On October 5 With the release of Windows 11, Microsoft also announced that they have been working on a new version of Windows 10, which will be called v21H2. The 21 in the version name refers to the year 2021, and the H2 refers to the second half of the year in which it will be released.
On November 16, 2021, Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 19044.1379 with lots of new updates, but unlike Windows 11 there’s not much that’s new in the Windows 10 November 2021 Update design-wise, just some minor updates.
And just 2 days later, on November 18, 2021, Microsoft released another build version named Windows 10 Build 19044.1381 / 19043.1381 which is currently the latest Windows build.
The update only adds a single fix to the previous builds released a couple of days ago under the same KB5007253.
According to Microsoft, it fixed a problem plaguing Windows 10 PCs that use Windows Hello for Business service on Azure Active Directory (AD) servers when accessing on-premises resources, such as file shares, among other things, and was likely causing user authentication problems and perhaps other inconveniences.
The changelog reads:
We fixed an issue that might affect devices that use Windows Hello for Business and are joined to Azure Active Directory (AD). These devices might experience issues when they access on-premises resources, such as file shares or websites.
Listed below are all the improvements in Windows 10 Build 19044.1379 / 19043.1379:
- We fixed an issue that affects the opening of the SearchFilterHost.exe process.
- We fixed an issue that causes searchindexer.exe to keep handles to the per user search database in the path below after you sign out: “C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\\” As a result, searchindexer.exe stops working and duplicate profile names are created.
- We added support for the cancellation of daylight savings time for the Republic of Fiji for 2021.
- We fixed an issue that prevents the enrollment status page (ESP) from displaying the error message or remediation options after a failure.
- We added the –cd argument to wsl.exe to specify a Windows or Linux path as a starting directory for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
- We fixed an issue that fails to apply machine Group Policy objects automatically at startup or in the background to devices on a domain that have certain processors.
- We added the option to configure an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) maximum transmission unit (MTU) that is less than 576 bytes on an interface.
- We fixed an issue that fails to provide an event description for the System Center – Operations Manager.
- We fixed an issue that incorrectly renders some variable fonts.
- We fixed an issue that might cause the 32-bit version of Microsoft Excel to stop working on devices that have certain processors when you export to PDF.
- We fixed an issue that displays glyphs at the wrong angle when you use the Meiryo UI font and other vertical fonts. These fonts are frequently used in Japan, China, or other countries in Asia.
- We enabled onunload events to create pop-up windows in Microsoft Edge Internet Explorer mode.
- We fixed an issue that affects predictive pre-rendering in Microsoft Edge Internet Explorer mode.
- We fixed an issue that causes Internet Explorer to stop working.
- We fixed an issue that causes Internet Explorer to stop working when using the Input Method Editor (IME) to insert elements.
- We fixed an issue that causes the Settings page to unexpectedly close after you uninstall a font.
- We fixed an issue that affects the UI for renaming files when using folder view in File Explorer. The UI fails to properly handle inline composition when using the new Japanese IME.
- We fixed a memory leak in ctfmon.exe that occurs when you switch between different edit clients.
- We fixed a known issue that causes error codes 0x000006e4, 0x0000007c, or 0x00000709 when connecting to a remote printer that is shared on a Windows print server.
- We fixed an issue that turns off screen capture and recording functionalities on the Windows Game Bar because of a service failure.
- We fixed an issue that might cause the return value of GetCommandLineA() to be lowercase in some developer scenarios.
- We fixed an issue that might cause the decryption of a file that is on a remote server to fail. This issue occurs when using the Encrypted File System (EFS) on the remote server and the error message is, “ERROR_DECRYPTION_FAILED”.
- We fixed an issue that prevents you from enabling BitLocker on a thinly provisioned virtual machine (VM). The error is “A device attached to the system is not functioning” and the system logs, “STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL”.
- We fixed an issue that causes Windows Defender Application Control to incorrectly compare two file version numbers.
- We enabled credentials for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) users in Quick Assist.
- We fixed an issue that sometimes prevents Quick Assist users from using full screen view after they start a remote assistance session.
- We fixed an issue that prevents the applications that you use often from appearing on the Start menu and prevents you from configuring them to appear on the Start menu using a Group Policy.
- We fixed an issue that causes the syncing of desktop settings to fail when you use the built-in User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) template.
- We fixed an issue that prevents Failover Clustering from updating Domain Name Server (DNS) records.
- We fixed an issue that prevents your device from starting up, and it becomes unresponsive because of licensing API calls.
As you can see, most of these updates are just minor improvements to Windows 10. Windows 10 users will see the November 2021 Update in Settings as an optional update. Just like any feature update, Microsoft isn’t going to force your PC to take it. The only way that will happen is if the version that you are using is nearing the end of support.
Windows 10 Insiders in the Release Preview Channel can download the update by Checking for Updates in Settings.