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Microsoft prepares to release Windows 10 May 2021 Update, version 21H1

Winaero.com
April 29, 2021

Microsoft today announced the marketing name of the upcoming feature update for Windows 10. It is May 2021 Update, version 21H1. The Redmond software giant considers build 19043.928 final, so it is likely that it will be distributed to regular users at the time of the update release. You can download the ISO image of this build now by following these instructions.

Windows 10 21H1 is a minor update. It will quickly get installed over the existing 2004/20H2 instance, like a monthly cumulative update. The same process could be earlier seen for 1903 -> 1909 update, and again for the 2004 -> 20H2 transition. However, users who come to 21H1 from versions older than 2004 will experience the full feature upgrade procedure. Windows 10 21H1 has the same hardware requirements as Windows 10 20H2. You will find some visible improvements and new features, but overall you can describe the Windows 10 21H1 update as quite a small one.

What’s new in Windows 10 version 21H1

• Windows Hello multicamera support: You can now set your external camera to be your default camera for user recognition if you have both external and internal Windows Hello cameras connected simultaneously.
• Windows Defender Application Guard has got performance improvements. This includes faster document opening.
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) performance improvements. It now work faster “to support remote work scenarios”.

The OS also contains plenty of minor fixes. However, they are also available for all earlier releases and are already available in Windows 10 with cumulative updates. Microsoft describes the release as follows.

Windows 10, version 21H1 will have a scoped set of features improving security, remote access and quality. The features we are releasing in this update are focused on the core experiences that customers have told us they’re relying on most right now. So, we optimized this release to support our customers’ most pressing needs.