Windows 10’s New Build Pushes Password-less Accounts, Mutes Cortana on OOBE

Microsoft is today releasing a new build of Windows 10 19H1, build 18309. The latest build of Windows 10 is the first build of the year, and although it is a minor upgrade, it does include a couple of new features.

Microsoft is pushing forward with password-less accounts with build 18309 today. In an older build, Microsoft introduced the ability to login to Windows with their password-less Microsoft accounts, allowing them to login using their phone. The feature essentially sends a one-time code to your phone via SMS, and you can then use that code to login to your Windows 10 device. Microsoft also introduced an improved experience for resetting your PIN on Windows 10, but all of these features were limited to Windows 10 Home. With today’s build, they are now available on all the different editions of Windows 10.

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Windows 10 build 18309 includes some minor Narrator improvements as well.

More importantly, however, Microsoft is making a critical change in Windows 10’s setup experience. It is getting rid of the Cortana voice-over in some versions of Windows 10 based on feedback from users. When Microsoft introduced Cortana on the Windows 10 setup experience, no one was really a big fan of it — it was slow, annoying, and kind of useless. Although Microsoft did make it easier to disable the feature later on, it also didn’t really help because the feature was enabled by default.

With build 18309 and Windows 10 19H1, the Cortana voice-over will be disabled by default on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education. That means if you are an IT Pro setting up a bunch of new Windows 10 laptops, you will no longer have to experience diasters like this:

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Conversation 11 comments

  • warren

    03 January, 2019 - 6:54 pm

    <p>Be sure to check the list of known issues before upgrading to this build…. there are some real doozies in there.</p>

  • Dan1986ist

    Premium Member
    03 January, 2019 - 7:06 pm

    <p>Downloading this build on my 19H1 testing device and it's a lot faster in the Windows Update portion. Previous builds would take hours to download and install before reaching the point where one restarts to enter the offline portion of the install.</p>

  • WarWizard

    Premium Member
    03 January, 2019 - 11:14 pm

    <p>Shutting up cortana during oobe would be great.</p><p>We do it via the unattend XML when doing OSD with SCCM, but having cortana on mute out of the box would be perfect when setting up non-sccm imaged devices out of the box. :)</p>

  • sherlockholmes

    Premium Member
    04 January, 2019 - 12:22 am

    <p>Why not mute Cortana completely? </p>

    • mattbg

      Premium Member
      04 January, 2019 - 12:28 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#390689">In reply to SherlockHolmes:</a></em></blockquote><p>Because everything needs to have AI.</p>

  • dontbe evil

    04 January, 2019 - 12:31 am

    <p>what kind of IT pro install windows like this?</p>

    • CaedenV

      04 January, 2019 - 9:50 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#390704">In reply to dontbe_evil:</a></em></blockquote><p>*sigh* I do… I know it is backwards, but when you only add 2-3 devices a year the cost of setup and price for a more advanced solution is difficult to justify to the bosses. And our requirements for drive encryption and secure boot make many cheap and easy products not work at all. I use to use FOG and SCCM at previous jobs, but now we are in a 99% virtual environment, so we only have a small handful of NUCs and Laptops around the building for very specific use-cases, and as those die most of them are simply not getting replaced.</p><p>But yes, no end of ironic to have a nice advanced VDI setup, but still installing Win10 from USB once in a blue moon. The worst part is that every time we install there is a new version of win10 out, so it is literally starting from scratch and making a new bootable USB stick every time.</p>

      • dontbe evil

        06 January, 2019 - 12:17 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#390802">In reply to CaedenV:</a></em></blockquote><p>2-3 devices per ear I understand … I'm talking about the one in the video :)</p><p>anyway was much faster, easy and also free create an image ;)</p>

    • waethorn

      04 January, 2019 - 7:19 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#390704">In reply to dontbe_evil:</a></em></blockquote><p>Some masochistic bastard, i reckon.</p>

  • IanYates82

    Premium Member
    04 January, 2019 - 1:33 am

    <p>It's a valid point that the Cortana thing during setup is silly, and that video makes the point *very* well.</p><p>However I wouldn't have said this change was more important than extending passwordless logon to more versions of Windows…. (sorry to be that grump – I know you don't actually think that)</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      04 January, 2019 - 3:37 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#390727">In reply to IanYates82:</a></em></blockquote><p>On the other hand, after the cacophony, you can tell all of the devices to proceed at the same time, instead of having to click through on each one individually… It saves a bit of time, but you can't do the whole install verbally, so it is pretty pointless.</p>

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