Windows 10 Creators Update Build 15031 Hands On

This week, shortly after declaring the Windows 10 Creators Update is feature complete, Microsoft released its 20th PC testing build for the upcoming release of what will be the third major update of the operating system since it was released in July 2015.

Beyond a few new things in this build, which I will cover shortly, if you look at the Microsoft build strings for this release and compared it to the last update testers received you will have noticed that this build is also the first one to be distributed from the release branch.

For example, Build 15025 was from rs_prerelease and now 15031 is from rs_release and so this marks a milestone in moving from the development branch to the release channel for Creators Update and with that move the focus shifts from adding new features to fixing bugs and performance issues.

The light is at the end of the tunnel leading up to the expected April 2017 release of the Creators Update.

As I poked around Build 15031 over the last 18 hours or so, it looks like that feature complete call included one final item that has finally made its appearance in this build and that is Dynamic Lock - or as some like to call it Windows Goodbye.

You access the settings for Dynamic Lock in Windows Settings>Accounts>Sign-in options. Just scroll down until you find Dynamic lock - by default this is already turned on.

There is a know issue with Build 15031 and that is a crash anytime you try to enter the Devices settings page. If you had not previously paired your Bluetooth phone to that machine, you will need to use the Bluetooth options in the Legacy Control Panel to pair your device. H/T to @thurrott for this tip as I did not pair my LG Nexus 5X before the upgrade from 15025 to 15031.

This feature does work but, as I discussed with Paul Thurrott on Twitter, the UI for setting this up in Windows Settings>Accounts>Sign-in options>Dynamic lock could really use a list of paired phones so you can pick which one triggers the lock.

The next feature included in this build is a Picture in Picture style Compact Overlay for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps that will let you have a small borderless app window for UWP apps on your desktop while you work.

Image via Microsoft

Of course this will be great for video and audio apps and should be available as soon as app developers integrate the right code into their apps.

Next up is a new Share icon for Windows 10 that will be available to developers through system resources so that means many apps, including those built by Microsoft, will need to get updates to see this new icon.

It is already showing up in the Windows Ink Screen Sketch app:

You can read some background about the process of arriving at this new icon over on the Microsoft Design Medium channel.

Microsoft's Dona Sarkar tweeted out after this PC only build was released that they are still going to try and release a new Mobile update sometime this week for testers. If that build is released it will be the 14th one on the Mobile side of testing builds.

You can track how many Creators Update builds are released for testing on our PC and Mobile build trackers.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.