Update: Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903) has been released on 21st May 2019. You may download Windows 10 Version 1903 now.
Update: Microsoft has announced the release of Windows 10 Version 1903 in May and named it as Windows 10 May 2019 Update. We are updating this article accordingly.
Windows 10 May 2019 (Version 1903) codenamed 19H1 is expected to be released come May. If there are no delays like the release of Windows 10 Version 1809, which was released twice, the release could be made in early May.
Microsoft has made Windows 10 versioning a lot simpler to understand. There are two major feature update releases of Windows 10 each year. One version is scheduled to be completed in March and released in April while the second version is scheduled to be completed in September and released in October. (The April release has been delayed and will be released in May 2019)
The Windows 10 version corresponds to these dates mentioned above. The first two numbers are the year in which the update is released and the last two numbers are the month no. in which the build is completed. So the latest Windows 10 version is Windows 10 Version 1809. Translating this, we would get that this release was completed in the year 2018 and in month 09 which is September.
Similarly, the new version of Windows 10 will be Windows 10 Version 1903. After decoding the version, we will get the feature update completion month to be 03 which is March 2019. The general release of the completed build is usually after a few days, that’s why we say that it will be released in May 2019.
How do we know that the version no. of next Windows update will be 1903?
Microsoft releases the insider preview versions of Windows 10 which are like beta versions. These versions include features which will be released in the next stable build of Windows 10. The latest insider preview of Windows 10 shows its version to be 1903. That’s why it is confirmed that the next Windows release update will be 1903.
Here’s the screenshot from the latest insider preview build:
Features included in Windows 10 May 2019 Update
Now let’s talk about some of the exciting features included in the May 2019 update.
Windows Sandbox
If you are a power user and want to run unknown executables on your system without harming your files, you will love the new Windows Sandbox feature. As a power user, we are used to creating a complete virtual machine to test and run unknown applications. But with the latest Windows Sandbox feature, this can be done without creating any VMs.
When enabled, Sandbox automatically creates a lightweight and disposable environment for running the applications in sandboxed mode. The applications running inside this sandbox do not affect the parent Operating System in any way.
Windows Sandbox will be available only on Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise editions which makes sense since only power users use this feature.
To enable Sandbox mode, follow the steps below:
- Open Optional Windows Features by going to Run –> optionalfeatures
- Activate Windows Sandbox from the list.
Windows 10 Sandbox Mode
Please note that Windows virtualization features are required for enabling the sandbox mode.
Font installation and management
Now you can drag and drop new fonts on the Font Settings window to install the fonts. Clicking on the font will take you to the sample previews of that particular font. Now Microsoft provides other useful details about the font like the font file and its path, version, manufacturer and some legal information.
To install a new font, go to Windows Settings –> Personalization –> Font Settings and drag n drop the new font to this window.
Reserved Storage
Microsoft is introducing a new feature in Windows 10 May 2019 update which will reserve at least 7 GB of system drive space for future Windows updates. Although this can be a great addition owing to the fact that a lot of updates fail to install just because of lack of disk space, it can be a headache for users with smaller C drives.
Apparently, there is no visual way to disable this feature to recover the precious 7 GB of system space, but there are some Windows Registry hacks which can turn this feature off.
- To turn off reserved storage, go to Run –> regedit
- Open the following hive:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ReserveManager - In the right-hand pane, change the value of ShippedWithReserves to 0.
Windows 10 new themes
With all the dark mode rage nowadays, Microsoft comes up with a Windows Light theme which is pretty clean, smooth and of course light weight. To enable the new Windows light theme, go to Settings –> Personalization –> Themes and enable Windows (light) theme from the list.
Storage Sense
Disk Cleanup has been replaced by Storage Sense. Storage Sense gives users the option to clean up temporary files as well as files in important folders with a single click. To configure Storage Sense, go to Settings –> System –> Storage. You can also configure Storage Sense to automatically clean up the system after every once in a while.
You can also optimize and defragment the disk drives from the same storage settings.
Support for RAW image format
Microsoft has announced native support for RAW image format in Windows 10 Version 1903. This will improve the handling of photos taken directly from the camera. Windows File Explorer will be able to handle RAW images easily from creating thumbnails to creating previews and displaying metadata information.
Passwordless accounts
From Windows 10 Version 1903, users will be able to use their phones to sign into Windows using their phones. While Microsoft already gives passwordless options like creating a PIN, picture password etc., the phone verification is a step forward in security the account.
To add more login options to a user account, go to Settings –> Accounts –> Family & Other Users –> Add.
If you want to use all these features, you can enable insider preview builds on your PC but be warned that these builds are not always stable and the PC may crash every once in a while. Secondly, the updates take a lot of Internet bandwidth as the frequency of updates in insider previews is quite high. If you want to enable insider previews, follow the steps below:
- Go to Settings (Windows Key + i) –> Update & Security –> Windows Insider Program
- Click on the Get Started button and follow the instructions. You will need a Microsoft account to enable insider previews.
We have listed down some of the main features of Windows 10 Version 1903 update. If you find something that’s missing here, kindly let us know through comments below and we will try to add the new features with latest screenshots.
