Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10061: What Changed (Historical)

Microsoft released Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10061 to Fast ring Windows Insiders on April 22, 2015. This article is retained as historical coverage of the Windows 10 development period.

The build was delivered through Windows Update and introduced several visible changes that previewed the direction of the final Windows 10 interface.

Start, taskbar, and Action Center

Build 10061 introduced Microsoft’s new black system theme across the Start menu, taskbar, and Action Center. The Start menu and taskbar gained transparency, and Windows could derive an accent color from the desktop background.

Microsoft also moved the Start-menu power button to the lower-left area and continued refining Task View, Alt+Tab, and Snap Assist.

New Mail and Calendar apps

The preview Mail and Calendar apps received a three-pane interface and customizable swipe gestures. Mail also gained richer composition features, including tables, pictures, bullets, and colored text.

Microsoft documented support in those preview apps for services including Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, Gmail, IMAP, and POP accounts.

Continuum and tablet-mode changes

Tablet mode received larger and more widely spaced taskbar controls for touch use. Pinned and running app icons could be hidden from the taskbar by default to reduce clutter, and Microsoft added an option to boot directly into Tablet Mode.

It was still preview software

Build 10061 also shipped with known issues. Microsoft documented problems including Win32 desktop apps not launching from Start in some cases, early Mail and Calendar bugs, and other unfinished behaviors.

The build is no longer usable or supported; this page is an archive of the Windows 10 preview process rather than an installation guide.