New Windows 10 Dev Channel build brings minor updates to Settings and WSL2

Microsoft has just released the Windows 10 Insider build 20211 for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. This new flight brings two new features, the ability to search the Default Apps pages in Settings, and to attach and mount a physical disk inside of a Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) distro.

This new build also brings some fixes for bugs affecting the Lock Screen, Live tiles, Windows Update, as well as the Start Menu on Windows 10 on ARM devices. You can find all details about new features, bug fixes, and known issues below:

What’s new in Build 20211

Adding Search to the Default Apps pages in Settings

After making some updates to help improve performance, this changeto enable searching the lists of file types, protocols, and apps when setting a default is now rolling out to all Insiders in the Dev Channel – thanks everyone who’s shared feedback along the way.

Access Linux file systems in the Windows Subsystem for Linux

This latest insiders preview build adds the ability for users to attach and mount a physical disk inside of a WSL 2 distro. This enables you to access file systems that aren’t natively supported by Windows (such as ext4). So if you’re dual booting with Windows and Linux, and are using different disks, you can now access your Linux files from Windows! To learn more about this feature please read this blog post on the Windows Command Line blog.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where certain 32-bit applications running on a 64-bit OS do not get properly promoted to the discrete GPU for hybrid configurations.
• We fixed an issue that could result in Start menu tiles continuing to display an “app update in progress” progress bar after an app had already finished updating.
• We fixed an issue that could result in some of the app icons in Start appearing unexpectedly tiny.
• We fixed an issue on ARM64 devices resulting in Start crashing on launch the next time it was opened after launching certain apps from Start and then closing them.
• We fixed an issue that could result in the lock screen hanging.
• We fixed an issue that could result in ShellExperienceHost.exe hanging.
• We fixed an issue where hero images weren’t showing up in notifications (for example, when taking a screenshot using WIN + Shift + S).
• We fixed an issue from the last few flights that could result in Windows update getting stuck while downloading the update.

Known issues

• We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
• We’re working on a fix to enable live preview for pinned site tabs.
• We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
• We’re investigating reports of some Office applications crashing or missing after updating to a new build.
• We’re working on a fix for an issue resulting in Settings crashing for some Insiders when opening Manage Disks and Volumes.
• We’re working on a fix for the Linux kernel not being installed when using the `wsl –install` command in the Windows Subsystem for Linux. For an immediate workaround run `wsl –update` to get the latest kernel version.
• We are investigating an issue affecting Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 distros where users can receive the error: “The remote procedure call failed” on startup.
• We’re working on an issue where on a small subset of devices the Start menu does not reflect when an update is pending restart and scheduled restarts are cancelled. To install the next update, you will need to update and restart through the Windows Update settings page, notification area (system tray) icon, or restart notification.
• We’re investigating a bug where the vEthernet adapter in Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 distros becomes disconnected after a period of use. For full details please follow this Github thread.
• We’re working on a fix for seeing generic errors when using `wsl –install` in the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

The Windows Insider team also announced that the next Windows Insider webcast, which will air on September 15 at 10 AM PDT, will focus on Windows 10 on ARM. Following the closure of Microsoft’s Mixer platform, the livestreams are now happening on Twitch.tv/windowsinsider.