Microsoft releases Windows Server 2019 Insider build 17709

Surface Insider Rings
Surface Insider Rings (Image credit: Windows Central)

Microsoft has shipped out another new Windows Server 2019 Insider preview build for testers to check out. Today's release moves things up to build number 17709 and includes a couple of new features to check out, along with several known issues to be aware of.

Updated June 10, 2018: Developers can also now get their hands on Windows 10 SDK preview build 17709 as well.

What's new

  • Group Managed Service Accounts: We've improved the scalability and reliability of containers that use group managed service accounts (gMSA) to access network resources. You should see fewer authentication errors when using a single gMSA with multiple container instances. Additionally, you no longer need to set the container's host name to be the same as the gMSA. We also fixed a bug that prevented you from using gMSAs with Hyper-V isolated containers.
  • New base image: Windows: We're adding a new base image to the Windows Server container collection. In addition to NanoServer and WindowsServerCore container images, the new Windows image is now available. This image carries even more components than its NanoServer and ServerCore siblings, meaning it can support applications that have additional API dependencies. To learn more and get started, go to https://www.windowscentral.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fclick.linksynergy.com%2Fdeeplink%3Fid%3DkXQk6%252AivFEQ%26mid%3D24542%26u1%3DUUwpUdUnU57226%26murl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.microsoft.com%252Fen-us%252F%253Fref%253Daka&token=fWb988zC

Known Issues

  • [NEW] If a system is upgraded from preview release build 17692 to a more recent preview release, System Insights encounters errors when parsing or visualizing the prediction results. To resolve this issue, follow the instructions on System Insights known issues, or clean install a newer preview release.
  • [NEW] Get-HgsAttestationBaselinePolicy, PowerShell cmdlet that generates an attestation baseline policy, fails with an error: "Failed to retrieve TPM information."
  • [NEW] On a recent preview release of Server Core, the Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) parser may fail if the default language and locale are changed to something other than US English. If the AQS parser is not working, search functionality in Exchange does not work.
  • Creating or modifying environment variables by using setx on a system running NanoServer container fails. On an affected system, setx requires a specific path in the registry, HKCU\Environment\, to exist by default. You can work around this issue by changing where the variable is stored in the registry, or you can add the expected registry path before executing setx commands. To specify that the variable be set for system-wide use in HKLM rather than in HKCU, the default, add the /M switch to a setx command. To instead add the expected registry path, run reg add HKCU\Environment before executing setx commands.
  • The Virtual Machine Management Service (VMMS) may experience an error, APPLICATION_FAULT_INVALID_POINTER_READ, in Cluster Manager.
  • Editing or creating policies for AppLocker can cause the MMC snap-in to crash when generated rules for a packaged app.

Windows Server 2019 build 17709 is available for download now directly from Microsoft. This particular build is set to expire on December 14. For more, you can view Microsoft's full release notes.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl