on phone but not showing them in "saved passwords" in Microsoft Edge settings.
• When you receive a new email notification and tap on it to open the message, it doesn’t open the Mail app or message.
• New option to pause updates contains text referencing PC-only Windows Defender.
• Insiders with certain devices, such as the Lumia 635 and 636, may not be able to manually change the brightness. The brightness will still automatically adjust if it is set to do so, so use that for the time being while Microsoft investigates.
• The ninja cat emoji display in two characters on the keyboard instead of the expected one.
• Adding a new card / paying with an existing card will not work in Microsoft Wallet.
• The Quiet Hours quick action button in the Action Center doesn’t work.
• Microsoft Edge might sometimes unexpectedly not rotate into landscape mode. If this happens, try quickly locking and unlocking your phone.

Image Credit: Zurijeta / Shutterstock