What’s new in the Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 17704

2 min read

Microsoft keeps rolling out with updates. After Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 17115 which included Machine learning APIs, Microsoft has now released Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 17704, two days ago.

The new preview SDK build can be used with Windows 10 insider preview build 17704 or greater. It includes bug fixes, MSIX support, and other development changes to the API surface area.

In case you want to download the latest Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 17704, visit the developer section on Windows Insider.

Key Updates

Here’s what’s new in this latest SDK preview Build:

MSIX Support

Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 17704 has finally got MSIX support enabled. You can install and run these apps with MSIX support on devices having 17682 build or greater.
Using the MakeAppx tool, you can package your applications with MSIX. Just click on the MSIX file to install the application.

If you wish to know more about MSIX, check out the video below:

Source: Microsoft Developer

MC.EXE

Changes are made to the C/C++ETW code generation of mc.exe which is a message compiler.
“-mof” parameter has been deprecated. The “-mof” parameter instructs MC.exe to generate the ETW code which is compatible with Windows XP and earlier.
If “-mof” parameter is not used, the generated C/C++ header is compatible with both kernel-mode and user-mode, regardless of whether “-km” or “-um” was specified on the command line.
The generated header supports several customization macros. If you need the generated macros to call something other than EventWriteTransfer, you can set the MCGEN_EVENTWRITETRANSFER macro.
The manifest supports new attributes such as Event “names”, event “attributes”, event “tags”, etc.
The “provider traits” can be now defined in the manifest (e.g. provider group). The EventRegister[ProviderName] macro will automatically register the provider traits, if they are used in the manifest.
MC has the capability to generate Unicode (utf-8 or utf-16) output MC now with the “-cp utf-8” or “-cp utf-16” parameters.

API Spot Light

There is a new LauncherOptions.GroupingPreference property in the Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 17704. This helps assist your app in tailoring its behavior for Sets.

Apart from these changes in the release, APIs have also been updated, added, and removed. More information about other known issues and improvements is available on the Windows Blog.