Windows 11 Insider DEV Channel

[Corrine]

UPDATE 5/20: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25120.1010 (KB5015039). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25126

This update will allow you to view all supported Microsoft 365 Office products licensed to your account and you can view details about your product or install Office by clicking the "View Details" button. This information is shown on the Microsoft account management page and you will now be able to view these datils in Windows 11 via Settings > Accounts.  Note: the feature isn't available to all Insiders.  Feedback will be monitored before making it available to all Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Changes and Improvements

Fixes

[General]

• We fixed the issue causing some Insiders to experience a bugcheck with error DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in pci.sys causing a rollback trying to install the latest builds in the Dev Channel.
• We did work to mitigate the issue causing the Program Compatibility Assistant Service to use an unexpectedly large amount of CPU for some Insiders after upgrading to the latest Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel.

[Start menu]

• If the touch keyboard is docked it should no longer unexpectedly dismiss when trying to edit the name of a folder in Start.

[Search]

• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash that could happen when using Search.

[Settings]

• The preview image under Personalization > Lock Screen should no longer be backwards when using an Arabic or Hebrew display language.

[Task Manager]

• If explorer.exe has hung, that should no longer hang Task Manager.
• Fixed an issue where the context menus weren't following the same mode (light or dark) as Task Manager itself for some Insiders.
• Fixed a typo in the "Minimize on use" tooltip.
• If you've hidden the graphs on the side of the Performance page, the color of the circles used instead should now match the graph in the summary view.
• Addressed an issue where the Not Responding status for certain apps wasn't being reflected on the Processes page.

[Windows Sandbox]

• Removed the Lock option in Start menu as it didn't work.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where using "Open All Active Printers" from the printer icon in the system tray would unexpectedly open File Explorer when there were no active queues.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25131

Microsoft Store Update (Version 22205.1401.3.0)

An update to Microsoft Store for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel is beginning to be rolled out with the following changes and improvements:

• Native Arm64 support: We've improved the Microsoft Store app experience on ARM64 devices. You'll see faster and better performance when you use the app.
  
• Improved app updates: We improved automatic updates for your apps. We'll skip over apps that you have open, so you don't lose any important work. You can update the apps later in the Microsoft Store.
  
• Improved Android apps support for the pop-pup store experience: When you're browsing the web, you might discover a new app. If it's available in the Microsoft Store, we'll show you a pop-up experience to help you install it. This experience now supports free Android apps (depending on device compatibility and age rating).
  
• Faster navigation: We have improved the browsing experience.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue causing some Insider PCs with certain AMD processors to bugcheck and roll back when attempting to upgrade to last week's flight. This issue is also believed to be the cause of some Insiders experiencing a bugcheck after enabling SVM in the bios on their PCs in the last build.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders with secondary accounts on their PC to not be able to upgrade to the latest builds.
  

[File Explorer]

• The new folder icon used in the command bar should be consistent with the one used in the context menu now.
  
• Fixed an issue which could lead to File Explorer hanging when browsing folders with lots of .mkv files.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing searching from Home to not return any results sometimes from the Open or Save dialog (when doing it from File Explorer returned results).
  

[Search]

• Searching for something like %appdata% should now show a proper folder icon and not just a blank square.
  
• When selecting "Open file location" for a search result, it should now select the file in the folder again now, and not just open the folder.
  

[Settings]

• Searching for "default" will now return the default apps Settings page as the first result, and not require you to click "show all results" in order to see it.
  
• Fixed an issue where the "Listen to this device" audio option would stop working after a reboot until being unchecked and rechecked.
  
• Narrator will now read out the position of the radio buttons in the Settings > Accessibility > Color filters page to make it easier to navigate.
  

[Other]

• Hovering over "Do you like what you see?" when using Windows Spotlight on the lock screen should no longer display a shadow which extends to the bottom of the screen.
  
• Fixed an issue which was leading to certain frame rate monitoring applications impacting game performance.
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause rounded corners to unexpectedly become pixelated at certain scale factors.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25136 | Windows Insider Blog

What's New in this Build: File Explorer Tabs & Navigation Updates and Dynamic Widgets content on the taskbar.  See the blog post for information as well as the Feedback Hub links.

Changes and Improvements

[Input]

• We are beginning to roll out the ability for Insiders to report animated gifs they feel are inappropriate from the emoji panel (WIN + .)

Fixes

[General]

• Addressed an issue which was leading to some PCs being erroneously detected as tablets. When this happened, compact mode and the option to hide checkboxes in File Explorer wouldn't take effect.
• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION bugcheck in recent Dev Channel builds.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue that was sometimes causing taskbar apps to overflow with the system tray icons.
• When you hover on an app in the system tray, its notification will no longer flash.

[Start]

• Fixed an issue that could cause Start to only show one column of recommended items.
• If you're pinning a large number of apps to Start, it should now refresh to show them more reliably.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue from the previous flight where Disks & Volumes section of System > Storage wasn't displaying any disks or volumes.

[Windowing]

• We made a fix to help with a rare issue which was causing title bars to sometimes go transparent or missing sometimes in certain apps.

[Windows Update]   

• Fixed an issue where Windows Update might unexpectedly show error 0x00000000 when there wasn't anything wrong.
• Fixed an issue which was leading to some devices bugchecking with HYPERVISOR_ERROR when trying to upgrade to a new build.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue which was causing Task Manager to crash on launch sometimes after switching between light and dark mode or changing accent color.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which could lead to increased latency or stutter in games when v-sync was used.
• Fixed an issue which could cause some PCs to freeze after running the wsl –shutdown command.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25140

ISOs for this build can be downloaded here.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Euphemia typeface covers most languages that use the Canadian Syllabic script including various Cree orthographies, Inuktitut, and the Carrier/Dakelh script (dulkw'ahke). In the latest Insider builds, we've updated this font to improve the legibility and screen rendering of over 200 characters at various sizes. We've also added new glyphs to support Unicode 14 characters for the Nattilik language of the Canadian arctic.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which was leading some people to unexpectedly see error 0x80070026 when copying files from network drives.
• Fixed an issue where the active tab color didn't match the command bar below it.
• Fixed an issue where dragging to rearrange tabs wasn't working sometimes.
• Fixed an issue which could cause artifacts in the windows thumbnail preview in the taskbar if File Explorer was maximized and you used WIN + M to minimize it.

[Settings]

• If you go to rename a drive label in System > Storage > Disks & Volumes, the current drive name will now be prepopulated in the dialog.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where selecting English (New Zealand) in OOBE was unexpectedly leading to the Arabic (101) keyboard getting selected.
• Setting language bar hotkeys for switching input directly to specific non-IME input method should work now.
• Some languages don't support the speech recognition FOD. When an admin user tried to install one of those languages using the new Install-Language CopyToSettings command, some settings such as new user account locale, Input (Keyboard), and UPLL (User Preferred Language List) were not getting updated. This issue has now been fixed.
• Fixed an issue causing Batang, BatangChe, Gungsuh, and GungsuhChe fonts to not render Korean correctly when using Office online apps when these fonts were not locally present on your PC.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed a crash that could happen when switching modes in pages other than the Processes page.
• We made a small adjustment to the intensity of the colors used in the heatmap on the Processes page.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where calls to CopyAcceleratorTable and CreateAcceleratorTable would fail if the LPACCEL parameter was the address of an odd numbered index into an array of ACCEL structs.
• Fixed an issue with x64 emulation on ARM64 which could result in certain apps crashing on launch with error code 0xc0000409.
• Fixed an issue causing audio to stop playing in certain apps after a minute.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25145

This build includes a few new features rolling out including an update for Narrator Braille driver support, OneDrive storage alert and subscription management in Settings, and Local Administrator Password Solution.  See the blog post for details.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Every Microsoft customer should be able to use our products knowing we will protect their privacy and give them the information and tools needed to audit all usage of their private resources. The new App usage history features, which began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25140, gives users a 7-day history of resource access for Location, Camera, Microphone, Phone Calls, Messaging, Contacts, Pictures, Videos, Music library, Screenshots and apps through the Settings experience. You can find this new information under Settings > Privacy & security > App permissions (simply click on one of the app permissions categories such as microphone and look at "Recent activity").

[Suggested Actions]

• Suggested Actions, which began rolling out with Build 25115, is now available to all Windows Insiders in the in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

[File Explorer]

• Middle clicking a folder in the body of File Explorer will now open it in a new tab.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue causing Windows Insiders on Surface Pro X devices to hit a black screen when attempting to resume from hibernate.
• Fixed a bugcheck that some Insiders were experiencing with SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED related to USBs.
• Fixed a bugcheck with error 0x1CA SYNTHETIC_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT that could happen sporadically on some PCs after left idling for some time. This could happen when a laptop lid was closed, making it appear that the laptop had rebooted while sleeping.
• Fixed an issue from the last two builds that was leading to InventorySvc consuming an unexpectedly high volume of memory the longer it was running.

[File Explorer]

• The row of tabs should now be included in the keyboard focus cycle when pressing Tab or F6. Once focus is in the tab row, you can use left or right arrow keys to navigate through them.
• Fixed an issue where the tab order when using CTRL + Tab would be wrong if you'd rearranged the tabs in File Explorer.

[Start]

• Narrator will now read the dialog that opens when uninstalling an app from its context menu in Start and those options correctly.
• The animation when selecting the More button in Start's Recommended section in right-to-left (RTL) languages should now appear correctly.

[Taskbar]

• When dismissing notification center using your keyboard, its closing animation will now show correctly.

[Settings]

• Typing a number in the Settings search box when using an Arabic display language should no longer show boxes.
• Fixed an issue causing Settings to crash when going to Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners in the last few builds.
• Fixed a couple crashes that some Insiders were experiencing in the last few builds when opening the Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings, or after connecting or disconnecting from networks in the Wi-Fi section in Quick Settings.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the Wi-Fi option in Quick Settings and the Wi-Fi section in Settings to sometimes take a few seconds to appear.
• Using touch to rearrange the items in Quick Settings when in edit mode should no longer lead to Quick Settings unexpectedly dismissing sometimes.

[Input]

• Added the SOM currency sign (U+20C0) to the Courier New font family.

[Task Manager]

• Pressing CTRL + Page Up and CTRL + Page Down should work again now to navigate through pages in Task Manager.

[Other]

• Fixed a rare issue that could lead to certain apps to sporadically crash on launch.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25145

UPDATE 6/24: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25145.1011 (KB5016159). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25151

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a scaling issue which could result in the tabs being unexpectedly large.
  
• Right clicking a tab and then clicking somewhere else in File Explorer should dismiss the context menu more reliably now.
  

[Other]

• We believe an underlying fix in Build 25145 addressed the recent issue where shutting down via the Start menu wasn't working for some Insiders (unexpectedly rebooting instead), and as such are removing this from the known issues list. If you are continuing to encounter this issue with the latest updates, please report it in the Feedback Hub.
  
• Fixed a high hitting Windows Security app crash.
  
• Updated the Exclusions page in the Windows Security app so that file paths now make better use of the available space rather than truncating when space is still available.
  
• Fixed an underlying issue which was causing a crash when trying to delete ports in printui /s.
  
• Fixed an issue causing printing to not work from UWP apps for some Insiders in the last 2 flights.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25151

UPDATE 7/1: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25151.1010 (KB5016322). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25158

ISOs for this build can be downloaded here.

More dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging for Widgets are being rolled out.  When you open the Widgets board a banner will appear at the top of the board providing more information on what triggered the notification badge.  Note:

[We are beginning to roll those features out, so the experience isn't available to all Insiders 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 Desktop Environment  > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Thank you to all the Insiders who gave us feedback on our first exploration of lightweight interactive content on the Windows desktop! Starting with this week's flight, we are concluding this initial exploration, so if you received this experience, it will be removed on your next reboot.
• As described in our in our blog post here, Windows Insiders who use the Dev Channel may get to try out new ideas, longer lead features, and experiences that are intended to help validate concepts. Starting with this build, some devices will receive different visual treatments for search on the taskbar. We are excited to learn from your feedback on this, so please use the Feedback Hub to provide feedback if you receive this experiment. NOTE: A reboot is required after updating to this build to trigger this experience but please note that not all Windows Insiders will have this experience enabled even after reboot.

[DNS over TLS]

• DNS over TLS testing is now available for Windows DNS client query protection. DoT is another protocol in addition to DNS over HTTPS (DoH) which is already supported in Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022. For setup instructions, see this Windows Networking blog post. The setup requires command line use and is recommended for advanced networking users.

[Input]

• The Nyala font has been updated to support syllables for the Gurage language orthography from the Ethiopic Extended-B Unicode range. Also revised and replaced Ethiopic kerning to fix gaps and errors in earlier implementation improving the overall texture of text in Ethiopic languages.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience bugchecks with error message KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED in NetAdapterCx.sys in recent flights.
• Fixed an issue which was leading some PCs hanging at black screen when resuming from a low power state in recent flights.
• Fixed an issue believed to generally be impacting performance across Windows shell experiences in the last few flights.
• Fixed an issue where the Mica material and Acrylic blur effect was rendering incorrectly in OS surfaces like the Start menu, Notification Center and other areas sometimes in recent flights.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where closing command bar flyouts could in some rare cases crash explorer.exe.
• Fixed an issue which could lead to explorer.exe crashing when navigating through File Explorer with OneDrive enabled.
• CTRL + F4 should work to close the current tab now.
• Opening a zipped folder in a new tab should no longer have a blank tab name.
• If focus is on the tab row, CTRL + W will no longer unexpectedly close two tabs instead of just the tab in focus.
• Fixed an issue where CTRL + Tab wouldn't cycle in the correct order after rearranging tabs.
• We made some adjustments so when using "Show full path in title", the folder name is always visible in the tab at the top of File Explorer.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to pinned app icons getting stuck on the taskbar after uninstalling the app in recent flights.
• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash in the last few flights related to loading Widgets.

[Start]

• Start shouldn't crash anymore when using CTRL + Shift + Right Arrow to move a pinned app into a folder that's the last item in Start.
• Fixed a crash some Insiders were experiencing when opening Start.
• Narrator will now read the prompt that opens when trying to uninstall an app from Start correctly.

[Search]

• Fixed an issue when using IRowsetPriorititization where setting the scope priority for a query rowset did not properly alter the indexing speed of the rowset, resulting in slower indexing overall.
• Searching for "power mode" should now return an entry for power modes in Settings.

[Settings]

• Updated the "System" entry under Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > Data Usage, to now be called "System and Windows Update" to help make it more clear.
• Made another fix to address an issue where the "Listen to this device" option for audio devices would stop working after a reboot.
• Fixed a crash some Insiders were seeing when navigating Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners.
• Fixed an issue where the "Allow Bluetooth devices to find this PC" checkbox under Bluetooth & Devices > Devices > More Bluetooth Settings wouldn't display the correct state sometimes.
• Fixed an issue which was causing Quick Settings to crash for ARM64 PCs when attempting to use the Cast section to cast to certain devices.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the eye icon beside the Wi-Fi password box in Quick Settings to disappear after its first use.

[Input]

• Fixed a crash in textinputhost.exe initialization which was happening in some cases in recent flights.
• Fixed an issue where the "Sync across your devices" option under Settings > System > Clipboard wouldn't stay enabled.
• Updated the Times New Roman font family so it includes U+061D / ARABIC END OF TEXT MARK.

[Windowing]

• We made some improvements to help with the performance of opening Task View.

[Narrator]

• Made a fix so the two-finger triple tap touch gesture to dismiss context menus with Narrator is working correctly again.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where some services were being unexpectedly grouped under Microsoft Edge when they weren't actually child processes.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which would lead to losing network connectivity after turning on mobile hotspot.
• Addressed an issue that could result in the mobile hotspot button getting unexpectedly stuck in a greyed out state in certain cases.
• Fixed an underlying issue which was leading to Your Phone crashes in certain cases.
• Fixed an underlying issue where Microsoft Defender Application Guard windows weren't visible in the last few flights.
• Fixed a crash that could happen when using suggested actions.
• Fixed an underlying issue when recording game clips using the Xbox Game Bar, which could lead to the resulting saved video not displaying correctly when viewed later on an iOS device.
• Made some improvements to help address an issue resulting in apps in the Microsoft Store failing to download with error 0x80080204.
• Addressed an underlying issue leading to Microsoft Store app remediation failures with error 0x803FB004.
• Did some work to address an issue where the print dialog wasn't launching centered in the application (for example, in Notepad).

[Corrine]

Camera App Refresh and Media Player Update for Windows Insiders

Camera (version 2022.2206.2.0)

The Camera app has been updated to match the beautiful new look and feel of Windows 11. In addition to the existing support for camera, video, document, and whiteboard capture modes, we are excited to introduce QR code and barcode scanning as well.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Camera.

Media Player (version 11.2206.30.0)

Back in March, we introduced CD playback support to Media Player. With the latest update, we are adding support for CD ripping as well. Supported formats in this release include AAC, WMA, FLAC, and ALAC.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Media Player.

We are also beginning to roll out an update to the Movies & TV app in version 10.22061 and higher to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

• Native Arm64 support: We've improved the Movies & TV experience on Arm64 devices. You'll see faster and better performance when you use the app.
  
• Local video playback migrating to Media Player: We are migrating video file type associations from Movies & TV to Media Player. This migration will only impact file types that are already associated with Movies & TV and only after you open Movies & TV for the first time.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25163

What's New

Taskbar Overflow: Your taskbar will automatically transition into this new overflow state when it has hit its maximum capacity. In this state, taskbar will offer an entry point to an overflow menu that allows you to view all your overflowed apps in one space.  The overflow menu will contain many of the current taskbar behaviors users are familiar with, such as supporting pinned apps, jump list, and extended UI. After invoking overflow, the menu will quietly dismiss once you click outside of it or navigate to an application.  FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment  > Taskbar.

Improved Nearby Sharing: The discovery of devices under nearby share when sharing a local file from the desktop, File Explorer, Photos, Snipping Tool, Xbox, and other apps that use the built-in Windows share window has been enhanced by using UDP (Network needs to be set to private) along with Bluetooth to discover nearby devices. You will now be able to discover and share to more devices including desktop PCs.  FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File sharing.

Share Local Files to OneDrive: When sharing a local file from the desktop, File Explorer, Photos, Snipping Tool, Xbox, and other apps that use the built-in Windows share window, you can choose OneDrive as a target to directly upload the file to OneDrive and share it further along with access control options. All this can be done right from sharing local files in File Explorer without any context switches or opening the OneDrive app.  (Please note this feature is currently only available for Microsoft accounts. A user will need to switch to their Microsoft account via the top right profile icon in the share window if logged in via AAD. AAD support will be added in a future update.)  FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File sharing.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash when dragging tabs around.
• Did some work to fix a memory leak when using tabs with File Explorer.
• Fixed an issue where the preview thumbnail for File Explorer in the taskbar, ALT + Tab, and Task View might show the title of an adjacent tab and not the currently selected one.
• If "Show all folders" is enabled, the dividers in File Explorer's navigation pane should no longer show. With this change, it should also address the issues where dividers were unexpectedly showing in some other folder pickers.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn't reading out the titles of tabs as focus moved through them.
• Fixed an issue where a closed tab might appear again in File Explorer after you dragged File Explorer across your monitors.
• Fixed an issue where the tab row might unexpectedly expand vertically, covering the command bar contents.
• Removable drives should no longer unexpectedly be displayed in a section by themselves in the navigation pane, which was breaking up the section with This PC and Network.
• Fixed an issue where the add new tab button wasn't clearly visible when using Aquatic or Desert contrast themes.
• The add new tab button shouldn't overlap with the minimize button in the title bar when using text scaling with a lot of tabs open anymore.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed a rare explorer.exe crash that could happen while on a Microsoft Teams call, related to sharing windows from the taskbar.

[Settings]

• Made a change to help fix an issue where using Windows Spotlight on the desktop might revert to a solid color background.
• Improved the padding around the uninstall button when using Apps > Installed Apps in grid view.
• Fixed a couple issues that could lead to Quick Settings crashing on launch.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue which was leading to certain apps freezing after a copy action if Suggested Actions was enabled.

[Other]

• Fixed a high hitting crash impacting suggested actions reliability.

[Corrine]

From Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25163

UPDATE 7/22: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25163.1010 (KB5016904). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25169

This build includes a lockdown feature for IT administrators and some improvements including a brand-new Windows Spotlight theme.

What's new

Multi-App Kiosk Mode

Multi-app kiosk mode is a lockdown feature for Windows 11 that allows an IT administrator to select a set of allowable apps to run on the device, while all other functionalities are blocked. This enables you to create multiple different apps and access configurations for different user types, all on a single device.

Some lockdown customizations include:

• Limiting access to Settings, except selected pages (e.g., Wi-Fi and screen brightness)
• Lock down the Start menu to show only allowed apps.
• Block toasts and pop-ups that lead to unwanted UI.

Multi-app kiosk mode is ideal for scenarios in which multiple people need to use the same device. This can include frontline workers and retail scenarios, education and test taking.

Currently, multi-app kiosk mode can be enabled using PowerShell and WMI Bridge, with support for Intune/MDM and provisioning package configuration coming soon.

To configure using WMI, follow these instructions. Using the Windows 10 sample XML will enable the feature, but will result in an empty Start menu. To populate the Start menu with your apps, follow these instructions to generate the list of pinned apps, then add it to your XML file after closing the StartLayout section.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Device Lockdown

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• The changes noted here in this previous blog post on changes to how IT admins enroll devices in the Windows diagnostic data processor configuration option are now included in this build (Build 25169 and higher). A reminder that if the documented changes are not acceptable, it is recommended to pause flighting.

[Windows Spotlight]

• You can now enable Windows Spotlight on the desktop via a brand-new Windows Spotlight theme now included in the latest builds in the Dev Channel under Settings > Personalization and Settings > Personalization > Themes. Additionally, you can make your own custom themes with Windows Spotlight's rotating images as well.

[Input]

• We have updated the U.S. English (EN-US) handwriting model to be faster and more accurate. Use the updated Handwriting Panel for ink-to-text and let us know what you think.

[Settings]

• Settings now supports managing apps which were earlier only supported from Control Panel. This includes uninstallation of apps which have inter-dependencies (e.g., Steam and gaming apps running on Steam), repair and modifying of Win32 apps.

[Windows Security]

• The Windows Security app version is now displayed in Windows Security settings under About.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue leading to the Azure Information Protection context menu entry unexpectedly showing with the name Microsoft.Azip.RightClick after an upgrade.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash that was preventing taskbar from loading when launching Microsoft Teams meetings sometimes.
• Fixed a couple explorer.exe crashes some Insiders were experiencing related to taskbar overflow.

[Start]

• Fixed an issue that was removing the "More" button in Start's Recommended section.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where after using the reveal password button in the Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings, the text field might unexpectedly lose focus.

[Input]

• We made a small tweak to improve the key repeat rate for the traditional touch keyboard layout, as well as the default touch keyboard layout, so it feels more responsive. Now it has the rate of 20 keys per second (for example, when holding down the delete key).

[Other]

• Fixed an issue believed to be the root cause of some Insiders experiencing bug checks when opening and copying files from network locations recently.
• Fixed an issue which could cause desynced audio when recording game play with the Xbox Game Bar.
• Fixed an issue leading to error code 0x80004005 when using the network troubleshooter.
• Made some adjustments to fix an issue where the scrollbar in certain places (like File Explorer) was unexpectedly wide when using high DPI scaling.
• Fixed an issue believed to be the root cause of Windows Security saying standard hardware security wasn't supported on devices where it was actually supported, as well as showing a warning in the taskbar but not showing any issues when Windows Security was launched. Please note, due to timing of the payload, these issues may come back after the next Windows Security update. It will go away again after a future Windows Security update.

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.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25174

What's new

Introducing the New Game Pass Widget

This widget is a window to the extensive PC Game Pass library  – it will show the latest additions, games leaving soon, and others from highlighted categories and then take you to the Xbox app where you can install them, see reviews, and go all in.

We're still hard at work on some exciting functionality coming soon that will let you sign-into your Xbox profile and easily jump back into recently played games as well as see personalized recommendations of games we believe you'll love.

The Game Pass widget preview is available in the widgets board alongside other widgets that bring weather, sports, and other great content closer to you. The widgets board is shown by clicking the left corner of your taskbar or by pressing Win + W. To pin the Game Pass widget, select the '+' button in the top right corner of the widgets board.

Here is how to get started:

• Open the widgets board.
• Click on the + icon next to your user profile.
• Click on the + icon besides the Game Pass
• Close the Widget settings window.
• The Game Pass widget should now appear in your widgets board.

We are looking forward to getting feedback on the Game Pass widget from Windows Insiders who are PC gamers. Tell us what you'd love to see in the widget, or if you see anything that is strange or unexpected on the widget itself or on the widgets experience.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements

[File Explorer]

• Middle clicking a folder in the navigation pane of File Explorer will now open it in a new tab, like clicking a folder in the body of File Explorer already does. Please note that this requires tabbed File Explorer, which hasn't rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel yet.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening new File Explorer windows.
• Fixed an issue where launching File Explorer in certain ways when using dark mode (for example, from the command line) was showing the body of File Explorer unexpectedly in light mode.
• Fixed an issue where the left/right arrows in File Explorer were in light mode when you were using dark mode, causing them to not have enough contrast to show when they were enabled.
• Fixed an issue where the dividers in the navigation pane were overlapping / drawing too close to text sometimes.
• Fixed an issue where if you drag and drop a folder into the navigation pane was sometimes unexpectedly putting the folder at the bottom of the list rather than where you'd dropped it.
• Fixed an issue causing UI issues in File Explorer when using F11 to put File Explorer in full screen mode.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue leading to various system tray elements being unexpectedly missing for some Insiders on the previous build.

[Settings]

• Fixed a crash on some PCs were experiencing when going to System > Storage > Disks & Volumes.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which was leading to mouse and keyboard input not working correctly in certain games in the last 2 flights.
• Fixed an issue believed to be leading to SQL Server Management Studio failing to launch for some Insiders.
• Fixed an issue where Memory Integrity in Windows Security might show a warning saying it couldn't be enabled due to incompatible drivers, but the incompatible drivers list would be blank.
• Fixed an issue which was causing some apps to unexpectedly not launch in the last few flights when core isolation was enabled in Windows Security.