Dev channel update to 81.0.381.0 is live

[josh_bodner]

Welcome to the new year!  Today we’re releasing build 81.0.381.0 to the Dev Channel, which as you can see is the first new build from major version 81.  We haven’t been completely asleep during the holidays though; we’ve been slowing turning favorites sync back on for most Canary and Dev users, with the last of them coming back online a couple of days ago.  As sync is re-enabled, some machines may experience duplication-like behavior as the machines get back into a clean state, but that behavior shouldn’t persist, and any changes you make to your favorites should now sync properly (but please let us know if that’s not the case!) 

We also have a couple of informational updates.  First, we’ve proposed our security baseline configuration for when organizations install the Stable channel of Edge:  https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2019/12/18/security-baseline-draft-edge-79/.  There’s an accompanying discussion over on the Security Baselines forum.  Second, we started a discussion around the value proposition of Reading List and how users would like to see us evolve it moving forward:  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/reading-list-discussion/m-p/1070553.  As for the most noteworthy product changes: 

Added features:

• Added a feature to suggest URLs to visit that are similar to typed URLs that result in a failed navigation due to the fact that no webpage at the typed URL exists.
• Added a keyboard shortcut for starting Read Aloud (ctrl + shift + U).
• Added the ability to paste multiple items into a Collection at the same time.
• Added a dialog to tell users when a new data type is available to sync.
• Added support for Guided Switch to suggest going back to a personal profile when visiting links to certain non-work or school resources in a work or school profile.
• Added support for the Chromium management policy to disable web payment APIs in webpages.
• Added a management policy for disabling Microsoft Search for Business.

Improved reliability:

• Fixed a crash when syncing favorites.
• Fixed an issue where favorites that are synced between multiple machines sometimes get deleted from one machine when they’re edited on another.
• Fixed a crash when syncing Collections.
• Fixed a crash when sync is enabled.
• Fixed a crash when syncing with Edge mobile.
• Fixed a crash when clearing browsing data.
• Fixed an issue where Collections don’t sync properly.
• Fixed a crash when importing certain data from other browsers.
• Fixed an issue where Edge fails to install due to a crash in the installer.
• Fixed an issue where uninstalling Edge and re-installing the same channel with a lower version number causes Edge to no longer launch.
• Fixed an issue where enabling Tracking Prevention prevents some pages from ever loading, regardless of the level Tracking Prevention is set at.
• Fixed an issue where certain videos don’t load when Tracking Prevention is enabled.
• Fixed an issue where Tracking Prevention prevented users from logging into certain websites.
• Fixed an issue where navigation in new tabs sometimes fails, either showing an error that the connection is closed or crashing the tab, but subsequent navigations are sometimes okay. 
• Fixed an issue where typing in the address bar sometimes causes a crash.
• Fixed an issue where Edge is no longer able to launch after uninstalling and reinstalling it.
• Fixed a crash for users who have certain anti-virus programs installed.
• Fixed an issue where Amazon Music fails to play.
• Fixed an issue where sharing a local file (for example, a PDF that’s been downloaded onto the machine) fails.
• Fixed a crash during shutdown.
• Fixed an issue where the policy to enable/disable printing headers and footers doesn’t work.
• Improved the reliability of installation.

Changed behavior:

• Fixed an issue where downloading files in IE mode tabs sometimes prevents the browser from being closed even after the downloads are completed.
• Fixed an issue where the user can’t remove pages from the list of pages to open when the browser first starts.
• Fixed an issue where removing a search provider in Settings sometimes results in the inability to add that same search provider again.
• Fixed an issue where the second page of the print preview dialog doesn’t render properly.
• Fixed an issue where unselecting categories to be synced during the First Run Experience sometimes results in those data types still being synced.
• Fixed an issue where the Office New Tab Page is broken.
• Fixed an issue where creating a new Collection sometimes fails.
• Fixed an issue where some images can’t be dragged and dropped into a Collection.
• Fixed an issue where using Collections sometimes causes error reporting dialogs to appear.
• Fixed an issue where certain suggested sites in the Pinning Wizard don’t get pinned to the taskbar.
• Fixed an issue where the toggle to sync open tabs isn’t functional.
• Fixed an issue where login details appear as autocomplete candidates for text fields that aren’t used for logging in.
• Fixed an issue where signing into the browser sometimes fails to properly set the profile picture.
• Fixed an issue on Mac where websites installed as apps don’t open and instead show an error if Edge isn’t already running.
• Fixed an issue on Mac where the update page spins forever or eventually shows an error after a successful update.
• Improved how much content is blocked by SmartScreen’s dangerous content blocker.
• Fixed an issue where highlighting text in the address bar then clicking on webpages sometimes causes black-on-dark text when the browser is in Dark Theme.
• Fixed some graphical flickering when switching between IE mode tabs and non-IE mode tabs.
• Fixed a white flash when entering Reading View.
• Improved the PDF reader’s background area color in Dark Theme.
• Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows sometimes don’t use the proper theme.
• Improved performance when opening Application Guard windows for the first time.
• Changed the name of the window that appears when you hover over a running instance of Edge on the Task Bar to only be the name of the active tab in that window instead of also containing the name of the profile and browser.
• Changed the behavior of “deprecated” management policies to still apply properly, which differs from Chrome’s definition of “not supported” policies. Both “not supported” in Chrome and “obsolete” in Edge are policies which are no longer supported and just show an error instead of being applied. 

Known issues:

• After an initial fix for it recently, some users are still experiencing Edge windows becoming all black. UI popups like menus are not affected and opening the Browser Task Manager (keyboard shortcut is shift + esc) and killing the GPU process fixes it. 
• Some users are still not seeing Collections being enabled by default on Canary and Dev. For users who want to try Collections, enabling the flag at edge://flags/#edge-collections should still work to turn on the feature. 
• There are some issues where users with multiple audio output devices sometimes don’t get any sound from Edge. In one case, Edge becomes muted in the Windows Volume Mixer and unmuting it fixes it.  In another, restarting the browser fixes it. 
• At certain zoom levels, there is a noticeable line between the browser UI and the web contents.

We’re looking forward to the release of the Stable channel soon, and thank you for all the help you’ve given us in getting to that point! 

[#2]

@Obprg since you provided the Bucket ID in the crash you mentioned, I looked up what the crash was in our database and it looks like quite a few people have been hitting it over the past couple of days.  I'll ask our reliability team if they've got a fix in place for it yet.  

[#3]

@ikjadoon as you and others have noticed, we've got quite a few issues with the behavior of installing websites and pinning them via the Windows context menu.  The installation problem is something we inherited from upstream Chromium, so we'll also get the fix from them.  Also as you've noticed, it only affects certain websites.  

The pinning behavior is something that I personally experienced recently since I've been setting up a new machine over this past week, so we've already got a bug filed for that.  I'm using a Windows Insider build though (19041), so to everybody who's seen the shortcut either not launch Edge correctly or not have the right icon after using the Windows context menu to pin it, which version of Windows are you using?  Since it's possible there are multiple causes to these issues, it would be helpful to try to narrow down where it happens as much as we can.  

[#4]

@samuele2 Our investigation over the past week helped us figure out that some of the people hitting STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION have been running Forcepoint/Websense security software on their systems.  By any chance, are you, and does disabling it make any difference?  

[#5]

@carlosmontanez since you're hitting the same STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION as @samuele2, are you also using Forcepoint/Websense security software by any chance?  

[#6]

@javicuasih 

I have put this in Spanish for you, intentionally, as a courtesy 

Hola,

Si le pegas a ese problema, haz lo mismo que yo, como tenía que hacer. Es lo que Edge sugiere cuándo o si esto sucede. Desinstale el dev. Ve a tomar una nueva descarga de ella AQUI y reinstala. Instalará la compilación más reciente.

Salud,
Drew

[#7]

@josh_bodner @ikjadoon 

"it only affects certain websites", Josh

Josh, it only affects the icon for sites converted to apps. And only when they are pinned... initially, before telling to pin they are correct & morph into Edge icons as soon as pinned.  Sites pinned via Pin to taskbar under More tools do not change to generic Edge icons.

Now, to answer your curiosity about behavior on an IB vs 18363. I run both.  I have tried & tested all this stuff on both 18363 and 19541.  It is identical.  And is you writing 19041 a typo?

BTW, I like the Greeting thing, that becomes a basic weather notice, on the NTP.

Cheers,
Drew

[#8]

@josh_bodner Thank you for the update. I'm glad the Canary bugs will get the patch from Chromium, as creating the apps has actually worked flawlessly on Dev.

All my machines are on 1909, so all my Dev/Canary tests were conducted on 18363.535.

I've done a quick test now on Dev 81.0.381.0 (this thread's build) and today's Windows 10 patch (18363.592) and the bug can still be produced.

And, yes: the conditions are tricky. Here's one that's mostly reproducible:

 If you install a site & you get the correct icon -> pin it immediately -> default icon reset -> uninstall -> reinstall -> no "website-app" is created, just another Edge.exe shortcut. That is, now you have just another shortcut to Edge. It's not the website you installed, it's not the favicon of the website you installed, and no longer is named "Google.com" (example). It even says "Microsoft Edge (2)".

I'll test more soon and see if I can narrow down something 100% reproducible; thank you, @Drew1903 for following up as well. Others here may be better detectives than me, heh.

[#9]

Not sure why forum didn't translate your Spanish comment but you can get it from here:

https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/

[#10]

@josh_bodner 

What would be the explanation and reason that I can't reproduce this pinning problem on a fresh Windows 10 installation be? I'm also running Windows 10 insider but fast ring build 19541

here are my reproducing steps on both Canary and Dev channels:

https://streamable.com/afsij

https://streamable.com/8m9so

https://streamable.com/uscza

[#11]

Websites are not converted into apps. that procedure only Pins the websites to start menu/desktop/task bar, that's it.

previously, "installing" sites as "apps" would auto-Pin them to the taskbar as well but now it's not happening.

[#12]

@ikjadoon @josh_bodner 

Yes, I didn't show the .xxx for 18363 as I was just distinguishing it from the Insider Build.

Now, this is interesting.  I decided to try the scenario, again. 
Canary: Turn a site into an app, pin its icon to the taskbar & it changes to an Edge icon; however, I didn't have MS Edge (2)... the app's name & thumbnail stayed correct.

BUT,

Dev: One of the same sites tried in Canary DID/DOES keep its icon after pinning. I found a 2nd that holds. However, others do not. So, there you have it, some stay true & proper, some morph into generic Edge icons.

I may not have experimented with multiple sites previously.  Just reckoned any or all would do the same as one did... apparently, not.

Cheers,
Drew

[#13]

@josh_bodner We are also running the ForcePoint client and stopping it does not fix the error.

[#14]

@Michael Gibson and @josh_bodner:
We're also using forcepoint, and completely uninstalling it resolved the issue with me.

[#15]

@ThomasOD1970 That'll be a difference as I just turned it off for testing as removing it is not allowed.

[#16]

Name of the sites?

[#17]

Are individual employees in your organization able to turn it off?

[#18]

@HotCakeX Only select IT staff can turn it off.

We tried stopping it from the task tray which stops the service intercepting packets/redirecting traffic to the proxy (We use the Endpoint Proxy client) and this didn't fix it.

We then tried stopping the actual service (Websense SaaS Service) which didn't fix it.

The only other option would be to remove the client.

I can only presume there is some back end hook which is breaking Edge as traffic interception isn't the problem.

Hope this helps in some way

Regards

Michael

[#19]

@HotCakeX @ikjadoon  I guess I forgot to actually say why I was interested in knowing if you were seeing any buggy pinning behavior in Windows Insider builds!  The issue is with Windows, not Edge, and we made a fix in all Windows Insider builds 19xxx and higher.  That fix hasn't had a chance to be ported back to non-Insider Windows yet (18363 and lower), so it's not surprising if people are still seeing it there, but if you're seeing it on Windows versions that do have the fix, then it means the fix wasn't sufficient.  

Also Drew, 19041 is the current Insider Slow build, which is due to be released this year.  195zz is the Insider Fast Windows, which is what used to be called Skip Ahead and is what will be released either later this year or next year.  Both rings should have the pinning fix.  

[#20]

Oh thanks for extra info, now I understand why I wasn't seeing that problem

[#21]

Have you guys tried the new build yet?
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/dev-channel-update-to-81-0-389-2-is-live/m-p/1110...