News

Windows 10 Preview Build 17666 Includes Cloud Clipboard, Dark File Explorer, and More

By Brian Burgess

Updated May 16, 2018

Microsoft today rolled out a new preview build for Redstone 5 to Insiders in the Fast ring. This one includes some interesting new features.

Microsoft today is rolling out Redstone 5 Preview Build 17666 to Insiders in the Fast ring. This one contains some interesting new features like new Fluent Design experiences, a Cloud Clipboard, Dark Theme for File Explorer, and more. Here is a look at some of the more notable new features you can expect in today’s latest build.

Cloud Clipboard: This new clipboard experience keeps track of what you copy to the clipboard and makes it accessible among other Windows 10 devices. Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar and Brandon LeBlanc note: “Today we’re addressing that and taking the clipboard to the next level – simply press WIN+V and you’ll be presented with our brand-new clipboard experience!” You can manage the new clipboard by heading to Settings > System > Clipboard.

Dark Theme for File Explorer: Microsoft added a Dark Theme to Windows 10 several years back, but it was never part of File Explorer, until now. You can turn it on by heading to Settings > Personalization > Colors. Now, with the Dark Theme, the overall Windows 10 experience should be more uniform – if you like the look of it that is.

Other new changes include enhancements to Notepad – yep you read that right! Notepad is getting a new feature that will allow you to search text with Bing and will include Unix/Linux and Macintosh extended line endings.

There is new search preview support that will expand preview support to apps and documents. You can name tile folders on the Start menu. And you’ll notice improvements to Settings as Microsoft continues to tweak it as it shifts away from the classic Control Panel.

Here is the list of some of the other changes and improvement to expect in this build:

• We fixed an issue with dll from the previous flight that could result in explorer.exe crashing every few minutes.
• We fixed an issue resulting in VPN potentially not working after updating to the previous build.
• We fixed an issue from the previous build where apps may appear to be missing in secondary accounts after receiving app updates from the PC’s primary account.
• We fixed an issue from the previous flight resulting in a bugcheck with the error IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in tcpip.sys.
• We fixed an issue where a border would be visible when you maximized windows in the last few flights.
• We’ve updated the design of This PC so that there’s no longer space displayed for the cloud files state icon (which isn’t relevant on this page).
• The snipping toolbar (with WIN + Shift + S) will now follow your desired theme, light or dark.
• We fixed an issue that could result in the Emoji Panel and the touch keyboard not displaying correctly if invoked immediately after restarting explorer.exe.

Of course, as will all preview builds, there are several known issues as well. Be sure to read the full release notes to review all known issues and new features. If you are an Insider, Microsoft notes that all new RS5 Insider builds will be released to both Skip Ahead and Fast rings moving forward.