Microsoft preparing to drop first Windows 10 'Redstone 2' build for Insiders this week

By Zac Bowden
last updated

Now that the Windows 10 Anniversary Update is out, Microsoft has shifted focus over to the next major update for Windows 10 codenamed 'Redstone 2'. As Insiders, it's our job to help Microsoft test these major updates weeks and months in advance, so it should come as no surprise to hear Microsoft is now ready to begin a new round of preview builds for Insiders.

Sources who are familiar with the matter say Microsoft is aiming to get the first Redstone 2 build out for Insiders this week at the earliest, with the latest time being sometime next week. Microsoft is wasting no time in getting the next major update for Windows 10 tested by Insiders, and that's exciting given Insiders have had to wait a few weeks since the last build dropped.

Core Insider Program on Twitter has heard that the build Microsoft wants to drop first is build 14901, which according to my contacts has been in internal testing since Saturday. If internal testing has gone well, we should see this build drop this week. If not, then we'll see a drop happen next week instead.

Regardless, Microsoft is now ready to start dropping Redstone 2 builds for Insiders and begin testing and collecting feedback, which is exciting, to say the least.

Stay tuned at Windows Central for more regarding Windows 10 Insider Preview builds and Windows 10 Redstone 2 news.

Zac Bowden
Zac Bowden
Senior Editor

Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows 10 on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch on Twitter: @zacbowden.

228 Comments
  • WOW......... That fast
  • Time to move to "release" builds for me - at least for the first few months. I burnt my finger with RS1. It was a big mess initially on my primary device. Not doing it again!
  • I don't think this will be the issue with this one...at least I hope. Hopefully it's just building upon and adding things to what we already have.
  • They need basic testing to be done. thats what insider builds have become
  • After the internal rings mind you.
  • I'm thinking this too, that the base is a lot more solid since they crushed a lot of the basic bugs in RS1. For those using MS Band and things like that which are essential to them, I'd say consider Release Preview for now just until you see if there are issues with it again. It was a particular problem in the first few RS1 builds so if that's important consider hopping off fast for a while, at least on Mobile.
  • It will always be an issue when there is major feature work being done, however it shouldn't be as bad as a lot of RS1 work was done in the core to prepare for RS2 features, the less messing around in the core should mean less massive bugs, but it doesn't always work out that way unfortunately. Still I can't wait to burn my fingers with the new builds!
  • I'm moving my work computer to Slow ring, but I'll leave my personal one on Fast because I'm nutty like that.
  • You know what, screw it; I totally decided to remain on Slow this time around but I'm pretty sure I'll move to fast as soon as the next build comes up. "I'm NOT going to Fast this time." "It can't be that bad, screw this, I'm living on the edge." "Oh well, you only live once."
  • Yeah, I've done pretty much the same thing in the past. I see the awesome new features and just can't wait for the Slow build, even though I know they'll probably only half work to start with ...
  • Is TH2 is 1511, RS1 is 1607 and what about RS2?
  • 1704, a guess
  • What, no 1701? How are we supposed to go where no phone has gone before?
  • Well, the point is that these builds are not ready for prime time and Insiders are taking a risk to receive builds early. If you aren't prepared to have a potential mess on your hands you should not join the insider program.
  • New features Ahoy❗
  • All i am expecting with RS2 is to support (presumably surface phone) continumm feature without display dock as long as required hardware is built right inside the phone itself. 
  • I guarantee that there will be many new features, tweaks, and later many more refinements.
  • and many new featrues will be removed from r1 and mvoed to skype and rs3..
  • I believe you can do continuum wirelessly now as it is
  • It already does?
  • Yep, wireless display adapter on every tv in my house, I use my 950xl on all of them!
  • Some tvs even have miracast built in.
  • You can already do continuum without the dock.
  • "Seems Faster"
  • This alone confirms to me that the singularity will actually occur
  • what is RS2 build number?
  • The build hasn't even been released yet :P
  • That's what she said.
  • lol! Microsoft is not releasing anniversary update today. Dona tweeted on twitter.
  • Phenomenal!
  • *Phenomen-Aul
  • Phenome-not-any-m-Aul :p
  • Already? Can we get a breather? It's raining preview builds!!
  • *Aulready
  • Oh the *Sarkasm ;-)
  • That's called slow ring or release previews lol
  • My L640XL is about to get outdated......
  • Same with me, but I'll be looking for the hack for continuum such as successfully with the 830
  • You'll still get RS2, won't you?
  • Will redstone 2 focus more on Mobile or PC?
  • As previous info and sources said, it will be focused on Mobile. Since those builds will be released with the launching of the rumored Surface Phone.
  • Where exactly are these sources? I've not seen any, or is it more fan fantasy again?
  • It was from a direct MS source either last year or beginning of this year. They stated themselves that RS1 was going to be PC focused due to the bigger consumer market, then RS2 will be 10Mobile focused.
  • Yeah, the same that told that RS1 was going to be released at the same time on pc and mobile, that pokemon go was coming to WM, that all 8.1 devices would get 10, and a lot of other broken promises?
    ​Keep yourself on the defensive side, if you don't wanna get disapointed.
  • I'm not sure if anyone ever said that W10 was coming to all W8.1 phones, I think they said since the beginning that W10 would only be supported by phones with 1Gb of ram
  • You should be sure :) They even stated all 8.0: http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-claims-windows-10-upgrades-all-l...
  • That only lasted a couple of months until they realised it wasn't possible due to bad feedback. You choosed to ignore them for over a year.
  • Couple months? Then show me the date of the first article stating that it wouldn't come to all devices :) All you do is keep talking, but in the 2 replies you didn't provide 1 link... Fanboy much? Oh we both know you are ;) (to be fare, most people there knows it) cough*zwame*cough
  • As I've said it before, in case you prefered to look the other way... Look, it's right here: "we PLAN to" (nov.14) http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/13/7216421/microsoft-says-every-lumia-wi...   "NOT EVERY phone" (jan.15): http://www.pcworld.com/article/2874481/microsoft-reneges-on-windows-10-u...   Hater much? Oh we both know you are ;)
  • Yikes you actually got 1 thing right :D So proud of you :') Yet, your lumia must be crying as, with a better soc, is left behind while lumia 430 is supported xD
  •   Make that 2 :D because I'm running the last redstone on it :) Here's your link: http://www.nokiapoweruser.com/hack-to-get-windows-10-mobile-redstone-bui... Actually that was pretty easy :)
  • You're still at 1 right... "HACK" is the keyword here ;) But by the way, how does it run? Do you have performance issues?
  • Nope. It's a simple app that let's you chage your device name. That app only has acess to the registry part that MS let's you view (and maybe change). There's a lot that you don't even see unless you hack your device and unlock the bootloader. It's running very well. Like wp8 I would say, but I lost my beloved glance screen. Maybe that's one reason they don't recommend/support it oficially :)
  • Still an HACK. Without a computer and a 3rd party app you can't do it, so there goes 99% of people.
    ​So, do you think that lack of glance would be the reason, when a lot of devices don't have it and after their flagships had gone like half a year without DTTW? xD
    ​But thats what i wanted you to say, regarding the performance, as it destroys every argument that people replying me made up until now xD So what will it be now? xD People have to just face it... Microsoft keeps failing people, and thats the reason of their 1% marketshare
  • I'm sorry I don't agree. And I didn't even user a PC for that. I didn't said it was THE reason. Sure is one of them. You want another reason? They sure weren't tested so they can't guarantee you it will work flawlessly (and it doesn't). Why are you so single minded? Google doesn't fail people? They know their users live with unsecure (not so old) devices and do nothing to protect them. To me, that's a REAL BIG FAILURE!
  • And they hadn't lied. Half way through development they realised by insider info and telemetry that as Win10M required 1GB to run properly, it wasn't running well enough on 512mb phones. At least they tried to make it work, til they knew they couldn't try anymore. Your argument would be more valid if they had said they would try, then hadn't tried at all. But that not the case :) That's not a broken promise. That's the life of OS development.
  • Oh is it really? Damn how i beber though of that! Oh but sair, isnt Lumia 430 suportes and 920 (qnd many more) left out? The 920 i know has 1gb ram, qnd the soc is fairly better than 430... Humm ;)
  • That is correct
  • Who told you that Pokémon Go is coming to Windows?
  • Microsoft PR on facebook, and then it said that it had been misunderstood: http://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-portugal-claims-pokemon-go-coming-windo...
    ​Really misunderstood there...
  • Hey, did they said it wouldn't come?
  • Yikes, then tive me the link to download it :D otherwise, i think you should really shut up :D
  • They didn't say when so, if you don't like to wait go fo android/ios
  • Wait until when? Do you really think that if it was coming MS wouldn't already made a party with the users rather than telling they were misunderstood? By each day that passes, they are loosing users because of that app, so if it was coming, we would already know (with the usual "soon", of course as it happened with facebook and instagram) ​BTW so cute how people like to press Vote Down because of me telling the truth xD But now think, what do you think that will do? xD I couldn't care less about that, and i even think its funny to see some delluded users here xD But i really would like to know what do you think that you will accomplish by that xD
  • First things first. It's not an app. It's a game. A boring silly game.
  • Its an APP. Might be a Gaming APP, but its an app.
    ​Regarding the other part, you only think that because you can't play it ("i have an android/iphone" lies incoming) xD  
  • Yo are wrong. I played it. I had PoGo when it worked. I didn't like it. It is silly.
    And no, games are not apps, don't fool yourself by saying they are apps. They are games.
  • LOL do you even compare POGO to Pokemon Go? POGO, even though i must salute the developers for their effort, is in a early alpha state, with lots of bugs and lots of missing features, so its like saying that a buggati sucks because your rusty Renault 5 sucks...
    ​Regarding the app, LOL you may say what you want, i wont even try to educate you. Some people just like to live in the ignorance xD But follow my advice... Try to read some articles about it, and then your opinion will change :D
  • Boy, I was playing games before you were born. Now I rarely do. It's a waste of time.
  • I don't care what you did. In fact, if that's true, you are the living proof that experience does not mean wisdom...
    And by the way, while you keep playing games, i keep coding them ;)
  • What did you code, a hello world?
  • They said it will come soon, and then said they are doing everything they can for that matter. To me, it's all the same.
  • And then they said they were misunderstood, so they backed down on that comment as it was a pre-made reply
  • Why do you said they backed down? did they said it wouldn't come afterall?
  • Yup, they removed that post and said they were misunderstood on what they told. Nontheless, as you can read on the article i posted, there is few to be misunderstood as they are very direct about it...
  • Give me a link where they say CLEARLY it's not gonna happen and I'll say you got 1 right! :p
  • It was all phones that came with 8.1
  • Lumia 530, 630, 635, 636, 638 would disagree with you. And i'm just refering to 8.1, of course, but they even said ALL 8.0 as you can see here : http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-claims-windows-10-upgrades-all-l...
  • Microsoft promised that all Windows Phone 8 phones that could upgrade to Windows 8.1 would be upgraded to Windows 10
  • They never said the same time, all phones could get w10 but not all would get support, who knows what niantic had planned for Pokemon Go at the time... There really are no broken promises here...
  • Many cannot get Windows 10, qnd the pokemon go reply das fairly New (like 1 ir 2 weeks ago), so yeah, lots of broken promises here.
  • But everybody was offered to get it and as I said. Do you know if niantic told Microsoft it was coming? See, you don't have a lot of grounds for your claims.
  • If niantic would say something like that to MS, we would know by now. Why? Because MS is loosing users on a daily basis because of that app, so what MS would do (and did for Facebook and Instagram too) would be a official statement of the coming of the app with their original date "Soon" instead of saying they were misunderstood. This is just MS 101 (or if you prefer, how they work)
  • Nah, Microsoft arent losing users because of that game. The game itself is losing users though. Point is, you have no idea what agreement Niantic and MS has. It might have been on its way and then something needed a bit more fixing. Maybe it is still coming soon... It hasn't been more than a week since that rumor started and you are making it sound like it has been years... Why are you exaggerating so much?
  • Thats where you are wrong. As you can see in this post (that links you to the windows phone subreddit) you can easily see the impact the game has on users. The rest is just denial.
    ​Regarding my exaggeration, its not it. Its just how things are going. If they wanted to maintain what they said, they would just keep it as a Soon, and not remove the post (the same day) and tell people they were misunderstood. And, in fact, MS is not a company that worries much about not being on schedule as we have seen on the past half year, with multiple delays. The removal and denial of that post alone is the proof that they just backed down on what they said. Of course that some people will keep saying "it might come" until no one remembers that (even if it takes 10 years) and then puff, not important anymore.
  • *if* people were to have read the W10M compatability release notes, that were on MS website, they would ha e seen the caveats relating to devices and updates. It stated that availability would be subject to 'carriers, device performance and *other* factors'. Insiders tested TH on devices and feedback was showing that certain devices couldn't cope, or perform to a standard deemed satisfactory. People were reporting continual freezing, reboots and general poor behaviour. Thus, those devices were excluded due to these issues. That's the idea of the insider program. Now, if this were Android, or Apple, dropping support, you wouldn't hear much about it. There were mumblings when Apple recently released an update, because the first gen devices were left out. Android on the other hand drop devices all the time, OEM's drop devices all the time. Old nexus devices are being dropped with the release of 7. Even on 6, the older nexus devices struggle. The note 3, which I cooked roms for was dropped pretty quickly. Thankfully, there is the XDA to keep older devices running.
  • If people were to read the article i publisher, it would know that MS said before the release, that ALL Windows phone 8.0 decides would be upgraded. But i will play along with you... So the problem is performance right? Then explain the fact that lumia 920 is out of Windows 10 and lumia 430 is supported :D that must be because santa thought it would be Nice :D
  • I think you're refering to what Terry Meyerson said right? he did say that they were focusing on PC, but didnt explicitly say that RS2 would be for mobile, I believe this is the wincentral article: http://www.windowscentral.com/microsofts-committed-windows-10-mobile
  • I cant remember the source, but there was another that they said that RS2 was going to be Mobile based and people got angry because they had to wait through all of RS1 before they got mobile focused updates, while others were confused and had misunderstood, thinking it meant Mobile wasn't getting any updates til RS2
  • I don't get it. Why would Zac not mention that on the article?
  • On Mobile it seems
  • Lets hope it does focus on Mobile