Windows 10 21H2 will support OpenXPS files and more features

Microsoft is preparing to launch Windows 11 later this year, and that’s what most people are looking forward to. But we also know that Windows 10 is going to get a 21H2 update in the second half of the year. Microsoft hasn’t said a ton about what the update will include, but we’re starting to get a glimpse of the new feature in Windows 10 version 21H2.

According to a report from Windows Latest, the update is going to add a handful of small improvements. First off, according to a Microsoft support page, version 21H2 is going to add support for TPM attestation on Intel Tiger Lake CPUs. This is one of the improvements to Windows Autopilot, which we had only heard about in general terms.

Another notable new feature in Windows 10 version 21H2 is in Microsoft’s XPS Document Writer. It looks like the tool will be able to generate OpenXPS files (.oxps), instead of the old XPS format. This setting was found in a group policy, and the report suggests that the OpenXPS format will be the default for new files. However, the policy can be set to make the previous XPS format the default.

Windows Latest also mentions support for using an external Windows Hello camera when a laptop is closed or docked, but it’s not completely clear if this is the case. Microsoft added support for external Windows Hello cameras for devices that already have built-in Windows Hello cameras in Windows 10 version 21H1. Microsoft’s support document, which is the source for this information, states that the capability is part of version 21H2, but this could be a typo, as the text refers to version 21H1 shortly after.

As you can see, there isn’t a whole lot that’s going to be added, since Windows 10 is no longer going to be the priority for Microsoft. These shouldn’t be all the new features in Windows 10 version 21H2 though. We’ve also heard of improvements for Universal Print, which Microsoft hasn’t detailed yet.

The report claims that Windows 10 version 21H2 will launch in October, and that’s the typical timeframe for Windows 10 updates. It should arrive in the form of an enablement package, just as we’ve seen for the past two feature updates. This should make the update very easy to download and install without breaking anything for business users.