Microsoft PowerToys Now Requires Windows 10 1903 And Later

Microsoft released PowerToys v0.37.0 yesterday with minor improvements and a significant change – it now requires a minimum version of Windows 10 1903.

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft PowerToys, they are a set of small freeware utilities created by Windows developers to add extra functionality to Windows 10 or solve everyday tasks.

Yesterday, Microsoft released PowerToys v0.37.0, which focuses on the Keyboard Manager and  PowerRename PowerToys and minor fixes to other tools.

“Hello #PowerToys 0.37.0. Big efforts are keyboard manager is now an independent exe, small new PowerRename feature, bug fixes. We did increase min version of Win10 to 1903 until we can adopt WinUI 3,” tweeted Microsoft PowerToys lead Clint Rutkas.

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Rutkas states that they plan on migrating PowerToys to the new Windows UI Library 3 (WINUI 3) in the future. Doing so will allow PowerToys to operate again Windows 10 1809 and later.

The existing PowerToys include Color Picker, FancyZones, File Explorer Add-ons, Image Resizer, Keyboard Manager, PowerRename, PowerToys RunShortcut Guide, and Video Conference Mute.

You can download the PowerToys v0.37.0 installer from the project’s Github repository.

The full changelog for this version can be read below:

FancyZones

• Editor UX bug fixes. Thanks @niels9001
• Monitor resolution is added to the top to directly infer the boxes on top are your monitors
• Fix for editor crash when editing a custom layout

PowerRename

• Option added for capitalization.
• Improved loading responsiveness with large sums of files.

PowerToys Run

• Changed XAML to improve rendering. Thanks @niels9001
• Disabled plugins are no longer loaded
• VS Code plugin workspaces showing up now. Thanks @ricardosantos9521

Keyboard manager

• Now an independent exe. This now runs high priority in its own process. When your CPU is under load, this should allow the process to continue to be prioritized

Color Picker

• uses a centralized keyhook. This should improve activation
• Esc for closing will no longer bubble through. Thanks @DoctorNefario

Settings / Welcome to PowerToys

• Shortcuts will stand out more
• Few accessability bugs fixed. Thanks @niels9001

Shortcut Guide

• Excluded apps for Shortcut Guide. Thanks @davidegiacometti

Installer

• new arg for starting PT after silent install

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