Microsoft continues with the plan to release the new Xbox One experience based on Windows 10 later in November, and to prepare the operating system for such massive release, the company first began offering selected Xbox One Preview users the opportunity to decide their participation in the new preview program back in September.
However, exactly a month after opening the doors for the New Xbox One Experience Preview, and only a few weeks before the big launch, Microsoft has announced that all Xbox Preview members, who enrolled their console to test Windows 10 on Xbox One will soon get the chance to try the new preview.
Now, it’s worth pointing out that you need to be part of the original Xbox One Preview program, which it remains an invitation only program, to try the new revamped experience. If you’re not yet a participant, you can always get an invite from a friend or wait until you get invited.
Once you’re an Xbox One Preview member, you will need to manually opt into the new preview for Windows 10 on Xbox One, and today we’re going to go through the easy steps to get this done.
Instructions
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As member of the Preview program, you will now get access to the Xbox Preview Dashboard app, just launch the app and go to the next step.
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Go to Registration, and then choose Change.
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You will now be given three options. Choose the group “Preview — New Xbox One Experience”. If you want only to get the latest update with new features and changes, but for the current version of Xbox One, choose“Preview — Existing Xbox One Experience”. This is the default option for all Preview members.
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Click Submit to complete the enrollment.
Although, the process to get enroll is very easy and straightforward, today I wanted to remind you of the process, because even though you might be already a previewer, you won’t be able to get in line to get the new experience until you manually opt into the program.
Keep in mind that after the enrollment, your console status will remain as EnrollPending. This means that you won’t get the new preview immediately, instead you’ll continue to be in the same Xbox One preview until Microsoft expands the new preview version of Windows 10 for Xbox One to your console. This could take anywhere from hours to days.
Furthermore, before you decide to opt into the new preview, consider that Microsoft didn’t release the new experience for everyone to try, because the software continues to be in the early days and it may not work properly. Certain features may not be available, you might experience sudden data loss, crashes, and more.
Opt-out of the New Xbox One Experience Preview
This is very important, during the preview period, Microsoft is adding two mechanisms to remove your console from the New Xbox One Experience Preview and go back to the previous version.
If you decide that you don’t want to participate of the new experience, prior to install the preview, stop and don’t do anything, and you will remain in the “Existing Xbox One Experience Preview”.
The second method is by going to the Registration section in the Xbox Preview Dashboard app, and choosing Remove to opt-out your console out of the upcoming experience.
This process can take up to 72 hours. However, it’s extremely important you know that after removing your console from the New Xbox One Experience, in order to go back to the previous version, the console will reset to factory defaults. This will result on loss of all your local data, including games saved to your internal hard drive, but not the content you may have stored in an external drive.
Microsoft recommends that move your games to an external hard drive to get back up and running quickly. However, remember that even though all your games will get deleted, you will not be losing the right to your games, you can always download your Xbox One later on.
Are you planning to opt into the new experience even though all the known issues? Let us know in the comments below.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].