Third Time’s the Charm: Windows 10 Build 10162 Arrives

With just days to go before Windows 10 is finalized, Microsoft has finally exceeded our expectations for build release speed in delivering the third build in just four days. By way of comparison, the previous three Windows 10 Fast ring builds happened over a month and a half between May and June.

“Build 10162 is very similar to the previous iteration but with better reliability, performance, battery life, and compatibility than any Windows 10 Insider Preview build so far,” a Microsoft spokesperson told me.

Microsoft had released builds 10159 and 10158 to the Fast ring two and three days earlier, respectively. The previous three Fast ring builds were released May 20 (10122), May 29 (10130), and June 30 (10158).

Microsoft’s Gabe’s Aul explained the sudden speed in a blog post.

“We’re at the point in the development of Windows 10 where nearly every build is getting out to our internal rings, and passing the criteria for release to Windows Insiders,” he wrote. “We’re focused at this point on bug fixing and final polish, so it’s much easier for each build to get all the way through than earlier in the cycle when we’re adding big new features. So now we find ourselves in a great situation, with an abundance of build candidates. We’re deciding how long to let each build stay with Windows Insiders so you can really exercise them and send feedback on any problems that you’re hitting.”

Oddly enough, I’ve been able to download and install each of these builds while traveling in Ireland, and if that doesn’t say something positive about the state of broadband in a country where I’d always had terrible connectivity, nothing does. Not that most you probably care per se, but this connectivity has helped me stay up to date this week in ways I didn’t think would be possible.

Anyway, Slow ring testers can now expect build 10162 to quickly wind its way to their PCs, Aul says.

“We haven’t forgotten about Windows Insiders in the Slow ring either – we’re looking at Build 10162 as a candidate and unless we see any issues emerge in the Fast ring we’ll look to publish it to Slow (with ISOs) early next week,” he wrote. “Our testing and internal telemetry metrics show it has better reliability, performance, battery life, and compatibility than any Windows 10 Insider Preview build so far.”