The final steps are in full swing as Microsoft continues marching down the path to the finalization and release of the fifth overall feature update for its nearly three year old Windows 10 operating system.

This feature update, know by its codename of Redstone 4, has been in development since just after the Fall Creators Update was released last October.

Just six days ago Microsoft released this same build, 17133, to Windows Insiders testing in the Slow Ring. After a week of testing, the software company determined that there were no issues holding back this potential final build from a broader availability and so yesterday it was made available to testers in the Release Preview ring.

If everything continues to hold with the form of past feature update releases, we are easily within 2-3 weeks of the general availability of this yet to be named feature update for Windows 10.

Making a feature update build available in the Release Preview ring is one of the last steps of the stabilization and monitoring process of the update to see it installed and running on a wide variety of hardware among Windows Insiders. At this point if there are any minor issues, they will probably release a cumulative update to Insiders for testing and that will become a Day 1 patch as the general public upgrades to the new feature update.

I mentioned earlier that this feature update does not have a name yet. In the past Microsoft has given names to each feature update at some point in its six month development cycle.

  • November Update (Windows 10 Version 1511)
  • Anniversary Update (Windows 10 Version 1607)
  • Creators Update (Windows 10 Version 1703)
  • Fall Creators Update (Windows 10 Version 1709)

Right now there are a lot of documents coming out of Microsoft, plus the rumors floating across the tech blogosphere, that are using the name Spring Creators Update. While I can’t confirm that is the marketing name for this feature update, I can say without a doubt that once your system is running this update it will be officially know as Windows 10 (Version 1803).

As for the rest – I guess we will find out in the next 2-3 weeks.