Technology - Google News

New Windows 10 preview drops WSL2 Linux kernel, adds AMD nested virtualization - ZDNet

Posted: 11 Jun 2020 03:56 AM PDT

Microsoft's latest Windows Insider preview of Windows 10 cuts out the Linux kernel for the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2).

The change comes in the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19645 that's available to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

Dropping the Linux kernel from the Windows 10 preview brings it in line with the currently rolling out Windows 10 version 2004.

SEE: Windows 10 Start menu hacks (TechRepublic Premium)

Microsoft in March decided to remove its custom Linux kernel from the Windows OS image to improve serviceability. The idea was to let Windows handle kernel updates like other driver updates via Windows Update to ensure the kernel is kept current.

Windows 10 users can run the Linux distribution of their choice on the kernel.

This preview build also brings support for nested virtualization on PCs with AMD processors. The support allows IT pros to use Hyper-V containers inside a virtual machine. Until now Windows 10 only supported nested virtualization on Intel processors.

Microsoft says nested virtualization has been tested on AMD's first-generation Ryzen/Epyc processor. Linux kernel virtual-machine guest support will be added in the future.

Microsoft's previous preview, which was released last week, changed the behavior of Storage Sense disk cleanup tool to stop it automatically deleting the Downloads folder if it was synced to a cloud provider.

That release didn't contain any bug fixes, but the new preview brings several of them, including a fix for an issue where PCs booting from eMMC storage bugchecked when waking from hibernate.

Build 19645 also fixes a bug that caused taskbar preview thumbnails not to render properly and another that failed to open the handwriting input panel in certain text fields when tapped with a pen.

It also fixes a glitch causing Windows Hello Setup to crash if facial recognition was already set up and then Improve Recognition was selected.

SEE: What is the Windows 10 Windows Feature Experience Pack?

Microsoft notes that the Your Phone feature for controlling music and audio apps is now rolling out to all users.

"Now you can access and control the audio apps playing from your phone directly within the app, without needing to split your attention between devices or breaking your workflow," Microsoft notes.

"Your audio tracks will stay in sync between your phone and PC, and you can switch between multiple sources using the dropdown in the player."