Windows 10 April 2018 Update Rollout Begins

The next big Windows 10 update is rolling out to the public now. Days after being officially announced, the new Windows 10 April 2018 Update is now available for download, and interested users can now download the new update to get all the latest features of Windows right away.

Windows 10’s April 2018 Update isn’t too much of a large update — in fact, it doesn’t really include any notable features apart from the new Timeline experience. Timeline transforms how Windows 10’s Task View works by keeping track of everything you do or use on your computer, and some of the stuff on your mobile devices. It essentially keeps things in sync between your devices, so you can pick up from where you left off without much effort — as long as your files are stored in the cloud and you rely mostly on the Microsoft ecosystem.

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Apart from Timeline, the April 2018 Update isn’t too much of a big deal. It includes a bunch of improvements to Microsoft Edge, Cortana, the Action Center, and that’s really about it. The second Windows 10 update scheduled for later this year is expected to be way more exciting, however.

For now, though — you can manually download the April 2018 Update to Windows 10 here. And if you want to try your luck to see whether the update is available for your PC on Windows Update right now, you can simply go ahead and check for updates there.

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Conversation 63 comments

  • dcdevito

    30 April, 2018 - 1:10 pm

    <p>Can you post that wallpaper?</p>

    • lwetzel

      Premium Member
      30 April, 2018 - 2:58 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267337"><em>In reply to dcdevito:</em></a></blockquote><p>That is beautiful for sure!</p><p><br></p>

  • arunphilip

    30 April, 2018 - 1:12 pm

    <p>I'm getting it via Windows Update on my PC running 1709. I'm not part of the Insider programme. </p>

    • casewell

      30 April, 2018 - 2:30 pm

      <p><em>Same for me. (Surface Book, UK)</em></p>

    • arunphilip

      30 April, 2018 - 3:53 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267338"><em>In reply to arunphilip:</em></a></blockquote><p>Installed successfully on both my desktops, and no issues thus far in the little usage I put it through. </p>

    • rameshthanikodi

      01 May, 2018 - 3:26 am

      <blockquote><a href="#267338"><em>In reply to arunphilip:</em></a></blockquote><p>if you manually clicked "check for updates", you will get the update pushed to you.</p>

      • arunphilip

        01 May, 2018 - 6:07 am

        <blockquote><a href="#267685"><em>In reply to FalseAgent:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Oh, that is interesting. So, clicking the Check for Updates button is different from just letting Windows check for updates on its own. I'd always thought they were the same. </p>

        • rameshthanikodi

          03 May, 2018 - 6:40 am

          <blockquote><a href="#267699"><em>In reply to arunphilip:</em></a></blockquote><p>yeah, I believe it's a new feature which was introduced for this update.</p>

  • LocalPCGuy

    30 April, 2018 - 1:38 pm

    <p>Timeline doesn't keep track of everything you do on your computer, as it currently stands. It tracks Edge and MS Office, not much else.</p>

    • JoePaulson

      30 April, 2018 - 10:58 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267352"><em>In reply to LocalPCGuy:</em></a></blockquote><p>I am getting more than edge and office apps….what are you seeing specifically?</p>

      • IncredibleGonzo

        01 May, 2018 - 3:05 am

        <blockquote><a href="#267650"><em>In reply to JoePaulson:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Assuming LocalPCGuy is getting the same as me, he's just getting tiles in Timeline with sites that were open in Edge, and Office documents. Presumably it's much the same as what you're seeing, just without anything that isn't those things.</p><p><br></p><p>Also in my case, the Office documents are basically useless because they won't open in win32 Office but instead download store Office apps. When they're installed, the timeline tile opens them but doesn't actually open the document.</p><p><br></p><p>So for me, for the moment, Timeline is near as makes no difference to useless. I'd turn it off but I'm not sure how.</p>

  • Richard “Rich” Fenoglio, Jr.

    30 April, 2018 - 1:51 pm

    <p>I just checked for Windows Updates on my work machine and, lo and behold, it is downloading and installing "Feature update to Windows 10, version 1803" right now. Someone in the standard comments appears to be having a similar experience.</p>

  • slbailey1

    30 April, 2018 - 1:53 pm

    <p>"Windows 10’s April 2018 Update isn’t too much of a large update — in fact, it doesn’t really include any notable features apart from the new Timeline experience."</p><p><br></p><p>One notable feature is support for PWAs!</p>

  • Dan1986ist

    Premium Member
    30 April, 2018 - 1:59 pm

    <p>Looks like my Venue 10 Pro tablet is getting Version 1803 through Windows Update as of today along with my Insprion 660s desktop. Update: Inspiron 660s has successfully installed 1803. Now to see if any issues crop up over the next few days or so.</p>

  • jvpulver

    Premium Member
    30 April, 2018 - 2:28 pm

    <p>No luck with manual downloading, even using the Media Creation Tool. I received message, "This tool can't update your PC / The language or edition of the version of Windows currently installed on your PC isn't supported by this tool." </p><p><br></p><p>This was my beta system and I opted out of the Windows Preview program and rebooted my system.</p><p><br></p><p>Any thoughts? Thank you.</p>

    • Bart

      Premium Member
      30 April, 2018 - 2:50 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267369"><em>In reply to jvpulver:</em></a></blockquote><p>If you were in the Insider program, you already have the latest bits?</p>

      • jvpulver

        Premium Member
        30 April, 2018 - 2:58 pm

        <blockquote>Thanks for the quick feedback, Bart.</blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote>Interestingly, I just thought of that as I checked "About" and I am on 17134.5 and the version of MCT is 17134.1. </blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote>So where does this leave me? RTM + .4??? If that is the case I may as well turn Insider back on and wait for RS5.</blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><p><br></p>

        • madthinus

          Premium Member
          30 April, 2018 - 3:08 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#267405"><em>In reply to jvpulver:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>You are on the RTM plus the cumalative update that they have pushed to this build. You are all up to date. </p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    30 April, 2018 - 3:10 pm

    <p>Are you getting the cumulative update as well? </p>

  • Sir_Timbit

    30 April, 2018 - 3:10 pm

    <p>Just updated via Windows Update. Took all of 20 mins to complete before I was back to my desktop.</p>

  • davidblouin

    30 April, 2018 - 3:25 pm

    <p>What happens to PWA is where it's at and all the cool kids are doing it ?</p>

  • Waethorn

    30 April, 2018 - 3:29 pm

    <p>It's on the software download site, in case you want to clean install it.</p><p><br></p><p>microsoft.com/software-download</p><p><br></p><p>I already started the download because every new build I've seen so far, Microsoft has changed something in the codebase that caused installs to get completely wrecked. I know my service business will get a spike in computer repairs in the next few months because of this. Putting down a new codebase might seem like a good idea, but problems with settings and driver migration cause major stability problems. And I'm entirely blaming Microsoft here for not making drivers (built by their SDK's and toolkits), and the respective Windows support of said drivers, compatible across multiple Windows versions. Same thing for application libraries that are integrated into Windows, or as add-on components of Windows. .Net Framework updates have been the bane of my existence since Windows XP. C++ runtimes are no sunshine fun times either. In-place upgrades didn't work for Windows XP to Vista, and they still don't work even with Windows 10 to Windows 10. This is the beast that Microsoft bore.</p>

  • Dbarjim

    30 April, 2018 - 3:38 pm

    <p>I got the update on my Dell8500 and MS Surface Pro 4 and it went smoothly and no errors… </p>

  • NT6.1

    30 April, 2018 - 3:45 pm

    <p>I'm gonna check this on a virtual machine but I'm not holding my breath.</p>

    • Winner

      30 April, 2018 - 5:16 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267427"><em>In reply to NT6.1:</em></a></blockquote><p>I hope you are excited about Timeline, because that is about it.</p><p>Did MS ever actually admit to a name for this update?</p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        30 April, 2018 - 5:45 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#267485"><em>In reply to Winner:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes it is the April Update.</p>

  • acassels

    30 April, 2018 - 3:49 pm

    <p>The update has appeared in windows update for both my surface 4 and surface book.</p>

  • Lauren Glenn

    30 April, 2018 - 4:12 pm

    <p>Installing now, but as suspected, McAfee VS Enterprise is not compatible. I guess that will have to wait at least 2 weeks. Kind of odd that a virus scan company wouldn't be on top of new versions of Windows…. makes me wonder how on top of viruses they are to not be prepared for this.</p>

    • gurneyhack

      30 April, 2018 - 4:36 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267451"><em>In reply to alissa914:</em></a></blockquote><p>Patch 11 for VSE is available from McAfee</p>

  • Bob25

    30 April, 2018 - 4:21 pm

    <p>Just curious: My PCs that were on the Insider program have OS build 17134.5. The three PCs that I upgraded via Windows Update or the Media Creation Tool have build 17134.1. ??</p><p><br></p><p>All the upgrades went smoothly and completed in about 40-45 minutes.</p>

    • arunphilip

      30 April, 2018 - 10:26 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267455"><em>In reply to Bob25:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>FYI – I'm not an Insider, and got it via Windows Update on both my PCs. They are 17134.1 (not .5). </p>

  • Patrick3D

    30 April, 2018 - 5:16 pm

    <p>Update went well using an in-place upgrade from the full ISO on a USB stick. Had to open the display on the laptop (Dell Lat. E6410) to see what was going on as it didn't use the external monitors during the reboot installation phase. One old app was removed automatically (ST Microelectronics free-fall utility) and folder locations for OneDrive needed to be reconfigured. Everything else carried over cleanly.</p><p><br></p><p>First impressions: The new "Task View" icon is the ugliest icon I have ever seen in my entire life, they should have kept the existing icon. The smaller font in the Settings app is too small. The outline effect on the left side of the Start Menu is weird. The Apps list in Settings opens faster.</p><p><br></p><p>Install took 1 hour.</p><p><br></p><p>Addendum(s) – Update is not showing up for my AMD Ryzen machine at home, an icon for Microsoft Edge was added to the desktop (I do not recall having one there before.)</p>

  • DavidSlade

    Premium Member
    30 April, 2018 - 6:04 pm

    <p>This time the update appeared immediately on my main desktop pc and is installing now. Previous times the update only appeared many weeks after the feature update was released. I then assumed that this was because this pc is custom built, not a branded one. I have been running insider preview in a VM on this pc and it works ok on this hardware.</p>

  • mrdrwest

    30 April, 2018 - 8:43 pm

    <p>Status: Preparing to install…</p>

    • mrdrwest

      30 April, 2018 - 9:08 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267585"><em>In reply to mrdrwest:</em></a></blockquote><p>Status: Downloading…</p>

      • mrdrwest

        30 April, 2018 - 9:29 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#267594"><em>In reply to mrdrwest:</em></a></blockquote><p>Status: Installing…</p>

  • sentinel6671

    Premium Member
    30 April, 2018 - 9:39 pm

    <p>Things that make you go hmmmmm…</p><p><br></p><p>Used the magic window trick on my home PC a couple of days ago and got to Windows 10 1803 build 17134.5</p><p><br></p><p>Updated a couple of test PCs at work today and received Windows 10 1803 build 17134.1…the same build that they pulled 3 weeks ago?</p><p><br></p><p>Installation on the work PCs was clean, no issues at all. Updated 3 different ages of machine…Haswell, Coffee Lake and Haswell E.</p>

  • JoePaulson

    30 April, 2018 - 10:35 pm

    <p>I'm loving it…..And Edge has finally come into its own.</p>

    • MikeCerm

      01 May, 2018 - 8:26 am

      <blockquote><a href="#267641"><em>In reply to JoePaulson:</em></a></blockquote><p>Edge coming into its own will be when they start pushing monthly feature updates to Edge through the Store, rather than once every 6 months via an OS upgrade. Edge is still REALLY far behind Chrome and Firefox, and they're updating every 4-6 weeks. If Microsoft is pushing updates once 6 months, they're never going to catch up. At best, they'll be where their competitors were 6 months ago.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    01 May, 2018 - 4:38 am

    <p>Update was waiting on my main PC this morning – the other one is already on the Insider Fast Ring.</p>

  • Gray Bee

    01 May, 2018 - 11:01 am

    <p>Just a heads up from my experience of upgrading to 1803. In 4 out of 4 devices I've upgraded, the update has turned OFF System Protection (aka System Restore). Be sure to check your system after the update and turn it back on.</p>

    • Bob25

      01 May, 2018 - 7:00 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#267738"><em>In reply to Gray Bee:</em></a></blockquote><p>Thanks for the heads up. All of the PCs I've upgraded had the same thing happen–turned off System Restore. It sort of makes sense that the existing restore points would be deleted since they relate to the earlier version, but I don't think SR should just be turned off with no warning or explanation.</p>

  • andrezzz91

    Premium Member
    01 May, 2018 - 2:13 pm

    <p>Upgraded to 1803 last night… no error messages but I had to reinstall the Nvidia video drivers, it installed the Windows basic drivers and only one monitor was working and G-Sync disabled of course. Also all Origin games and Alienware Command Center for the OC controls had to repair, and Killer wireless adapter software I had to reinstalled as well. Everything else seems OK so far, not sure why these Apps / drivers got corrupted with the update.</p>

  • RoHo

    Premium Member
    01 May, 2018 - 3:49 pm

    <p>Well, I'm 50/50. My laptop updated with with no issue, while my desktop will not update no matter what. I even spent a long session on Microsoft chat going thru all sorts of trials. No dice. The update downloads and then when I restart nothing happens and I'm back to square one with the red warning my computer is insecure etc. I never had a problem before with this computer </p>

  • alcohenusa

    01 May, 2018 - 6:06 pm

    <p>Since the update, Internet Explorer is difficult to launch. Have to try 5-10 times before it will open. Usually just get a spinning mouse icon for a few seconds and then it quits. Luckily I don't need it that much.</p><p><br></p><p>Anyone else seen this issue?</p>

  • cseafous

    Premium Member
    01 May, 2018 - 9:50 pm

    <p>I am actually more excited about PWA access via Edge. I have been wanting to try it out for some time now.</p>

  • Paulinafrica

    02 May, 2018 - 3:31 am

    <p>Busy upgrading to 1803 on Surface Pro 4</p><p>After several failed attempts, get a message from Windows update 'Turn off Bitlocker because it isn't supported in the edition of Windows you want to install'. </p>

    • Waethorn

      02 May, 2018 - 4:35 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#268512"><em>In reply to Paulinafrica:</em></a></blockquote><p>….and the reason Microsoft can't just turn it off themselves is what exactly??</p>

  • Waethorn

    02 May, 2018 - 4:33 pm

    <p>This thing is a FREAKING DISASTER. I'm seeing performance downgrades across the board. The English-Canada language support has retroverted back to a mish-mash of en-CA and en-GB, which is similar to the en-US days of Windows 7 and further back. You can't remove the extra en-GB keyboard layout at all, nor the addition of the base language listing, and this never used to be a problem since Windows 8 to Windows 10 1709, wherein you could still close the Language Bar on the Taskbar by eliminating unnecessary languages.</p><p><br></p><p>I always said Microsoft doesn't do localization properly, but to create this retroversion is completely ludicrous. The current people that they have working at Microsoft are COMPLETE IDIOTS!</p><p><br></p><p>Just to be clear in case anybody at Microsoft doesn't get it yet:</p><p><br></p><p>Canada writes words with ou, not o, like in Favourites.</p><p><br></p><p>English Canada doesn't write "isation" like "realisation" like the UK. We use the US version with a "z" (which we pronounce as "zed", not "zee"). Look on the Government of Canada website for "Travel Authorization". You can see it's spelled the US way.</p><p><br></p><p>Canada uses the metric system for practically everything EXCEPT paper sizes. You can't even buy A4 paper anywhere except special paper manufacturers. Everybody uses Letter and Legal sized paper, not A4. And we measure it in the proper inchs. Measuring paper in at "297mm" is just plain stupid, and even paper manufacturers don't label bilingual packages that way. It's 8.5×11" or 8.5×14". Canadians already know this. Don't default to metric for printing.</p><p><br></p><p>There is NO SUCH THING as a "Canadian-Multilingual" software keyboard layout. "Canadian-Multilingual" is a hardware specification of a US-English keyboard that has labels for a French-Canadian key layout – there is no "combo mode". Everybody except PC manufacturers that buys after-market keyboards buys US-English. Only major PC manufacturers make Canadian-Multilingual keyboards so they don't have to ship 2 of them to meet Canadian multilingual requirements. Keyboard-only manufacturers (*like Microsoft*) only make a US-English keyboard for English-Canada, and a separate French-Canada layout for Quebec. Windows shouldn't even install a French keyboard unless the language selection is French/Quebec. For any user in Canada that exclusively uses an English language pack, it should be US-English for the keyboard layout and ONLY US-English.</p><p><br></p><p>People in Canada don't use the term "Bin" for trash, like they do in the UK. "Bin" just means "container" to us. "Trash Bin" is clear and acceptable though, although usually we call the large containers "trash bins" (think dumpsters) whereas a small one is called a "trash can". For a single word, just "trash" is the preferred usage.</p><p><br></p><p>English-Canada doesn't affix the "me" to the ends of words like "programme" like the UK. That's a spelling reserved for French-speaking Quebec only.</p>

  • Waethorn

    04 May, 2018 - 12:12 pm

    <p>I have a Broadwell laptop with it installed clean, and it BSOD's constantly, and only with that OS. Not on any previous build, or any Linux version I've installed on it (and I've installed MANY).</p><p><br></p><p>Windows 1<strong>8</strong>03 is a POS.</p>

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