Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview for PCs with Narrator bug fixes

Microsoft today announced the release of a new Windows 10 build for PCs and mobile for people participating in the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program.

Today’s release, of build 14388, comes three days after Microsoft rolled out build 14385, which itself appeared two days after build 14383.

Microsoft has been busy preparing for the Anniversary Update, which will hit on August 2, so it’s not a surprise to see that this build squashes a few bugs and not much more than that.

Two of today’s fixes involve Narrator, the screen reader that comes standard with Windows. Now Narrator’s keyboard shortcuts will work after you’ve locked your PC and then logged back in and navigated to the desktop, and the application will also read out the date and time when you go to the “Date & time” menu in the “Time & language” section of Settings, Dona Sarkar, a software engineer in Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, wrote in a blog post.

Today’s build also comes with a new version of the Store app, Sarkar wrote.

The build contains two known issues. First, Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 will not be able to boot virtual machines when the Secure Boot option is turned on — Microsoft recommends people use the software with Secure Boot turned off. Second, when this build is used in languages other than US English, the error code 0x80004005 could come up when you turn on Developer Mode, even though Developer Mode does actually get turned on. Here’s Microsoft’s recommended workaround:

• Open Settings, click “System,” click “Apps & features,” click “Manage optional features,” click “Add a feature,” click “Windows Developer Mode,” click “Install.”
• Restart your machine.
• Open up Command Prompt as an administrator by opening up the Start menu, typing in “Command Prompt,” right-clicking on the program when it pops up, and hitting “Run as administrator.”
• Type in sc config debugregsvc start=auto

If you’re interested in the feature updates and bug fixes for the new Windows 10 Mobile build, check Sarkar’s blog post.

If you want to try the new previews but you’re not a Windows Insider, you can sign up here.

Update on July 13: Microsoft has also issued a new Windows 10 Anniversary SDK Preview for developers to build applications for build 14388 and beyond. Details are here.