Microsoft releases Windows 10 20H1 build 18917 with WSL 2 and download throttling options

Last week's Build 18912 of Windows 10 contained mostly system improvements

Microsoft has released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18917 (20H1) for Insiders in the Fast ring.

The latest Preview Build looks like a major release from Microsoft, introducing a number of new features and updates, such as Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2), Windows Update download throttling options, Windows Ink improvements and new Narrator features.

Last week's build 18912 contained mostly system improvements.

The most interesting of the new features in build 18917 is arguably the WSL 2 architecture, which should provide faster file system performance and greater compatibility with Linux compared to previous version WSL 1.

WSL 1 was shipped with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. In May, Microsoft had revealed that a major update to the WSL 1 was just round the corner.

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WSL 2 uses an open-source Linux kernel based on v4.19 from Kernel.org. It includes Windows Terminal and powers the WSL to run ELF64 Linux binaries on Windows.

WSL 2 comes with its own Linux kernel, which means that it is no longer required to intercept system calls and translate them to interface with the Windows kernel. With WSL 2, some operations, such as unpacking a zipped tarball, will be up to 20 times faster. The new build also comes with new commands for managing Linux distributions.

Another interesting feature in Insider Preview Build 18917 (20H1) is the option to throttle the bandwidth for users with low connection speeds.

With new Windows Update download throttling settings, users can specify the exact amount of bandwidth they would prefer to assign to Windows Update.

"We've heard from our users with very low connection speeds that setting download throttling as a percentage of available bandwidth isn't providing enough relief in reducing the impact on their network. That's why we've added a new option to throttle the bandwidth used by Delivery Optimization as an absolute value," Microsoft's Dona Sarkar and Brandon LeBlanc wrote in a joint blog post.

Insiders can access new option via Settings > Update & Security > Delivery Optimization > Advanced Options. After arriving at appropriate page, they can specify the exact bandwidth to assign to downloads.

Microsoft has also redesigned the Windows Ink Workspace in the new build to use less screen real estate.

There are also improvements to Narrator when reading data tables. Narrator will now read the header data first, followed by the cell data and the row/column position for the cell.

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