Updated Photos app for Windows 11 with iCloud Photos now rolling out to Windows Insiders

QuoteDuring today's event showcasing what's next for Microsoft Surface, we showed that we're bringing iCloud Photos integration directly to the updated Photos app which began rolling out to Windows Insiders a few weeks ago. We are beginning to roll out an update to the Photos app today (version 2022.31100.9001.0) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel with this new integration.

The Microsoft Photos app allows you to view, organize, and share photos from your PC and OneDrive, and with this update, you'll now be able to add and access your iCloud Photos directly from within the app as well. Your iCloud Photos will appear alongside photos from other sources in the beautifully redesigned "All Photos" gallery view, as well as on a dedicated page you can access from the side navigation pane.

To get started, follow the quick setup steps in the Photos app! You'll need to sign into the iCloud for Windows app on your PC and ensure that "Photos" are selected.

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

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25227

ISOs for this build can be downloaded here.

This build includes improvements for update management for IT administrators and a good set of general changes and improvements.  See the blog post for details.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > All other issues.

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders across all channels running version 22209 of the Microsoft Store will see the following improvement:

Pop Up Trailers for Games & Movies: A new way of interaction is added for you to preview trailers of your favorite games and movies.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

Changes and Improvements

[Start menu]

• We are trying out a small change to the Start menu where some Insiders will see badging on their user profile notifying them that certain actions need to be taken.

[Widgets]

• We're trying out some different positions of the header with new icons for the Widgets board to learn how to best optimize the Widgets board for our users. By using monoline icons, our goal is to bring consistent, clean, and accessible icons to communicate action and features with simple visuals for users.

[Input]

• The change to support the use of clipboard history (WIN + V) on password fields that began rolling out with Build 25206 is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
  
• We made a change to allow you to contribute your voice clips to Microsoft again even if on-device speech recognition is used.

[Voice typing]

• We are rolling out a change to sync voice typing settings, Automatic punctuation and Voice typing launcher, across all devices signed in using the same Microsoft account. You can toggle this feature via Settings > Accounts > Windows backup > Remember my preferences > Accessibility. This currently only works with Microsoft accounts today with AAD support coming later.
  

[Settings]

• A new dialog will warn users of potential data loss if they elect to change the partition style of their storage drive under System > Storage > Disks & Volumes > Disk Properties.
• We've updated the ethernet and Wi-Fi property pages in Settings to now show gateway information in the network details summary.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to not be able to upgrade to recent Dev Channel builds, with error 0xC1900101. As a reminder, this is a generic rollback error code, so if you are continuing to see this error after today's update you may be encountering a different issue. If you do, please file feedback about it under Install and Update > Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update in the Feedback Hub.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]
NOTE: These fixes will only show if tablet-optimized taskbar (documented here) is enabled on your device. Tablet-optimized taskbar is still rolling out to Windows Insiders and not yet available for everyone.

• Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash while switching between apps on the tablet-optimized taskbar.
• Start's touch gesture should now follow your finger correctly with the tablet-optimized taskbar.
• Improved how touch gestures and their animations with the tablet-optimized taskbar work with the touch keyboard.
• You can now swipe up from within the taskbar with a pen to expand the tablet-optimized taskbar.

[System Tray Updates]
NOTE: These fixes will only show if System Tray Updates (documented here) is enabled on your device. Tablet-optimized taskbar is still rolling out to Windows Insiders and not yet available for everyone.

• Fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash when dragging icons in the system tray.
• Right-clicking system tray icons should no longer cause the auto-hidden taskbar to hide incorrectly.
• The show hidden icons panel in the system tray should no longer block context menus opened after it.
• Fixed an issue where the first time you tried to open Quick Settings from the system tray it wouldn't work.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing system tray icons from updating in real time.

[File Explorer]

• When you scroll to the bottom of the navigation pane using a mouse wheel and try to scroll back up it should no longer get stuck at the bottom.
• Fixed an issue which could cause certain apps to hang when opening the Open File Dialog or Save File Dialog.
• Made another fix for a case which could lead to people seeing divider lines overlapping entries in the navigation pane.

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue where dragging content across an open Start menu folder could cause a crash.

[Search]

• Made a fix to help address an issue where Search might not respond when clicking on the search icon in the taskbar.
• Opening images from search should no longer unexpectedly open them in Print.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where over time you might lose the ability to interact with certain games using the mouse.
• Fixed an issue where the multiplication sign (×, U+00D7) wasn't displaying correctly in the Yu Gothic font family for people with high resolution screens.

[Settings]

• The size of UWP app icons under Apps > Startup shouldn't be so small now.

[Task Manager]

• Dragging Task Manager from the bottom area of the title bar to move the window should work now.

[Other]

• Fixed a couple issues causing certain apps to crash in recent builds, including OneNote. We are continuing to investigate feedback in this space.
• Made a change to address an issue which could lead to performance degradation when using performance monitoring tools which leveraged the Microsoft-Windows-DxgKrnl ETW provider. This also impacted performance for Windows Mixed Reality. As a reminder, if you're experiencing performance issues, please see here for steps on filing actionable performance feedback.
  
• Fixed an issue where recording devices with "Listen to this device" enabled might not show in the volume mixer when they were playing sound.
• If you reset your PC, the screen displayed while it's resetting will now be black so it's consistent with the upgrade screens.
• If you were experiencing Gaming Services crashes while trying to play certain games in the previous Dev Channel flight, please check the Microsoft Store for Gaming Servicing updates, it should be resolved now.
• Fixed an issue which was causing certain PCs to unexpectedly bugcheck on upgrade to the latest builds, with the error message saying "MULTIPROCESSOR_CONFIGURATION_NOT_SUPPORTED".
• Fixed an issue from the previous flight which could cause Miracast to unexpectedly not be able to connect.

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.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25227

UPDATE 10/21: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25227.1010 (KB5020539). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25231

• This build includes a few minor changes including increasing the rollouts for a few features.
• We've also added a handful of known issues – be sure to check them out below.
• We're also rolling out a Phone Link update to Windows Insiders that introduces instant access to your phone's hotspot with Samsung devices.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• The change that began rolling out with Build 25179 to the spelling dictionary so that it now uses a language-neutral word list and syncs across all devices that use the same Windows account is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Users can toggle this feature via Settings > Accounts > Windows backup > Remember my preferences > Language preferences. This currently only works with Microsoft accounts today with AAD support coming later.
  

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

• Tablet-optimized taskbar which began rolling out with [URL'https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2022/09/08/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-25197/]Build 25197[/URL] is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel, as is the System Tray improvements that began rolling out with Build 25211 that include drag and drop.
  

[Input]

• The cloud suggestion feature Simplified Chinese IME that began rolling out with Build 25217 is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel.
  

Fixes

[System Tray]

• When moving your mouse over the sound icon on Quick Settings, the tooltip will now display when spatial audio is in use – not just that it is enabled.

[Settings]

• Removed the backplate from UWP app icons in Apps > Default apps and Apps > Apps for websites.
• Fixed the font used on the Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings when Wi-Fi was off, so that it's consistent with the other text in Quick Settings
• Fixed an issue believed to be the root cause of certain network cameras unexpectedly not being added when you selected them under Bluetooth & Devices > Cameras.
• Improved DPI-awareness when launching setup.exe from a mounted ISO, so the initial logo while it's preparing should no longer be blurry in certain cases.

[Other]

• Fixed a rare issue where FindWindow and FindWindowEx might return an unexpected window.
  
• Fixed an issue where sometimes you wouldn't be able to use FIDO to unlock your PC if it was connected to an external display with the laptop lid closed.
• Fixed an issue which sometimes led to crashes in certain apps (like Paint, and Windows Terminal) when attempting to display a tooltip.

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.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25236

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• To improve the value of Search shortcuts and reduce friction in the broader Windows Search experience, we are trying out different ways to provide tips on how to use Windows Search via the taskbar. Only some English-speaking Windows Insiders in the U.S. will see this. If you do, be sure to give us feedback on what you think in Feedback Hub.

Fixes

[Narrator]

• We fixed the issue causing natural voices such as Microsoft David or Mark to not speak in Narrator.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where if you opened the hidden icons flyout, it caused a File Explorer entry for it to appear in the taskbar.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the taskbar previews to freeze or show as blank and not open when using Windows key + (#) key commands to try and switch between windows.
• The show hidden icons flyout in the system tray should now responsively resize with changes again to prevent empty spaces and columns.
• Fixed multiple issues related to the taskbar which were impacting explorer.exe reliability.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the volume icon in the system tray to incorrectly show as muted.
• Fixed a GDI handle leak related to updating the notification center icon in the taskbar, which would eventually lead to an explorer.exe crash for people who received a large number of notifications.
• Narrator will now announce the pinned and unpinned status of apps in the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which was making File Explorer crash when closing tabs for some people.
• Made another fix for an issue which could cause errant divider lines in File Explorer's navigation pane.

[Settings]

• Made a change to hide the battery graph on the Power & Battery page if a UPS is connected, as the capacity information it displayed in that case wasn't correct.
• If you don't have a kiosk set up, we've now updated the text on Accounts > Other Users > Kiosk to make it clearer you need to do that, so it doesn't appear to be a dead end.
• Fixed an issue where if you went into the properties for an audio device, this could make it unexpectedly show in the output devices list on System > Sound although it was actually an input device.
• In the accessibility settings for color filters, the inverted option should work correctly again now and not just set your PC to grayscale colors.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with error SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED in recent builds.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25236

UPDATE 11/4: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25236.1010 (KB5021116). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25247

• We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.
  
• This build includes some new features including Energy Recommendations, some improvements for Task Manager, and changes to the Account settings page.
• This build also introduces some changes and improvements for the Start menu, taskbar and system tray, and more.
• With some of the new features and changes introduced with this build, we have also added some new known issues. Be sure to check these known issues out!
• We're rolling out a new feature for the Microsoft Store – jump list support on the taskbar! See details below.
• Insider Windows 11 Season 2 continues with episode 3 featuring touch improvements in the Windows 11 2022 Update.
• We will not be releasing new builds next week to Windows Insiders as the team enjoys some downtime for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
  

What's new

Access Windows Studio Effects from Quick Settings
Windows Studio effects can now be accessed directly from Quick Settings on the taskbar, for devices that have a supported Neural Processing Unit (NPU). This makes it quick and easy to enable and configure camera effects (Background Blur, Eye Contact, and automatic framing) and audio effects (Voice Focus). You can still access these effects in the Settings pages if desired.

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

Energy Recommendations
We are beginning to roll out Energy Recommendations under Settings > System > Power & Battery > Energy Recommendations. Review and apply these recommendations to improve the energy efficiency of your PC and reduce your carbon footprint.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Power and Battery > Energy Recommendations.

Task Manager Improvements
We have a set of Task Manager improvements rolling out with this build.

Filter processes:
We are bringing process filtering to Task Manager. This is the top feature request from our users to filter/search for processes. You can filter either using the binary name, PID or publisher name. The filter algorithm matches the context keyword with all possible matches and displays them on the current page. The filter is also applied as you switch between pages. You can also use the keyboard shortcut ALT + F to focus on the filter box. This is a helpful feature if you want to single out a process or a group of processes and want to take action or just monitor the performance of the filtered processes.

The new search box at the top of Task Manager allows you to filter Binary name, PID or Publisher name.

Better theme support:
We have added the ability to use your preferred theme in Task Manager regardless of the active theme in Windows. You can set it in the setting page in Task Manager.

You can set your preferred theme specifically for Task Manager regardless of your chosen Windows theme.
Task Manager now also supports themes for in-app dialogs. All dialog except for "Run new task" and Properties dialog now support themes and will adhere to either app specific theme or Windows theme.

In-app dialogs such as selecting columns on the Details page will show in the selected theme for Task Manager.

Improved Efficiency mode dialog:
We are making it easy for you to apply Efficiency mode and offering the ability to opt-out of the confirmation dialog. You can make changes on the Efficiency mode dialog box by unchecking "Don't ask me again" or you can enable/disable it the settings for Task Manager.

You can now opt out of seeing future confirmation dialogs when turning on Efficiency mode.  FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Task Manager.

New Suggested Action
On copying text with search potential, Windows will pop up an inline light dismissible UI that suggests searching this text in Microsoft Edge. Upon user selection of the search action, a new Edge tab is launched to search the copied text. This will initially be available for Insiders in the U.S. only.

When copying text, a light dismissible UI will appear that suggests searching the text in Microsoft Edge.
[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it 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  > Suggested actions on copy.

Updates to your cloud storage in settings for Windows 11
With today's build, the Settings app supports new visuals on your Accounts page to provide a visual overview of your cloud storage usage across Microsoft products. The new visuals include a consolidated cloud storage bar that shows your storage usage for each product and notifies you if you're running low on storage. We removed the quota bar from our subscriptions card to eliminate duplication on these visuals.

In the months to come, you will also see updates to what Microsoft 365 apps and services data is included in your cloud storage. These updates may impact your storage amount starting February 1st, 2023. Learn more about cloud storage here.

A consolidated storage quota bar shown on Accounts page in Settings app with a banner that will alert you if you're running low on storage.
[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it 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 Settings > User Profile Account Settings.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Earlier this week, we released an optional .NET update (2022-11 Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows Version Next for x64 (KB5020992)) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel designed to test delivery of .NET improvements in the future. This .NET update does not include anything new and will be available under Settings > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Optional Updates If you run into any issues finding or installing this update, please submit feedback via Feedback Hub.
  

[Start menu]

• We've been working on adding more valuable content to the Recommended section in Start and are excited to introduce a new content type: websites. For the first phase, we will recommend common websites based on your region or browsing history to help you easily get back to the websites you care about. This can be controlled by right-clicking on a website and choosing to remove that website individually or to stop showing all recommended websites entirely. Only some Insiders will see this experience and, if you do, please share your feedback.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• In response to user feedback, we are introducing the capability to show seconds in the clock on the system tray. This feature can be enabled by toggling the option listed under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar in the Taskbar behavior section. You can also right-click on taskbar to quickly get to taskbar settings. We are beginning to roll this change out so not all Windows Insiders will see this change right away, but we hope to make it available to everyone soon.
  

We're adding the ability to show seconds in the system tray clock under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar under the Taskbar behavior section.
[Search on the Taskbar]

• We made performance improvements that will allow more files and content on your PC to show up as results in the Windows search box. We look forward to hearing your feedback on whether you notice an improvement with your file results within Windows.

[Input]

• Switched the touch keyboard icon option under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar from being a toggle to now being a dropdown where you can select Never, Always, or When no keyboard attached.
  
• We are including two new keyboard layouts in this flight. These keyboards implement the two new French keyboard layout standards (AZERTY and BÉPO). The new layouts are designed to allow the user to type all the required characters of the French language. They also include support for all the Latin-based languages of the European Union as well as Greek letters and a large variety of scientific, mathematical, and financial symbols. To enable one of these layouts, go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region and select Language options under the ellipsis for the language you would like to use this keyboard with. On the Options page, select "Add a keyboard" and look for the new keyboard layouts "French (Standard, AZERTY)" or "French (Standard, BÉPO)". The previous AZERTY layout now displays as (Legacy, AZERTY).
  
• We have made improvements to Emoji search for Japanese and Simplified Chinese by handling Kana/Kanji and Pinyin properly in the emoji panel.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed a bug causing some users to receive a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION bugcheck citing an error with win32kfull.sys when installing via the Build 25227 Dev Channel ISO. Today's release of the Build 25247 ISO should not exhibit this bug.
• We fixed the issue causing pseudolocalized text to unexpectedly appear across the system for Insiders, leading to (amongst other things) what appeared to be garbled text in the navigation headings of Start's all apps list for Chinese users.
  

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• When using the bottom right edge gesture to see Quick Settings, the tablet-optimized taskbar will no longer be stuck in the expanded state, instead of dismissing to collapsed state.
• Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes impacting taskbar performance.
• Fixed the issue where certain chat apps (that supported it) weren't flashing with new messages or opening a preview on hover in the system tray.
• The new show hidden icons flyout's animation should now be consistent with other taskbar flyouts and the arrow will now rotate when open versus closed.
• Fixed an issue causing the do not disturb icon to disappear while in do not disturb mode.
• Fixed an issue where invoking the context menu for items in the system tray might not put the context menu in the foreground and it would get stuck behind the taskbar.
• The pin/unpin visual will now display when dragging system tray icons to any position along the system tray, and not only when hovering over the show hidden icons button.
• The show hidden icons flyout background color should now align with your accent color if "Show accent color on Start and taskbar" is enabled in Settings > Personalization > Colors.
• Fixed an issue where the taskbar was sometimes flashing when transitioning between desktop posture and tablet posture.
• Fixed an issue which was causing certain third-party app icons in the system tray to be unresponsive after the latest system tray changes.
• The Windows Update icon in the system tray should no longer look pixelated after changing between light and dark mode.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the NVIDIA icon in the system tray to show empty notifications.
• Fixed an issue where the weak charger warning (a warning icon on the battery icon) in some cases was not displaying when it should have been.

[Input]

• Fixed a bug that caused the text cursor to become white on white when hovering over text fields, making it difficult to see.
• Fixed an issue which could result in the touch keyboard / PIN entry keyboard being unable to input text on the login screen.
• Fixed a recent issue where the Japanese IME candidate window might fail to display proper candidates when using reconversion in certain edit controls.
• We're rolling out changes to improve the reliability of the touch keyboard, IME candidate window, and IME toolbar. It includes fixes for an issue where the IME candidate window and IME toolbar weren't shown or cropped sometimes and an issue where a blank window titled "Windows Input Experience" appeared sometimes after resuming from the sleep.
• We addressed a rare issue which could lead to certain apps crashing after interacting with incorrectly spelled words that were flagged by the spellchecker.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a GDI handle leak when opening Show More Options in the context menu, which could lead to graphical issues and an explorer.exe crash over time if you used this a lot.
• Fixed an issue for Insiders using the Arabic or Hebrew display language which was leading to text not displaying in the context menu when selecting Show More Options.
• Fixes a bug that was preventing certain phones from showing up in File Explorer when connected via USB in the last 2 Dev Channel flights.
• When connecting an iPhone via USB, iPhone photos will now be transferred in HEIF format instead of JPEG if the HEVC extension is installed.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing .dotx Word templates to open as new documents instead of a template when you right clicked them and selected Open in File Explorer.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue which was causing Settings to crash sometimes when connecting and disconnecting Bluetooth devices.

[Windowing]

• Fixed an issue where if you maximized a window and then dragged it along the top of the screen into the corner could result in the app getting stuck not being able to resize.
• Apps like Microsoft Edge should no longer unexpectedly show thick lines on the side of the windows.
• Fixed a DWM crash which was introduced in the latest Dev Channel flights.
• If you have two monitors on top of each other, the Desktops list in Task View should no longer appear to be floating in the middle of Task View.

[Other]

• Switching projection modes using WIN + P / the Project section of Quick Settings should work again now.
• Fixed a high hitting displayswitch.exe crash in recent Dev Channel builds.
• If memory integrity in the Windows Security app cannot be enabled due to incompatible drivers, the information about which drivers are incompatible is now selectable so you can copy it if needed.
• Fixed an issue where the dismiss button for alerts in the Windows Security app might not work.
• Fixed a rare issue which could lead to a DWM.exe crash when taking screenshots using the Xbox Game Bar.
• Fixed an issue where if you booted from an ISO to install Windows, the Windows Setup dialog would just show the text "Status" rather than actually displaying helpful text about the current status.
• Addressed a few issues when booting from an ISO to install Windows, where various items in the Windows Setup dialog weren't being read out correctly by Narrator.
• Fixed issue where users sometimes could not use FIDO keys to log onto your PC when a full-screen logon message was displayed.
• Fixed a background crash for Windows Hello which was impacting setup and usage.
• Improved the experience on logon after booting up by reducing the performance impact of startup apps.
• Made a change to address a date formatting interoperability issue which was leading to domain login issues on some network shares.
• Did some work to fix an issue causing VmmemWSL to sometimes use an unexpectedly large amount of CPU and lead to freezing on ARM64 PCs over time.
• We fixed a bug which could cause your wallpaper to render only a partial section at the top sometimes.
• Fixed an issue what could lead MSTSC to stop responding when connecting to a RemoteApp or remote desktop.
• Fixed an issue which was causing https://learn.microsoft.com/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/cc771525(v=ws.11)[the%20runas%20command to unexpectedly fail in certain cases with error 87 saying the parameter was incorrect (when it wasn't).
  
• Fixed the Windows version name written in Microsoft Management Console's help section.

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.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25252

Changes and Improvements

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• We have added a glanceable VPN status into the system tray when connected to a recognized VPN profile. The VPN icon, a small shield, will be overlayed in your system accent color over the active network connection.
  

[Search on the Taskbar]

• In this build, we are continuing to try out different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar. We are excited to learn from your feedback on this, so please let us know what you think via Feedback Hub if you see the different treatments on your PC. Insiders who get this experience will have the ability to change the treatment of search on taskbar in settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items.

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash when using Alt+F4 with the show hidden icons flyout in the system tray open.
• Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes impacting system tray performance.
• Updated the battery icon's tooltip to let you know if your device is charging slowly.
• Made a small refinement for tablet-optimized taskbar users to make it a bit easier to expand the taskbar without invoking the Start menu.
• Fixed an issue which could lead to the taskbar jump lists and preview thumbnails not appearing in the correct position for Insiders with 2 in 1 PCs.

[Start menu]

• We fixed an issue causing folders in Start menu to not open on the first try.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with the error SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION after upgrading to the previous flight.
• Fixed an issue which was causing certain apps (including Media Player) to crash when playing media in the background in recent flights.
• Fixed an issue which could lead to your PC going to sleep although it was configured to not sleep.
• Fixed an issue where network-to-local copying (for example, when copying a file from a network share) was slower than expected from some users.

Screen recording in Snipping Tool begins rolling out to Windows Insiders

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are beginning to roll out an update to the Snipping Tool app (version 11.2211.35.0) for Windows 11 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

We know that Snipping Tool is a favorite among the Insider community, so we are very excited to introduce a built-in screen recorder with this update! Snipping Tool has always made it quick and easy to capture and share content from your PC, and with screen recording built-in, we are expanding these capabilities to even more types of content.

To get started, open the Snipping Tool app and select the new record option. You will then be able to select and refine the part of your screen that you want to record before starting your screen recording session. When you are finished, you can preview your recording before saving or sharing it with others.

We are aware of a couple issues that may impact your experience with this preview. Some users might notice a slight delay between when you click "Start" and when the recording begins. There is also a known issue where the Snipping Tool app window does not restore when initiating a new snip from within the app.

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

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25262

The December Bug Bash is running in the Feedback Hub for Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels from now through to 11:59pm PST December 12th. Insiders who participate (by filing feedback or completing quests on the latest builds for their channel) will receive a badge in the Feedback Hub once the Bug Bash is over.

Changes and Improvements

[Widgets]

• In the most recent update for Widgets, we are removing the sign-in requirement for the widgets board and making it available for all users. Now, you can now get weather updates on the taskbar, pin widgets from your favorite apps or access personalized dynamic feed without an account.

[Settings]

• Added a link to Quick Assist at the bottom of Settings > System > Troubleshooters, to help if you're having issues with your PC.
  

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue where if the Widgets app package was missing on your PC, explorer.exe would crash in a loop after upgrading to Build 25252. This issue is also believed to be the cause of Windows Sandbox not working in this build.
• Fixed an issue that caused secondary drives or other PCI devices to not be viewable for certain Insiders.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where, with the system tray design updates, auto-hiding the taskbar would stop working after you had interacted with the hidden icons flyout.
• Fixed an issue that was causing a gap between full screen windows and the taskbar on secondary monitors.
• The system tray area should no longer shift as the numbers change in the clock.
• Fixed an issue causing the top half of the media controls in Quick Settings to be missing sometimes.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• We fixed the issue where you needed to press backspace after typing before you will see results for certain files ending with .cmd, .exe or .bat.
• Improved the performance of launching the search window in certain cases.

The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:

• Fixed an issue where the search box would not show up on multiple monitors as expected when clicking on either one.
• Fixed an issue when clicking the search box on taskbar, the search box would momentarily flash before the Search flyout displayed.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where when dragging a window to a monitor with lower DPI your mouse might appear to jump away from the window it was holding.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash when opening certain items from the Recent section in File Explorer.

[Settings]

• The Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings should no longer unexpectedly sometimes say network venue on certain entries.

[Task Mananager

• Fixed an issue where the graphs on the performance page in Task Manager might not update (even though the real time update speed setting wasn't paused).

[Other]

• The Microsoft Account sign in window should no longer unexpectedly sometimes have a black title bar when using light mode.
• Adjusted the text when using the Wireless Display feature if you haven't enabled input yet, so it guides you to the correct place to do that.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25267

ISOs for this build are coming soon.  Also:

• This build includes another good set of improvements and fixes for Insiders.
• Insider Windows 11 Season 2 continues with episode 4 featuring Focus and the tabs in File Explorer in the Windows 11 2022 Update.
• This will be our last Dev Channel flight for the holidays. We'll be back with new builds in January 2023!
  
  

Changes and Improvements

[Search on the Taskbar]

• We are continuing to try out different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began with Build 25252. Insiders in the Dev Channel will begin seeing an updated treatment with more rounded corners starting with this build. If you see the new treatment, you can right-click on the taskbar to open taskbar settings and adjust the experience.
  

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue which caused some Insiders to have issues casting (with WIN + K) in the previous flight.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue causing the Bluetooth section of Quick Settings to crash for some people.
• Updated the Quick Settings icons in the taskbar when using a screen reader so if you set focus to each of the icons it no longer includes the words system state and instead just says what the icon is (for example instead of "system volume state" it just says "volume").
• If focus is set to an app icon on the taskbar and you use ALT + Shift + Left/Right to move it, Narrator will now say that it has been moved.
• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash which was impacting some Insiders in the last two flights.

[Search on the Taskbar] -- The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:

• We fixed the issue causing a search box which appeared to be floating on the desktop when you changed your primary monitor or plugged in an external display.
• Text in the search box should no longer be clipped on the bottom when using increased text scaling.

[Input]

• Clicking the notification received the first time you press ALT + Shift should open the customize option now, rather than unexpectedly opening a Command Prompt window.
• We fixed an issue which was causing the first candidate item to be invisible or clipped sometimes in the Simplified Chinese IME candidate window.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where using "Browse for Folder" from an app was only showing Desktop (and no other folders) for some people.

[Settings]

• If a Windows Update failed to install, the error code in Windows Update history can now be selected if you want to copy it out.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where restartable copies of a file (for example using robocopy) with alternate data streams were hanging frequently in the latest Dev Channel builds.
  

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25272

The first Dev Channel flight for 2023, has a nice set of improvements and fixes for Insiders.

[Changes and Improvements]

[General]

• Moved Quick Assist out of Windows Tools so it displays directly in the Start menu's All apps list and is easier to find.
• We are removing the suggestion action for searching copied text in Microsoft Edge and showing recommend common websites on the Recommended section in Start – both of which began rolling out with Build 25247. Thanks to all the Insiders who gave us feedback on these two experiences. As a reminder, features and experiences we try out in the Dev Channel may get removed and never released beyond the Dev Channel as we incubate new ideas and get feedback from Insiders.
  

[WSL]

• Starting with Build 25267, the inbox version of Windows Subsystem for Linux has been removed. When you install a build with this change if you're a WSL user you will need to update to the latest WSL version outlined here in this GitHub post to ensure WSL continues working on your PC. Once you have done that, WSL will continue working on subsequent build updates. In future builds we're looking to have this done automatically.
  

[Printing]

• Added a refresh button to the Windows print queue.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue where some Arm64 devices experienced a black screen while resuming from sleep or hibernate.
• Fixed an issue causing various UI elements in apps to disappear and reappear sometimes in recent builds.

[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:

• We fixed the issue causing the search box on taskbar to not render correctly and display visual artifacts.
• Japanese IME candidate items should display correctly now inside the search box on the taskbar.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue causing filtering by publisher name to not match correctly on the Processes page.
• Fixed an issue causing some services to not show in the Services page after filtering is applied.
• Fixed an issue which resulted in new processes appearing in a filtered list if launched while a filter is set.
• Fixed an issue where Task Manager did not display light and dark content correctly, rendering potentially unreadable text.
• Fixed an issue causing the Startup apps page in Task manager to not list any apps for some Insiders.
• If there are no matching search results, Task Manager will now explicitly say that.
• Fixed a Task Manager crash that could happen when attempting to end certain processes.
• You can now set focus to the search box by pressing CTRL + F.

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue that was causing Settings to crash after turning Narrator on or off in Lithuanian and Hungarian builds.
• Narrator should now be working correctly with Windows Defender Application Guard for Edge.

[Live Captions]

• We fixed the issue that was causing Live Captions to not work in the latest Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel.

[Input]

• When using the Japanese IME with Narrator, Narrator will no longer read out the entire composition string each time you press a key.
• The message displayed the first time you use ALT + Shift should no longer display if you only have one input language installed.
• Fixed an issue where the Surface Pen could no longer advance PowerPoint slides in recent builds.
• Made a change to help improve performance when using a high report rate mouse while gaming.
• Fixed an issue where if you used the touch gesture for opening the Start menu, it could get stuck halfway.
• Fixed an issue which could cause Excel to stop responding on certain mouse drag events when using the Japanese or Chinese IMEs.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue which could cause a hang if you cancelled out of certification authentication when connecting to VPN.
• Fixed an issue which was causing Settings to crash when opening Power and Battery sometimes.
• Fixed an issue causing Quick Settings crashes sometimes when navigating to the Bluetooth section.
• Fixed an issue where the app icons under Settings > Apps > Default apps might be blurry.

[Windowing]

• Fixed an issue causing a black screen when ALT + Tabbing out of certain games in recent builds.
• The maximize button should no longer be slightly smaller than the close and minimize buttons when you highlight it in File Explorer and certain other apps while using dark mode.
• Fixed a couple DWM crashes that were introduced in recent builds.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which was causing some Windows Security app crashes.
• Fixed an issue where the print queue was showing stale job information for printer connection printers.
• Fixed an issue where when creating a FIDO2 credential for a website in a browser, you might see the dialog twice in a row in certain cases.
• This build contains the fix for an issue impacting Windows Hello on certain PCs. We are continuing to investigate an issue specific to Arm64 PCs (see known issues).
• Fixed an issue which could lead to the Camera app showing that something went wrong if you pressed Pause while recording video.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25276

• We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.
  
• The build includes a change for Task Manager, improvements to the Settings account page, and a good set of improvements and fixes for Windows Insiders.
• Previews of the Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Devices apps are available in the Microsoft Store on Windows 11, limited to the U.S. We look forward to hearing your feedback.
  
• We are replacing the Network Troubleshooter in the OS with a new network connectivity troubleshooting experience through the Get Help app – details below.

What's new

Create live kernel memory dumps in Task Manager

We are introducing a set of new developer-focused features in Task Manager to aid the collection of live kernel memory dumps (LKDs). This is in addition to the existing "Memory dump" for user mode processes. The goal of kernel live dump is to gather data to troubleshoot an abnormal situation but allow the OS to continue operation. This reduces downtime when compared to a bug check for "non-fatal" but high-impact failures and hangs. Click here for more info on live kernel dumps.

To capture a live kernel memory dump (LKD), go to the Details page in Task Manager, right-click on the System process and the context menu should light up to show "Create live kernel memory dump file" to capture a Full live kernel or Kernel stack memory dumps.

The dumps will be written to a fixed location:  %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\TaskManager\LiveKernelDumps

Choose the new "Create live kernel memory dump file" option when right-clicking on a process on the details page in Task Manager.  You can also go to the Task Manager Settings page to view/edit the settings for live kernel memory dumps.  Configure live kernel dumps options in Task Manager settings. 

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn't available to all Insiders in the Dev 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 Desktop Environment > Task Manager.

Updates to your cloud storage in settings for Windows 11

In November, we introduced a visual overview of your cloud storage usage in Settings app. As we mentioned here, you will see updates to the Microsoft 365 apps and service data included in your cloud storage. Outlook attachment data will be included in your cloud storage as displayed on the visual with today's build. This change will gradually roll out starting with a small number of insiders, so not everyone will see it right away. You may see an alert regarding your storage usage; however, it does not impact your storage amount as early as February 1st, 2023. Learn more about cloud storage here.

A consolidated storage quota bar shown on Accounts page in Settings app with a banner that will alert you if you're running low on storage.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Settings > User Profile Account Settings.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• We have updated the dialog that shows when an app has a known compatibility issue to use the new Windows 11 design.

[Windows Security]

• We are temporarily disabling the updated the Windows Security (firewall) notification dialogs that match the Windows 11 visuals that we introduced with Build 25267. We plan to re-introduce this change in a future flight after addressing some bugs.
  
• Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25267 and later Pro editions no longer allow a user to connect to a remote share by using guest credentials by default, even if the remote server requests guest credentials. This matches the stronger security of the Enterprise and Education editions that's been in place since Windows 10, to further improve Windows 11 default security. For more information on this behavior and to configure insecure guest authentication to a third party SMB server device that only supports guest authentication, review this documentation.
  

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where switching windows through taskbar previews wasn't working.
• Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes affecting the system tray.
• When opening a flyout from the taskbar, pressing the Esc key to close the flyout should now return keyboard focus to the button it was invoked from.

[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:

• We fixed the layout issues with the text in the search box on taskbar when using right-to-left display languages like Arabic.
• Fixed an issue where the selected search style in Taskbar Settings wasn't persisting across updates. This setting should persist now on subsequent Insider Preview build upgrades.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash which could happen when opening File Explorer, related to loading your recent files.

[Voice access]

• Voice access will now work correctly for entering numbers in the Calculator app.
• Fixed a crash when giving move left and right commands with voice access.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where the "insert text" button wasn't working when using the Pinyin IME in double pinyin mode.

[Widgets]

• Fixed an issue where the widgets board will get stuck open in an invisible state for Insiders in China (and potentially others), causing clicks on the left side of the screen to not work. If you're continuing to experience this, please make sure to check the Microsoft Store for the latest app updates.

[Other]

• To improve clarity, when Windows Defender Credential Guard is enabled, when attempting to use remote desktop with default credentials, it will now explicitly say "Windows Defender Credential Guard does not allow using Windows logon credentials. Please enter your credentials".
  

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.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25281

• Starting with this build, we are trying out improvements to Windows Spotlight and introducing a visual update to the graphics settings page. And of course, a handful of fixes too. Details below!
• Tabs in Notepad have begun rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel – see this blog post here.
  

What's new

Improving Windows Spotlight

Starting with this build, we are beginning to try out different treatments for how Windows Spotlight looks. All treatments will continue to share existing core Windows Spotlight features such as hovering over the icon on the desktop, right-clicking on the icon on the desktop, and double-clicking on the icon on the desktop. The treatments for Spotlight will include richer UI around displaying the title and description and learning more information about the image displayed on your desktop via Spotlight. We're also trying out different ways of switching to different pictures with previews, a full-screen experience, and a minimized experience. Insiders in the Dev Channel will see different treatments across their PCs so not everyone will see the same thing and the treatments will be shown in English only.

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

Changes and Improvements

[Settings]

• Aligning with the new Windows 11 design principles, we've redesigned the graphics settings page under Settings > Display > Graphics to help you get to graphics configurations such as 'GPU preference' and 'Auto HDR' with greater ease. The functionality of these settings remains unchanged from prior versions of Windows, but we now have a more streamlined visual appearance. For more on all the graphics settings in Windows 11 – check out this blog post on the DirectX Blog.
  
• When removing a paired Bluetooth device from Settings > Bluetooth and Devices, it will no longer pop up a prompt to confirm before removing it.

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Updated the printer icon in the system tray when printing something, so it better aligns with other modern icons.
• When navigating the taskbar using WIN + T and arrow keys, the position of the app icon should now be called out by Narrator (for example, File Explorer might say "one out of fifteen", if it's in the first position and there are 15 app icons on your taskbar).

[File Explorer]

• Updated the error dialog when network discovery is off so that it points to the correct location to enable it.
• Fixed an explorer.exe crash which could happen when closing File Explorer.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where SSID wasn't being populated on the properties page for your Wi-Fi in Network & Internet Settings.
• In the scenario where you are prompted with the UAC dialog when switching a network between private and public, that UAC dialog should now come to the foreground rather than being behind other windows.
• Fixed an issue where Quick Settings might not be able to re-open after going to the Wi-Fi section and closing the flyout.

[Windowing]

• Right clicking a snap group in Task View and selecting "show this group on all desktops" shouldn't crash explorer.exe anymore.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn't announcing when the @ mentions window popped up in Outlook.
• Fixed an issue that could cause some app uninstalls to get stuck and fail the uninstall in the last few builds.
• Fixed an issue which was causing the Windows print queue window to crash sometimes in recent builds.
• Fixed an issue which could cause SQL Server Management Studio to fail to launch.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25284

• This build will not be available for Arm64 devices due to a known issue (listed below) that is resulting in devices getting stuck at the OS boot logo.
• We have a new widget for Insiders in the Dev Channel to try!
• This build includes a small set of fixes.

What's new

New Widget
With the release of Windows App SDK 1.2 developers are now able to create widgets for their apps. Users can access these experiences on their Windows 11 widgets board in current Dev Channel Insider Preview builds.

Ready to try out a new widget? The Messenger app now has a preview version of its widget available. To give it a try, go to the Microsoft Store and update to the latest version of Messenger. Then open the widgets board and navigate to the widgets picker by clicking the "+" button at the top-right of the board to pin your widget.

As you give this widget a try, please let us know what you think through the Widgets feedback link in the widgets picker. You should expect to see additional new widgets as more developers create and release widgets for their apps.

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where right clicking on certain icons in the hidden icons flyout would make the flyout dismiss rather than bringing up the context menu for that icon.

[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash which was impacting some Insiders, related to the search box in the taskbar.

[Input]

• When search suggestions are triggered while using the Pinyin IME, keyboard focus will now stay on the current candidate. To move focus to the search suggestions, press Tab.

[Windowing]

• Fixed an issue for PCs with touch, where when using certain apps in full screen mode it wasn't possible to swipe down from the top of the screen to make the title bar appear.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which was causing certain apps to hang or crash when saving files as PDF in the last few builds.
• Fixed an issue where using the cast option in an app may unexpectedly not show any devices in recent builds.