Windows 10 build 17004 now available for Skip Ahead - here's what's new

We're just a few weeks away from the public release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update now, and Microsoft has been very focused on pushing out builds to finalize it, offering 16299 to the Fast ring just yesterday. The firm hasn't forgotten about Insiders that chose Skip Ahead while it was available, releasing build 17004 for PCs today.

The build is from the Redstone 4 Development Branch, which is to be the next feature update to Windows after the Fall Creators Update. We haven't seen a lot of new features yet, but there is one today:

Fluent Design: As we progress into the next feature update, you’ll begin to see more and more elements of Fluent Design light up. We love the enthusiasm we’ve seen for Fluent Design, and with today’s build you’ll notice that Reveal is now visible on Start in All apps.

You'll also notice that the watermark in the bottom-right corner has disappeared in this one. Normally, this is what happens when Microsoft is gearing up for an RTM like it is in the Fast ring, but obviously, that's not the case here. It will be back in the next build.

There are also a number of fixes and improvements to the Edge browser:

• We fixed an issue where typing a web address into the address bar from the New Tab and Start Page and would sometimes clear the text and not result in any page navigation
• We fixed an issue resulting in keyboard layout changes potentially not being applied when using Microsoft Edge after setting focus to the address bar.
• We fixed an issue where the tab previews for PDFs were black with a white bar on each side.
• We fixed an issue where the first time you pressed Ctrl + F to open Search, the search box doesn’t get focus. We also fixed an issue where you might be unable to type in the address bar after clicking on CTRL+F text field.
• We fixed an issue where “Open with previous pages” wouldn’t recover tabs after dragging a tab between two Microsoft Edge windows.
• We fixed an issue resulting copy/paste and the print dialog not working for those using the updated Youtube.com website design.
• We fixed an issue where Ctrl + Click on a link in a PDF wouldn’t open the link in a new tab.
• We fixed an issue resulting in PDFs potentially rendering blank after panning down a few pages and back up.
• We fixed an issue from recent flights where Alt + D wouldn’t bring input focus to the address bar when certain keyboards were active.

There are some input improvements as well:

• We fixed an issue resulting in the enter key not working properly in Facebook Messenger.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the Delete key on the full touch keyboard layout unexpectedly inserting a period in UWP apps.
• We fixed an issue resulting in a stutter when selecting long strings in certain single line editable text boxes (for example when naming favorites in Microsoft Edge).

Finally, there are a number of general changes, improvements, and fixes:

• RS4 builds include many of the same fixes included in the latest RS3 builds.
• We are introducing a new color wheel to Color & High Contrast Settings to help you get a feel for the effect of each of the different available color filters.
• You may see a Microsoft Edge shortcut on your desktop after upgrading to this build. You can delete the shortcut, upgrade from this build and it will not return.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Mod Organizer no longer load mods into Skyrim in recent flights.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the last flighted build sometimes green screening with a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION in win32kfull.sys.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the WIN+X menu sometimes unexpectedly missing the accelerator key underline hints.

In the blog post, Dona Sarkar also said that the team will be doing a lot more with LinkedIn - which was acquired by Microsoft - over the next year.

As always, you can grab today's update by heading over to Settings -> Update & security -> Windows Update -> Check for updates. If you didn't sign up for Skip Ahead, you missed the boat, but don't worry. Once the Fall Creators Update is released, it should be merged with the Fast ring.