Microsoft’s Preparing a New OOBE for Windows 10

With Microsoft making the shift of taking Windows 10X and turning the focus to single-screen devices instead of dual-screened hardware, one of the benefits for the end-user is bringing the UI of 10X to traditional Windows 10. And it looks like some of Windows 10X is starting to make its way to the version of Windows 10 most of us are using today.

In the latest Windows 10 build released to Insider, version 20231, it is possible to enable a new OOBE, or Out of Box Experience. This new experience is what you typically see upon the first boot of new hardware or occasionally when adding a new profile to Windows.

Discovered by Albacore on Twitter, you can see in the video the refreshed experience that looks significantly better than the existing OOBE that has not changed much since Windows 10 was released.

The Windows 10X OOBE is coming to desktop! Here's a video of it in action in build 20231. pic.twitter.com/jZXVZT62qj

— Albacore (@thebookisclosed) October 8, 2020

Based on the brief and early look at the setup experience, it does appear to be more friendly for new users and the white/gray tones make it significantly brighter as well. While I do not know if there will be a dark-mode for the new experience, I can already hear the calls for it to be created.

While this is not going to significantly improve Windows 10 in any meaningful way, it is a good sign for those who are hoping to see the UI of Windows 10X make its way to Windows 10.