Windows 11 Insider DEV Channel

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23560 (Dev Channel)

There will not be a SDK for this build.

Changes and Improvements
[Copilot in Windows*]

• We're beginning to roll out the ability to use Copilot in Windows with ALT + TAB. Using the ALT + TAB hotkey now displays the thumbnail preview for Copilot in Windows among the other thumbnail previews of open windows, which you can switch between by pressing Tab.

Fixes
[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which could make the File Explorer dropdowns and context menu unexpectedly have a transparent background sometimes.
• Fixed an issue where the search box wasn't showing the correct folder name when you were in Gallery.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash impacting taskbar reliability.

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue where languages other than U.S. English couldn't preview Narrator natural voices in Settings.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn't reading out the time stamps on recommended items in Start correctly.

[Task Manager]

• Did some work to help improve performance when expanding the navigation pane in Task Manager.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23565 (Dev Channel)

To celebrate the 9-year anniversary of the Windows Insider Program this month, we are releasing two new special desktop backgrounds for you to download and use with Insider Preview builds. Download the light theme version here and download the dark theme version here.

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]

• Copilot in Windows now shows the new icon on the taskbar.

[Windows Spotlight]

• We are trying out Windows Spotlight on desktop on by default as the default background for upgrades where Insiders are using one of the inbox default desktop backgrounds. We are trying this experience out with a limited number of Insiders at first.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a few issues impacting File Explorer reliability.
• Fixed an underlying issue which could cause File Explorer windows to hang for OneDrive users.
• If there are a lot of images to load in Gallery, it will now show a loading state rather than implying Gallery is empty while it loads.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23570 (Dev Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]

• Copilot in Windows can now be used across multiple monitors. Simply press the Copilot button on the taskbar on whichever monitor you want Copilot to show on or use the WIN + C shortcut to show Copilot on the last monitor that it was visible on. If you are using a keyboard, you can use the WIN + T keyboard shortcut to put the keyboard focus on the taskbar and navigate to the Copilot taskbar button to show Copilot on any monitor.

[Start menu]

• The Xbox Game Bar will now show as just Game Bar under the Start menu and also under Settings > System > Apps > Installed apps. This change will come through a Game Bar update via the Microsoft Store.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a few issues which could lead to hangs when launching File Explorer.

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue where apps sometimes weren't sorted into the correct location in the Start menu all apps list when using the Japanese display language.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Fixed an underlying search crash in the last few builds.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where Home was unexpectedly showing some users that there was NaN% storage left.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23575 (Dev Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[Start menu]

• We're trying out grouping recently added apps on your PC into a folder under the Recommended section of Start with some Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue which was causing certain games to fail to launch with a 0x1 error in the last 2 Dev Channel flights.

[Copilot in Windows*]

• Fixed an issue causing some Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel using the Home edition of Windows 11 Insider Preview builds to find Copilot in Windows has disappeared from the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where hovering over the first picture in Gallery would make a tooltip appear that would never dismiss.
• Fixed an issue where closing File Explorer could cause an explorer.exe crash sometimes.
• Did some work to improve the performance of opening the context menu.
• Fixed an issue where the second time you opened dropdown menus in File Explorer, you wouldn't be able to scroll it with touch.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where Settings Home might show a prompt to sign into your Microsoft account, and fail to sign in if you tried to use it, even though Settings itself showed you were already signed in.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where the dropdowns in settings would float up the screen if you scrolled.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23580 (Dev Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]

• Starting with Build 23580 in the Dev Channel, users with local accounts will be able to access Copilot in Windows for a limited number of queries before needing to sign in.

[Windows Share]

• We have significantly improved nearby share transfer speed for users on same network. Before these changes, users had to be on the same private network but now users just have to be on the same network, which could be public or private. You can quickly turn on nearby share via Quick Settings and simply right-click on a local file in File Explorer, choose "Share", and choose to share to a device listed under Nearby Share in the Windows share window.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where using mouse back and forward buttons didn't react when hovering over the Recommended Files section of Home.
• Fixed an issue where Gallery would stop displaying correctly if you applied Group By to all folders.

[Desktops]

• Fixed an issue that made the desktop tooltips in Task view hard to read in contrast themes.
• Fixed an issue that was causing taskbar icons to disappear after switching desktops.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue where if your taskbar was close to being full of icons and you used the search box, clicking the search box would open search and then it would immediately close.

[Windows Spotlight]

• Fixed an issue which was resulting in Windows Spotlight wallpapers not showing correctly in the desktop thumbnail in Task View.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23585 (Dev Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• The Camera app, Cortana, Photos app, and People app, and Remote Desktop (MSTSC) client can be uninstalled.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed a few issues leading to explorer.exe crashes.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue causing the context menu to draw off screen when invoked using touch or pen on the side of your desktop.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed the issue causing the purple Chat button to show up again on the taskbar after updating to Build 23580.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23590 (Dev Channel)

ISOs for this build can be downloaded here.

What's new in Build 23590

Natural Voices Previews in Narrator
We are introducing previews for natural voices of 10 new locales launched in September 2023. As a reminder, those natural voices include Chinese, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), Japanese, English (UK), French, Portuguese, English (India),German and Korean.

These previews will allow the users to listen to the natural voices before downloading the voice model. Natural Narrator voices use modern, on-device text to speech and once downloaded are supported without an internet connection. Please note to listen to the previews, an internet connection is required.

To use one of the natural voices, add it to your PC by following these steps:

• Open Narrator Settings by pressing the WIN + CTRL + N hotkey.
• Under Narrator's voice, select the Add button next to Add natural voices.
• Select the voice you want to install. You can install all voices, but you must install them separately.
• The preview will play automatically once you navigate through the list.
• If you like the preview, click on "Download and Install". The new voice will be downloaded and ready for use in a few minutes, depending on your internet download speed.
• When the new voice has downloaded, in Narrator settings select your preferred voice from the drop-down menu in Narrator's voice > Choose a voice.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Enhanced image consumption experience in Narrator
We are improving the image consumption experience with Narrator. There are two major changes:

• We have introduced a new keyboard command for navigating between the images/graphics on a screen/page. Now, you can use the keys "G" or "Shift + G" to navigate forward or backwards between images in Scan mode (Narrator key + spacebar).
• Recognition of text in images, including handwriting, is improved along with improvements to overall image descriptions. You can try the enhanced experience by navigating to the image and pressing Narrator key + CTRL + D key combination when the focus is on an image. This feature requires an active internet connection, and the setting to get Image Descriptions must be enabled in Narrator Settings.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Steps Recorder will not receive further updates and is planned for removal in a future Windows release. Starting in this build, Steps Recorder (PSR.exe) will display a new banner notification to guide users towards alternative options. We encourage our users to explore other options in Windows 11 such as Snipping tool, Xbox Game bar or Microsoft Clipchamp. For more, see this article.
  

[Windows Share]

• The Windows share window will now only show apps under "Share using" that are tied to the account you are signed into Windows with – either Microsoft account (MSA) or Microsoft Entra ID (previously Azure Active Directory). If you are signed in with an MSA, you will see Microsoft Teams (free) instead of Microsoft Teams (work or school) and not both for example.
• If you're signed in with a Microsoft Entra ID, your Microsoft Teams (work or school) contacts will appear in the Windows share window to quickly share to.

[Nearby Sharing]

• If you turn on nearby sharing via quick settings or directly in Settings and you have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, it will turn Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on so nearby sharing will work as expected. If you turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, it will also turn off nearby sharing

[Narrator]

• In Microsoft Word, Narrator will now announce the presence of a draft comment, a resolved comment, a bookmark, or the availability of accessibility suggestions when reading text in the document.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue causing File Explorer to crash on launch for some Insiders in the last few builds if you were using a non-default regional sorting option.
• Fixed an issue which was causing opening the context menu on the desktop to crash explorer.exe in the last couple flights for some Insiders.
• Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to crash sometimes when entering paths into the address bar.

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue where Narrator was not correctly announcing the selected item in combo boxes when users try to change the combo box value using key combination Control + up or down arrow.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing old dialog names even after users navigate to new dialog on few web pages.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was not reading Role of a control in tables on the web while using table navigation commands CTRL + ALT + Arrow keys.
• Addressed an issue where Narrator was not announcing the selected state of menu items in few applications such as device manager.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing both the unselected value and the newly selected value in elements such as date fields or any elements that are formatted as tables.

[Magnifier]

• Fixed an issue in Magnifier settings page where the text blow "voice speed" slider was not following the color contrast guidelines.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where the Experimental Features section of Narrator Settings didn't have text.

[Windows Share]

• Fixed an issue which was causing the share window to crash in the last couple builds.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23595 (Dev Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]

• We are making a change where the Copilot icon is shown on the right side of the system tray on the taskbar to make the entry point to Copilot more clear and easily accessible by being closer to where the Copilot pane opens. As part of this change, we have defaulted the "show the desktop" behavior for the far-right corner of the taskbar to off and this can be re-enabled in the taskbar behaviors section under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar (you can simply right-click on the taskbar to get to this).

• We are beginning to re-rollout the change previously documented with Build 23570 that introduces support for Copilot in Windows to be used across multiple monitors. Simply press the Copilot button on the taskbar on whichever monitor you want Copilot to show on or use the WIN + C shortcut to show Copilot on the last monitor that it was visible on. If you are using a keyboard, you can use the WIN + T keyboard shortcut to put the keyboard focus on the taskbar and navigate to the Copilot taskbar button to show Copilot on any monitor.
  

[Windows Share]

• If you're signed in with a Microsoft Entra ID, in addition to being able to share to your Microsoft Teams (work or school) contacts, you can also now share directly to specific Microsoft Teams Channels and groups chats as well directly within the Windows share window.

[Windows Ink]

• We are expanding the ability to use digital handwriting (inking) in some edit boxes for Windows Ink to the following languages and locales: Chinese Simplified (People's Republic of China), English (Australia), English (Canada), English (India), English (United Kingdom), French (Canada), French (France), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (Korea)Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Mexico), and Spanish (Spain). This also includes more accurate recognition technology, gestures to delete, select, join, and split words and also gesture to insert a new line.

[Nearby Sharing]

• We're beginning to roll out a change where you will be able to able to discover and share files with their Android devices in discoverable mode through Bluetooth under Nearby Share in the Windows share window.

[Task Manager]

• We improved process grouping in the processes page for Task Manager.

[Settings]

• This update starts the roll out of account-related notifications for Microsoft accounts on the Settings homepage. A Microsoft account connects Windows to your Microsoft apps. The account backs up all your data and helps you manage your subscriptions. You can also add extra security steps to keep you from being locked out of your account. This feature displays notifications across the Start menu and Settings. You can manage Settings notifications in Settings > Privacy & security > General.
• Xbox Game Bar is now Game Bar under Settings > Gaming.
• We're beginning to update references to Azure Active Directory (AAD) to Microsoft Entra ID in Settings.

Fixes

[Desktops]

• Fixed an issue that was causing custom wallpapers to shift when switching desktops.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23601 (Dev Channel)

What's new in Build 23601

New features and improvements for Windows 365 Boot

The following improvements are beginning to roll out for Windows 365 Boot. (Local PC and Cloud PC should be on the same build.)

Personal mode for Windows 365 Boot: We are now launching a new mode for Windows 365 Boot – personal mode. You can now boot to your Windows 365 Cloud PC from your designated company-owned device. You will be able to seamlessly login to your Windows 365 Cloud PC from Windows 11 login screen using password-less authentication methods like Windows Hello for Business. The new personal mode also comes with fast account switcher experience to effortlessly switch profiles to login in, personalized experience with your username and password, display picture on lock and login screen, remember your username, etc.

Customized company logo and name for Windows 365 Boot: In shared mode, organizations can now customize the login page to include their company branding from Intune.

Fail fast mechanism for Windows 365 Boot: You no longer need to wait for the sign in process to the Cloud PC to complete only to find out Windows 365 Boot failed due to network issues or incomplete setup. The smart logic proactively informs users to resolve network issues or complete app setup so users can experience a smooth login to their Cloud PC.

Manage local PC settings through Windows 365 Boot: With this feature, it is now easier for you to access and manage sound, display, and other device specific settings of their local PC directly from your Cloud PC in under Windows 365 Boot.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Windows 365.

New features and improvements for Windows 365 Switch

The following improvements are beginning to roll out for Windows 365 Switch. (Local PC and Cloud PC should be on the same build.)

Improved disconnect experience for Windows 365 Switch: You can now disconnect from their Cloud PC directly from their local PC. This can be done by going to Local PC > Task view > Right click on the Cloud PC button > Disconnect. We have also added tooltips on disconnect and sign-out options in the Cloud PC Start menu so that you can differentiate between these functionalities.

Desktop indicators to differentiate between Cloud PC and local PC for Windows 365 Switch: You will now see the term "Cloud PC" and "Local PC" on the desktop indicator when you switch between your respective PCs.

Gracefully handling increased connection time for Windows 365 Switch to Frontline Cloud PC: You will now see updates regarding the Cloud PC connection status and the connection timeout indicator while waiting on the connection screen. In case there is an error, you will now be able to copy the correlation ID using the new copy button in the error screen for quicker resolution.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Desktop Environment > Switch to Cloud PC (From Task view).

Improving discoverability of screen casting in Windows 11
Casting from your Windows PC allows you to wirelessly extend your display to another nearby PC, TV or other external displays. After trying some improvements to this experience out with Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel with Build 23516, we're making some additional refinement to those improvements that focus on educating users about the Cast feature and improving its discoverability in Windows 11. Those improvements include:

• When doing multitasking activities on your PC such as often switching between windows to complete a task or using Snap Assist to organize your screen space, we will provide the suggestion to Cast via a notification toast.
  
• We have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Display and Graphics > Wireless Display and Casting.

New widgets board settings
We've updated the widget settings experience, providing more ways for users to customize their widgets board experience.  One of the new settings enables you to just show widgets on your widgets board and another makes it easier for you to discover how to personalize your feed content.

The new settings experience also allows you to select the account you want to use for your Microsoft Start powered widgets and feeds. This means you are no longer limited to using the account you used to sign into Windows to drive those experiences, just like your other app powered widgets. You can easily manage the account used by Microsoft Start by navigating to 'Microsoft Start' settings under the 'Personalize your content' section in your widgets board settings. This change allows you to further personalize the experience to your preferences. The new settings experience is not limited by region.

[We are beginning to roll this out to Windows Insiders in the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels this week, so the experience isn't available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.]

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

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Starting early next week, Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel on Build 23601 will be prompted to reboot to install Windows Configuration Update (KB1234567). Windows Configuration Updates are what we use to new features via Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) technology. Windows Configuration Update (KB1234567) does not enable any new features as we're testing the delivery of these updates via our servicing pipeline, and the reboot prompt to install them. After rebooting to install this update, it will be listed under "Other Updates" under Settings > Windows Update > Update History.
  

[Copilot in Windows*]

• We are trying out the ability to "undock" Copilot in Windows with Windows Insiders. Just click the new icon to unpin the Copilot panel at the top right in the header. While undocked, Copilot can appear above or below other apps in Windows while maintaining its fixed position on the desktop. This allows users to access Copilot while minimizing disruption to other user activities. Additionally, can resize the Copilot window for a more comfortable experience. Simply click-and-drag the edge of the Copilot window to adjust the width to your needs.

• We are trying out a change where when swiping from the right edge of the desktop on a touch display will open Copilot instead of notifications.

[Windows Share]

• The Windows share window now supports sharing with WhatsApp under the "Share using" section. If you don't have WhatsApp installed, you can choose to install it from Windows share window directly. Over time, we plan to try this experience out with other apps as well.

[Nearby Sharing]

• We are introducing the ability to quickly give your device a more friendly name to identify sharing to and from with nearby share under Settings > System > Nearby sharing. This change originally began rolling out with Build 23545, but we are re-rolling it out with improvements to the experience. Let us know what you think.
  

[Narrator]

• Narrator users can now use voice access to open applications, dictate text and interact with elements on the screen using their voice. Narrator users can use voice access to give Narrator commands using their voice . For e.g., "speak faster", "read next line", etc. To get started, search for "voice access" in Windows search and set it up.

Fixes

[Copilot in Windows*]

• Fixed an issue that was causing full screen apps to minimize on secondary monitors when launching Copilot.

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue causing the Recommended section to appear blank for some Insiders.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue impacting explorer.exe reliability.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue where uncombined taskbar icons were cutting off the title instead of adjusting with the title length.

[Task Manager][/B]

• When creating a dump file for a process, the dump file location should be selectable now, so you can copy it out.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where if you go to System > Nearby Sharing it was crashing Settings.