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

Bot · Aug 10, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23521 to the Dev Channel.

What’s new in Build 23521

Changes and Improvements

[Windows 365]

Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels can participate in the public preview of Windows 365 Switch. Windows 365 Switch provides the ability to easily move between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop using the same familiar keyboard commands, as well as a mouse-click or a swipe gesture through Task View on the Windows 11 taskbar. Please read this blog post for all the details on how to participate.

[caption id="attachment_176459" align="alignnone" width="631"]

Easily switch between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop via Task View.[/caption]

[Windows Copilot]

Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who login and are managed by AAD (soon to be Microsoft Entra ID) will see Windows Copilot enabled for them again without the need to enable it via Group Policy Editor.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

To make it easier to enable never combined mode on the taskbar, we have updated the settings. You can turn never combined mode on by simply adjusting “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” to never. And we provide a separate setting for turning this on for other taskbars (multiple monitor scenarios for example).

[caption id="attachment_176460" align="alignnone" width="700"]

Updated settings for never combined mode.[/caption]

[Dynamic Lighting]

You can now instantly sync your Windows accent color with the devices around you with the "Match my Windows accent color" toggle under “Effects” for Dynamic Lighting via Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting. This improvement started rolling out in last week’s Dev Channel flight.
We have added the ability to choose a custom color to light up your devices with.

[Task Manager]

We’ve updated the Task Manager settings page to match the design principles of Windows 11. The design has a similar look and feel to the Settings in Windows 11 and provides a cleaner UI separating categories into different sections. Oh, and we updated some dialogs in Task Manager too.

[caption id="attachment_176442" align="alignnone" width="606"]

Redesigned Task Manager settings.[/caption]

[Windows Spotlight]

After doing an OS update, in certain cases such as using the default Windows 11 background or a solid color - Windows Spotlight may be enabled for you. If you decide you don't want Windows Spotlight enabled, you can turn it off and in future OS updates it should not be enabled for you again unless you choose to re-enable the experience.

[Search on the Taskbar]

Windows Search now uses the Microsoft Bing Search app to return web content and search results. In the European Economic Area (EEA), you can enable installed Microsoft Store apps that implement a web search provider to return web content and search results in Windows Search through Settings.

[Settings]

The end task feature under System > For Developers no longer requires Developer Mode to be enabled first before it can be used.
[ADDED] Under Settings > Personalization > Device usage, we have added “Development” to the list and toggling it on will launch Dev Home. This matches what is shown in OOBE (“out of box experience”).

[Other]

In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows will now require consent to share data between Windows and other signed-in Microsoft services. You will see some Windows features start to check for consent now, with more being added in future builds. Without consent to share data between Windows and other signed-in Microsoft services, some functionality in Windows features may be unavailable, for example certain types of file recommendations under "Recommended" on the Start menu.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue where you couldn’t drag a file out of an archived folder to extract it with one of the newly supported archive formats.
Fix an issue where when extracting one of the newly supported archive formats using the Extract All option in the context menu, it wasn’t working unless Windows Explorer was set as the default for that file type.
When trying to extract one of the new archive formats and the file is password encrypted, it will now show a message saying this isn’t currently supported.
Fixed a bug where Insiders may have experienced a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.

We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer address bar that began rolling out with Build 23475:

Fixed an issue which was causing the search box in File Explorer to not work well with IMEs.
Fixed an issue where pasting using the context menu in the address bar wasn’t working (or other context menu actions in the address bar).

We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer Home that began rolling out with Build 23475:

Fixed an issue where when trying to scroll with touch on Home might result in everything getting selected.
Fixed a white flash in dark theme when switching between Home and Gallery.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Fixed an issue that removed the USB icon and its options from the system tray.
Fixed an issue where the titles were missing from taskbar previews when turning on tablet-optimized taskbar while using uncombined taskbar.
Fixed an issue where uncombined taskbar’s app indicators weren’t shown correctly after it showed something was being downloaded.
Fixed an explorer.exe crash impacting system tray reliability.
Fixed an issue where the End Task feature wasn’t working if you tried it when there were multiple windows open of that app.
Fixed an issue where using End Task on certain apps would cause other unrelated apps to close.

[HDR Backgrounds]

Fixed an issue where your HDR wallpaper might appear washed out although HDR was enabled.
Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to select .JXL files for your wallpaper slideshow.

[Other]

If Get Help isn’t installed, when opening one of the troubleshooters in Settings, it will now prompt you to install it, rather than showing an error about not having an app associated for the action.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[General]

We’re investigating reports that the taskbar isn’t loading for some Insiders when logging into their PC after installing this build. See this forum post for more details and workaround options.
We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[Start menu]

Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you'll need to use "Show grid" commands to click in the "Ask me anything" box for the first time.

[Input]

We’re investigating reports that typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs is not working correctly after the last flight.

Widgets Update: Pin widgets board open

We are beginning to roll out an update to Widgets for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels that lets you pin the widgets board open, so your widgets board is always just a glance away. To pin the board open, simply click the pin icon in the top right corner of the board. Once your board is pinned open, the widgets board will no longer light dismiss. [caption id="attachment_176461" align="alignnone" width="755"]

New pin icon at the top of the widgets board to pin the widgets board open.[/caption] While the board is pinned, you can still close it by:

Open the widgets board via the Widgets button on the taskbar.
Pressing the ESC key while Widgets is in the foreground.
Swiping on the left edge of the screen if you have a touch device.

To unpin the board, select the unpin icon in the top right corner of the board. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Snipping Tool Update

We are beginning to roll out an update to Snipping Tool (version 11.2306.43.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. This update introduces new buttons to edit in Paint for screenshots and edit in Clipchamp for screen recordings. [caption id="attachment_176454" align="alignnone" width="705"]

New buttons in Snipping Tool for editing screen clips in Paint and screen recordings in Clipchamp.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub by clicking here.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds. The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features. In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 23521

Bot · Aug 10, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2191 and Build 22631.2191 (KB5029336) to the Beta Channel.

Build 22631.2191 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2191 = New features off by default.

REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx).

What’s new in Build 22631.2191

HDR Background Support

You can now set JXR files to be your desktop background and if you have an HDR display, they will render in full HDR. First – make sure your device has an HDR display or is connected to a HDR display that supports HDR. You can check this by going to Settings > System > Display and checking the HDR toggle. Next, download an HDR .JXR file to your device. Then right-click on your desktop, choose “Personalize” and then “Background”, and under “Personalize your background” – go and select the .JXR file you downloaded to your device. You can download example .JXR files here to try this experience out on your HDR-capable device/display. The background should load on your display. If you have multiple displays attached to your device, the background will show as HDR or SDR depending on each display’s capabilities. When using external displays attached to your device, we recommend running the HDR Calibration app for best picture quality. Please note that for this build, there may be some issues with the HDR version of the desktop background not correctly display on some laptops with HDR. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Background and Wallpaper.

Narrator Natural Voices in French, Portuguese, English (India), German and Korea

We are introducing new natural voices in French, Portuguese, English (India), German and Korean that allow Narrator users to comfortably browse the web, read, and write mail, and do more. Natural Narrator voices use modern, on-device text to speech and once downloaded are supported without an internet connection. To use one of the natural voices, add it to your PC by following these steps:

Open Narrator Settings by pressing the WIN + Ctrl + N hotkey.
Under Narrator’s voice, select the Add button next to Add natural voices.
Select the voice you want to install. You can install all voices, but you must install them separately.
- The new French voices are Microsoft Denise (Female) and Microsoft Henri (Male)
- The new Portuguese voices are Microsoft Francisca (Female) and Microsoft Antonio (Male)
- The new English (India) voices are Microsoft Neerja (Female) and Microsoft Prabhat (Male)
- The new German voices are Microsoft Katja (Female) and Microsoft Conrad (Male)
- The new Korean voices are Microsoft SunHi (Female) and Microsoft InJoon (Male)
To start the download of the selected voice, select Install. The new voice will download and be ready for use in a few minutes, depending on your internet download speed.
When the new voice has downloaded, in Narrator settings select your preferred voice from the drop-down menu in Narrator’s voice > Choose a voice.

Note: If your display language is not set to any of the above languages, then in step 3 you will first need to select “Choose a different language” and then select the appropriate language followed by the specific voice. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2191

[Windows 365]

Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels can participate in the public preview of Windows 365 Switch. Windows 365 Switch provides the ability to easily move between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop using the same familiar keyboard commands, as well as a mouse-click or a swipe gesture through Task View on the Windows 11 taskbar. Please read this blog post for all the details on how to participate.

[caption id="attachment_176459" align="alignnone" width="631"]

Easily switch between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop via Task View.[/caption]

[Taskbar & System Tray]

REMINDER:As noted in our Beta Channel flight here, the settings for never combined mode for the taskbar were showing up under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors but do not enable the experience. We have temporarily removed the settings for this to fix the issue. The feature will be coming to a Beta Channel flight soon.

[File Explorer]

We’ve added “Share” to the context menu in File Explorer in addition to having the share icon at the top of the context menu.
Added more fields to show in the Details pane, including image dimensions for pictures, number of pages for .docx, space used and free information for drives, and many others.

[Windows Spotlight]

After doing an OS update, in certain cases such as using the default Windows 11 background or a solid color - Windows Spotlight may be enabled for you. If you decide you don't want Windows Spotlight enabled, you can turn it off and in future OS updates it should not be enabled for you again unless you choose to re-enable the experience.

Fixes in Build 22631.2191

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when navigating to Home, as well as some other issues causing crashes.
Fixed a memory leak in File Explorer with the latest updates which could cause explorer.exe crashes and other issues over prolonged usage.
Fixed an issue where after refreshing Home, actions to pin and unpin favorite files might not work.
Fixed an issue where the tooltip would get stuck on the screen when you scrolled Home with touch.
Fixed an issue where collapsing and expanding the sections of Home didn’t always work.
Fixed an issue where Home and Gallery could get stuck in the wrong colors if they were open when changing between light and dark mode.
Fixed an issue where thumbnails in Gallery might not load after changing the view to a smaller icon size (for example, medium to small).
Made some small adjustments to the size of elements, including reducing the size of the text.
The ALT + D, CTRL + L, and F4 keyboard shortcuts should work now to set focus to the address bar.
Fixed an issue where typing drive letters, %localappdata%, and certain other things in the address bar wasn’t causing suggested paths to appear in a dropdown.
Fixed an issue where the icons displayed in the tabs in File Explorer could become out of sync with the current folder after navigating.
Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to show “Working on it” in an empty folder.
Fixed an issue where the image in the Details pane might get blurry after resizing the File Explorer window.
Fixed an issue where the design of the details pane was displaying from left to right instead of right to left when using Hebrew or Arabic display languages.
Fixed an issue where the text box for naming newly created files or folders on the desktop was showing in the wrong position (far away or way too close) relative to the thumbnail.
Fixed an issue where ALT + P and Shift + Alt + P keyboard shortcuts weren’t working when focus was set to one of the images in Gallery.
Fixed an issue where right clicking items in the navigation pane wouldn’t open a context menu after you changed folders.
Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to crash when trying to access an FTP address.
Fixed an issue where selecting the dropdown arrows in the address bar was opening a blank menu.

[Dynamic Lighting]

Fixed an issue where devices might show as empty squares in Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.

Known issues

[General]

We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[File Explorer]

In some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer may appear transparent.
In some cases, the icons on your desktop may all go blank. If this happens, using the refresh option in the desktop context menu should resolve it.

[Taskbar]

We’re working on a fix for an issue causing the safely remove hardware icon to not appear when expected in the system tray.

[Input]

We’re working on the fix for an issue causing typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs to not work correctly after the latest flights for some Insiders.

[Narrator]

You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

About the Beta Channel

The Beta Channel is the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. 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. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

Important Insider Links

Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 22621.2191 and 22631.2191

Bot · Aug 10, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 22621.2213 (KB5029351) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11, version 22H2. This update includes the following features and improvements:

New! This update adds new functionality that affects app defaults. To learn more, see A principled approach to app pinning and app defaults in Windows.
New! This update adds a new hover behavior to the search box gleam. When you hover over it, the search flyout box appears. You can adjust this behavior by right clicking the taskbar. Then choose Taskbar settings to change your search box experience.
New! This release adds a new policy called “Enable optional updates.” Administrators can use it to configure the monthly, optional cumulative updates for commercial devices. You can also use this policy for the gradual Controlled Feature Rollouts (CFR).
This update makes daylight saving time (DST) changes for Israel.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Group Policy Service. It will not wait for 30 seconds, which is the default wait time, for the network to be available. Because of this, policies are not correctly processed.
This update adds a new API for D3D12 Independent Devices. You can use it to create multiple D3D12 devices on the same adapter. To learn more, see D3D12 Independent Devices.
This update addresses an issue that affects a WS_EX_LAYERED window. The window might render with the wrong dimensions or at the wrong position. This occurs when you scale the display screen.
This update addresses an issue that affects print jobs that are sent to a virtual print queue. They fail without an error.
This update addresses an issue that causes high CPU use. This occurs when you enable the “fBlockNonDomain” policy.
This update addresses an issue that affects disk partitions. The system might stop working. This occurs after you delete a disk partition and add the space from the deleted partition to an existing BitLocker partition.
This update addresses an issue that causes Windows to fail. This occurs when you use BitLocker on a storage medium that has a large sector size.
This update addresses an issue that affects Remote Desktop sessions. Sometimes you receive a wrong error message when you try to sign in to a session.
This update addresses an issue that affects the search icon. When you select it, the Search app does not open. This occurs after a machine has been asleep.
This update improves the reliability of the Search app.
This update addresses an issue that affects the TAB key. Using it to browse search results requires additional actions.
This update addresses an issue that affects Narrator. It does not give distinct context between the search box on the taskbar and search highlights within the search box.
This update addresses an issue that affects Start menu icons. They are missing after you sign in for the first time.
This update addresses an issue that affects settings. They do not sync even if you turn on the toggle on the Windows backup page in the Settings app.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP). The Windows LAPS "BackupDirectory" policy setting was not being reported. This occurs when the setting is set to 1, which is “Back up to AAD.”

Thanks, Windows Insider Program Team

Source: Releasing Windows 11 Build 22621.2213 to the Release Preview Channel

Bot · Aug 10, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 22000.2359 (KB5029332) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11 (original release). This update includes the following improvements:

New! This update improves how Windows detects your location. This helps to give you better weather, news, and traffic information.
This update makes daylight saving time (DST) changes for Israel.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Group Policy Service. It will not wait for 30 seconds, which is the default wait time, for the network to be available. Because of this, policies are not correctly processed.
This update adds a new API for D3D12 Independent Devices. You can use it to create multiple D3D12 devices on the same adapter. To learn more, see D3D12 Independent Devices.
This update addresses an issue that affects a WS_EX_LAYERED window. The window might render with the wrong dimensions or at the wrong position. This occurs when you scale the display screen.
This update addresses an issue that affects print jobs that are sent to a virtual print queue. They fail without an error.
This update addresses an issue that causes high CPU use. This occurs when you enable the “fBlockNonDomain policy.”
This update addresses an issue that affects disk partitions. The system might stop working. This occurs after you delete a disk partition and add the space from the deleted partition to an existing BitLocker partition.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP). The Windows LAPS "BackupDirectory" policy setting was not being reported. This occurs when the setting is set to 1, which is “Back up to AAD.”

Thanks, Windows Insider Program Team

Source: Releasing Windows 11 Build 22000.2359 to the Release Preview Channel

Bot · Aug 10, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.3391 (KB5029331) to the Release Preview Channel for those Insiders who are on Windows 10, version 22H2. This update includes the following improvements:

New! This update improves how Windows detects your location. This helps to give you better weather, news, and traffic information.
New! This update expands the roll out of notification badging for Microsoft accounts on the Start menu. A Microsoft account is what connects Windows to your Microsoft apps. The account backs up all your data and helps you to manage your subscriptions. You can also add extra security steps to keep you from being locked out of your account. This feature gives you quick access to important account-related notifications.
This update makes daylight saving time (DST) changes for Israel.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Group Policy Service. It will not wait for 30 seconds, which is the default wait time, for the network to be available. Because of this, policies are not correctly processed.
This update adds a new API for D3D12 Independent Devices. You can use it to create multiple D3D12 devices on the same adapter. To learn more, see D3D12 Independent Devices.
This update addresses an issue that affects an app that simulates keyboard input. That app might not send Japanese characters to other apps.
This update addresses an issue that affects a WS_EX_LAYERED window. The window might render with the wrong dimensions or at the wrong position. This occurs when you scale the display screen.
This update addresses an issue that affects print jobs that are sent to a virtual print queue. They fail without an error.
This update addresses an issue that affects disk partitions. The system might stop working. This occurs after you delete a disk partition and add the space from the deleted partition to an existing BitLocker partition.
This update addresses an issue that affects Remote Desktop (RD) sessions. They disconnect when multiple apps are in use.
This update addresses an issue that affects the display of the search box.
This update addresses an issue that affects settings. They do not sync even if you turn on the toggle on the Windows backup page in the Settings app.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP). The Windows LAPS "BackupDirectory" policy setting was not being reported. This occurs when the setting is set to 1, which is “Back up to AAD.”

Thanks, The Windows Insider Program Team

Source: Releasing Windows 10 Build 19045.3391 to Release Preview Channel

Bot · Aug 16, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25931 to the Canary Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here. REMINDER: As builds released to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” we will offer limited documentation for builds flighted to the Canary Channel including documenting only the most significant and highly impactful known issues. Please note that we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build.

What’s new in Build 25931

New features from the Dev Channel

This build includes new features from the Dev Channel such as Unicode Emoji 15 support, voice access is available to use on more areas in Windows such as the Lock screen, and more.

DC location will no longer use NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based discovery by default

We have previously announced the deprecation of both Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) and Remote Mailslots (see this blog post here for information on Remote Mailslots). These deprecations are legacy technologies that are no longer secure in today's environments. As part of these deprecations, DC location in your environment may be affected mainly because many legacy applications still specify short NetBIOS-style domain names when trying to locate a domain controller (DC). To help ease this transition with these deprecations, we are making two improvements to the DC locator algorithm in Windows. First, we are blocking by default the use of NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based methods for DC-discovery. This behavior can be reverted with the use of a new Group Policy setting (BlockNetBIOSDiscovery). In addition to disabling the new BlockNetBIOSDiscovery policy, reversion to default behavior also requires enabling the EnableMailslots SMB configuration option. (You can query and set the EnableMailslots setting using the Get-SmbClientConfiguration and Set-SmbClientConfiguration PowerShell cmdlets.) PLEASE NOTE: Reversion should be considered only as a temporary measure while more viable, longer-term solutions are explored. [caption id="attachment_176475" align="alignnone" width="574"]

Screenshot of the BlockNetBIOSDiscovery Group Policy setting.[/caption] Second, we have added additional client-side logic to aid in the mapping of short NetBIOS-style domain names to DNS domain names. This improvement consists of two parts:

DC locator will now automatically download additional information about the child domains in trusting forests and use that information as part of the discovery algorithm.
As a last-resort fallback, and to accommodate unforeseen situations, forest administrators can manually configure a set of DNS-to-NetBIOS-domain-name mappings (using the Active Directory Domains and Trusts management snap-in) which are also downloaded and used by DC Locator during discovery.

[caption id="attachment_176476" align="alignnone" width="497"]

Screenshot of the DC Locator domain name mappings property page in the Active Directory Domains and Trusts snap-in.[/caption] Additional information is available here for DC locator changes.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 25931. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.
In addition to the Camera app and Cortana, the Photos app, People app, and Remote Desktop (MSTSC) client can be uninstalled.

[File Explorer]

Added more fields to show in the Details pane, including image dimensions for pictures, number of pages for .docx, space used and free information for drives, and many others.

[Dynamic Lighting]

You can now instantly sync your Windows accent color with the devices around you with the “Match my Windows accent color” toggle under “Effects” for Dynamic Lighting via Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.

[Windows Spotlight]

After doing an OS update, in certain cases such as using the default Windows 11 background or a solid color – Windows Spotlight may be enabled for you. If you decide you don’t want Windows Spotlight enabled, you can turn it off and in future OS updates it should not be enabled for you again unless you choose to re-enable the experience.

Fixes for known issues

We fixed a major issue where you could no longer connect over SMB to a third-party storage device using guest (no username or password) credentials.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Canary Channel

The Canary Channel is the place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers. Some examples of this include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc. Builds that we release to the Canary Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and some of the changes we try out in the Canary Channel will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. The builds that will be flighted to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” flighting very soon after they are built, which means very little validation and documentation will be done before they are offered to Insiders. These builds could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows. We will offer limited documentation for the Canary Channel, but we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build. Our Canary Channel won’t receive daily builds; however, we may ramp up releasing builds more frequently in the future. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 25931 (Canary Channel)

Bot · Aug 18, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23526 to the Dev Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 23526. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Dev Channel.

[Start menu]

For files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided, it will no longer show a blank preview area. This is part of the work for rich thumbnail previews (tooltips) for cloud files on Start that began rolling out with Build 23511.

[caption id="attachment_176488" align="alignnone" width="480"]

Updated tooltip on the Start menu for files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided.[/caption]

[Cast]

Building off the Cast improvements introduced with Build 23516, we have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

[caption id="attachment_176489" align="alignnone" width="328"]

Cast flyout in Quick Settings now shows link for troubleshooting device discovery and other casting issues.[/caption]

[Narrator]

We have made the following improvements for Narrator:

Changed default verbosity level from 2 to 3 which will now announce “Immediate Context Name and Type”. The Control context type like “list” or “toolbar” will allow users to better understand the focused control – same default as JAWS and NVDA.
Narrator users are unblocked for typing Traditional Chinese characters in Windows by addition of Traditional Chinese dictionary for detailed reading.

We have made the following improvements for Narrator with Braille:

When navigating to any attachment in Outlook with scan mode, narrator announces the & of the attachment, the same is now reflected on braille display.
Navigate to different headings in Scan Mode using down arrow, or 'Space + 4' key in Braille device, now navigating to heading is reflected in Braille.
When navigating a list with items , whenever Narrator announces index with the menu item name, Braille display also reflects the same index values as “1 of 4”.

Fixes

[Start menu]

Fixed an issue that was making the System label in Start's all apps list the wrong color in high contrast themes.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Fixed an issue where the taskbar wasn’t loading for some Insiders when logging into their PC after installing the previous build.
Disabled the setting for uncombining taskbar buttons on other screens by default when no secondary monitors are connected.
Fixed an issue where if the taskbar was set to uncombined it would still show animations even if they’d been turned off.
Fixed an issue where app icons on the taskbar would become empty (with no icon) in recent Insider builds after switching between desktops.
Fixed an issue where the hidden icons flyout might close unexpectedly when using keyboard navigation to move focus between icons.
Fixed an issue where using drag to rearrange icons in the overflow area wasn’t working well when the taskbar was set to uncombined.
Fixed an issue where the new bell icon might be very difficult to see in some cases because it was using a dark outline when your taskbar was dark.
Fixed an issue where if you had enabled the End Task option in the taskbar, the setting wouldn’t persist across upgrades.
Fixed an issue where after upgrading the Bluetooth icon in the system tray might not display in the system tray after upgrade even though your PC supported Bluetooth and the Bluetooth options were shown in Settings.

[Start menu]

Fixed an issue where if you attempt to uninstall certain apps, it would just open Settings and not navigate to the Installed Apps page.

[File Explorer]

Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash when launching or interacting with File Explorer in the last couple flights.
Fixed an issue where using the Reset Folders button in Folder Options could cause explorer.exe to crash.
Fixed an issue where the chevrons in the File Explorer address bar were pointing in the wrong direction if your display language was set to Arabic or Hebrew.
Fixed an issue where saving files to OneDrive locations in File Explorer could take a very long time, making it seem like the app you were saving from had become unresponsive, in the latest Insider builds.
Fixed an issue where the context menu and dropdown menus in File Explorer weren’t working with touch.
Made another fix for the issue causing the context menu and dropdown menu backgrounds to be transparent.
Fixed an issue where the menu shown when doing a right click drag on one of the newly supported archive formats didn’t have an extract option like it does for zip files.

[Dev Drive]

Fixed an issue where Dev Drives might not auto-mount after upgrading to a new build, causing apps that tried to access them to not work.
Improved error messages if Dev Drives fail to format.
Fixed an issue related to the use of Dev Drives which could cause a bugcheck with an INVALID DATA TRAP on upgrade (and then the upgrade would roll back).

[HDR Backgrounds]

Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

[Narrator]

Fixed an issue where Narrator was not reading various list items in a combo box on various web pages when navigating with up and down arrow.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly announcing combo boxes as read-only even when users could actually select different values from the combo box list items.
Addressed the issue where Narrator was not announcing the checked and unchecked status of radio buttons but was announcing selected for every item.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing older information while navigating in date/time picker using arrow keys .
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading contents of previous cell and the current cell when navigating in a table using right and left arrow keys.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is incorrectly reading older Window title even after navigating to inner control.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is reading entire paragraph when up arrow is invoked in online word document.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading out last word of previous paragraph when a new paragraph started with a punctuation mark.
Fixed a bug where Narrator was not announcing the character being deleted when using backspace key in some text fields on the web.
Fixed an issue in narrator where while entering any number in CVV edit field, Narrator should only announce as “hidden”, instead of “CVV edit, hidden new line selected”.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is not able to detect different headings on some web pages in scan mode while using “h” key to navigate.
Fixed an issue where Narrator scan mode arrow navigation skipped first item in container.
Fixed an issue, where Narrator is skipping the first item after navigating via landmark using “d” key in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator focus did not move past the first check box if there was a list of check boxes when using up and down arrow key in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was not activating combo box when navigating using up and down arrow and using enter/spacebar to activate it in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator would collapse the combo boxes in scan mode when navigating with up and down arrows.
Fixed an issue where navigation commands are not executed as expected in a dialog box when you enter the dialog the second time.
Fixed an issue where Narrator find was not working consistently on web pages when using Narrator key + Ctrl + F key combination.

[Input]

Fixed an issue where typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs may not have performed as expected in certain apps in the last few flights when you had selected the option to use the previous version of the IME. If you are continuing to experience issues with this build installed, please file feedback.
Fixed an issue where when inking into a text field, if you were writing in Chinese, certain characters were being perceived as taps and not working.
Fixed an issue where inking into a text field while magnifier was running was not working well as the ink was offset.

[Other]

Fixed an issue where removing a monitor while connected to a Cloud PC could result in a black screen with only a mouse visible in recent builds.
Made some fixes to improve how the Share dialog worked with screen readers, as well as addressing some other accessibility issues.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[General]

We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[Start menu]

Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Search on the Taskbar]

Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.

[Windows Copilot]

You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you'll need to use "Show grid" commands to click in the "Ask me anything" box for the first time.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds. The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features. In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 23526 (Dev Channel)

Bot · Aug 18, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2199 and Build 22631.2199 (KB5029352) to the Beta Channel.

Build 22631.2199 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2199 = New features off by default.

REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx).

What’s new in Build 22631.2199

Native support for reading additional archive file formats

As announced at the Build conference back in May, this build adds native support for reading additional archive file formats using the libarchive open-source project such as:

.tar
.tar.gz
.tar.bz2
.tar.zst
.tar.xz
.tgz
.tbz2
.tzst
.txz
.rar
.7z
And more!

Please note that encrypted archives are currently not supported. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2199

[Start menu]

For files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided, it will no longer show a blank preview area. This is part of the work for rich thumbnail previews (tooltips) for cloud files on Start that began rolling out with Build 22631.2129.

[caption id="attachment_176488" align="alignnone" width="480"]

Updated tooltip on the Start menu for files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided.[/caption]

[Taskbar & System Tray]

You can now turn on never combined mode on the taskbar by right-clicking on the taskbar, choosing “Taskbar settings” and under “Taskbar behaviors” simply adjusting “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” to never. And we provide a separate setting for turning this on for other taskbars (multiple monitor scenarios for example).

[caption id="attachment_176460" align="alignnone" width="711"]

Updated settings for never combined mode.[/caption]

[Narrator]

We have made the following improvements for Narrator:

Changed default verbosity level from 2 to 3 which will now announce “Immediate Context Name and Type”. The Control context type like “list” or “toolbar” will allow users to better understand the focused control – same default as JAWS and NVDA.
Narrator users are unblocked for typing Traditional Chinese characters in Windows by addition of Traditional Chinese dictionary for detailed reading.

We have made the following improvements for Narrator with Braille:

When navigating to any attachment in Outlook with scan mode, narrator announces the & of the attachment, the same is now reflected on braille display.
Navigate to different headings in Scan Mode using down arrow, or 'Space + 4' key in Braille device, now navigating to heading is reflected in Braille.
When navigating a list with items , whenever Narrator announces index with the menu item name, Braille display also reflects the same index values as “1 of 4”.

[Settings]

The end task feature under System > For Developers no longer requires Developer Mode to be enabled first before it can be used.
[ADDED] Under Settings > Personalization > Device usage, we have added “Development” to the list and toggling it on will launch Dev Home. This matches what is shown in OOBE (“out of box experience”).

Fixes in Build 22631.2199

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Fixed an issue causing app icons in the taskbar to not be able to move, and start overlapping once you tried to do this, in the previous flight.
Fixed an issue causing the safely remove hardware icon to not appear when expected in the system tray.
Fixed an issue where the End Task feature wasn’t working if you tried it when there were multiple windows open of that app.
Fixed an issue where using End Task on certain apps would cause other unrelated apps to close.

[File Explorer]

We’ve done some work to improve the performance of archive functionality during compression on Windows.

[Input]

Fixed an issue causing typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs to not work correctly after the latest flights for some Insiders.

[Narrator]

Fixed an issue where Narrator was not reading various list items in a combo box on various web pages when navigating with up and down arrow.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly announcing combo boxes as read-only even when users could actually select different values from the combo box list items.
Addressed the issue where Narrator was not announcing the checked and unchecked status of radio buttons but was announcing selected for every item.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing older information while navigating in date/time picker using arrow keys.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading contents of previous cell and the current cell when navigating in a table using right and left arrow keys.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is incorrectly reading older Window title even after navigating to inner control.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is reading entire paragraph when up arrow is invoked in online word document.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading out last word of previous paragraph when a new paragraph started with a punctuation mark.
Fixed a bug where Narrator was not announcing the character being deleted when using backspace key in some text fields on the web.
Fixed an issue in narrator where while entering any number in CVV edit field, Narrator should only announce as “hidden”, instead of “CVV edit, hidden new line selected”.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is not able to detect different headings on some web pages in scan mode while using “h” key to navigate.
Fixed an issue where Narrator scan mode arrow navigation skipped first item in container.
Fixed an issue, where Narrator is skipping the first item after navigating via landmark using “d” key in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator focus did not move past the first check box if there was a list of check boxes when using up and down arrow key in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was not activating combo box when navigating using up and down arrow and using enter/spacebar to activate it in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator would collapse the combo boxes in scan mode when navigating with up and down arrows.
Fixed an issue where navigation commands are not executed as expected in a dialog box when you enter the dialog the second time.
Fixed an issue where Narrator find was not working consistently on web pages when using Narrator key + Ctrl + F key combination.

[HDR Wallpaper]

Fixed an issue where your HDR wallpaper might appear washed out although HDR was enabled.
Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to select .JXL files for your wallpaper slideshow.

[Task Manager]

Updated the summary view for the Performance page (that you see when double clicking the graphs in the navigation pane) to make the window smaller.

Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.2199 & Build 22631.2199

New! This update adds new functionality that affects app defaults. To learn more, see A principled approach to app pinning and app defaults in Windows.
This update addresses an issue that causes Windows to fail. This occurs when you use BitLocker on a storage medium that has a large sector size.
This update addresses an issue that affects Remote Desktop sessions. Sometimes you receive a wrong error message when you try to sign in to a session.
This update addresses an issue that affects the search icon. When you select it, the Search app does not open. This occurs after a machine has been asleep.
This update addresses an issue that affects It does not correctly identify the search box on the taskbar and search highlights within the search box.
This update adds a new API for D3D12 Independent Devices. You can use it to create multiple D3D12 devices on the same adapter. To learn more, see D3D12 Independent Devices.
This update addresses an issue that affects disk partitions. The system might stop working. This occurs after you delete a disk partition and add the space from the deleted partition to an existing BitLocker partition.
This update addresses an issue that affects Start menu icons. They are missing after you sign in for the first time.
This update supports daylight saving time (DST) changes in Israel.
This update improves the reliability of the Search app.
This update addresses an issue that affects print jobs that are sent to a virtual print queue. They fail without an error.
This update addresses an issue that affects the search box size. Its size is reduced in tablet posture mode on Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Book devices.
This update addresses an issue that affects the TAB key. Using it to browse search results requires additional actions.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Group Policy Service. It will not wait for 30 seconds, which is the default wait time, for the network to be available. Because of this, policies are not correctly processed.
This update addresses an issue that affects settings. They do not sync even if you turn on the toggle on the Windows Backup page in the Settings app.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP). The Windows LAPS "BackupDirectory" policy setting was not being reported. This occurs when the setting is set to 1, which is “Back up to AAD.”
This update addresses an issue that causes high CPU use. This occurs when you enable the “fBlockNonDomain policy.”
The update addresses an issue that affects those who use Windows Update for Business. After you are asked to change your password at sign in, the change operation fails. Then you cannot sign in. The error code is 0xc000006d.
This update addresses an issue that affects a WS_EX_LAYERED window. The window might render with the wrong dimensions or at the wrong position. This occurs when you scale the display screen.

Known issues

[General]

[NEW] After updating to this build, the “Check for updates” does not appear as expected under Settings > Windows Update. To manually check for updates, you can open Windows Terminal (or the Run dialog)and enter the USOClient StartInteractiveScan command which will perform the same function as clicking the “Check for updates” button in Windows Update. Note that running the command will not display any output. To confirm that the operation was successful, you can run the command while the Windows Update settings page is open. You should see your device checking for updates.
We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[File Explorer]

In some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer may appear transparent.
Investigating an issue where the icons on your desktop may all go blank. Right-click and refresh on the desktop will bypass the issue if it occurs.

[Narrator]

You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

Snipping Tool Update

We are beginning to roll out an update to Snipping Tool (version 11.2306.43.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. This update introduces new buttons to edit in Paint for screenshots and edit in Clipchamp for screen recordings. [caption id="attachment_176454" align="alignnone" width="710"]

New buttons in Snipping Tool for editing screen clips in Paint and screen recordings in Clipchamp.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub by clicking here.

About the Beta Channel

The Beta Channel is the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. 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. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

Important Insider Links

Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 22621.2199 and 22631.2199 (Beta Channel)

Bot · Aug 24, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2262 and Build 22631.2262 (KB5029339) to the Beta Channel. IMPORTANT: Due to the bug in the previous Beta Channel flight, the “Check for updates” button does not appear as expected under Settings > Windows Update. As a workaround to get this update immediately, you can open Windows Terminal (or the Run dialog) and enter the USOClient StartInteractiveScan command which will perform the same function as clicking the “Check for updates” button in Windows Update. Note that running the command will not display any output. To confirm that the operation was successful, you can run the command while the Windows Update settings page is open. You should see your device checking for updates. Once you’re on this new build, the “Check for updates” button will appear again as expected. Without doing this workaround, this new build will install automatically on its own over the next day or two. Also see this forum post.

Build 22631.2262 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2262 = New features off by default.

REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx).

What’s new in Build 22631.2262

Introducing the new Settings homepage

We’re introducing a new homepage in Settings that offers you a dynamic and personalized experience. It provides an overview of your device, quick access to key settings, and helps manage your Microsoft account. [caption id="attachment_176379" align="alignnone" width="731"]

New Settings homepage.[/caption] We created interactive cards that represent various device and account related settings, grouped by commonly accessed functions. Each card is optimized to offer the most relevant information and controls at your fingertips. In this release, you’ll see up to seven cards, with more coming soon. Here’s an overview of each card:

Recommended settings: This card adapts to your specific usage patterns, providing timely and relevant settings options. It’s designed to streamline your settings management and save you time.
Cloud storage: Gives you an overview of your cloud storage use and lets you know when you’re nearing capacity.
Account recovery: Helps keep your Microsoft account more secure by helping you add additional recovery info so you never get locked out of your account, even if you forget your password.
Personalization: Brings customization to the forefront by offering one-click access to update your background theme or change your color mode.
Microsoft 365: Provides a quick glimpse of your subscription status and benefits, along with the ability to take some key actions right in Settings instead of going to the web.
Xbox: Similar to the Microsoft 365 card, you’ll be able to view your subscription status and manage the subscription from the Settings app.
Bluetooth Devices: To simplify your Bluetooth device management experience, we’ve brought this to the forefront so you can quickly access and connect to your favorite Bluetooth-enabled devices.

You can take swift actions directly from this page with just a click, making device and account management seamless and efficient. What sets the homepage apart even further is that it’s more than just a landing page—it evolves and learns with you. As you use your device, it’ll adjust to provide the most relevant and useful information based on your usage and preferences. NOTE: This experience will only be available on Windows 11 Home and Pro editions and not on devices managed by organizations. [We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Beta Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Settings > Settings Homepage.

Backup and Restore improvements

Building on the app restore feature we announced last year, we are introducing additional backup and restore capabilities in this build to make moving to a new PC easier than ever and to help app developers retain users across this new PC transition. The goal of these changes is to land users on a desktop that feels familiar to them and get them back to productivity within minutes on their new PC. [caption id="attachment_176290" align="alignnone" width="480"]

The Windows Backup app.[/caption]

Windows Backup app – we’re introducing this new app to quickly get your current PC backed up and ready to move to a new PC.
App pins – your Store apps from your prior PC will be pinned where you left them, both on taskbar and in the Start menu.
Settings – Settings from your previous device will restore to your new PC to help you get back into the flow as quickly as possible.

[caption id="attachment_176291" align="alignnone" width="638"]

Welcome back screen showing PC restoring from backup.[/caption] Once you’re backed up either via the new Windows Backup app or by visiting Accounts/Windows Backup in settings, you can try out the new restore during the out-of-box- experience (OOBE) when setting up a new PC or by resetting an existing PC with this build. Users will see pins for their desktop app restored on the taskbar and Start Menu, including desktop apps that were not installed from the Microsoft Store. Desktop apps that are available in the Microsoft Store can be restored by clicking on the app pin to get started. For apps that aren’t available in the Microsoft Store, you’ll be directed to the web to download the installer. [caption id="attachment_176378" align="alignnone" width="457"]

Screenshot showing a dialog box to install an app from the web.[/caption] NOTE: An easy way for Insiders to try this experience out is by running the Windows Backup app on a PC running this build and choosing “Reset this PC” under Settings > System > Recovery and then going through OOBE for the new restore experience. For developers, review the developer best practices to learn more about how to provide the best restore experience for your app. Note that in this build not all settings and app types are supported, including Android apps. Backing up a Work or School account is also not supported. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Backup and Restore.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2262

[File Explorer]

Made some changes which should noticeably help improve the performance of the “calculating” phase when sending a large number of files at once in File Explorer to the recycle bin.

[Cast]

Building off the Cast improvements introduced with Build 22631.2129, we have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

[caption id="attachment_176489" align="alignnone" width="354"]

Cast flyout in Quick Settings now shows link for troubleshooting device discovery and other casting issues.[/caption]

[Dynamic Lighting]

You can now instantly sync your Windows accent color with the devices around you with the “Match my Windows accent color” toggle under “Effects” for Dynamic Lighting via Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.
We have added the ability to choose a custom color to light up your devices with.

Fixes in Build 22631.2262

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Fixed an issue where after upgrading the Bluetooth icon in the system tray might not display in the system tray after upgrade even though your PC supported Bluetooth and the Bluetooth options were shown in Settings.
Fixed an issue where the new bell icon might be very difficult to see in some cases because it was using a dark outline when your taskbar was dark.
Fixed an issue where the titles were missing from taskbar previews when turning on tablet-optimized taskbar while using uncombined taskbar.
Fixed an issue where app icons on the taskbar would become empty (with no icon) in recent Insider builds after switching between desktops.
Fixed an issue where if the taskbar was set to uncombined it would still show animations even if they’d been turned off.
Disabled the setting for uncombining taskbar buttons on other screens by default when no secondary monitors are connected.
Fixed an issue where using drag to rearrange icons in the overflow area wasn’t working well when the taskbar was set to uncombined.
Fixed an issue where uncombined taskbar’s app indicators weren’t shown correctly after it showed something was being downloaded.
Fixed an issue where the hidden icons flyout might close unexpectedly when using keyboard navigation to move focus between icons.

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue where in some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer appeared transparent. This also impacted the command bar dropdown menus.
Fixed an issue where the context menu and dropdown menus in File Explorer weren’t working with touch.
Fixed an issue which was causing the search box in File Explorer to not work well with IMEs.
Fixed a white flash in dark mode when switching between Home and Gallery.
Fixed an issue impacted File Explorer reliability.
Fixed an issue where "Automatically type into the Search Box" wasn’t working when File Explorer was open to Home.
Fixed an issue where pasting using the context menu in the address bar wasn’t working (or other context menu actions in the address bar).
Added a little more space between Home in the navigation page and the bottom of the command bar.

[Input]

Fixed an issue where typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs may not have performed as expected in certain apps in the last few flights when you had selected the option to use the previous version of the IME. If you are continuing to experience issues with this build installed, please file feedback.
Fixed an issue where when inking into a text field, if you were writing in Chinese, certain characters were being perceived as taps and not working.
Fixed an issue where inking into a text field while magnifier was running was not working well as the ink was offset.

[HDR Wallpapers]

Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue where Task Manager was crashing when using the reset to default button in Settings.
Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.

[Other]

Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.2262 & Build 22631.2262

We fixed the issue causing the “Check for updates” button to not appear as expected under Settings > Windows Update. After updating to this build, the “Check for updates” button should appear as expected. If you are on the previous Beta Channel flight, you can manually check for updates by opening Windows Terminal (or the Run dialog) and entering the USOClient StartInteractiveScan command which will perform the same function as clicking the “Check for updates” button in Windows Update. Note that running the command will not display any output. To confirm that the operation was successful, you can run the command while the Windows Update settings page is open. You should see your device checking for updates.
Fixed an issue where removing a monitor while connected to a Cloud PC could result in a black screen with only a mouse visible in recent builds.

Known issues

[General]

We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[File Explorer]

Investigating an issue where the icons on your desktop may all go blank. Right-click and refresh on the desktop will bypass the issue if it occurs.

[Narrator]

You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

About the Beta Channel

The Beta Channel is the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. 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. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

Important Insider Links

Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 22621.2262 and 22631.2262 (Beta Channel)

Bot · Aug 25, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23531 to the Dev Channel.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

[REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 23526. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Dev Channel.
In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows system components use the default browser to open links.

[Search on the Taskbar]

We're re-introducing the search experience for invoking the search flyout when you hover over the search box gleam. This behavior can be adjusted by right-clicking on the taskbar, choosing “Taskbar settings” and adjusting your preferred search box experience.

Fixes

[General]

Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to not work in safe mode.

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when closing File Explorer.
Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when navigating to Gallery if you had a large number of images.
Fixed an issue where “Automatically type into the Search Box” wasn’t working when File Explorer was open to Home.
Fixed an issue where if you tried to copy and paste, a file out of a compressed folder and into a OneDrive folder might fail with an error code.

[HDR Backgrounds]

Fixed an issue which could cause HDR wallpapers to appear washed out when HDR was enabled.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to move the Task Manager window with touch or pen.
Fixed an issue where Task Manager was crashing when using the reset to default button in Settings.
Fixed an issue which was causing sporadic crashes when using Task Manager, including when ending tasks.
Fixed an issue where if you did a search and then cleared it, the view would still be filtered even though there was no search anymore.
Fixed an issue where the search icon would become overlapped with the Task Manager text in the title bar.
Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.
Updated the summary view for the Performance page (that you see when double clicking the graphs in the navigation pane) to make the window smaller.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[Start menu]

Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Search on the Taskbar]

Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.

[Windows Copilot]

You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you'll need to use "Show grid" commands to click in the "Ask me anything" box for the first time.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds. The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features. In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 23531 (Dev Channel)

Bot · Aug 25, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25936 to the Canary Channel. REMINDER: As builds released to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” we will offer limited documentation for builds flighted to the Canary Channel including documenting only the most significant and highly impactful known issues. Please note that we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build.

What’s new in Build 25936

Post-OOBE Experiences

We are trying out several new experiences for after completing OOBE (“out of box experience”) starting with this build. You may see one of these three experiences launched automatically on your device after completing OOBE.

If you choose ‘Development Intent’ within the ‘Let’s Customize Your Experience’ page during OOBE, Dev Home will be automatically launched on your device after logging in and reaching the desktop for the first time after OOBE setup.
If you choose ‘Development Intent’ within the ‘Let’s Customize Your Experience’ page during OOBE, the Get Started app will be automatically launched on your device after logging in and reaching the desktop for the first time after OOBE setup. The Get Started app will show you a personalized flow that will help you learn more about Dev Home and give you the opportunity to open Dev Home.
If you choose to ‘Restore’ your device during OOBE, the Get Started app will be automatically launched on your device after you log into your device for the second time after completing OOBE. The Get Started app will show you a personalized flow that will help you learn about key apps and settings, tell you that Windows has restored on your device and show you how to access your restored apps on Start menu or taskbar.

These experiences will help you learn about new features in Windows 11 and help you complete your device setup. These experiences will only be available to a small subset of Insiders in the Canary Channel at first and you may see different variations of these experiences. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Initial out of box setup.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

[REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 25931. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.

[Dynamic Lighting]

We have added the ability to choose a custom color to light up your devices with.

[Task Manager]

We’ve updated the Task Manager settings page to match the design principles of Windows 11. The design has a similar look and feel to the Settings in Windows 11 and provides a cleaner UI separating categories into different sections.

[caption id="attachment_176442" align="alignnone" width="725"]

Redesigned Task Manager settings.[/caption]

[Settings]

The end task feature under System > For Developers no longer requires Developer Mode to be enabled first before it can be used.

Fixes for known issues

Fixed the underlying crash which was causing .NET updates to get stuck requesting restart in Windows Update Settings in recent Canary Channel builds.
Fixed a few issues which were causing the End Task option in the taskbar to not work, or to close more than just the app you had selected.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Canary Channel

The Canary Channel is the place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers. Some examples of this include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc. Builds that we release to the Canary Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and some of the changes we try out in the Canary Channel will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. The builds that will be flighted to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” flighting very soon after they are built, which means very little validation and documentation will be done before they are offered to Insiders. These builds could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows. We will offer limited documentation for the Canary Channel, but we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build. Our Canary Channel won’t receive daily builds; however, we may ramp up releasing builds more frequently in the future. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 25936 (Canary Channel)

plat · Aug 29, 2023

Anyone in the Insiders beta channel? There was a major issue with the update buttons missing from the Settings app, meaning you could not check for updates or restart your machine afterward to apply them. In some cases, if you Pause the update process, you could not resume it as that button was also missing. Like here on my 11 drive:

This Reddit thread here explained in those cases of a missing Resume button--to simply go to Date and Time in Control Panel and set the date to sometime ahead of when the updates are set to resume. This worked as intended and Windows automatically searched for updates and found the fix--KB 5029339.

KB

After manually restarting machine to apply this update (the restart button was also missing), the issue is fixed. Phew, right? New winver v.22631.2262.

Bot · Aug 31, 2023

[UPDATE 1:05pm PDT] The issue that was causing this update to not be offered to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel is resolved and you should be able to download and install the update now. Apologies for the inconvenience. Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2265 and Build 22631.2265 (KB5029347) to the Beta Channel.

Build 22631.2265 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2265 = New features off by default.

REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx).

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2265

[Emoji]

With the update of our color font format to COLRv1, Windows is now able to display richer emoji with a 3D like appearance with support coming soon to some apps and browsers. These emoji use gradients to bring the design style that our customers have been asking for. The new emoji will bring more expression to your communications.

[caption id="attachment_176392" align="alignnone" width="708"]

Before and after of the updated color format for emoji.[/caption]

[Settings]

The new Settings homepage which began rolling out with last week’s Beta Channel flight should now be available to all Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel.

Fixes in Build 22631.2265

[General]

Fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Fixed an issue which was causing apps in the taskbar to appear cut off without a rounded corner on the end when you had a lot of app windows open and the taskbar was set to not combine.
Fixed an explorer.exe crash impacting taskbar appearing correctly after powering on your device.

[File Explorer]

Fixed a few crashes impacting File Explorer launch reliability.
Did some work to help improve File Explorer launch performance in certain scenarios.
Fixed an issue where the icons on the desktop may all go blank.
Fixed an issue where using the Reset Folders button in Folder Options could cause explorer.exe to crash.
Fixed an issue where if you tried to copy and paste a file out of a compressed folder and into a OneDrive folder might fail with an error code.
Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when navigating to Gallery if you had a large number of images.
Fixed an issue where saving files to OneDrive locations in File Explorer could take a very long time, making it seem like the app you were saving from had become unresponsive, in the latest Insider builds.
Fixed an issue where “Automatically type into the Search Box” wasn’t working when File Explorer was open to Home.
Fixed an issue where the chevrons in the File Explorer address bar were pointing in the wrong direction if your display language was set to Arabic or Hebrew.

[Settings]

Fixed an issue which was causing some labels to be missing across various places in Settings in the last couple flights.
Did some work to help improve the performance of opening Settings for Insiders with the new Home page.

[Dev Drive]

Fixed an issue where Dev Drives might not auto-mount after upgrading to a new build, causing apps that tried to access them to not work.
Improved error messages if Dev Drives fail to format.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue where if you did a search and then cleared it, the view would still be filtered.
Fixed an issue which was causing sporadic crashes when using Task Manager, including when ending tasks.
Fixed an issue where the search icon could become overlapped with the Task Manager text in the title bar.
Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to move the Task Manager window with touch or pen.

Known issues

[Narrator]

You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

About the Beta Channel

The Beta Channel is the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. 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. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

Important Insider Links

Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 22621.2265 and 22631.2265 (Beta Channel)

Bot · Aug 31, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23536 to the Dev Channel.

Fixes

[Windows Copilot]

Fixed an issue that was causing the Windows Copilot icon in the taskbar to be flipped backwards for right-to-left languages.

[Taskbar]

Fixed an explorer.exe crash impacting taskbar appearing correctly after powering on your device.
Fixed an issue which was causing apps in the taskbar to appear cut off without a rounded corner on the end when you had a lot of app windows open, and the taskbar was set to not combine.

[Live captions]

Fixed an issue that was causing live captions to sometimes show the same line of text twice.

[Input]

Fixed a high hitting ctfmon.exe crash in recent flights, which may have impacted the ability to type for some Insiders.

[Settings]

Did some work to help improve the performance of opening Settings for Insiders with the new Home page.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue that could cause Task Manager to crash when using the end task option in the Details page recent builds.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[Start menu]

Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Search on the Taskbar]

Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.

[Input]

[NEW] Unicode Emoji 15 support which began rolling out with Build 23475 and the updated color font format with COLRv1 support that began rolling out with Build 23506 no longer appear after updating to Build 23531 due to a bug. This issue will be fixed in a future flight soon.

[Windows Copilot]

You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you'll need to use "Show grid" commands to click in the "Ask me anything" box for the first time.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds. The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features. In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 23536 (Dev Channel)

Bot · Aug 31, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25941 to the Canary Channel. REMINDER: As builds released to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” we will offer limited documentation for builds flighted to the Canary Channel including documenting only the most significant and highly impactful known issues. Please note that we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build.

Changes and Improvements

[Graphics]

In this Insider Preview build, you may notice that there have been some changes in the advanced display settings page via Settings > System > Display > Advanced display. Dynamic refresh rate can now be enabled via a toggle. After being enabled, Windows will then dynamically adjust the refresh rate up to the selected rate to help save power. Click here for more information on Dynamic refresh rate.
Additionally, we've made small changes to help bring awareness to limitations (related to the display or the cable being used) that may not allow you to set a high refresh rate while being on a high display resolution. When selecting a refresh rate, you may notice some refresh rates will show an asterisk. That means that in order to select that specific refresh rate, the display resolution will need to be changed to one that supports the selected refresh rate. This behavior happens when there are limitations due to the cable or the display's capabilities and is not new, but we wanted to make sure you were aware of it.

[Cast]

Building off the Cast improvements introduced with Build 25926, we have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

[caption id="attachment_176489" align="alignnone" width="318"]

Cast flyout in Quick Settings now shows link for troubleshooting device discovery and other casting issues.[/caption]

[Settings]

The graph at the top of the Power & Battery page in Settings has been removed. Insiders can continue to see a graph of battery usage in the battery usage section further down the page. The Power & battery settings page is also no longer broken up by “Power” and “Battery” sections.

Fixes for known issues

Fixed issues impacting the File Explorer context menu and command bar dropdowns, causing them to become transparent, and not work with touch.
Fixed issues impacting File Explorer launch reliability.
Fixed issues causing the Japanese and Chinese IMEs to not work properly in certain apps, and to not work correctly in the File Explorer search box.
Fixed an issue causing Settings to crash when looking at detailed battery usage.
The new options for tuning intensity and color boost of Color Filters now have labels.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Canary Channel

The Canary Channel is the place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers. Some examples of this include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc. Builds that we release to the Canary Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and some of the changes we try out in the Canary Channel will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. The builds that will be flighted to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” flighting very soon after they are built, which means very little validation and documentation will be done before they are offered to Insiders. These builds could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows. We will offer limited documentation for the Canary Channel, but we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build. Our Canary Channel won’t receive daily builds; however, we may ramp up releasing builds more frequently in the future. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 25941 (Canary Channel)

Bot · Aug 31, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, we are rolling out updates for Snipping Tool and Notepad to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels on Windows 11.

Snipping Tool (version 11.2307.44.0)

With this update to Snipping Tool, we are introducing the combined capture bar, making it easier to switch between capturing screenshots and screen recordings without having to open the app. Use the Print Screen or Win + Shift + S keyboard shortcuts to open the capture bar for snipping, where you will continue to find the familiar snipping modes or try the new Win + Shift + R keyboard shortcut to open the capture bar for recording. [caption id="attachment_176521" align="alignnone" width="706"]

Snipping Tool combined capture bar showing screenshot capture options.[/caption] We are also improving the screen recording experience based on your feedback by introducing support for optionally recording your PC audio and voice overs using a microphone. New app settings let you configure the default audio recording settings for new screen recordings, and if you have multiple recording devices, you can select your preferred recording device before you start recording. [caption id="attachment_176522" align="alignnone" width="655"]

Snipping Tool capture bar while recording showing new audio options.[/caption] We are aware of an issue where some users might unexpectedly see a pop-up dialog when taking a screenshot asking you to “Select an app to open this ‘ms-screenclip’ link”. If you encounter this dialog, please select “Snipping Tool”. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Snipping Tool.

Notepad (version 11.2307.22.0)

With this update, Notepad will start automatically saving your session state allowing you to close Notepad without any interrupting dialogs and then pick up where you left off when you return. Notepad will automatically restore previously open tabs as well as unsaved content and edits across those open tabs. Saved session state does not impact any of your files, though, and it is still your choice whether to save or discard unsaved changes to files anytime you close a tab. You can turn this feature off in app settings if you would prefer to have a fresh start every time you open Notepad. [caption id="attachment_176523" align="alignnone" width="716"]

Notepad with one open tab.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Notepad. [PLEASE NOTE: We are beginning to roll these experiences out, so they may not be available to all Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.] As always, we love getting feedback from the community and we will be looking out for your feedback on these updates! Thanks, Dave Grochocki, Principal Product Manager Lead – Windows Inbox Apps

Source: New Updates for Snipping Tool and Notepad for Windows Insiders

Bot · Sep 6, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2271 and Build 22631.2271 (KB5030316) to the Beta Channel.

Build 22631.2271 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2271 = New features off by default.

REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx).

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2271

[Windows Ink]

The Windows Ink improvements introduced with Build 22631.2050 that enabled inking directly onto edit fields is being temporarily disabled for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel while we fix some bugs impacting the usability of this experience.

Fixes in Build 22631.2271

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue where the progress wheel in the tab would get stuck showing that File Explorer was loading a folder when the loading had already finished.
Fixed an issue where rapidly opening two File Explorer windows might make explorer.exe crash.
Fixed an issue which could make explorer.exe crash when navigating away from Home.
Fixed an issue where trying to open Gallery after new images had been added might result in a crash.
Made a few more fixes to help improve File Explorer launch performance, including fixing a leak which would impact performance over time.
Fixed an issue where File Explorer sorting changes wouldn’t persist in folders after you navigated away and back.
Fixed an issue which could cause the icons in File Explorer tabs to be incorrect.

[Windows Copilot]

Fixed an issue that was causing the Windows Copilot icon in the taskbar to be flipped backwards for right-to-left languages.

[Input]

Fixed a high hitting tabtip.exe crash that may have impacted the ability to type in the last couple flights.

[Settings]

Fixed an issue where switching search to be an icon in Taskbar Settings could cause explorer.exe to crash.

[Dev Drive]

Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to paste a folder path to mount into the dialog when creating a new Dev Drive.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue that could cause Task Manager to crash when using the end task option in the Details page recent builds.

[HDR Wallpaper]

Fixed a sporadic explorer.exe crash related to the use of an HDR wallpaper.

[Other]

Fixed an issue where trying to take window mode screenshots was taking screenshots of the entire screen instead of the app in focus for some Insiders.

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in all channels running version 22308.1401.x.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out: New Game Pass page: Explore and subscribe to PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate through our new dedicated page. With the new experience, you can learn about Game Pass benefits, such as exclusive games, deals, free perks, EA Play, and more. It's also easier to discover, jump in, and play your next favorite game, including Day One games, new games on Game Pass, Bethesda games, and more. [caption id="attachment_176529" align="alignnone" width="481"]

New Game Pass page in the Microsoft Store.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

About the Beta Channel

The Beta Channel is the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. 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. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

Important Insider Links

Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 22621.2271 and 22631.2271 (Beta Channel)

Bot · Sep 7, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25947 to the Canary Channel. REMINDER: As builds released to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” we will offer limited documentation for builds flighted to the Canary Channel including documenting only the most significant and highly impactful known issues. Please note that we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build.

Fixes for known issues

Fixed a high hitting ctfmon.exe crash in recent flights, which may have impacted the ability to type for some Insiders.
Fixed a few issues impacting explorer.exe reliability, including fixing an issue which could cause File Explorer to crash when navigating to Gallery.
Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to not work in safe mode.
Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.
Fixed the issue causing some Insiders to see an unexpected pop up asking you to “Select an app to open this ‘ms-screenclip’ link” after the latest Snipping Tool app update.

Known issues

Some popular games may not work correctly on the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on these builds.

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in all channels running version 22308.1401.x.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out: New Game Pass page: Explore and subscribe to PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate through our new dedicated page. With the new experience, you can learn about Game Pass benefits, such as exclusive games, deals, free perks, EA Play, and more. It's also easier to discover, jump in, and play your next favorite game, including Day One games, new games on Game Pass, Bethesda games, and more. [caption id="attachment_176529" align="alignnone" width="481"]

New Game Pass page in the Microsoft Store.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Canary Channel

The Canary Channel is the place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers. Some examples of this include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc. Builds that we release to the Canary Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and some of the changes we try out in the Canary Channel will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. The builds that will be flighted to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” flighting very soon after they are built, which means very little validation and documentation will be done before they are offered to Insiders. These builds could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows. We will offer limited documentation for the Canary Channel, but we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build. Our Canary Channel won’t receive daily builds; however, we may ramp up releasing builds more frequently in the future. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 25947 (Canary Channel)

Bot · Sep 9, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23541 to the Dev Channel.

Changes and Improvements

[Start menu]

Rich thumbnail previews (tooltips) for cloud files under Recommended on the Start menu and the ability to right-click to share on these files which rolled out with Build 23511 may temporarily disappear for some Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Fixes

[Taskbar]

Fixed an issue where dragging app icons in the taskbar may sometimes lead to an explorer.exe crash.

[Search on the Taskbar]

Fixed an issue where sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box wouldn’t match the current search highlight.

[Dev Drive]

Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to paste a folder path to mount into the dialog when creating a new Dev Drive.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[File Explorer]

[NEW] Icons on the desktop may show as generic white pages rather than their proper icons.
[NEW] There is an issue where the progress wheel icon will get stuck in the File Explorer tab even though the folder has finished loading.
[NEW] Changing the sort order of folders doesn’t persist if you navigate away and back from the folder.

[Start menu]

Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Input]

Unicode Emoji 15support which began rolling out with Build 23475 and the updated color font format with COLRv1 support that began rolling out with Build 23506 no longer appear after updating to Build 23531 due to a bug. This issue will be fixed in a future flight soon.
[NEW] There is a high hitting tabtip.exe crash which is impacting the ability for some Insiders to type.

[Windows Copilot]

[NEW] We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you'll need to use "Show grid" commands to click in the "Ask me anything" box for the first time.

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in all channels running version 22308.1401.x.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out: New Game Pass page: Explore and subscribe to PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate through our new dedicated page. With the new experience, you can learn about Game Pass benefits, such as exclusive games, deals, free perks, EA Play, and more. It's also easier to discover, jump in, and play your next favorite game, including Day One games, new games on Game Pass, Bethesda games, and more. [caption id="attachment_176529" align="alignnone" width="481"]

New Game Pass page in the Microsoft Store.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

.NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds. The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features. In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 23541 (Dev Channel)

Bot · Sep 13, 2023

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2338 and Build 22631.2338 (KB5030305) to the Beta Channel.

Build 22631.2338 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2338 = New features off by default.

REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx).

New Widget: Focus Session

We are beginning to roll out a new Focus Session widget as part of a Clock app update (version 11.2306.22.0 and higher) via the Microsoft Store to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. With this new widget, you will be able to quickly start and stop focus sessions on your device. [caption id="attachment_176351" align="alignnone" width="489"]

The new Focus Session widget.[/caption] [We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Beta Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Clock App.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2338

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Beginning to roll out with this build, Chat is now Microsoft Teams – Free. Microsoft Teams – Free is pinned by default to the taskbar and can be unpinned like other apps on the taskbar.

Fixes in Build 22631.2338

[General]

Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to see untranslated text in some areas across the system, including in File Explorer and Settings. If you’re continuing to see issues with translations, please file feedback.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

Fixed an issue where dragging app icons in the taskbar may sometimes lead to an explorer.exe crash.
Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to see labels in their taskbar unexpectedly.
Fixed an issue causing Task Manager to not launch for some Insiders.

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue for dark mode users, where you would see a white flash when opening File Explorer.
Fixed an issue where after changing between dark and light mode, the icons in the command bar and context menu might become very difficult to see.
We made some more improvements to help with the performance of loading Home. Also fixed a memory leak related to Home that would grow each time Home was refreshed or accessed.

[Settings]

Fixed an issue where Settings wasn't launching in safe mode for some Insiders.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue where the dialog when collecting a process memory dump erroneously said it was collecting a kernel memory dump.

[Dynamic Lighting]

Fixed an issue where you may not see the notification on first update to a build with dynamic lighting, letting you know that dynamic lighting is enabled.

Improvements for BOTH Build 22621.2338 & Build 22631.2338

[ADDED] We have added a new option under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Phone Link to disable Phone Link all together in Windows 11. This setting will prevent Phone Link from communicating with your mobile devices.
The Camera app, Cortana, Photos app, and People app can be uninstalled.
New! This update completes the work to comply with the GB18030-2022 requirements. It removes and remaps characters for Microsoft Wubi input and Microsoft Pinyin U-mode input. You can no longer enter character codepoints that are not supported. All the required codepoints are up to date.
This update addresses an issue that affects sleep mode. After you resume from sleep, a blank window appears that has the title "Windows Input Experience.”
This update affects the Key Distribution Center (KDC) and user security identifiers (SID). KDC now reads the user SID from the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) of a certificate. Because of this, mobile device management (MDM) providers can use offline templates to fill in the user SID. To learn more, see KB5014754.
This update addresses an issue that affects IMEPad. It stops working. This occurs when you enter end-user-defined characters (EUDC).
This update addresses an issue that affects authentication. Using a smart card to join or rejoin a computer to an Active Directory domain might fail. This occurs after you install Windows updates dated October 2022 or later. For more details, see KB5020276.
This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Excel. It stops responding when you try to share a file as a PDF in Microsoft Outlook.
This update addresses an issue that affects Remote Apps. The display of some elements is not aligned correctly.
This update supports daylight saving time (DST) changes in Greenland.
This update addresses an issue that affects account lockout event 4625. The format of the event is wrong in the ForwardedEvents log. This occurs when an account name is in the user principal name (UPN) format.
This update addresses an issue that affects XPath queries on FileHash and other binary fields. It stops them from matching values in event records.
This update changes the spelling of Ukraine's capital from Kiev to Kyiv.
This update addresses an issue that affects Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). AppID Tagging policies might greatly increase how long it takes your device to start up.
This update addresses an issue that affects events that have a TAB character. The events do not render, or you cannot forward them.
This update addresses an issue that might make Windows stop responding. This might occur if you use Microsoft OneDrive files that are compressed by NTFS.
This update addresses an issue that might cause a user-mode memory leak. It might occur when you call CopyFile() or MoveFile().
This update addresses an issue that affects an Application Virtualization (App-V) environment. Copy operations within it stop working. This occurs after you install the April 2023 update.
This update addresses an issue that affects some USB printers. Microsoft Defender stops them from printing.
This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Print to PDF. It uses the metadata for the name you sign in with as the author of a printed PDF. It should use the display name instead.
This update addresses an issue that is related to changes in the forwarding of events.
This update addresses an issue that affects the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC). It has a handle leak. Because of this, the system runs out of memory.
This update removes a blank menu item from the Sticky Keys menu. This issue occurs after you install KB5029351.
This update addresses an issue that affects application compatibility. It is related to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

About the Beta Channel

The Beta Channel is the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. 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. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

Important Insider Links

Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
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 22621.2338 and 22631.2338 (Beta Channel)

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

AI-powered Bot

What’s new in Build 23521​

Changes and Improvements​

[Windows 365]​

[Windows Copilot]​

[Taskbar & System Tray]​

[Dynamic Lighting]​

[Task Manager]​

[Windows Spotlight]​

[Search on the Taskbar]​

[Settings]​

[Other]​

Fixes​

[File Explorer]​

[Taskbar & System Tray]​

[HDR Backgrounds]​

[Other]​

Known issues​

[General]​

[Start menu]​

[Windows Copilot]​

[Input]​

Widgets Update: Pin widgets board open​

Snipping Tool Update​

For developers​

About the Dev Channel​

Important Insider Links​

AI-powered Bot

What’s new in Build 22631.2191​

HDR Background Support ​

Narrator Natural Voices in French, Portuguese, English (India), German and Korea​

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2191​

[Windows 365]​

[Taskbar & System Tray]​

[File Explorer]​

[Windows Spotlight]​

Fixes in Build 22631.2191​

[File Explorer]​

[Dynamic Lighting]​

Known issues​

[General]​

[File Explorer]​

[Taskbar]​

[Input]​

[Narrator]​

About the Beta Channel​

Important Insider Links​

AI-powered Bot

AI-powered Bot

AI-powered Bot

AI-powered Bot

What’s new in Build 25931​

New features from the Dev Channel​

DC location will no longer use NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based discovery by default​

Changes and Improvements​

[General]​

[File Explorer]​

[Dynamic Lighting]​

[Windows Spotlight]​

Fixes for known issues​

For developers​

About the Canary Channel​

Important Insider Links​

AI-powered Bot

Changes and Improvements​

[General]​

[Start menu]​

[Cast]​

[Narrator]​

Fixes​

[Start menu]​

[Taskbar & System Tray]​

[Start menu]​

[File Explorer]​

[Dev Drive]​

[HDR Backgrounds]​

[Narrator]​

[Input]​

[Other]​

What’s new in Build 23521

Changes and Improvements

[Windows 365]

[Windows Copilot]

[Taskbar & System Tray]

[Dynamic Lighting]

[Task Manager]

[Windows Spotlight]

[Search on the Taskbar]

[Settings]

[Other]

Fixes

[File Explorer]

[Taskbar & System Tray]

[HDR Backgrounds]

[Other]

Known issues

[General]

[Start menu]

[Windows Copilot]

[Input]

Widgets Update: Pin widgets board open

Snipping Tool Update

For developers

About the Dev Channel

Important Insider Links

What’s new in Build 22631.2191

HDR Background Support

Narrator Natural Voices in French, Portuguese, English (India), German and Korea

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2191

[Windows 365]

[Taskbar & System Tray]

[File Explorer]

[Windows Spotlight]

Fixes in Build 22631.2191

[File Explorer]

[Dynamic Lighting]

Known issues

[General]

[File Explorer]

[Taskbar]

[Input]

[Narrator]

About the Beta Channel

Important Insider Links

What’s new in Build 25931

New features from the Dev Channel

DC location will no longer use NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based discovery by default

Changes and Improvements

[General]

[File Explorer]

[Dynamic Lighting]

[Windows Spotlight]

Fixes for known issues

For developers

About the Canary Channel

Important Insider Links

Changes and Improvements

[General]

[Start menu]

[Cast]

[Narrator]

Fixes

[Start menu]

[Taskbar & System Tray]

[Start menu]

[File Explorer]

[Dev Drive]

[HDR Backgrounds]

[Narrator]

[Input]

[Other]

Known issues

[General]

[Start menu]

[Search on the Taskbar]

[Windows Copilot]

For developers

About the Dev Channel

Important Insider Links