Microsoft releases Windows 10 Redstone 4 Build 17040 to the Fast ring

Last week, Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 Insider Build 17035 to users on the Fast ring (and Skip Ahead), but didn’t make it available to all. A bug affecting PCs with AMD processors meant that Microsoft was forced to block the new release on those systems.

The latest new build, Build 17040, fixes that issue, meaning it’s available for all Insiders to download from today.

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In this release there are improvements for Settings, Touch Keyboard, and the Handwriting Panel.

You can now adjust the brightness of SDR content on an HDR display by going to Settings > System > Display > 'HDR and advanced color settings', and there’s a new 'Cursor, pointer, and touch feedback' section to be found in Ease of Access Settings.

The Fall Creators Update introduced shape-writing input for the one-handed keyboard, and this feature is now also available in the wide keyboard.

There’s improved Insertion Gesture on the Handwriting Panel, a new Commit Gesture, and improved button layout for Chinese (Simplified) handwriting.

Other general changes, improvements, and fixes for PC include:

• Settings that let you view and manage your activity history, which Cortana uses to let you pick up where you left off. Find these settings in Settings > Privacy > Activity history.
• Fixed an issue where network profiles might change from Private to Public after upgrading to the previous build.
• Fixed an issue resulting in checkboxes being missing from certain win32 apps.
• Fixed a typo in the Windows Defender Security Center’s Controlled Folder Settings.
• Fixed an issue resulting not being able to fully remove Windows.old in the last two flights.
• Fixed an issue resulting in Narrator not saying anything when the candidate bar for hardware keyboard prediction opened. Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn’t reading the word candidate when the focus moved into candidate bar.
• Fixed an issue where the "Working on updates" screen was black with a small theme colored box instead of entirely theme colored.
• Fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a green screen on the previous flight with the error BAD_POOL_CALLER.
• Fixed an issue resulting in UWP app sometimes leaving drop shadow leftovers after closing the window.
• Fixed an issue where inactive window scrolling wouldn’t work if Excel 2016 was in focus.
• Fixed an issue resulting in a noticeable flicker when using hotkeys or a precision touchpad to switch between virtual desktops.
• Fixed an issue where the XAML Reveal light wouldn’t follow your mouse until the first mouse click -- instead showing the entire element lit. This issue was visible in Settings and other XAML based UI in the last few builds.
• Fixed an issue resulting in changes to Feedback Frequency in Feedback & Diagnostics Settings not persisting after leaving the page and returning.
• Fixed an issue where Start wouldn’t open if you pressed the Windows key when the system menu from elevated Command Prompt or Task Manager window was open.
• Fixed a rare issue where if you had certain streaming-capable apps on your PC before upgrading you might end up seeing a black screen with only a cursor for some time after logging in.
• Fixed an issue from recent flights where the “Add” button in the PIN section of Sign-in Option Settings didn’t work for local accounts.
• Updated the icon for Collections in Cortana.
• Updated the touch keyboard so that the margin between each key is visual only. This change will be noticeable if you accidentally overshoot the key press by just a tiny bit -- before it might seem as if key presses were being dropped in this scenario.
• Based on user feedback, the feature to restore applications that have registered for application restart after you reboot or shutdown (through power options available on the Start Menu and various other locations) has been set to only occur for users that have enabled "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting my device after an update or restart" in the Privacy section under Sign-in Options Settings.

Known issues in this build include:

• If you are experiencing broken functionality in Mail, Cortana, Narrator or missing some features like Windows Media Player, please see this Feedback Hub post: https://aka.ms/Rsrjqn.
• Popular Tencent games like League of Legends and NBA2k Online may cause 64-bit PCs to bugcheck (GSOD).
• VPNs which use custom pop-up windows during connection attempts may fail to connect with error 720.
• Due to a bug that was introduced on this build, you may not receive all of your notifications from Cortana. Reminders are unaffected by this bug, but you may not receive other Cortana notifications that you are expecting. We are working to resolve this issue and will release the fix in an upcoming flight.
• The Properties dialog for This PC in File Explorer isn’t working and can’t be invoked from the context menu.
• Insiders with certain third party antiviruses and OneDrive Files on Demand enabled may see an error citing "OneDrive cannot connect to Windows."

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