Microsoft rolls out Windows 10 19H1 build 18282 with new light theme, wallpaper, and more

Windows Update Insider

Windows Update Insider (Image credit: Windows Central)

Microsoft is rolling out a significant new Windows 10 Insider Preview build for those in the Fast ring today, which brings with it a brand new light theme that turns the Taskbar, Start menu and Action Center white, as well as a brand new default wallpaper to go along with it.

Changelog

Windows Light Theme

  • Ever since we introduced the ability to choose between light and dark in Windows 10, we've heard feedback asking for a truer separation between the two options. When you select Light under Settings > Personalization > Colors, the expectation is that the system color would be lighter too. And it didn't do that before – the taskbar and many other things stayed dark. Now, if you choose Light under Settings > Personalization > Colors, all system UI will now be light. This includes the taskbar, Start menu, Action Center, touch keyboard, and more.

New default wallpaper

  • There's a new Windows 10 wallpaper that matches the light theme, as showcased above.

Bringing window snip to your modern snipping experience

  • Today are really excited to announce that window snip is on its way to Insiders too! Start your snip via your preferred entry point (WIN + Shift + S, Print Screen (if you've enabled it), directly from within Snip & Sketch, etc.), and select the window snip option at the top, and snip away! That selection will be remembered the next time you start a snip.

Improving your modern printing experience

  • First and foremost, the modern print dialog now supports light theme!
  • Second: In order to improve clarity, we've updated a number of the printing options to now include icons to help you easily and quickly identify the one you're looking for. We've also added a line of description to some of the dropdown settings. This can be seen in the Pages example below, and in other settings if you click More Settings at the bottom of the print dialog.
  • Finally: If you have a long printer name, it will now wrap rather than being cut off.

Updating Windows Update

  • Pause Updates: We're making the Pause Updates feature easier to find by surfacing the existing option directly on the 'Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update' page. Just like before, when Pause is enabled, some updates, like Windows Defender definition updates, will continue to be installed. In addition, Pause can be enabled for either a pre-defined number of days or until the specific day (day selector is available on Advanced options page).
  • Intelligent Active Hours: Setting your active hours will let Windows know when to avoid rebooting your device. However, we understand some of our users have shifting productivity schedules and remembering to adjust Active hours can be a challenge. Now, Windows can automatically adjust active hours for you based on your device activity. Just go into 'Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update > Change active hours' page to turn this setting on and know that reboots will not disrupt your productive time.

Display brightness changes when going to battery power

  • We've heard your feedback about a specific case where a display can become brighter when transitioning from a battery charger to battery power. For 19H1, we're modifying the display brightness behavior so that this can no longer happen. If a person adjusts their display brightness, that brightness will now be remembered as their preferred brightness whether they are on battery or connected to a charger. This new behavior results in a more consistent and battery friendly experience. This does not affect battery saver mode settings; if a person has opted into lowering the screen brightness in battery saver mode, their display will still dim when the battery is below the threshold selected.

As always, you can check out the Windows Blog for the complete changelog, including a list of known issues.

Zac Bowden
Senior Editor

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

19 Comments
  • So 19H1 is all about polishing the GUI?
  • I'm wouldn't complain if it was.
  • Timeline still slow, Fluent Design still not fully implemented. Dark theme for Explorer is half-baked. There still is a Control Panel. So yeah ...
  • Hopefully you're posting all this on the Feedback Hub?
  • I probably should, haha
  • Now that is sweet! Can't wait for 19H1 to hit RP.
  • April is a way off yet
  • Yeah I know, but I'm in no rush, and I'm not putting Fast Ring builds on my main and only PC.
    Also when exam season starts, days just fly-by. "Perks" of being a student, I guess.
  • I like how we are not even pretending it comes in March, lmao.
  • It will likely be version 1903, compiled in March but released in April
  • Nope. So far we could should between black or white theme; which is not the same as light or dark.
  • Any chance of uploading that new wallpaper? Thanks in advance!
  • https://image.ibb.co/kXWdX0/img0.jpg
    Here you go!
  • https://wallpaperhub.app/wallpapers/1534
  • Personally, I don't care about light/dark one way or the other. I run the Start menu full screen all the time and I run permanently in Tablet Mode (when Microsoft's stupid logic allows me to). I do like the improvements to snipping, but there's one problem with it. It doesn't support the Pen. I do not use keyboard shortcuts (I find them annoying, at best). I do, however, have my Pen configured to do certain things, one of which is to active at Snip and Sketch. I posted feedback to them that they should add the option to choose the Delayed, Windowed or Full snip option as one of the button-activation choices on the Pen.
  • Is AppData (with several sub-folders) OK to move elsewhere? It's the only place I keep any significant amount of data. Also my desktop - will moving that to a non-SSD drive affect anything? Thanks in advance
  • Windows REAL Light Theme is what I needed since Windows 10 appeared. I NEED IT NOW. I hate dark backgrounds
  • cooll light tmeme
  • Let's just hope these new features don't somehow break... the file system... the syncing subsystem... the Edge browser... the Windows store app... the zip file subsystem...