Microsoft wrapped up this week by publishing a new build to both the Fast and Skip Ahead Rings for Windows Insiders to test out. The pattern of weekly releases is becoming fairly predictable although this is the second week in a row when an expected Wednesday build release appears to have been delayed by a couple of days.

Of note, the Windows 10 (19H1) Bug Bash wrapped up last weekend, so a lot of potential fixes might be addressed in this release.

I counted more than 40 general changes, improvements, and fixes for PC in the Build 18334 release notes from Microsoft – which seems to indicate the exact goals of these release branch builds – fix final bugs and work on its overall performance. There are 10 item listed under the known issues and still the one lingering issue for developers.

In addition, this is also the fifth consecutive build (18312; 18317; 18323; 18329) that we have usage information concerning the Windows 10 Reserved Storage feature that was introduced late last year. Let’s go ahead and look at what Reserved Storage looked like after installing Build 18334:

Windows 10 Reserved Storage Usage Tracking Update

• HP EliteOne1K
  • Build 18312 – 2.50GB
  • Build 18317 – 7.05GB
  • Build 18323 – 7.41GB
  • Build 18329 – 7.41GB
  • Build 18334 – 7.50GB
• HP Spectre x360 (2015)
  • Build 18312 – 5.61GB
  • Build 18317 – 6.64GB
  • Build 18323 – 6.02GB
  • Build 18329 – 6.99GB
  • Build 18334 – 7.27GB
• Surface Book
  • Build 18312 – 7.09GB
  • Build 18317 – 6.75GB
  • Build 18323 – 7.11GB
  • Build 18329 – 6.40GB
  • Build 18334 – 7.26GB
• Virtual Machine
  • Build 18312 – 7.04GB
  • Build 18317 – 7.13GB
  • Build 18323 – 7.06GB
  • Build 18329 – 7.06GB
  • Build 18334 – 7.20GB
• Lenovo X1 Yoga
  • Build 18312 – 5.70GB
  • Build 18317 – 6.88GB
  • Build 18323 – 6.62GB
  • Build 18329 – 7.34GB (Skip Ahead)
  • Build 18334 – 7.43GB (Skip Ahead)

All of the above devices, except the Surface Book, get used for testing, quests, and installing new builds. Surface Book is the device I often use as a second device when I am in the living room watching television or movies. 

Having said all of that, there is quite a bit of variation between builds on how much space is used by Reserved Storage in 19H1.

As I understand it, the more content that is stored on a device, such as the creation of files in Documents, Pictures, Videos, and installation of apps, etc. then the more reserved space will be needed to insure successful upgrades down the road. So while my tracking shows those fluctuations without regular use, these numbers could easily creep up through normal usage once 19H1 is released and on main devices.

Still, it has been fun to track it over the last five builds and I plan to continue this tracking until 19h1 is released to the public in its final form.

One last note about the Windows 10 Reserved Storage feature. The last two builds, 18334 and 18329, have gone to both Fast and Skip Ahead Rings. I am on Skip Ahead on the X1 Yoga bare metal device and fast Ring on everything else. Right now, these are still basically the same builds across both rings, so my tracking is still applicable. I will drop the X1 Yoga from my tracking once the Skip Ahead ring begins releasing builds under the higher build numbers heading towards 19H2.

Finally, the one new thing about Build 18334 is some testing when it comes to gaming on Windows 10. You can read the entire sequence of steps necessary to jump in and try this over on the release notes for this build. 

Otherwise, we should continue to see steady progress on fixes moving towards the final release of what we expect to be called the April 2019 Update.

Windows 10 (19H1) Build 18334 Screenshot Gallery