Messing with the registry could have an unexpected result on Windows 10 Preview, Microsoft employee says

Oct 16, 2014 06:07 GMT  ·  By

A registry hack that allows users to see the upcoming testing builds on Windows 10 Preview might lead to unexpected behavior on computers running this particular operating system, and a Microsoft employee warns that it’s better to disable it as soon as possible.

The reason is as simple as it could be: if you enable this registry tweak to see the upcoming Windows 10 Preview builds, you might actually lock yourself out and block your computer from receiving any other updates that Microsoft could release before the launch of the full product.

Gabriel Aul said in a very short tweet that anyone enabling the registry hack would “actually turn off the ability to get updates,” recommending everyone to disable it as soon as possible.

A new tweak posted on Microsoft’s Community forums also provides a few instructions on how to restore the original configuration of the registry and thus make sure that future updates will continue to be provided to your computer.

How to re-enable the original settings

According to the aforementioned post, users need to undo all the changes they made to the registry and reboot their computers afterwards to make sure that the new configuration is applied.

Before anything else, launch the registry editor by typing in “regedit.exe” in the Start menu search box and hit enter. Navigate to the following path:

code
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability
Once you’re there, here’s what the registry configuration should look like:
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BranchName = fbl_release
ThresholdRiskLevel = low
ThresholdInternal =
ThresholdOptedIn =
Alternatively, you can type the following commands in a Command Prompt window launched with administrator privileges:
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reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability" /v "BranchName" /d "fbl_release" /t REG_SZ /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability" /v "ThresholdRiskLevel" /d "low" /t REG_SZ /f
reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability" /v "ThresholdInternal" /f
reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability" /v "ThresholdOptedIn" /f

Hint that a new build is coming

If we read between the lines, this new suggestion coming directly from a Microsoft employee could be a hint that a new Windows 10 Preview update is on its way, and in order to make sure that everyone receives it, the company decided to roll out this recommendation to remove the registry hack.

Redmond has already confirmed in a blog post that a new build is coming “soon,” but has provided absolutely no specifications about when this could happen.

We’re hearing, however, that the new build could be released sometime this week, so keep your fingers crossed and your computer in tip-top shape to get the updates as soon as possible.