Serious Discussion Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview builds [Mega-Thread]

A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4515 (KB5046756) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

New features gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

Ability to seamlessly resume OneDrive files in 1-click from your phone to PC

We are gradually rolling out the ability to seamlessly resume working on OneDrive files from your phone (iOS and Android) on your Windows 11 PC with a single click. With this feature, you will get a notification asking you if you want to pick up where you left off editing a OneDrive file like a Word doc that you last viewed or edited on your phone within a 5-minute time window preceding unlocking your PC. [caption id="attachment_177446" align="alignnone" width="455"] A cross-device resume notification indicating that you can continue working across devices seamlessly. A cross-device resume notification indicating that you can continue working across devices seamlessly.[/caption] Upon clicking on this notification, the same file that you were viewing or editing previously on your phone will open in your default browser on your PC. Here are some important details about how this feature works:
  • This feature works only when signing into OneDrive with a Microsoft account. Work and school accounts are not supported. And you need to be using the same Microsoft account signing into OneDrive on your phone and signing into your Windows 11 PC.
  • This feature supports Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, OneNote notebooks/pages, and PDFs.
  • The OneDrive file must be opened on your phone when your PC is locked. If you then unlock your PC within 5 minutes of accessing the file on your phone, you will receive the resume notification as noted above.
  • For the best experience using this feature, you should be logged into OneDrive in your default browser on your PC.
  • Your PC should be on Build 22635.4515 and higher in the Beta Channel.
This feature can be managed and turned off via Settings > Apps > Resume. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers -> Linked Phone.

Passwordless Improvements

As part of Microsoft’s commitment to a passwordless future, on Windows, we are launching API support for third-party passkey providers. Microsoft has been engaging with passkey manager partners on developing this capability. We are committed to bringing a passwordless future to all customers - together with third-party credential providers, we will raise the bar on login security with passkeys for all users on Windows. WebAuthn Plugin Authenticator APIs We are releasing updates to WebAuthn APIs to support a plugin authentication model for passkeys. In the coming months, Windows customers will be able to choose a third-party provider as an additional choice alongside the native Windows passkey provider while maintaining the Windows Hello user experience. Messages in WebAuthn flows will be forwarded to the plugin and responses are returned to the WebAuthn client applications. This enables plugins to create and authenticate with passkeys when requested by the customer. This model allows plugins to use Windows Hello as a user verification mechanism to enable a seamless passkey experience. You will notice additional user experience updates to the passkey flows and Settings alongside the new capabilities. If you are a developer for third-party passkeys, we invite you to integrate with Windows 11 to support customers in their passkey journey. To find out more about implementation detail, go to GitHub - microsoft/webauthn: Win32 APIs for WebAuthn standard. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Passkey.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Start menu]

  • We are rolling out the ability to right-click and share local files under the Recommended section of the Start menu.
[caption id="attachment_177447" align="alignnone" width="343"] Share option shown when right-clicking on a local file under the Recommended section of the Start menu. Share option shown when right-clicking on a local file under the Recommended section of the Start menu.[/caption]

[Magnifier]

  • We're adding a new keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + Minus for Magnifier users to quickly toggle between the current zoom and 1X zoom.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where sometimes you would be unable to navigate by entering a path in the address bar.
  • Fixed an issue where the File Explorer address bar was unexpectedly overlapping with content while in full screen (F11) view.
  • Improved performance of context menu launch for people when right-clicking on cloud files.
  • Made a change to help ensure thumbnails for cloud files are displayed more consistently in search results within File Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing some explorer.exe crashes in the last couple flights, including when trying to create new folders in certain locations.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4515 (Beta Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27758 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Did some work so the search box in File Explorer shouldn’t draw off the end of the window anymore.

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue where right clicking on app icons in the taskbar might crash explorer.exe in the previous flight.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue for some people where the mouse cursor would become invisible when hovering over text fields in certain apps.

[Desktop]

  • Fixed an issue where your desktop background might not show correctly sometimes with multiple monitors (showing big black areas).

[Task Manager]

  • We are beginning to roll out a fix for the issue where if you resized Task Manager to be larger while settings was open, the Mica background wouldn't align with the new window size.

[Narrator]

  • Fixed an issue in the previous flight which caused Narrator to crash on launch if you used one of the natural voices (like Jenny).

[Audio]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to USB audio devices going to sleep after 1 minute of idle time, and not waking up until the PC was rebooted.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead you to unexpectedly hear a mute or unmute noise in certain headsets.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue which could cause Settings to crash when selecting your default audio device.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue which could cause an unexpected black line along the top border of a window.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are still experiencing rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to install the latest Canary builds.
  • We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.
  • [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA starting with the previous flight.

Microsoft Store Update

For Win32 apps that are “provided and updated” by their publishers, the Microsoft Store will now support updating directly in the Store. Previously, these apps could only be updated outside of the Microsoft Store. Insiders can head to the Downloads page and click Get Updates. If any installed apps of this type have updates, it'll be displayed on the pending list. You can perform the update by clicking the update button; it won't start automatically. [caption id="attachment_177453" align="alignnone" width="596"] Downloads page with update buttons for Win32 apps installed from the Store. Downloads page with update buttons for Win32 apps installed from the Store.[/caption] You can also head to the product page and see an update button. [caption id="attachment_177454" align="alignnone" width="349"] Update button on a Win32 app product page. Update button on a Win32 app product page.[/caption] Windows Insiders across all channels running Microsoft Store version 22411.1401.x.x and higher will see this improvement. Click here to read more about recent updates to the Microsoft Store! FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windowsand features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27758 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4580 (KB5046733) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • The more simplified system tray with shortened form date/time we began rolling out with Build 22635.4010 is being temporarily disabled to address a few issues. Thanks to all the Insiders who gave us feedback on this experience.

[File Explorer]

  • We're making a change so that when you launch File Explorer folders from outside of File Explorer (for example, from an app or from the desktop), by default they will now open in a new tab if you have an existing File Explorer window open. If you'd prefer that they continue opening in a new window, you can change this in File Explorer folder options, under General > Browse Folders.
  • When "Retore previous folder windows at logon" is enabled in File Explorer, we will also now restore all the extra tabs which you previously had open in each File Explorer window. As part of this work, we have also updated the logic for the "Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in" setting via Settings > Accounts > Sign in options, so that when you enable this, we will automatically enable the File Explorer specific setting for you too.
  • We're adding a new option to snooze or turn off the “Start backup” reminder in the File Explorer address bar, for those that aren't already backing up their Documents, Pictures, or Desktop folders. This option is available when you right-click "Start backup".

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue for Pinyin IME users, where switching between windows (like with ALT + Tab) may unexpectedly switch the IME from Chinese to English.

Fixes for everyone in the Beta Channel

[Other]

This update includes fixes for the following issues:
  • [Bluetooth LE Audio] Fixed: Some devices, like hearing aids, do not stream Bluetooth audio.
  • [Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) printer] Fixed: Windows stops responding when you use an IPP USB printer.
  • [Motherboard replacement] Fixed: Windows does not activate after you replace a motherboard.
  • [Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA)] Fixed: This update brings profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.

Microsoft Store Update

For Win32 apps that are “provided and updated” by their publishers, the Microsoft Store will now support updating directly in the Store. Previously, these apps could only be updated outside of the Microsoft Store. Insiders can head to the Downloads page and click Get Updates. If any installed apps of this type have updates, it’ll be displayed on the pending list. You can perform the update by clicking the update button; it won’t start automatically. [caption id="attachment_177453" align="alignnone" width="593"] Downloads page with update buttons for Win32 apps installed from the Store. Downloads page with update buttons for Win32 apps installed from the Store.[/caption] You can also head to the product page and see an update button. [caption id="attachment_177454" align="alignnone" width="350"] Update button on a Win32 app product page. Update button on a Win32 app product page.[/caption] Windows Insiders across all channels running Microsoft Store version 22411.1401.x.x and higher will see this improvement. Click here to read more about recent updates to the Microsoft Store! FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4580 (Beta Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27764 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

Changes and Improvements

[Start menu]

  • When right-clicking on apps pinned to the Start menu, jump lists will be shown for apps that have them such as PowerPoint.
[caption id="attachment_177125" align="alignnone" width="339"] Jump lists will now be shown when right-clicking on apps pinned to the Start menu such as PowerPoint that have jump lists. Jump lists will now be shown when right-clicking on apps pinned to the Start menu such as PowerPoint that have jump lists.[/caption]

[Dynamic Lighting]

  • When no compatible devices are attached, the Dynamic Lighting settings page will now show a placeholder message and Brightness and Effects controls are disabled.
  • On the Dynamic Lighting settings page, we have added Forward, Backward, Outward and Inward direction options to the Wave effect, and added the Forward direction option to the Gradient effect.

[Input]

  • We are beginning to roll out a change where we now hide the IME toolbar when apps are in full screen mode for those who have the IME toolbar enabled and type in Chinese or Japanese.

[Narrator]

  • We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Skip past links (N’) allows you to navigate to the text after a link. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. Jump to lists (L’) allows you to quickly access a list on a web page or a document. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘N’ and ‘L’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki page, etc.).

[Speech in Windows]

  • We have improved our speech-to-text and text-to-speech experience on Windows. Users of Narrator, voice access, live captions, live translations, and voice typing might see a message asking them to update their language files manually. The language files will be released separately through Microsoft Store.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA while using their PC starting with Build 27754.

[File Explorer]

  • We did some work to help address an issue where File Explorer might hang when browsing a folder with lots of media in it.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • Fixed an issue on secondary monitors for left aligned taskbar users, where the widgets text in the taskbar might overlap the date and time.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue where if pointer trails were enabled, the mouse cursor may become invisible with a black box behind it.

[Task Manager]

  • Fixed an issue where some HDDs were being incorrectly listed as SSD on the Performance page.

[Display]

  • Fixed an issue which could result in lag and screen tearing on secondary monitors with full screen windows.

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to Excel sometimes hanging on launch when opening certain files.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are still experiencing rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to install the latest Canary builds.
  • We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27764 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4655 (KB5048753) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Start menu]

  • We are improving the filtering for recommended websites on the Start menu based on feedback from Windows Insiders so that we show the highest quality sites based on your own browsing history. Please continue to give us feedback if you see a website recommended you feel shouldn't be.

[Spotlight on the lock screen

  • We’re trying out a few different treatments for the top right hotspot ("Like the image that you see") on the lock screen. You can now learn more about the spotlight image on your lock screen by clicking on the "Like icon" that takes you to the Spotlight landing page.

[Spotlight on the desktop]

  • We’re beginning to roll out some changes to the Desktop Spotlight icon interaction model for Windows Insiders. You can now quickly and easily discover more information about your background image by simply hovering over or clicking on the "Learn about this picture" icon on your desktop.

[Windows Share]

  • When you share links or web content using the Windows share window, you will see a visual preview for that content.
[caption id="attachment_177485" align="alignnone" width="561"] Visual preview of links and web content in the Windows share window. Visual preview of links and web content in the Windows share window.[/caption]

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue where the window previews weren’t showing when hovering over certain open apps in the taskbar.

Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview)

We invite Windows Insiders to try out Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview)! [caption id="attachment_177487" align="alignnone" width="700"] The Microsoft Edge Game Assist experience in Game Bar. The Microsoft Edge Game Assist experience in Game Bar.[/caption] Game Assist is the first in-game browser that delivers a rich gaming-centric browsing experience—including access to your browser data from your PC and mobile devices. Game Assist is a special version of Microsoft Edge that’s optimized for PC gaming and can appear on top of your game in Game Bar. It’s game-aware and will suggest tips and guides for what you’re playing. It also shares the same browser data with Edge on your PC so the information you care about is always accessible while you play, including your favorites, history, cookies, form fills, and more. Check out this blog post for more details and how to get started using Game Assist!

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4655 (Beta Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2702 (KB5048761) to the Dev Channel. Changes in Dev Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

New features gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

Windows Camera Advanced Configurations

We are beginning to roll out a new advanced camera options page. Just navigate to a camera under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras and click the edit button for advanced camera options. [caption id="attachment_177472" align="alignnone" width="634"] New advanced camera configurations page in Settings. New advanced camera configurations page in Settings.[/caption] This new advanced camera options page will provide you with the following two configurations for your camera:
  • Multi-app camera: Allows multiple applications to access the camera stream simultaneously, developed with the Hard-of-Hearing community to enable video streaming to both a sign language interpreter and the end audience at the same time.
  • Basic camera: Enables basic camera functionality for improved debugging, recommended as a last resort when your camera is not functioning correctly. This feature was developed in collaboration with Microsoft support agents.
Coming in a future build, we plan to introduce a third option here for selecting a media type. This feature will let you choose different media types like resolution and frame rate, with the default setting being “Let Windows Choose” for optimal experience. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Device Camera or Webcams.

Passwordless Improvements

As part of Microsoft’s commitment to a passwordless future, on Windows, we are launching API support for third-party passkey providers. Microsoft has been engaging with passkey manager partners on developing this capability. We are committed to bringing a passwordless future to all customers – together with third-party credential providers, we will raise the bar on login security with passkeys for all users on Windows. WebAuthn Plugin Authenticator APIs We are releasing updates to WebAuthn APIs to support a plugin authentication model for passkeys. In the coming months, Windows customers will be able to choose a third-party provider as an additional choice alongside the native Windows passkey provider while maintaining the Windows Hello user experience. Messages in WebAuthn flows will be forwarded to the plugin and responses are returned to the WebAuthn client applications. This enables plugins to create and authenticate with passkeys when requested by the customer. This model allows plugins to use Windows Hello as a user verification mechanism to enable a seamless passkey experience. You will notice additional user experience updates to the passkey flows and Settings alongside the new capabilities. If you are a developer for third-party passkeys, we invite you to integrate with Windows 11 to support customers in their passkey journey. To find out more about implementation detail, go to GitHub - microsoft/webauthn: Win32 APIs for WebAuthn standard. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Passkey.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Start menu]

  • We are improving the filtering for recommended websites on the Start menu based on feedback from Windows Insiders so that we show the highest quality sites based on your own browsing history. Please continue to give us feedback if you see a website recommended you feel shouldn't be.

[Settings]

  • The ability to change time zones is available again under Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time for standard (non-admin) users.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue where if pointer trails were enabled, the mouse cursor may become invisible with a black box behind it.
  • Mitigated an issue where the ALT or Shift key on the keyboard may get stuck down in the latest flights after the Windows Hello prompt appeared for some Insiders.
  • Fixed an issue which could lead to the mouse cursor unexpectedly stuttering when you moved it around sometimes.

[Graphics]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could result in some games appearing oversaturated when using Auto HDR.

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[Rollback]

  • We fixed the issue where if you roll back from Build 26120.2510 to an earlier build, you would see an “Your organization used App Control for Business to block this app” dialog when attempting to use or install certain third-party apps on your PC due to an incorrect policy being enforced.

Known issues

[General]

  • [NEW] After you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not impact you from getting future Dev Channel updates which will resolve this issue.

[Recall]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Recall can be enabled or disabled from “Turn Windows features on or off”. We are caching the Recall binaries on disk while we test add/remove. In a future update we will completely remove the binaries.
  • Some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots”, while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue.
  • Make sure you update Microsoft 365 apps to the latest version so you can jump back into specific documents.

[Click to Do]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Sometimes additional context is given when using more intelligent text actions powered by Phi Silica.
  • The intelligent text actions leverage the power of Microsoft’s secure cloud to improve your text results by ensuring prompts and responses are safe and appropriate. This data is automatically deleted. Local moderation to ensure the safety of prompts and responses will be added in the future, replacing this cloud endpoint.
  • Sometimes Click to Do doesn’t highlight any info on screen if there is no content on a connected external monitor in extended mode.

Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview)

We invite Windows Insiders to try out Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview)! [caption id="attachment_177487" align="alignnone" width="700"] The Microsoft Edge Game Assist experience in Game Bar. The Microsoft Edge Game Assist experience in Game Bar.[/caption] Game Assist is the first in-game browser that delivers a rich gaming-centric browsing experience—including access to your browser data from your PC and mobile devices. Game Assist is a special version of Microsoft Edge that’s optimized for PC gaming and can appear on top of your game in Game Bar. It’s game-aware and will suggest tips and guides for what you’re playing. It also shares the same browser data with Edge on your PC so the information you care about is always accessible while you play, including your favorites, history, cookies, form fills, and more. Check out this blog post for more details and how to get started using Game Assist!

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel receive updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 via an enablement package (Build 26120.xxxx).
  • Updates delivered to the Dev Channel are in a format that offers a preview of enhancements to servicing technology on Windows 11, version 24H2. To learn more, see Introducing Windows 11 checkpoint cumulative updates | Windows IT Pro Blog.
  • Many features in the Dev Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Please note that some accessibility features may not work with features like Recall and Click to Do while in preview with Windows Insiders.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2702 (Dev Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27766 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

Fixes

[General]

  • We fixed the issue where if you roll back from Build 27764 to an earlier build (including if the upgrade failed), you would see an “Your organization used App Control for Business to block this app” dialog when attempting to use or install certain third-party apps on your PC due to an incorrect policy being enforced.
  • As of the latest Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel, the main issues causing Insiders to experience an increase in rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to upgrade have been addressed. As a reminder, 0xc190010 is a generic error code that has multiple root causes, so if you’re continuing to experience issues, please file feedback (WIN + F) to investigate.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing some Insiders in Canary to experience frequent explorer.exe crashes after they clean installed or reset their PC.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27766 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4660 (KB5048808) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[File Explorer]

  • To make it easier to use the File Explorer context menu, labels have been added to previously unlabeled actions such as cut, copy, paste, rename, share, and delete.
[caption id="attachment_176878" align="alignnone" width="300"] Labels added to previously unlabeled actions in the File Explorer context menu. Labels added to previously unlabeled actions in the File Explorer context menu.[/caption]

[Magnifier]

  • In addition to the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + Minus to quickly toggle between the current zoom and 1X zoom introduced with Build 22635.4515, we have also added buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last/preferred magnification.
[caption id="attachment_177513" align="alignnone" width="492"] New buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last or preferred magnification highlighted in a red box. New buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last or preferred magnification highlighted in a red box.[/caption]

[Other]

  • Suggested actions that appear when you copy a phone number or future date in Windows 11 are now deprecated. With this build, we're beginning to disable the feature.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed a few issues impacting File Explorer performance and reliability.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4660 (Beta Channel)
 
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A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27768 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

[File Explorer]

  • We’ve added a New Folder option in the context menu when right-clicking locations in the navigation pane.

[Settings]

  • The ability to change time zones is available again under Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time for standard (non-admin) users.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where the date/time properties of files were unexpectedly updated in some cases after copying them.
  • Fixed an issue where File Explorer may sometimes lose focus on the search box while typing.
  • Fixed an issue where when you did a search it may unexpectedly trigger the search happening repeatedly.
  • Fixed an issue where the Details Pane icons weren’t responding correctly to theme changes, making it hard to see if you switched from dark to light or vice versa.
  • Fixed a black flash in File Explorer that appeared when duplicating a tab.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue which could lead to the mouse cursor unexpectedly stuttering when you moved it around sometimes.

[Graphics]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could result in some games appearing oversaturated when using Auto HDR.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders in Canary to experience bugchecks with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.
  • [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue where SFC /scannow is showing errors every time it’s run.

[File Explorer]

  • [NEW] If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27768 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27774 to the Canary Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

[Windows Setup]

  • When installing Windows from installation media, you will now see a confirmation dialog when formatting or deleting partitions.

[Administrator protection]

  • Administrator protection can now be enabled from Windows Security settings under the Account Protection tab. This allows users to enable this feature without requiring help from IT admins. It also allows Windows home users to enable Administrator protection via Windows Security settings. Changing this setting requires a Windows reboot.

Administrator protection in Windows Security highlighted in a red box.

  • With administrator protection enabled, the prompt requesting the user’s authorization for elevating untrusted and unsigned applications now comes with expanded color-coded regions which will now extend down over the app description.
Windows Security credential dialog example showing expanded color over app description.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off in the latest Canary builds.

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing the Xbox app to fail to launch with a “Please try again” error sometimes in the last two Canary builds.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re working on the fix for an issue where SFC /scannow is showing errors every time it’s run.

[File Explorer]

  • If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.

[Remote Desktop]

  • [NEW] Using MTSC.exe for Remote Desktop may fail on this build with error 0x80080005. As a workaround, please launch as admin.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27774 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4800 (KB5050085) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Widgets]

  • In this flight, we're introducing the ability for web developers to easily utilize their existing web content to build dynamic and interactive widgets that can be added to the widgets surfaces in Windows 11. For more information, click here.

[File Explorer]

  • We are temporarily disabling the change that began rolling out with Build 22635.4580 where File Explorer opens in a new tab by default if you have an existing File Explorer window open when launching File Explorer from outside of File Explorer (for example, from an app or from the desktop) to address some issues.

[Windows Backup]

  • You will now have a standard Windows 11 taskbar after restoring from a backup via the Windows Setup experience (OOBE) on a new Windows PC. You can still find your apps in the Start menu and Search and pin apps you want to your taskbar.

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • Improved support for web search providers in Windows Search for the EEA, including clearer provider attribution in tabs.

[Settings]

  • We are rolling out “top cards” under Settings > System > About. These top cards provide an easy way to view your PC’s key specifications—processor, RAM, storage, and GPU—helping you understand your PC’s capabilities at a glance. This is designed to simplify decision-making by highlighting potential areas for hardware improvements while giving you a clear snapshot of your PC. Top Cards won’t appear yet on managed commercial PCs.
ALT-TEXT: New top cards at the top of the About settings page displaying your PC’s processor, RAM, storage, and GPU specifications. [caption id="attachment_177527" align="alignnone" width="657"] New top cards at the top of the About settings page displaying your PC’s processor, RAM, storage, and GPU specifications. New top cards at the top of the About settings page displaying your PC’s processor, RAM, storage, and GPU specifications.[/caption]
  • We are starting to roll out the Settings homepage for commercial customers on PCs managed by an IT administrator. The feature will show some existing cards relevant to enterprise-managed PCs like “Recommended settings” and “Bluetooth devices” as well as two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards. For commercial customers who also use their Microsoft account on their managed PC, there will also be a new accounts card indicating the presence of both work and school and Microsoft account types. We are starting the rollout of this gradually with managed commercial PCs who have both work and school and Microsoft accounts present seeing this experience first.
[caption id="attachment_177526" align="alignnone" width="638"] The Settings homepage for a commercial customer on a managed PC. The Settings homepage for a commercial customer on a managed PC.[/caption]

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[File Explorer]

  • As part of our ongoing commitment to improving File Explorer accessibility, this updates includes increased support for the text scaling (via Settings > Accessibility > Text size) across File Explorer, File Open/Save dialogs and the copy dialogs.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to everyone in the Beta Channel

[Windows Backup]

  • You will now have a standard Windows 11 taskbar after restoring from a backup via the Windows Setup experience (OOBE) on a new Windows PC. You can still find your apps in the Start menu and Search and pin apps you want to your taskbar.

Known issues

[File Explorer]

  • [NEW] If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.

[Settings]

  • [NEW] The Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar.
  • [NEW] There is a known issue where the two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards are showing up on non-managed PCs signed in with Microsoft accounts.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4800 (Beta Channel)
 
B

Brandon LeBlanc

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 22631.4825 (KB5050092) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11, version 23H2 (Build 22631). Below is a summary of the new features and improvements included as part of this update separated into two sections: gradual rollout and normal rollout. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change we are documenting.

Gradual rollout

The following features and improvements might not be available to all users because they will roll out gradually. Text bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented.
  • [Taskbar] New! This update improves the previews that show when your cursor hovers over apps on the taskbar. The update also improves their animations.
  • [Windows Studio Effects] New! An icon will appear in the system tray when you use an app that supports Windows Studio Effects. This only occurs on a device that has a neural processing unit (NPU). Select the icon to open the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings. To view the app that is using the camera, hover over the icon for a tooltip.
  • [Work across devices] New! You know that you can use an iOS or Android phone to access your Microsoft OneDrive files. If you do that when your PC is locked, you can now continue working on that file from where you left off on your PC. Just sign in to your PC within five minutes of using your phone. When Windows asks if you want to resume work on that file, select the file to open it. To use this feature, you must sign in to OneDrive and your PC using the same Microsoft account. Work and school accounts do not support this feature. This feature works for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and PDF files. For the best experience, sign in to OneDrive on your PC using your default browser. To manage this feature, go to Settings > Apps > Resume.
  • [Fonts] New! This update adds Simsun-ExtG, a new simplified Chinese font. It includes the Biangbiang noodles character. Some apps might not be able to display these new extension characters yet. The font has 9,753 ideographs that support Unicode Extensions G, H, and I. See the list below.
    • Unicode range G 30000-3134A (4,939 chars)
    • Unicode range H 31350-323AF (4,192 chars)
    • Unicode range I 2EBF0-2EE5D (622 chars)
  • [File Explorer]
    • New! You now have quick access to items that others have shared with you. Shared items include files, emails, Teams chats, and more. To view them, you must use a Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra ID account to sign in to Windows. To view these shared items, go to the File Explorer Home page and choose the Shared tab. If you use a Microsoft Entra ID account to sign in, you have more viewing choices. You will see the files that you have shared with others. Also, the Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections of the page will show a broader set of file types.
    • New! When you right-click items in the left pane, the “New Folder” command appears on the context menu.
    • Fixed: After you do a search, that search might repeat when you don’t want it to.
    • Fixed: The date and time properties of a file might update after you copy it.
    • Fixed: Icons on the details pane might not update as you expect when you change a theme. This makes it hard to view the change when you switch between dark and light themes.
    • Fixed: The search box might lose input focus as you type.
  • [Windows Share] New! You can now share directly to apps that support sharing in Windows. Just right-click local files in File Explorer or on the desktop.
  • [Magnifier app]
    • New! This update adds a new keyboard shortcut: CTRL + ALT + Minus sign. Use it to quickly switch between the current zoom and 1X zoom.
    • New! This update adds buttons to reset zoom. You can reset zoom to fit to the screen and reset zoom to your last or preferred magnification.
  • [Snipping Tool] Fixed: Snipping Tool screenshots might be distorted. This occurs when you use two or more monitors that have different display scaling.
  • [Chinese Pinyin IME] Fixed: When you switch app windows, the IME language might change from Chinese to English.

Normal rollout

This update includes the following features and improvements that are rolling out as part of this update. Text bolded in brackets indicates the area of the change being documented.
  • [Task Manager] Fixed: The CPU index number might be wrong when you set process affinity. This occurs on servers that have two or more non-uniform memory access (NUMA) nodes.
  • [Remote desktop]
    • Fixed: When you reconnect to a console session, it stops responding.
    • Fixed: The Action Center does not display in certain scenarios.
  • [Exporting chart objects] Fixed: You can’t export a file to PDF and XLSX formats if the file has a chart object.
  • [Virtual memory] Fixed: An issue depletes virtual memory, which might cause some apps to fail.
  • [Chinese Pinyin input method editor (IME)] Bing will stop giving automatic suggestions in the search box for search engine sites, like Baidu. To get manual suggestions, use Ctrl + Tab or the chevron button (>).
  • [Near Field Communication (NFC) readers] Fixed: At times, they fail to read card Universal Unique Identifiers (UUID). This occurs after many point-of-sale (POS) app scans.
  • [USB Print and IPP Over USB] Fixed: An installed printer fails when the spooler initializes.
  • [Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP)] This update adds support for Y210, Y216, Y410, and Y416 for the High Efficiency Image File (HEIF) format.
  • [Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file (DriverSiPolicy.p7b)] This update adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
Thanks, Windows Insider Program Team

Source: Releasing Windows 11 Build 22631.4825 to the Release Preview Channel
 
B

Brandon LeBlanc

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 26100.3025 (KB5050094) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11, version 24H2 (Build 26100). Below is a summary of the new features and improvements included as part of this update separated into two sections: gradual rollout and normal rollout. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change we are documenting.

Gradual rollout

The following features and improvements might not be available to all users because they will roll out gradually. Text bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented.
  • [Taskbar] New! This update improves the previews that show when your cursor hovers over apps on the taskbar. The update also improves their animations.
  • [Windows Studio Effects] New! An icon will appear in the system tray when you use an app that supports Windows Studio Effects. This only occurs on a device that has a neural processing unit (NPU). Select the icon to open the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings. To view the app that is using the camera, hover over the icon for a tooltip.
  • [Fonts] New! This update adds Simsun-ExtG, a new simplified Chinese font. It includes the Biangbiang noodles character. Some apps might not be able to display these new extension characters yet. The font has 9,753 ideographs that support Unicode Extensions G, H, and I. See the list below.
    • Unicode range G 30000-3134A (4,939 chars)
    • Unicode range H 31350-323AF (4,192 chars)
    • Unicode range I 2EBF0-2EE5D (622 chars)
  • [File Explorer]
    • New! You now have quick access to items that others have shared with you. Shared items include files, emails, Teams chats, and more. To view them, you must use a Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra ID account to sign in to Windows. To view these shared items, go to the File Explorer Home page and choose the Shared tab. If you use a Microsoft Entra ID account to sign in, you have more viewing choices. You will see the files that you have shared with others. Also, the Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections of the page will show a broader set of file types.
    • New! When you right-click items in the left pane, the “New Folder” command appears on the context menu.
    • Fixed: After you do a search, that search might repeat when you don’t want it to.
    • Fixed: The date and time properties of a file might update after you copy it.
    • Fixed: Icons on the details pane might not update as you expect when you change a theme. This makes it hard to view the change when you switch between dark and light themes.
    • Fixed: The search box might lose input focus as you type.
  • [Mobile hotspot] New! The Windows Mobile Hotspot now supports 6 GHz connections. This new band requires chips that support the feature and updated drivers. The chips that support 6 GHz Wi-Fi might not support the 6 GHz mobile hotspot. To view this new band, go to Settings > Network & internet > Mobile hotspot. In the Network properties section, select Edit. To work with existing devices, the mobile hotspot will only use 6 GHz when you enable it.
  • [Settings] New! You can change time zones in Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time. You don’t have to be an admin to make this change.
  • [Domains] Fixed: A device might fail to join a domain.
  • [Mouse]
    • Fixed: The mouse cursor might disappear. This occurs when you hover over text fields in certain applications.
    • Fixed: If you turn on pointer trails, the mouse cursor becomes transparent, and a black box appears behind it.
    • Fixed: The mouse cursor might stutter when it moves across the screen. This occurs even when the system is not using a lot of resources.
  • [Pinyin Input Method Editor (IME)] Fixed: When you switch app windows, the IME language might change from Chinese to English.
  • [Snipping Tool] Fixed: Snipping Tool screenshots might be distorted. This occurs when you use two or more monitors that have different display scaling.
  • [Task Manager] Fixed: It takes too long to close after you close the app.
  • [Microsoft Excel 2016] Fixed: When you open certain files, Excel opens, but the screen might remain on the loading screen.
  • [Dam.sys] Fixed: A watchdog timeout error might occur when your PC resumes from sleep.
  • [Windows update installation] Fixed: Cumulative updates might not install. The error code is 0x800736b3. This occurs after a feature on demand fails to install.

Normal rollout

This update includes the following features and improvements that are rolling out as part of this update. Text bolded in brackets indicates the area of the change being documented.
  • [Windows Backup] New! You will now have a standard Windows 11 taskbar after restoring from a backup via the Windows Setup experience (OOBE) on a new Windows PC. You can still find your apps in the Start menu and Search and pin apps you want to your taskbar. This change is not yet rolling out in the EEA (European Economic Area).
  • [High dynamic range (HDR)] Fixed: The display of some games appears oversaturated. This occurs when you use Auto HDR.
Thanks, Windows Insider Program Team

Source: Releasing Windows 11 Build 26100.3025 to the Release Preview Channel
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3000 (KB5050103) to the Dev Channel. Changes in Dev Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

New features gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

Improving the battery iconography in Windows 11

Introducing new and improved battery icons in Windows 11! These icons have been designed to communicate battery status of your PC with just a quick glance. Key changes include colored icons to indicate charging states, simplified overlays that don’t block the progress bar, and an option to turn on battery percentage. [caption id="attachment_177547" align="alignnone" width="395"] Battery shown in black, yellow, and green to indicate different charging states. Battery shown in black, yellow, and green to indicate different charging states.[/caption] When your battery icon is green, this shows that your PC is charging and in a good state. A yellow battery icon will let you know that your PC using battery in energy saving mode – this automatically happens when your battery is less than or equal to 20% to preserve power. When the battery icon is red, you have a critically low battery and should plug in your PC as soon as possible. You will see these new battery icons on the taskbar in the system tray, in the quick settings flyout, and in Settings. The new battery icons will begin showing on the Lock screen in a future flight. As always, your PC’s battery status and more will also be available to you when you hover over the battery icon in the system tray and under Settings > System > Power & battery where you can also adjust the battery level percentage in which energy saver mode kicks on for your PC. [caption id="attachment_177548" align="alignnone" width="700"] The toggle to turn on showing battery percentage in Settings highlighted in a red box. The toggle to turn on showing battery percentage in Settings highlighted in a red box.[/caption] Along with the updates to the battery icon, we are also introducing the ability to show your battery percentage next to the battery icon in the system tray – a highly requested feature by Insiders and customers. To enable this, go to Settings > Power & battery and toggle on the "Battery Percentage" setting. [We are beginning to roll this out to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Power and Battery > Battery.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Input]

  • After being temporarily disabled to address some issues with Build 26120.2213, we are beginning to roll out a new Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard in Windows 11 again. This change introduces the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type. This includes button accelerators (example: X button for backspace, Y button for spacebar) additionally the keyboard keys have been vertically aligned for better controller navigation patterns.
[caption id="attachment_177283" align="alignnone" width="691"] New Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard in Windows 11 that supports the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type. New Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard in Windows 11 that supports the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type.[/caption]

[Narrator]

  • We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Jump to list item (I’) allows you to quickly access and jump to a list item on a page or a document. Beginning and end of element (Comma (,) and Period (.)) allow you to quickly jump to the beginning or end of large tables, lists or landmarks. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘I’, ‘,’ and ‘.’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki pages, etc.).

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • Improved support for web search providers in Windows Search for the EEA, including clearer provider attribution in tabs.

[Other]

  • Suggested actions that appear when you copy a phone number or future date in Windows 11 are now deprecated. With this build, we’re beginning to disable the feature.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[General]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing significant performance degradation for a small population of Insiders in the previous flight due to repeated background crashes.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where sometimes you would be unable to navigate by entering a path in the address bar.
  • Fixed an issue where the File Explorer address bar unexpectedly overlapped with content while in full screen (F11) view.
  • Improved performance of context menu launches for people when right-clicking on cloud files.
  • Made a change to help ensure thumbnails for cloud files are displayed more consistently in search results within File Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue where searching might lose keyboard focus on the text box while you were typing.

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to scanners not being detected by scanning apps, although the scanner was connected.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could result in 2 in 1 PCs unexpectedly changing screen orientation when coming out of sleep.

Known issues

[General]

  • After you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Dev Channel updates which will resolve this issue.
  • A 0xc0e90001 error will occur when booting into Windows Recovery (WinRE) on Arm64 PCs. This will be fixed in the next Dev Channel flight. For recovery options on your PC, visit Settings > System > Recovery.

[Recall]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Recall can be enabled or disabled from “Turn Windows features on or off”. We are caching the Recall binaries on disk while we test add/remove. In a future update we will completely remove the binaries.
  • Some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots”, while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue.
  • Make sure you update Microsoft 365 apps to the latest version so you can jump back into specific documents.

[Click to Do]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Sometimes additional context is given when using more intelligent text actions powered by Phi Silica.
  • The intelligent text actions leverage the power of Microsoft’s secure cloud to improve your text results by ensuring prompts and responses are safe and appropriate. This data is automatically deleted. Local moderation to ensure the safety of prompts and responses will be added in the future, replacing this cloud endpoint.
  • If any of your actions on image entities are no longer appearing, please ensure you have the latest updates for the Photos and Paint app from the Microsoft Store.

[Live captions & real-time translation]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Some Insiders may see a crash on first launch of live captions. Restart live captions if you encounter this issue and you will not see it again.
  • If audio is playing or the microphone is enabled, switching languages will crash live captions. Stop audio when changing languages to resume captions or translations.

[File Explorer]

  • If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.
  • [NEW] We’re investigating an issue causing File Explorer to be very slow to close for some Insiders when closing using the X button. This may also impact the other title bar buttons.

[Improved Windows Search]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • In this build, the search box on the taskbar does not yet have the same underline and sparkles icon UI that the File Explorer search box has. This is coming in a future flight.
  • In some rare cases, improved Windows search experiences may not be available and may require a reboot to start working.
  • In some rare cases, File explorer search might be unresponsive and may require a reboot to start working.
  • In some rare cases, searching on Outlook while offline might result in some results not being found.
  • The underline animation in the File Explorer search box sometimes does not stop pulsing.
  • The tip about the new search improvements appears whenever you set focus to the search box in File Explorer, rather than only once.

[Voice Access]

  • [NEW] Voice access may not work in this build.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel receive updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 via an enablement package (Build 26120.xxxx).
  • Updates delivered to the Dev Channel are in a format that offers a preview of enhancements to servicing technology on Windows 11, version 24H2. To learn more, see Introducing Windows 11 checkpoint cumulative updates | Windows IT Pro Blog.
  • Many features in the Dev Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Please note that some accessibility features may not work with features like Recall and Click to Do while in preview with Windows Insiders.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3000 (Dev Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4805 (KB5050105) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Snap]

  • We are introducing an improvement to Snap in Windows 11 aimed at driving contextual learning and discovery of the feature. Inline messaging will now appear when you accidentally invoke the Snap Bar when dragging an app to the top middle of your desktop or Snap Flyout when hovering over the Minimize or Maximize button of an app. This messaging is designed to provide guidance on snapping app windows and educating users on the keyboard shortcuts for quickly snapping app windows in the future. We are trying several variants of this experience out.
[caption id="attachment_177551" align="alignnone" width="340"] Inline messaging as seen at the top of the Snap Flyout. Inline messaging as seen at the top of the Snap Flyout.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_177553" align="alignnone" width="578"] Inline messaging as seen at the top of the Snap Bar. Inline messaging as seen at the top of the Snap Bar.[/caption]

[Input]

  • After being temporarily disabled to address some issues with Build 22635.4400, we are beginning to roll out a new Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard in Windows 11 again. This change introduces the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type. This includes button accelerators (example: X button for backspace, Y button for spacebar) additionally the keyboard keys have been vertically aligned for better controller navigation patterns.
[caption id="attachment_177283" align="alignnone" width="691"] New Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard in Windows 11 that supports the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type. New Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard in Windows 11 that supports the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type.[/caption]

[Narrator]

  • We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Jump to list item (I’) allows you to quickly access and jump to a list item on a page or a document. Beginning and end of element (Comma (,) and Period (.)) allow you to quickly jump to the beginning or end of large tables, lists or landmarks. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘I’, ‘,’ and ‘.’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki pages, etc.).

[Settings]

  • Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers coming to Settings homepage will begin to see a new card for referring a PC Game Pass subscription to their friends to try PC Game Pass for free. This new card will only appear on the Settings homepage if you're signed into your PC with your Microsoft account and meet the required eligibility criteria.
[caption id="attachment_177554" align="alignnone" width="487"] New Settings homepage card for referring PC Game Pass to friends. New Settings homepage card for referring PC Game Pass to friends.[/caption]

Known issues

[Start menu]

  • [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing Start menu to crash for some Insiders when interacting with the letters in the apps list.

[File Explorer]

  • If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.
  • [NEW] We’re investigating an issue causing File Explorer to be very slow to close for some Insiders when closing using the X button. This may also impact the other title bar buttons.

[Settings]

  • The Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar.
  • There is a known issue where the two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards are showing up on non-managed PCs signed in with Microsoft accounts.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4805 (Beta Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27783 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

What’s new with Build 27783

Shared Content in File Explorer Home

File Explorer will now provide you with quick access to files that have been shared with you. If you are signed into Windows with your Microsoft account, you will be able to view files that have been shared with your account, such as email, Teams chat, etc. If you are a commercial customer who is signed-in with your Microsoft Entra ID account, you will additionally be able to view files that they have shared with others. You can access this feature by launching File Explorer Home and clicking on the ‘Shared’ tab item. You will also be able to view a broader set of file types in their Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections on the homepage. For example, if you’ve recently opened/edited files in Designer, Loop, Power BI, Forms, etc. these files will now be available in your Recent list. [caption id="attachment_177176" align="alignnone" width="712"] File Explorer Home with new tabs for Recent, Favorites, and Shared. File Explorer Home with new tabs for Recent, Favorites, and Shared.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files Folders and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

[Magnifier]

  • We’re adding a new keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + Minus for Magnifier users to quickly toggle between the current zoom and 1X zoom.
  • In addition to the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + Minus to quickly toggle between the current zoom and 1X zoom, we have also added buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last/preferred magnification.
[caption id="attachment_177513" align="alignnone" width="536"] New buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last or preferred magnification highlighted in a red box. New buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last or preferred magnification highlighted in a red box.[/caption]

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing the taskbar preview windows to not display sometimes when hovering over open apps in the taskbar.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue for Pinyin IME users, where switching between windows (like with ALT + Tab) may unexpectedly switch the IME from Chinese to English.

[Windowing]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to unexpected app window freezes for some people when using ALT + Tab between certain types of apps.

[Graphics]

  • Fixed an issue causing Settings to crash when going to Settings > System > Display > Graphics for some people.

[Remote Desktop]

  • Fixed an issue causing MTSC.exe for Remote Desktop to fail on the previous build with error 0x80080005.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing Remote Desktop to show significant display / rendering issues when connecting to certain other computers.

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing an explorer.exe memory leak in recent Canary Channel builds, leading to performance issues over time.
  • Fixed an issue where the shutdown /r/ /fw command wasn’t working sometimes.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re working on the fix for an issue where SFC /scannow is showing errors every time it’s run.

[File Explorer]

  • If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.

[Hyper-V]

  • [NEW] We’re investigating reports that Hyper-V, and other features which rely on Hyper-V (such as WSL) don’t work properly after the last flight.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27783 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3073 (KB5050090) to the Dev Channel. With this update, we are previewing the ability to use improved Windows Search to find files saved in your OneDrive with Windows Insiders with Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. We also have a small Paint update rolling out (see below). Starting today, we are beginning to offer the same Dev Channel updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. These updates will be optional at first, so if you are in the Beta Channel today, you can upgrade when you are ready to do so. [caption id="attachment_177574" align="alignnone" width="711"] Optional Windows 11, version 24H2 update offers in Windows Update for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel highlighted in a red box. Optional Windows 11, version 24H2 update offers in Windows Update for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel highlighted in a red box.[/caption] We plan to make these updates recommended later this year, which means you will eventually get upgraded to 24H2-based updates automatically if you are in the Beta Channel. Until that happens, the Beta Channel will continue to receive both updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 AND Windows 11, version 23H2 (but sometimes not at the same time). Please note that if you choose to upgrade to receiving updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 in the Beta Channel, you may lose some feature rollouts. If you are an Insider in the Dev Channel, you now have a window to switch from the Dev Channel to the Beta Channel if you would like. This window will only be open for as long as we’re releasing the same 24H2-based updates across both the Dev and Beta Channels. By the end of February, the Dev Channel will jump ahead to receiving updates with higher build numbers and once this happens, the opportunity to switch between these channels will close. When the Dev Channel jumps ahead, things might not be as stable as the Dev Channel is today, so we highly encourage you to evaluate which channel you would like to be in during the time in which the window to switch is open.

New Copilot+ PC experiences

Find photos saved in the cloud with improved Windows Search

A few weeks ago, we began previewing improved Windows Search with Windows Insiders on Copilot+ PCs. In that first preview, we introduced semantic indexing along with traditional lexical indexing for finding files saved locally in indexed locations on Copilot+ PCs with 40+ TOPS NPU onboard. Today, we are excited to announce support for also finding photos saved in the cloud with improved Windows Search. Just use your own words to find photos stored and saved in the cloud by describing what they are about like “European castles” or “summer picnics” in the search box at the top right corner of File Explorer. In addition to photos stored locally on your Copilot+ PC, photos from the cloud will now show up in the search results together. In addition to searching for photos, exact matches for your keywords within the text of your cloud files will show in the search results. [caption id="attachment_177578" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Results including mountain bike photos from the cloud in File Explorer with improved Windows Search. Results including mountain bike photos from the cloud in File Explorer with improved Windows Search.[/caption] Finding photos saved in the cloud currently works when searching within File Explorer directly. This will also work directly from the Windows search box on the taskbar in a future flight. You can try this experience out today with your personal OneDrive when signed in with your Microsoft account and connected to the internet. If you are signed into OneDrive with a work or school account (Entra ID), you will only see matches for keywords you are searching for within the text of your cloud files in the search results – not photos. Third-party cloud providers will be able to support this experience with their services as well with documentation coming soon. We're excited to introduce a new way to find your cloud content in Windows and will continue improving search results and capabilities over time. These improved Windows Search experiences continue to gradually roll out to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, including finding photos saved in the cloud, so you may not see these experiences right away. Support for AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs is coming soon. See here for more details. You can learn more about semantic search on Copilot + PCs here. FEEDBACK for File Explorer Search: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files Folders and Online Storage > File Explorer Search.

Other changes that are included in this Dev and Beta Channel update

This update (Build 26120.3073) includes other changes and improvements available to Windows Insiders across all Windows 11 PCs in addition to the features noted above that are exclusive to Copilot+ PCs. These changes are documented below in two buckets:
  • New features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*).
  • New features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel.
For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Settings]

  • We are starting to roll out the Settings homepage for commercial customers on PCs managed by an IT administrator. The feature will show some existing cards relevant to enterprise-managed PCs like “Recommended settings” and “Bluetooth devices” as well as two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards. For commercial customers who also use their Microsoft account on their managed PC, there will also be a new accounts card indicating the presence of both work and school and Microsoft account types. We are starting the rollout of this gradually with managed commercial PCs who have both work and school, and Microsoft accounts presently seeing this experience first.
[caption id="attachment_177526" align="alignnone" width="649"] The Settings homepage for a commercial customer on a managed PC. The Settings homepage for a commercial customer on a managed PC.[/caption]

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing the taskbar preview windows to not display sometimes when hovering over open apps in the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

  • We did some work to help address an issue where File Explorer might hang when browsing a folder with lots of media in it.
  • Fixed an issue where if you opened a File Explorer window and minimized it in, it might not be rendered correctly when you restored it.

[Improved Windows Search]

  • Fixed the issue where in some rare cases, searching on Outlook while offline might result in some results not being found.

[Live Captions]

  • Fixed an issue where live captions might show an icon in the taskbar, but the window wouldn’t display on the screen, after disconnecting a second monitor.

[Remote Desktop]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing Remote Desktop to show significant display / rendering issues when connecting to certain other computers.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing Settings to crash when interacting with the Bluetooth & Devices page sometimes.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue where when using GDI+ to shrink an image, the colors may be wrong afterwards..
  • Fixed an issue which could cause shutdown to be noticeably slower on certain devices when a controller was connected.
  • Fixed an underlying issue causing the Windows Security pop up when signing into certain Wi-Fi networks to not be interactable. This may have also impacted interacting with this pop up for certain other options in Settings.
  • Fixed an issue where the description for virtual NICs wasn’t displayed correctly in ncpa.cpl, it showed garbled characters.

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[General]

  • We fixed the issue causing a 0xc0e90001 error to occur when booting into Windows Recovery (WinRE) on Arm64 PCs.

[Other]

  • [Memory leak] Fixed: Leaks occur when predictive input ideas show.
  • [High dynamic range (HDR)] Fixed: The display of some games appears oversaturated. This occurs when you use Auto HDR.
  • [Remote Desktop Gateway] Fixed: You get errors or cannot sign when you connect to Windows 11 workstations. This occurs when you enforce device redirection.
  • [USB audio device drivers] Fixed: The code 10 error message, “This device cannot start” appears. This occurs when you connect to certain external audio management devices.

Known issues

[General]

  • After you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Dev Channel updates which will resolve this issue.
  • [NEW] We're investigating an issue causing unexpectedly high DCOM CPU usage for some Insiders after opening the Performance section of Task Manager

[Recall]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Recall can be enabled or disabled from “Turn Windows features on or off”. We are caching the Recall binaries on disk while we test add/remove. In a future update we will completely remove the binaries.
  • Some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots”, while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue.
  • Make sure you update Microsoft 365 apps to the latest version so you can jump back into specific documents.

[Click to Do]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Sometimes additional context is given when using more intelligent text actions powered by Phi Silica.
  • The intelligent text actions leverage the power of Microsoft’s secure cloud to improve your text results by ensuring prompts and responses are safe and appropriate. This data is automatically deleted. Local moderation to ensure the safety of prompts and responses will be added in the future, replacing this cloud endpoint.
  • If any of your actions on image entities are no longer appearing, please ensure you have the latest updates for the Photos and Paint app from the Microsoft Store.

[Live captions & real-time translation]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • Some Insiders may see a crash on first launch of live captions. Restart live captions if you encounter this issue and you will not see it again.
  • If audio is playing or the microphone is enabled, switching languages will crash live captions. Stop audio when changing languages to resume captions or translations.

[Improved Windows Search]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • [NEW] The AI sparkle and underline animation in the File Explorer search box is not present in this build even when improved Windows Search is in use on your Copilot+ PC. If your search results are powered by improved Windows Search, you will see a notice at the bottom of File Explorer stating, “Search uses AI to find results” and directing you to file feedback if something doesn’t look right.
  • In this build, the search box on the taskbar does not yet have the same underline and sparkles icon UI that the File Explorer search box has. This is coming in a future flight.
  • In some rare cases, improved Windows search experiences may not be available and may require a reboot to start working.
  • In some rare cases, File explorer search might be unresponsive and may require a reboot to start working.
  • The tip about the new search improvements appears whenever you set focus to the search box in File Explorer, rather than only once.

[File Explorer]

  • We’re investigating an issue causing File Explorer to be very slow to close for some Insiders when closing using the X button. This may also have an impact on the other title bar buttons.

[Power and Battery]

  • [NEW] The colors in the new battery icon aren’t displaying correctly when you have your mode in Personalization > Colors set to certain options with Custom.

[Settings]

  • [NEW] The Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar.

Paint Update

We are rolling out an update for Paint (version 11.2412.271.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. In this update, we are introducing the Copilot menu to Paint where you can access all the intelligent features which help you complete your image generation and editing tasks faster. Clicking on the Copilot icon from the toolbar will expand into a drop-down menu where you can easily access the features Cocreator, Image Creator, Generative erase, and Remove background. Note that Cocreator is only available on Copilot+ PCs. Within the dropdown, each feature will also include a short description to help you choose the right tool. [caption id="attachment_177577" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Paint Copilot menu opened. Paint Copilot menu opened.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Paint.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel receive updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 via an enablement package (Build 26120.xxxx).
  • Updates delivered to the Dev Channel are in a format that offers a preview of enhancements to servicing technology on Windows 11, version 24H2. To learn more, see Introducing Windows 11 checkpoint cumulative updates | Windows IT Pro Blog.
  • Many features in the Dev Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Please note that some accessibility features may not work with features like Recall and Click to Do while in preview with Windows Insiders.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3073 (Dev and Beta Channels)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4870 (KB5050087) to the Beta Channel. Please note this build will only be provided to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who did not upgrade to receiving updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

New features gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

Choose what Lock screen widgets appear

We’re beginning to roll out support for lock screen widgets (previously referred to as “Weather and more”) to Windows Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA). You can add, remove, and rearrange lock screen widgets such as Weather, Watchlist, Sports, Traffic, and more. Any widget that supports the small sizing option can be added here. To customize your lock screen widgets, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. We are starting this rollout first with Insiders in the EEA and plan to expand to Insiders in other regions in the future. Insiders outside the EEA will continue to see the “Weather and more” experience. [caption id="attachment_177608" align="alignnone" width="600"] Customization settings for lock screen widgets shown in Settings. Customization settings for lock screen widgets shown in Settings.[/caption] As part of this, we’re also adding support for a new group policy called “Disable Widgets On Lock Screen” that will allow IT administrators to disable lock screen widgets without disabling widgets elsewhere on PCs they manage. To edit this policy, please launch the Local Group Policy Editor app and navigate to Computer Configurations > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets. This policy is only supported in EEA regions at this time but will expand to include other regions in the future as well. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Lock screen.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[File Explorer]

  • For Windows Insiders signed in with a work or school account (Entra ID), File Explorer will begin showing people icons under the “Activity” column on File Explorer Home and on “Recommended” at the top of File Explorer Home. When you hover or click over a people icon, it will display the Live Persona Card for that person from Microsoft 365.
[caption id="attachment_177609" align="alignnone" width="437"] Activity column under File Explorer Home showing people icons highlighted in a red box. Activity column under File Explorer Home showing people icons highlighted in a red box.[/caption]

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Start menu]

  • Fixed an issue causing Start menu to crash for some Insiders when interacting with the letters in the apps list.
  • Fixed an issue where the colors were not correct when opening the account manager flyout on the when using a mixed dark and light custom mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where if you opened a File Explorer window and minimized it, it might not be rendered correctly when you restored it.
  • Fixed an issue which was impacting File Explorer reliability for some Insiders.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to crash when dropping files into File Explorer sometimes in the latest flights.

[Other]

  • Fixed a high hitting background sihost.exe crash in the latest flights.

Fixes for everyone in the Beta Channel

[Other]

This update includes fixes for the following issues:
  • [USB cameras] Fixed: Your device does not recognize the camera is on. This issue occurs after you install the January 2025 security update.
  • [USB audio device drivers] Fixed: The code 10 error message, “This device cannot start” appears. This occurs when you connect to certain external audio management devices.

Known issues

[File Explorer]

  • We’re investigating an issue causing File Explorer to be very slow to close for some Insiders when closing using the X button. This may also impact the other title bar buttons.

[Settings]

  • The Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar.
  • There is a known issue where the two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards are showing up on non-managed PCs signed in with Microsoft accounts.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4870 (Beta Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27788 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

What’s new with Build 27788

Windows MIDI Services Public Preview

We’re excited to release the first in-box public preview of Windows MIDI Services, our complete rewrite of MIDI on Windows with a focus on a great experience for musicians and a strong foundation for future expansion and enhancement. MIDI is the standard, first released in 1983, that is used to synchronize synthesizers and drum machines in almost all modern electronic music. It’s used to record and play back note information, control stage lights and effects, keep mixers in a large venue in sync, and so much more. Although it is not itself audio, the MIDI protocol is essential to making music and was heavily used in the rise of hip-hop and other genres. MIDI 2.0 is the first major update to the core MIDI protocol since 1983, offering everything that modern musicians need today, like increased speed and fidelity, better control of instruments, modern bi-directional conversations and negotiation between instruments, discovery, better USB timing, and more. Windows MIDI Services is our new MIDI stack which handles not only MIDI 2.0 but also brings our MIDI 1.0 implementation up to modern expectations. It works on 64-bit operating systems on all supported processors, including Arm64. Windows MIDI Services offers the following benefits:
  • Full support of the MIDI 2.0 Standard, including high-speed data transmission, higher-fidelity messages, increased resolution for controller values, and full in-service MIDI 2.0 endpoint discovery and protocol negotiation.
  • Faster transports, leading to better timing and reduced jitter.
  • Faster USB MIDI driver with full support for both MIDI 1.0 and MIDI 2.0.
  • Every endpoint is now multi-client, meaning multiple apps can use a device at the same time.
  • Better endpoint and port
  • In-service scheduling of outgoing timestamped messages, and timestamped incoming messages, for apps using the new Windows MIDI Services App SDK.
  • Built-in loopback and app-to-app MIDI
  • Automatic translation between MIDI 1.0 and MIDI 2.0 based on API, application, and device needs.
  • Much more device metadata available to applications.
  • Better device add/update/remove notifications.
  • Backwards compatibility with our WinMM (MME) MIDI 1.0 API (and WinRT MIDI 1.0 in the future) enabling applications to light up with new features without any changes, and even access MIDI 2.0 devices at a MIDI 1.0 feature level.
  • Open source. The MIDI Service, all its transports, all the tools, the tests, and the SDK are all MIT-licensed open source, and have been developed in concert with hardware and software partners around the world.
New USB MIDI 2.0 Class Driver: The new USB MIDI 2.0 Class Driver, graciously provided to Microsoft by AMEI (Association of Musical Electronics Industry of Japan) and written by AmeNote, is a high-speed USB MIDI driver which works with both the new USB MIDI 2.0 devices, as well as with class-compliant USB MIDI 1.0 devices. By default, for compatibility, this is enabled only for USB MIDI 2.0 devices and a handful of USB MIDI 1.0 devices. However, you may manually assign this driver to any class-compliant USB MIDI 1.0 device yourself to gain the better transfer mechanisms. We also have several built-in transports for things that were not previously available without third-party drivers. Learn more about the built-in transports here. Windows MIDI Services App SDK and Tools: Applications using Windows MIDI Services do so through the Windows MIDI Services App SDK, shipped out-of-band. Current preview releases are available on our GitHub repo releases page. Please note that these are unsigned releases and so will give you a warning when you download and install. In addition to installing the required runtime components, the SDK runtime installer includes these tools:
  • Windows MIDI Services Console (midi.exe): The all-around console tool for sending messages, checking the state of MIDI, monitoring incoming messages, sending System Exclusive, and much more.
  • MIDI Diagnostics (mididiag.exe): A tech support tool which provides information about the state of MIDI on the PC.
  • MIDI Kernel Streaming Endpoint Info (midiksinfo.exe): A hardware developer-focused tool which provides information about the KS (Kernel Streaming) endpoints.
  • MIDI multicast dynamic DNS Info (midimdnsinfo.exe): A tool to support the upcoming Network MIDI 2.0 transport.
The Windows MIDI Services App SDK also includes the MIDI Settings app – a desktop application for managing endpoints, renaming endpoints and ports, creating loopback devices, managing your network MIDI 2.0 connections, and more. In addition, we’re currently working on our Network MIDI 2.0 transport, recently demonstrated at the NAMM Show in California, the virtual patch-bay to enable routing between endpoints, and a rewrite of our BLE MIDI 1.0 transport. This will all ship in a future version of Windows MIDI Services. We look forward to having Windows Insiders who dabble in music creation try out the Windows MIDI Services Public Preview and MIDI 2.0. Try out using existing applications that use the WinMM MIDI 1.0 function with the new Windows MIDI Services installed. Additionally, any MIDI 1.0 devices with specific IHV drivers. You can also join the discussion here on Discord if you have questions or are looking to help! You will find a list of known issues documented here.

Ability to seamlessly resume OneDrive files in 1-click from your phone to PC

We are gradually rolling out the ability to seamlessly resume working on OneDrive files from your phone (iOS and Android) on your Windows 11 PC with a single click. With this feature, you will get a notification asking you if you want to pick up where you left off editing a OneDrive file like a Word doc that you last viewed or edited on your phone within a 5-minute time window preceding unlocking your PC. [caption id="attachment_177446" align="alignnone" width="400"] A cross-device resume notification indicating that you can continue working across devices seamlessly. A cross-device resume notification indicating that you can continue working across devices seamlessly.[/caption] Upon clicking on this notification, the same file that you were viewing or editing previously on your phone will open in your default browser on your PC. Here are some important details about how this feature works:
  • This feature works only when signing into OneDrive with a Microsoft account. Work and school accounts are not supported. And you need to be using the same Microsoft account signing into OneDrive on your phone and signing into your Windows 11 PC.
  • This feature supports Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, OneNote notebooks/pages, and PDFs.
  • The OneDrive file must be opened on your phone when your PC is locked. If you then unlock your PC within 5 minutes of accessing the file on your phone, you will receive the resume notification as noted above.
  • For the best experience using this feature, you should be logged into OneDrive in your default browser on your PC.
This feature can be managed and turned off via Settings > Apps > Resume. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers -> Linked Phone.

Changes and Improvements

[File Explorer]

  • When “Restore previous folder windows at logon” is enabled in File Explorer, we will also now restore all the extra tabs which you previously had open in each File Explorer window. As part of this work, we have also updated the logic for the “Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in” setting via Settings > Accounts > Sign in options, so that when you enable this, we will automatically enable the File Explorer specific setting for you too.
  • We’re adding a new option to snooze or turn off the “Start backup” reminder in the File Explorer address bar, for those that aren’t already backing up their Documents, Pictures, or Desktop folders. This option is available when you right-click “Start backup”.

[Settings]

  • We are starting to roll out the Settings homepage for commercial customers on PCs managed by an IT administrator. The feature will show some existing cards relevant to enterprise-managed PCs like “Recommended settings” and “Bluetooth devices” as well as two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards. For commercial customers who also use their Microsoft account on their managed PC, there will also be a new accounts card indicating the presence of both work and school and Microsoft account types. We are starting the rollout of this gradually with managed commercial PCs who have both work and school, and Microsoft accounts presently seeing this experience first.
[caption id="attachment_177526" align="alignnone" width="621"] The Settings homepage for a commercial customer on a managed PC. The Settings homepage for a commercial customer on a managed PC.[/caption]

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an issue in Build 27783 which was causing multiple surfaces (including the taskbar, search, Settings, and lock screen) to cyclically crash for a small number of Insiders.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to have a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION bugcheck in Build 27783.
  • Fixed an issue where the description for virtual NICs wasn’t displayed correctly in ncpa.cpl, it showed garbled characters.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause scanning apps to not detect a scanner, although one was connected.
  • Improved the colors used in MMC when items are selected, both generally, and when contrast modes are enabled.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • We’re working on the fix for an issue where SFC /scannow is showing errors every time it’s run.

[File Explorer]

  • If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not be rendered correctly when you restore it.

[Settings]

  • [NEW] The Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar.

[Hyper-V]

  • We’re investigating reports where Hyper-V, and other features which rely on Hyper-V (such as WSL) don’t work properly.

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels running version 22501.1401.xx and higher of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out: Improving installation options for games: We’re adding a new capability that lets you install individual components for some games. For instance, Call of Duty and Halo can let you install (or not install) high-resolution textures or the campaign. This gives you greater control of your gaming experience and the install size of your games. [caption id="attachment_177615" align="alignnone" width="615"] Example of game components that can be individually installed in the Microsoft Store for some games. Example of game components that can be individually installed in the Microsoft Store for some games.[/caption] Once your game is installed, you can return to its product page, click the new Manage button, and modify what components are installed. [caption id="attachment_177616" align="alignnone" width="612"] New Manage button on some game product pages showing components. New Manage button on some game product pages showing components.[/caption] Give it a try and let us know what you think! FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27788 (Canary Channel)
 
A

Amanda Langowski

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4880 (KB5052100) to the Beta Channel. Please note this build will only be provided to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who did not upgrade to receiving updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Settings]

  • Fixed the issue causing the Home page of Settings to crash for some Insiders.

Known issues

[File Explorer]

  • We’re investigating an issue causing File Explorer to be very slow to close for some Insiders when closing using the X button. This may also impact the other title bar buttons.

[Settings]

  • There is a known issue where the two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards are showing up on non-managed PCs signed in with Microsoft accounts.

Paint Update

We are rolling out an update for Paint (version 11.2412.271.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Beta and Release Preview Channels. In this update, we are introducing the Copilot menu to Paint where you can access all the intelligent features which help you complete your image generation and editing tasks faster. Clicking on the Copilot icon from the toolbar will expand into a drop-down menu where you can easily access the features Cocreator, Image Creator, Generative erase, and Remove background. Note that Cocreator is only available on Copilot+ PCs. Within the dropdown, each feature will also include a short description to help you choose the right tool. [caption id="attachment_177577" align="alignnone" width="634"] Paint Copilot menu opened. Paint Copilot menu opened.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Paint.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

  • Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4880 (Beta Channel)
 

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