Microsoft merges Fast Ring and Skip Ahead Insider rings

Microsoft is planning for some major changes in its Windows Insider Program. These changes are related to the Insider Rings as the company will soon merge the Fast Ring and Skip Ahead rings.

The announcement was made just before Microsoft shipped Windows 10 May 2019 Update to the Release Preview ring.

As you all know, before the May 2019 Update is available to the general public, it will stay in the Release Preview Ring for about a month for testing purposes.

The company announced that Windows 10 19H1 builds would no longer be available to Fast Ring Insiders. Moreover, Microsoft plans to move Fast Ring Insiders directly to Windows 10 20H1 builds.

With the Windows 10 May 2019 Update being shared to the Release Preview ring soon (see this blog post for details), we’re planning to move Windows Insiders in the Fast ring forward to 20H1. We will also be merging the small group of Insiders who opted-in to Skip Ahead back into the Fast ring. We are looking to make this change in the coming weeks.

As a quick reminder, Windows 10 20H1 will be available to all Windows 10 users next year.

Microsoft has not shared any information about the exact release date of 20H1 update to Fast ring Insiders. However, the tech giant confirmed the change is expected to arrive in the next few weeks.

It should be noted that Microsoft has not shared the reason behind this decision. Rumors suggest that Microsoft has some master plan that forced the company to push Insiders to the next year’s builds. We will have to wait for an official statement from Microsoft in this regard.

The trend was initially broken by the tech giant when Skip Ahead Ring Insiders spotted Windows 10 20H1 in mid-February. The latest changes suggest that Microsoft is essentially moving towards merging the Skip Ahead and Fast rings.

Microsoft already started warning Insiders about its 20H1 builds by stating that the builds may come with some bugs.

20H1 builds are from our development branch (RS_PRERELEASE) and as is normal with builds early in the development cycle, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you are in the Fast ring and your PC gets updated to 20H1, you won’t be able to switch your ring to the Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC and starting over.

What do you think about Microsoft’s decision to merge the two Insider rings? Let us know in the comments section below.

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