Windows 11 Insider DEV Channel

[Corrine]

UPDATE 3/14: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22572.201 (KB5012886). 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 22579

See the blog post for information about the Bug Bash and Changes and Improvements.

Fixes:

[General]

• Addressed an issue which was causing Gaming Services to not work in the previous flight, leading to issues launching and installing some games.
  
• Fixed a few high hitting explorer.exe crashes impacting recent flights during general usage of Windows.
  
• Fixed a bug for Windows Insiders trying to upgrade directly from Windows 10 to recent Windows 11 Dev Channel builds.
  

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]
NOTE: These fixes will only show if tablet-optimized taskbar is enabled on your device, which is beginning to roll out to Windows Insiders and not yet available for everyone.

• It's no longer necessary to swipe twice from the tablet-optimized taskbar to show Start or Quick Settings – once the taskbar is fully expanded, these will display with a continued swipe upwards.
  
• Addressed an issue where using the swipe gesture to invoke the Start menu might bring it up on the wrong screen if an external monitor was connected.
  
• Notifications will no longer overlap with the tablet-optimized taskbar.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you invoked Task View the Desktops area might not render completely.
  
• Middle clicking an app icon to launch a new instance of that app should work again now.
  

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue where Start's folders were still showing animations even if you had animation effects disabled.
  
• Mitigated an issue that was causing Start's pinned and folders layouts to get reset to default after explorer.exe restarts.
  
• Addressed an underlying issue leading to a transparent line along the side of the Start menu when changing your display's scale.
  

[Focus]

• You'll now see the same breaks in focus sessions over 30 minutes started from the Notification Center as you would in sessions started from the Clock app.
  
• If Do not disturb is turned on prior to starting a focus session, stopping the focus session will no longer turn off Do not disturb.
  
• If you turn on a focus session, it will not be reset if you have to log out or reboot now.
  
• Fixed an issue causing your keyboard focus to unexpectedly move to the top of Notification Center when ending a focus session below the calendar.
  
• Fixed an issue that was preventing you from adding apps to the Settings > System > Notifications > Set priority notifications
  

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where the enraged face emoji wasn't searchable in Turkish using the word angry (kızgın). Please continue giving feedback about the emoji search results under Input and Language > Emoji Panel in the Feedback Hub!
  
• Addressed an issue where the Japanese IME was unexpectedly switching to Katakana mode when focus was set to the UAC dialog.
  
• Mitigated an issue recently where if you removed a third party IME from that language in Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region and didn't uninstall it, it might still show in the input switcher.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing the mouse to be invisible in fields of certain apps, as well as some unexpected cursor related app crashes in recent flights.
  
• Addressed an issue where the gesture for bringing in the Notification Center from the side of the screen wasn't working for the Arabic or Hebrew display languages.
  

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue for the header at the top of Network & Internet, where the chevron was backwards for Arabic and Hebrew display languages.
  

[Windowing]

• If transparency is off under Settings > Personalization > Colors, the background of ALT + Tab will no longer be transparent.
  
• If you drag a window to the top of the screen and then drag it back down, the dismiss animation for snap layouts will display more consistently now.
  
• Made a small adjustment to fix an animation glitch when invoking snap layouts at the top of the screen.
  
• Fixed an explorer.exe crash which was happening when dragging certain windows across snap layouts at the top of the screen.
  
• Mitigated an issue which was causing Task View to appear unresponsive if you invoked Task View while snap assist was showing on screen.
  
• Did some work to address an issue where ALT + Tab might get stuck open if you invoked it via a very quick gesture on your touchpad.
  
• Fixed an explorer.exe crash that could happen when an app goes in and out of full screen mode.
  

[Network]

• Mitigated an issue leading to cellular connections not working on certain devices in the last few builds.
  
• Addressed an issue leading to Wi-Fi speed degradation in the previous flight.
  

[Voice access]

• Fixed an issue that was causing the voice access banner to block the top row of desktop icons or the top of full-screen applications.
  

[Live captions]

• Live captions will now show across your Desktops.
  
• The "floating on screen" window position will now correctly show as selected in the settings flyout if the live captions window was forced to float (for example when using a full screen app).
  
• The maximum height of the live captions window is now capped at 40% of monitor height.
  
• Live captions will no longer crash upon shrinking a max height live captions window.
  
• Toggling mono audio will no longer crash live captions.
  

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue with how Narrator read out collapsed sections in Settings > Accessibility > Narrator when navigating using Shift + Tab.
  

[Task Manager]

• Fixed a few high hitting Task Manager crashes.
  
• Fixed an issue where if focus was inside the Details page and you started typing, focus would stop moving through the processes list after the first letter.
  
• If you're using the Performance page in Summary view, the title bar of Task Manager will now be hidden.
  

[Other]

• The percentage on the volume flyout that shows when using your hardware keys will now be centered in the design consistently.
  
• Improved how keyboard focus and navigation works when moving through and closing the accessibility options on the Lock screen.
  

[Corrine]

UPDATE 3/22: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22579.100 (KB5013192). 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 22581

Build 22581 is also being flighted to Windows Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels. Now that the Dev and Beta Channels are receiving the same builds, the limited window has opened for Insiders to switch channels if desired. Please read the details in the blog post about the limited window to switch channels and what happens when the window closes.

Changes and Improvements:

[General]

• As described 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 may never get released. In this build, a limited set of Insiders will see the first of these experimental features as we explore additional ways to help people discover and get quick access to content that they care about on the web with the Windows search box. If you see some of these concepts, be sure to let us know what you think via Feedback Hub (Win + F) and choose category Desktop Environment > Search.
  

[Taskbar]

• The tablet-optimized taskbar feature which began rolling out with Build 22563 is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels. As a reminder, this feature only works on devices that can be used as tablets. It does not work on laptops or desktop PCs.
  
• Several fixes to taskbar such as the top border line now extending across the entire taskbar will be seen for everyone regardless of device type.
  
• Keyboard focus and mouse hover for Win32 system tray icons and the "Show hidden icons" flyout have been updated to match the rest of the visual style of the taskbar. You may also notice that drag-and-drop is no longer supported to pin/unpin these items — you can show/hide these icons using by right clicking on the taskbar and choosing "Taskbar settings". We also introduced an optional setting to hide the "show hidden icons" button completely, supporting users who want a simpler taskbar.
  

[Settings]

• In Build 22557, we introduced new links in Settings to help customers give their PC a second life or recycle it. These links will disappear when upgrading to the latest builds (Build 22581 and higher) and will come back later.
  

Fixes
[Taskbar]

• Made a fix for another issue causing taskbar previews to use the wrong fonts for the window title in languages other than English.
  
• Drag and drop to taskbar should now work with auto-hidden taskbars.
  
• When dragging something to pin to the taskbar, the message on the dragged item (for example, displaying an X if it's not supported) will now have rounded corners.
  
• Mitigated an issue where swiping to collapse the tablet-optimized taskbar might unexpectedly invoke the widgets board.
  

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue that was sometimes causing the search box in the top of Start to flicker.
  
• Mitigated an underlying issue where if you swiped to open the All apps list, sometimes it would think that you'd tapped one of the letter headers in the All apps list.
  
• Updated the context menu when right clicking a pinned app to say "Move to front" rather than "Move to top", so it's clearer what will happen.
  

[Focus]

• A Clock app update (version 11.2202.24.0 and higher) has rolled out that fixes the issue where the Clock app was unable to update the Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions in the Clock app.
  

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a few cases where icons were missing next to entries in the context menu and command bar (for example, for the Next Desktop Background entry in the context menu if you right click the desktop while using a background slideshow).
  
• Made some small adjustments to some of the icons used in the context menu and command bar, including the copy icon.
  
• Folders whose only content is other folders will now show an icon with a slip of paper to indicate there is content inside the folder instead of an empty folder icon.
  
• Addressed an underlying issue that could cause File Explorer to crash when using the Group By option.
  

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where the conversion option in the Korean IME context menu wasn't working.
  
• Addressed an issue where the IME toolbar wasn't showing/hiding correctly if you'd chosen to use the previous version of the Japanese IME.
  
• Improved reliability of showing the touch keyboard on the login screen after tapping the PIN or password field after rebooting or upgrade.
  
• Fixed an issue where some of the text in the touch keyboard was difficult to read when using the "Black and White" text input theme.
  
• Made another fix for the "size and theme" link under Settings > Time & Language > Typing > Touch Keyboard not working.
  
• Mitigated an issue where the touch keyboard was still showing the previous text candidates when you switched to voice typing.
  
• The "Press Enter" and "Press Tab" commands should be working when using voice typing for Chinese (Traditional) now.
  
• Fixed an issue where the 3 or 4 finger touchpad gesture for adjusting your audio volume level wasn't working with certain paired Bluetooth audio devices.
  

[Settings]

• Changes in Sounds to Program Events (for example, turning certain system sounds off) should persist on upgrade going forward.
  
• Improved visibility of the battery icon in the Bluetooth section of Quick Settings when a contrast mode was enabled.
  

[Windowing]

• If you set keyboard focus to Desktops in Task View, the border shown around the thumbnails will now have rounded corners.
  
• Fixed an issue where hovering over the Task View icon on secondary monitors wouldn't bring up the Desktops flyout when using the Arabic or Hebrew display language.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you selected one of the Microsoft Edge tabs displayed in snap assist, the window would animate in from the wrong place.
  
• Snap layouts should now minimize properly if you drag a window through the corner of snap layouts.
  
• Fixed an issue where snap layouts would unexpectedly immediately display while dragging a window instead of just showing a hint for Insiders with an Arabic or Hebrew display language.
  
• Addressed an issue where rotating your tablet before the previous screen rotation animation had finished would cause the rotation animation to abruptly cut out.
  
• Mitigated an issue where using the 3-finger touch gesture to minimize all apps quickly could result in windows getting stuck in a shrunken state.
  
• Reduced the size of the area above a notification where clicks weren't being passed through to the underlying window so it's the same sized area as the side of the notification.
  
• Mitigated an issue leading to issues dragging the title bar of a maximized window with touch.
  
• Fixed an issue where if the Open or Save dialog was open in an app, and you used ALT + Tab to switch away from the app and then back, keyboard focus might get lost.
  

[Voice access]

• Fixed an issue that was causing voice access to crash when using commands to capitalize text in Office apps.
  

[Narrator]

• Narrator will now correctly tell you if there is an image in table cells in Office apps.
  
• When Narrator is reading with scan mode in Microsoft Edge, it will no longer stop reading when getting to some embedded links and buttons in the middle of text, like on nytimes.com.
  

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where tooltips did not accurately display the preferred visual setting when Task Manager is configured for dark mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where Task Manager wasn't populating the details of the Status column in the Startup Apps page.
  

[Other]

• Fixed an issue that was causing the volume flyout that appears from using your hardware keys to be stuck on screen.
  
• Mitigated an issue that could result in explorer.exe getting stuck and not fully initializing during first login.
  
• Fixed a few more issues impacting explorer.exe reliability.
  

[Corrine]

UPDATE 3/25: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22581.100 (KB5013283). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev and Beta Channels.

[Corrine]

UPDATE 3/29: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22581.200 (KB5013296). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev and Beta Channels.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22593

Build 22593 is being offered to both the Beta and Dev Channels.  In addition, Insiders still have the option to switch channels if they wish.

Changes and Improvements:

[General]

• [REMINDER] 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 may never get released. In this build, a limited set of Insiders will see the first of these experimental features as we explore additional ways to help people discover and get quick access to content they care about on the web with the Windows search box. If you see some of these concepts, be sure to let us know what you think via Feedback Hub (Win + F) and choose category Desktop Environment > Search.
  
• Updated WIN + X so that if Windows Terminal is installed the menu will include an entry for Terminal, and in cases where Windows Terminal is uninstalled it will display Windows PowerShell.
  

[File Explorer]

• The default homepage of File Explorer is now called Home. The name Quick access has been repurposed for the pinned/frequent folders section and Pinned files is now called Favorites to align with Office and OneDrive.
  

• Recent and pinned files displayed in Home are now searchable using the search box in File Explorer even if they are not local files, so you can find Office files recently shared with you.
  

[Input]

• Microsoft Journal is now pinned by default on the Pen menu. If you don't have the app installed, it will be installed from the Microsoft Store if chosen on the Pen menu.
  

• If you press WIN + Z to open snap layouts, all the layouts will now show associated numbers, so you can quickly use the number keys to select the desired layout.
  

[Focus]

• Added 5-minute increments for everything under a half hour to focus session length options.
  

[Windows Security]

• Memory integrity is a feature in Windows 11 designed to prevent attacks from inserting malicious code into high-security processes. This feature can be found in Windows Security under Device Security > Core isolation. In the most recent Insider Preview builds, we will notify the user that this feature is currently turned off so that action can be taken for the user to turn it back on so that their device is as secure as possible against malicious attacks.
  

[Input]

• Updated the ADLaM keyboard layout to add access to brackets and ADLaM Hamza. To access these:
  
  
  
  • Right Alt + \ will now input »
    
  • Right Alt + | will now input «
    
  • Right Alt + Shift + [ will now input {
    
  • Right Alt + Shift + ] will now input }
    
  • Ctrl + Shift + ; will now input the Hamza character
    
• Updated the Pashto keyboard layout so that ې and ئ are now directly accessible on the keyboard. Accessing ظ and ط is now done by holding Shift and pressing the aforementioned letters, respectively.
  

Fixes
[General]

• Fixed a few more issues impacting explorer.exe reliability in recent flights.
  

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue where app icons were unexpectedly animating in from the upper left when launching a new app.
  
• Improved the performance of rearranging taskbar icons.
  
• Addressed an issue in the previous flight leading to duplicate app icons after closing and re-opening an app.
  
• If you have a lot of apps open, the icons shouldn't overlap the date and time on your secondary monitors anymore.
  
• Taskbar will no longer disappear when you enter search over a full screen window.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing icon spacing to invert so that it was large when it should be small and vice versa when switching in and out of the tablet-optimized taskbar.
  
• Tablet-optimized taskbar will now stay visible over full screen apps when expanded and only hide when you collapse it.
  
• If you have multiple keyboards for your current language, the input indicator will now only show one row of text when the tablet-optimized taskbar is in a collapsed state, so that it doesn't get clipped.
  
• Fixed a crash that was causing taskbar to get stuck in the tablet-optimized taskbar view.
  
• Settings will now remember your taskbar's auto-hide setting more consistently.
  
• Mitigated an issue where some app icons in the system tray which were expected to flash weren't doing that.
  
• Fixed an issue causing system tray icons to get stuck there even after you closed the application.
  
• Made a fix for an issue where some mouse move events weren't being passed to apps for icons in the system tray.
  
• Addressed an issue leading to a decrease in Notification Center launch reliability in recent flights.
  
• Mitigated an issue causing the Notification Center and its context to sometimes show the wrong color text for the system's theme, making it unreadable.
  
• Updated the names of some of the months in the Simplified and Traditional Chinese lunar calendar to be more accurate.
  

[Start menu]

• Updated the design of the folders in Start so that they're a little bigger, making it easier to see the app icons highlighted within the folder without having to open it.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you created a folder in Start in the same position as a deleted folder, it would show the old name.
  
• If you tab into naming a folder in Start with your keyboard, you can now tab back out instead of having to hit Esc.
  
• Fixed an issue where when using the keyboard to select options following WIN + X didn't work. And dismissing WIN + X should be more consistent now.
  
• Fixed an issue where the prompt wasn't coming to the front when launching Windows Terminal as an admin from Start's right-click context menu (WIN + X).
  
• The search icon in the taskbar should no longer unexpectedly flash when closing the Start menu.
  

[Search]

• Made some improvements to help with search indexer thread and memory usage for users with a very high number of indexed items.
  
• Fixed an issue impacting search reliability (where you would type into the search window or Start and nothing would happen) in recent flights.
  
• Made another fix to help address an issue where the search searches flyout could get stuck on the screen in a transparent area.
  

[File Explorer]

• Improved performance of loading Home in File Explorer.
  
• Fixed a scaling issue where the context menu could be an unexpected size when invoking it on systems with mixed DPI monitors.
  
• Addressed an issue where the Show More Options entry in the context menu wasn't working for items in File Explorer's navigation pane (for example, if you were to right click on This PC).
  
• Did some work to help reduce the chance you will see "Loading" for app entries in the context menu.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing the "Open in Windows Terminal" context menu option to be unexpectedly missing for secondary users in some cases.
  
• Opening suggested results shown while entering search terms in File Explorer's search box should now work as expected.
  
• Mitigated an underlying issue leading to the address bar being inaccessible in certain cases.
  
• Mitigated an issue leading to increased launch time for certain file types in the previous flight.
  

[Widgets]

• We fixed the issue where sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets.
  
• We fixed the issue where after rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly.
  

[Input]

• Fixed an issue preventing several input UI surfaces from displaying following explorer.exe crashes in recent flights – this included the emoji panel, candidate windows, clipboard history, and the touch keyboard.
  
• Mitigated an issue where Narrator was silent when launching the emoji panel in certain cases, for example if the search box wasn't displayed.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing custom theme changes in Settings > Personalization > Text input to not save properly sometimes.
  
• Addressed a few more color issues with the touch keyboard, including where after changing from dark to light mode, the touch keyboard might end up with a mix of dark and light.
  
• Updated the touch keyboard button so that pressing it always shows the touch keyboard, rather than hiding it if it's visible.
  
• Returned the Backspace key to the touch keyboard's small layout when using Chinese (Traditional).
  
• Improved reliability of launching the touch keyboard on the login screen.
  
• You should be able to use the Japanese IME's context menu on the login screen to change conversion mode now.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Chinese (Traditional) IMEs were only showing 5 suggested associated phrases when they should have been showing 9.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you'd set a custom background image under Settings > Personalization > Text Input, the preview wouldn't show how it looked in the candidate window for Chinese (Simplified).
  
• Addressed a rendering issue with the corners of the IME toolbar.
  
• Fixed an issue where the IME toolbar wasn't hiding and showing correctly when using the previous version of the Japanese IME.
  
• Improved voice typing reliability.
  
• Updated voice typing error message "Voice typing is limited on this app" to be "Some voice typing features might not work in this app", so it's a little clearer that basic voice typing will still work.
  
• Fixed an issue causing some voice typing commands not to work, for example "scratch that" (刮除它) in Chinese (Simplified).
  
• Addressed an issue where the setting "Disable Touch while using Pen" under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Pen & Windows Ink would arbitrarily not take effect sometimes on first boot in recent flights.
  
• Fixed an issue causing the Get-InstalledLanguage and Install-Language PowerShell commands to unexpectedly fail with error 0x8007023E for some languages.
  

[Settings]

• If keyboard focus is on the chevron for a collapsible region on a Settings page, for example, the Snap windows section under System > Multitasking, you can now use the left and right arrows to expand and collapse the area.
  
• Fixed an issue impacting reliability of System > Power & Battery.
  
• When using the custom color picker on Personalization > Colors now, it should appear centered in the window frame and not randomly off to the side.
  
• Setting your background image fit to "fit" under Personalization > Background should no longer cause the background image preview to become a solid color.
  
• Addressed another issue that could cause Windows Spotlight to unexpectedly stop updating for a prolonged period of time.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the Settings app to crash when going to focus settings.
  
• Fixed an issue that was letting keyboard focus go to elements in the contrast theme previews in Accessibility > Contrast Themes that you couldn't interact with.
  
• Fixed an issue where leaving the contrast themes editor in Settings by selecting the breadcrumbs would clear the dropdown selection, but the buttons were still acting as if you had a theme selected.
  
• Updated the text description for voice typing under Accessibility > Speech to make more sense when using the Japanese display language.
  
• Addressed an issue that was preventing Quick Settings from launching with its new touch gesture.
  
• Quick Settings will now show the correct icon to represent your audio output device again.
  

[Windowing]

• Mitigated an issue which could lead to explorer.exe crashes when using ALT + Tab.
  
• Fixed an issue where the keyboard focus outline in ALT + Tab sometimes was smaller than the displayed thumbnail.
  
• Addressed an underlying DWM issue which was leading to crashes when using touch gestures from the sides of the screen.
  
• Fixed a DWM crash when rotating the screen.
  
• Mitigated an issue leading to some lag when resizing two apps snapped side by side in certain cases.
  
• Fixed an issue where snap assist could unexpectedly dismiss if the initial window wouldn't fit into the selected zone size. Now we resize the snap assist regions accordingly when minimum window size of the initial snapped window is larger than the selected zone.
  
• If you invoke Task View with touch, the close buttons should no longer overlap with the window titles.
  
• Hovering your mouse over the tooltip with the Desktop's name will no longer unexpectedly make the Desktops flyout dismiss.
  
• Using drag and drop to reorder your Desktops via the Desktop flyout should no longer leave a thumbnail of the Desktop you moved stuck on the screen.
  

[Voice access]

• Fixed a crash that was impacting voice access reliability.
  
• Addressed an issue that was preventing voice access's speech models from downloading correctly.
  

[Live captions]

• Addressed an underlying issue leading to live captions showing a download error, even though the download had actually completed successfully.
  
• Live captions will now remember your chosen settings for position across sessions.
  
• Mitigated an issue where the live captions position changed to floating when entering full screen, but the settings incorrectly showed the last position still.
  
• Removed the live captions notification about audio playing from multiple apps as it was popping up repeatedly during usage.
  
• The border of the live captions window will now match the style of all other borders in contrast themes.
  

[Narrator]

• We fixed the issue that was causing natural voices to break up sporadically in recent builds.
  
• Narrator will now read out the word minutes with the duration times listed in Settings for focus options.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to read dialog buttons incorrectly in scan mode.
  

[Task Manager]

• Removed backplate (colored square) from UWP app icons were displayed in Task Manager.
  
• Mitigated an issue where the one side of the View button did not appear to do anything.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing the real time update speed to get set to Paused on its own. Please note, if you were impacted by this, you will need to make a one-time change to set the setting back to your preferred update speed after upgrading to this build.
  

[Other]

• Mitigated an issue which was leading to a black (albeit interactable) screen when playing certain full screen games with Auto HDR enabled.
  
• Fixed a memory leak in Connected Devices Platform User Service.
  
• The volume and brightness flyouts you get when using your hardware keys will no longer show a focus window outline on top of them.
  
• If WIN + Alt + K is pressed when a supported app isn't running, the pop-up text displayed will now say "No supported apps in use for mic mute", instead of "Mic mute unavailable", so it's clearer.
  
• Addressed an issue which was leading to unexpected errors being displayed in Event Viewer when conhost.exe was activated.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22598

Build 22598 is being offered to both the Beta and Dev Channels.  ISOs are available and can be downloaded here.

Changes and Improvements:

[General]

• We are now offering new builds to Windows Insiders in China on Lenovo PCs starting with Build 22598. These users should connect to the internet for a minimum of 15 minutes to allow the Lenovo PC Manager to auto update to the latest version (version 5.0.0.3292 or later) to receive an important fix with the app.
  
• We are trying out auto-launching of the Get Started app with some Windows Insiders after upgrade to help people get started with their PC.
  
• [REMINDER] 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 may never get released. In this build, a limited set of Insiders will see the first of these experimental features as we explore additional ways to help people discover and get quick access to content they care about on the web with the Windows search box. If you see some of these concepts, be sure to let us know what you think via Feedback Hub (Win + F) and choose category Desktop Environment > Search.
  

[Windows Spotlight]

• We are trying out Windows Spotlight on desktop is on by as the default background for new devices (clean installs using the ISO) and for upgrades where the background the Windows 11 default. We are trying this experience out with a limited number of Windows Insiders at first.
  
• We are also trying out displaying 4K desktop backgrounds in Windows Spotlight. We are also trying this experience out with a limited number of Windows Insiders at first.
  

[Taskbar]

• Updated the tooltip on the volume icon to tell you when you're using spatial sound.
  

Fixes

[General]

• Devices using Windows Information Protection (formerly EDP) policies can now access controlled data via protected apps such as Outlook, Word, Microsoft Edge, etc. as expected.
  

[Taskbar]

• We fixed an issue where if you used keyboard focus on taskbar, hovers like previews would stay up during all taskbar interactions.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing taskbar badges to come back after explorer.exe crashes even if you had them turned off in Settings.
  
• Made a fix for an issue where some mouse move events weren't being passed to apps for icons in the system tray.
  
• Fixed an issue where hovering over some app icons in the system tray wasn't showing previews or tooltips.
  
• App icons in the system tray should now be showing more reliably when opened again in this build.
  
• Fixed an issue that was delaying or preventing the show hidden icons flyout from opening.
  
• Fixed an issue where Chinese characters weren't displaying in the taskbar calendar when the Lunar calendar was turned on.
  
• Addressed an issue where the visual indicator around an app icon when sharing a window might not go away once you'd stopped sharing.
  

[Start menu]

• We fixed a crash when selecting the More button in Start's Recommended section.
  
• Addressed an underlying issue which could lead to Start crashing on launch when invoked with a gesture.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the buttons and labels in Start to be the wrong colors while using contrast themes.
  
• Addressed an issue where if you swiped to scroll the contents of a folder in the pinned section of Start, it would unexpectedly close Start.
  

[File Explorer]

• Addressed an issue which was causing the context menu to not render completely sometimes and be transparent.
  

[Input]

• Improved the performance of launching the touch keyboard on the login screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you had selected text with touch in certain apps like Settings, the backspace key in the touch keyboard would have to be tapped twice for it to delete.
  
• Voice typing should no longer stop responding if you repeatedly press WIN + H.
  
• Fixed an issue for people with a large number of input methods, where the currently selected one might not be in view when you opened the input switcher.
  
• Fixed the link at the bottom of the Chinese (Simplified) IME appearance settings so it points to Settings > Personalization > Text Input.
  
• Addressed an issue where the emoji panel's background image and color might not be rendered correctly after using options in Settings > Personalization > Text Input.
  

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where high DPI options in the Compatibility tab of the properties for an executable weren't working.
  
• Narrator should now read the view options we added in Settings > Apps > Installed apps
  

[Windowing]

• Returned the missing animation when pressing WIN + D or clicking the Show Desktop button.
  
• We addressed an issue when using snap layouts with touch which could result in an acrylic sheet getting stuck on top of the window.
  
• The thumbnails in Task View should no longer be inverted when using Hebrew or Arabic display languages.
  
• Fixed an explorer.exe crash when invoking Task View.
  
• If you have a lot of windows open, they should no longer become superimposed on top of Desktops in Task View.
  
• Fixed an issue when using ALT + Tab with a screen reader, where if you ALT + Tabbed back to certain app windows, focus would be set to a pane within the window rather than the whole window.
  
• Fixed an underlying issue where accented colored title bars (when enabled) for certain apps and File Explorer were only displaying when the windows were maximized.
  
• Mitigated a rare issue that could lead to the system hanging when changing the resolution sometimes in certain games.
  
• Addressed an issue causing white pixels in the corners of some apps when using dark mode.
  
• Did some work to address an issue where certain app windows wouldn't move to the expected area after selecting them using snap assist.
  
• Fixed a glitch in the animation when using snap layouts at the top of the screen to snap windows.
  

[Live captions]

• Fixed an issue where the very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) couldn't be reached with touch while live captions were positioned at the top.
  
• Live captions will now tell you when it's done downloading and ready to caption.
  

[Task Manager]

• Mitigated an issue causing the Performance page CPU graph to be colored as if Show Kernel Times was enabled even though it wasn't.
  
• Did some work to further improve Task Manager reliability.
  
• Added access key support for Run New Task (ALT + N), End Task (ALT + E), Efficiency Mode (ALT + V), and other buttons on each page. If you press ALT, the letters will display next to the button.
  
• With a process selected, pressing the Delete key will now end the process like it used to.
  
• CTRL + Tab and CTRL + Shift + Tab will now cycle through the pages in Task Manager.
  
• Fixed an issue where the memory composition graph was blank instead of filed in with the appropriate color.
  
• Mitigated an issue leading to the GPU graph on the performance tab not being displayed in some cases.
  
• The icons in the status column of the Processes page are no longer touching the side of the column.
  
• Fixed an issue where "Efficiency mode" was missing status column of the Users page.
  

[WSL]

• Fixed an issue that would prevent WSL2 from mounting the host file system on ARM64.
  

[Other]

• Fixed an issue from the previous flight where the acrylic might not extend across the entire login screen.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the volume and brightness keys that appear when your use your hardware keys to be cut off in the middle.
  
• Running powercfg /query should work now when launched from syswow64 or from a 32-bit process.
  
• Fixed an apostrophe that wasn't rendering correctly in the text when doing an offline scan from the Windows Security app.
  
• Removed an extra "be" in the text describing Smart Account Control in the Windows Security app.
  
• Fixed an issue for certain language which could lead to question marks being displayed in the place of some of the text when upgrading to a new build.
  
• If you have increased the text size under Settings > Accessibility > Text Size and launch setup from a Windows ISO while booted into your currently installed OS, the text displayed in the setup window will now be increased to match your preferences.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22598 | Windows Insider Blog

UPDATE 4/15: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22598.100 (KB5014100). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev and Beta Channels.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22598 | Windows Insider Blog

UPDATE 4/19: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22598.200 (KB5014105). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev and Beta Channels.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22610 | Windows Insider Blog

See the blog post for information about new group policies for IT administrators and an update to the Family Safety Widget.

Changes and Improvements:

[General]

• Windows 11 Home edition Dev and Beta Channel builds no longer enable the SMB1 client by default. If you have installed SMB1 manually or upgraded from a previous version of Windows where SMB1 was installed, upgrading to the latest Dev and Beta Channel build will not remove SMB1. For more information, check out this blog post here.
  
• We have updated the design of the battery icon on the Lock screen to be consistent with the one in the taskbar.
  
• Battery icon on the Lock screen matches the design of the battery icon on the taskbar.
  
• If your PC supports it, we will now show estimated battery life timing in the tooltip for the battery icon in the system tray with the most recent Insider Preview builds.
  
• The build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop is no longer present in this build. This doesn't mean we're done, and the watermark will return to Insiders in a future build.
  

[Taskbar]

• As a result of feedback from Windows Insiders, we have disabled the tablet-optimized taskbar feature that first began rolling out to Windows Insiders in Build 22563 for now. We hope to bring this feature back in the future after further refinement of the experience. As we've mentioned previously, features we try out in the Dev or Beta Channels may not always ship.
  

[Widgets]

• The changes in Widgets that bring more dynamic content to your Widgets board announced with Build 22563 is rolling out to more Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels.
  

[Task Manager]

• We've updated the Processes page in Task Manager so that the colors used in the heatmap are now based on your accent color. Please note in certain cases we will use the default blue accent color to ensure readability. We did a demo of this during this month's Windows Insider webcast featuring Claton Hendricks from the Task Manager Team – watch the webcast on-demand here.
  
• The Processes page in Task Manager now shows colors based on your accent color.

[File Explorer]

• We have updated the rename, properties, and optimize icons used in the context menu and command bar to help with discoverability and consistency.
  
• Context menu in File Explorer showing the updated icons for rename and properties.

[Settings]

• Your Phone now shows as Phone Link under Settings > Bluetooth & devices. Your Phone is now Phone Link – read the announcement here.
  

[Other]

• Based on feedback from Windows Insiders, we are rolling back the change originally documented with Build 22557 where TKIP and WEP connections were no longer allowed. These connections are allowed again starting with this build as we go back to the previous behavior where a warning is given notifying you that these are not secured connections. As a reminder, TKIP and WEP are deprecated security standards and are planned for removal in a future release. We recommend updating your router or other devices to one that supports at least WPA2 (WPA3 is the current standard).
  

Fixes

[General]

• We fixed the issue causing Windows Insiders running Windows 10 who were trying to join the Dev or Beta Channels to encounter a download error code 0xc8000402 while trying to download the latest build. If you experienced this issue, please install KB5011831 and then try to download the latest build from either the Dev or Beta Channels. If you continue to see this issue – please file feedback in Feedback Hub.
  
• We've fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash repeatedly in a loop in the latest builds (and unable to successfully load) for a small percent of Insiders.
  
• Made a change to help address an issue causing some Insiders to experience a bugcheck with the error BAD_POOL_CALLER when opening Notification Center and some other actions after the last build.
  
• When opening Group Policy editor, an Administrative Template error will no longer pop up.
  
• Fixed an issue where Group Policy Editor was unexpectedly showing an error saying "mmc cannot initialize the snap-in" on ARM64 in some cases.
  

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue that was preventing Shift + Right-click on a taskbar icon from opening the expected context menu.
  
• Changing the resolution of a secondary display should no longer result in the taskbar app icons unexpectedly shifting to the right.
  
• Clicking the taskbar should close things like Quick Settings and Notification Center now if they're open.
  
• Windows and taskbar icons that were being used on a secondary monitor will now transfer correctly to your primary monitor if you unplug the secondary one.
  
• Fixed an issue that was preventing taskbar icon animations on system icons like Start, Search, and Task view.
  
• Animations will now play correctly the first time you drag and drop to taskbar.
  
• If you drag to the taskbar in a right-to-left (RTL) language, the icon will now appear on the correct side.
  
• When you're connected to Wi-Fi, the network icon in the taskbar will no longer incorrectly show as disconnected.
  
• Fixed a crash that was happening if the taskbar clock updated while transitioning to daylight savings time changes.
  
• The show hidden icons flyout will now dismiss when you click away from it again.
  
• There will no longer be an empty show hidden icons arrow showing in your system tray when you've set all your icons there to show.
  
• Fixed an issue causing Notification Center to be cut off when opened on small screens, hiding the do not disturb button.
  
• Fixed an issue for Arabic and Hebrew display languages, where the Notification Center would jump up unexpectedly when dismissed.
  
• If your microphone is in use but not your location, hovering over the microphone button in the taskbar should no longer show a location section with an empty app name in the tooltip.
  

[Start menu]

• App icons like Microsoft Edge will no longer be cut off on the bottom in Start's all apps list.
  
• If you cancel while dragging icons to create a folder in Start, they will no longer be stuck in a broken folder with just one icon.
  
• The Windows Tools entry under All apps should be visible again now.
  
• Animations of folders in the Start menu will no longer start on the first pinned app instead of where the folder is located.
  

[Search]

• We did some work to help address an issue where sometimes you couldn't search for an app you'd just installed, although it was showing in Start.
  

[File Explorer]

• Using the rename, copy, paste, delete, and other options context menu options in File Explorer or on the desktop should no longer cause explorer.exe to crash when the context menu dismisses.
  
• Right-clicking on a file now reflects the updated naming in File Explorer and shows "Add to Favorites".
  
• Right-clicking on This PC in the Open or Save As dialog's navigation pane should bring up the context menu again now.
  
• Addressed an issue believed to be the underlying cause for File Explorer freezing when selecting a large number of files in recent builds.
  
• We made some improvements to the performance of keyboard selection of images and zipped files in OneDrive folders.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to freeze frequently when WSL was installed, and WSL files were opened via Home.
  
• To help with performance, when opening Home only images and videos will now show thumbnails.
  
• Updated the tooltip for the "Please sign in" button in File Explorer from "Sign in again to fix authentication issues." to "One of your accounts needs attention to show files from Office.com in Home", so that its purpose is clearer.
  
• We addressed an issue where the Sign In button in File Explorer might not work.
  
• Fixed an explorer.exe crash related to loading recently used Office files in Home.
  
• Addressed an issue where the Open option was unexpectedly showing a generic icon when right clicking on certain file types.
  
• Fixed an underlying issue believed to be the cause of some Insiders not seeing the This PC option in the "Open File Explorer to" dropdown in folder options.
  

[Input]

• Fixed a couple issues where under certain conditions the emoji panel, clipboard history, and voice typing would stop working after unlocking your PC or right after a Windows update.
  
• Fixed an issue where the text suggestions for physical keyboards might sometimes display with a transparent background.
  
• To ensure that text input is always available, if you use touch and tap a text field in OOBE, on the login screen, or in the UAC dialog, the touch keyboard will now always appear even if a physical keyboard is connected.
  
• When you lock your PC, if you have turned off "Play sounds as I type" under Settings > Time & Language > Typing > Touch keyboard, you should no longer hear key press sounds when using the touch keyboard on the login screen.
  
• Added typographic quotes as an option after a press and hold on the quote key when using the German touch keyboard layout.
  
• We did some work to address an issue where if you were using the docked touch keyboard on a tablet and tapped the text field of an app that didn't have focus, the touch keyboard might appear and immediately disappear.
  
• Improved the performance going into the listening state after launching voice typing (WIN + H).
  
• Fixed a crash when deleting letters using a strikethrough gesture in the handwriting panel.
  
• Addressed an issue where if you had unchecked "leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected" under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touchpad, the touchpad wasn't re-enabled after connecting and disconnecting a mouse.
  
• Fixed an issue that could lead to the trail when sliding your finger around the screen being unexpectedly red or invisible in some cases.
  
• If you don't have the Chinese (Simplified) IME installed, it should no longer display as an option to customize under Settings > Personalization > Text Input > Custom Theme.
  
• If an Xbox controller is connected, using it to interact with games should no longer result in an unexpected pop-up saying, "No supported apps in use for mic mute."
  

[Widgets]

• Improved reliability of opening the widgets board on first login after an upgrade or after an app update.
  
• We did some work to help address an issue where the widgets board wouldn't light dismiss and you had to use the Esc key to close it.
  
• As some Insiders have noticed, to help make the state clearer, if the weather status on the taskbar isn't available, we will now show a greyed-out weather icon.
  
• Addressed an underlying issue leading to Widgets being missing from the taskbar and Settings after upgrading. This fix should stop future PCs from being impacted – if you are currently impacted, please try reinstalling this, which may resolve it for you.
  

[Settings]

• Fixed the Windows Update text for English (United Kingdom) so that it will say "last checked" and not "last ticked."
  
• Addressed an underlying issue leading to not being able to activate the "Restart now" button in Windows Update when it had focus using Narrator in scan mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you opened the Bluetooth section of Quick Settings and went back, it could result in the scrollbar style changing in Quick Settings under certain conditions.
  
• Apps should no longer show up with the incorrect icon under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Other system tray icons.
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the search icon in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar to be backwards and the wrong color in the Desert contrast theme.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing Quick Settings from taking touch input.
  
• Addressed an additional issue causing the media controls above Quick Settings to stay there after the media source was closed.
  
• Fixed a high hitting crash in recent flights when navigating to the page to pick a sound output option in Quick Settings.
  

[Windowing]

• Did some work to help address an issue related snap layouts at the top of the screen where a large invisible area could get stuck and would consume clicks in that area.
  
• When you drag down on the title bar of a maximized window, it should be easier to invoke snap layouts from the top of the screen now.
  
• If you have a window within a snap group that is set to display across all your Desktops, that setting should now persist if you drag and drop the snap group into a different Desktop in Task View.
  
• Fixed a couple issues leading to explorer.exe crashes when using and interacting with snap.
  
• Fixed a couple high hitting DWM crashes in recent flights.
  
• Addressed an issue where focus wasn't being properly set when using the 3-finger touchpad gesture to bring up ALT + Tab.
  
• Fixed an issue where snap assist was unexpectedly appearing when you had only a single Microsoft Edge window open and tried to snap it.
  
• Reduced the likelihood of seeing an acrylic backdrop noticeably lagging when dragging a window around.
  
• Improved the reliability of using gestures from the edge of the screen (for example to open Start menu) when using an app full screen.
  
• Addressed an issue which could cause the screen to appear frozen after using a 3 finger on screen gesture to minimize open apps on top of certain full screen apps.
  

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue when using Narrator and your keyboard to navigate the show hidden icons panel where focus was jumping out to taskbar at the end of the icons instead of looping back to the beginning.
  
• Narrator will now start reading from the beginning of the page on Edge even if a control on the page has focus by default, like Bing's search box.
  

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an underlying issue leading to some apps not showing as suspended in Task Manager even though they should have been.
  
• Fixed an issue where expanding the child of a child process would result in the content of the Name column in Processes being significantly offset.
  
• Clicking "Show history of all processes" in settings should no longer hang or crash Task Manager.
  
• The Run New Task button should work on the Details and Services pages now.
  
• To address issues with text and UI clipping, Task Manager will no longer show accent color on the title bar.
  

[Networking]

• The issue causing internet connectivity issues for some Insiders recently when certain VPNs were connected should be addressed now.
  

[Lock screen and logging in]

• The login screen shouldn't crash anymore if you click the Power button while a contrast theme is enabled.
  
• Fixed an issue where the network icon on the login screen could become clipped if you used the text scaling option in Settings > Accessibility.
  
• Did some work to address a high hitting login screen crash.
  

[Other]

• Addressed a few issues that were preventing the accessibility flyout from showing or from selecting items in it with your mouse in the device setup experience (OOBE) for Windows 11.
  
• The accessibility flyout will no longer be empty in RTL languages in the device setup experience (OOBE).
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing notification popups to get stuck as a transparent box on the side of your screen that blocked input.
  
• Addressed an underlying issue believed to be the root cause of the system thinking you were on battery when UPS was connected recently.
  
• The keyboard shortcut to launch Quick Assist (WIN + CTRL + Q) should be working again now.
  
• Addressed an issue where some signed apps were unexpectedly blocked by Smart App Control.
  
• If you use your keyboard to control your brightness or volume level, the flyout that appears with now respect if you've turned animation effects off in Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects.
  
• Addressed an underlying issue that could result in a yellow border getting stuck around your game after taking a screenshot with the Xbox Game Bar.
  
• Fixed an underlying app registration issue leading to the Windows Security app not launching or showing a prompt saying there was no installed app for that protocol after upgrade.
  
• Made a change that should help address an issue where Insiders were seeing Windows Terminal failing to update in the Microsoft Store with error code 0x80073CFB.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing certain apps relying on the .NET Framework to fail to launch in the last few flights.
  
• Did some work to address a leak in uxtheme.dll, leading to some performance degradation over time in certain apps.
  
• Addressed an issue causing defrag.exe to show an error saying "No such interface supported (0x80004002) recently.
  
• Fixed a bugcheck with error DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION in recent builds that Insiders might have encountered when disconnecting Bluetooth devices or other Bluetooth scenarios.
  
• Improved the reliability of connecting Bluetooth devices like Apple AirPods.
  
• Fixed an issue leading to audio not playing immediately after resuming from hibernation when certain Bluetooth headsets were connected.
  
• Addressed an issue which could lead to a bugcheck with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA when connecting certain USB audio devices in recent builds.
  
• Fixed a crash in the previous flight related to cdp.dll.
  
• Fixed an underlying issue which was causing the Wireless Display app to not be able to receive content in the last couple flights.
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22616

Windows Insiders who like to game on their PCs with an Xbox Controller on the latest Insider Preview builds in the Dev and Beta Channels can try out the new controller bar feature – see this blog post for details.

Note: The window for switching from Dev Channel to the Beta Channel is closing soon.  See the blog post for instructions if you need assistance making the change.

Changes and Improvements:

[General]

• [REMINDER] The build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop is no longer present in this build. This doesn't mean we're done, and the watermark will return to Insiders in a future build.
  

[Taskbar]

• As a result of feedback from Windows Insiders, we have decided to disable the changes to the system tray introduced in Build 22581 for now. The system tray and specifically the "Show hidden icons" flyout will now function the same way it did with the original release of Windows 11, including the ability to rearrange icons in the flyout. We hope to bring these changes back in the future after further refinement of the experience by addressing some of the feedback we have received. As we've mentioned previously, features we try out in the Dev or Beta Channels may not always ship.
  

[Other]

• Previously, we shared new requirements for internet and MSA on the Windows 11 Pro edition. Today, Windows Insiders on Windows 11 Pro edition will now require MSA and internet connectivity during the initial device setup (OOBE) only when setting up for personal use. If you choose to setup device for Work or School, there is no change, and it will work the same way as before.
  

Fixes

[General]

• We fixed an issue where performance and reliability of explorer.exe could degrade over time, eventually resulting in a bugcheck, in the recent Insider Preview builds.
  

[Taskbar]

• We fixed the issue causing the "Show hidden icons" flyout in the system tray to disappear completely for some Insiders, even though it shows as "on" under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and "Other system tray icons".
  

[Input]

• Fixed an issue which was leading to some apps crashing when pressing the half-width/full-width key while using the Japanese IME.
  

[Widgets]

• Fixed an issue where if you tried to open the widgets board using a gesture from the side of the screen, you would see the widgets board open and then immediately close.
  
• Fixed an issue where users were unable to use the swipe functionality to reliably invoke Widgets.
  

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue that could cause Quick Settings to crash when projecting to certain wireless devices.
  

[Windowing]

• Addressed an issue where using the 3-finger on-screen touch gesture for minimizing could cause animations to stop working across the system.
  
• Fixed an issue impacting DWM reliability in recent flights.
  
• Fixed an issue which was causing some apps like Settings to open blank if they were re-opened an upgrade or reboot.
  

[Task Manager]

• We fixed an issue that was causing the process list to fluctuate between Apps & Background groups when clicking on Efficiency mode from the command bar
  

[Windows Sandbox]

• Fixed an underlying issue which could cause some text in Windows Sandbox to appear as black boxes in certain cases.
  

[Other]

• Fixed an issue leading to Windows Update notifications showing they were sent from "Windows.SystemToast.WindowsUpdate.MoNotification" instead of "Windows Update".
  

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22616

UPDATE 5/10: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22616.100 (KB5014650). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev and Beta Channels.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25115

IMPORTANT: With this build getting released to the Dev Channel, the window closes for you to be able to switch from the Dev Channel to the Beta Channel since your device will be on a higher build number than what is provided in the Beta Channel. If your device installs this build and you decide you want to switch, you have 10 days or until we release a newer build to the Dev Channel to roll back and switch to the Beta Channel. If you do not roll back within 10 days or your device takes another new build, the only way to switch to the Beta Channel is to do a clean installation of the released version of Windows 11 on your device to switch to the Beta Channel.

Note: This build will not be offered to ARM64 PCs.

This build includes a new feature called "Suggested Actions".  When you copy a date, time, or phone number, Windows will suggest actions relevant to you such as creating calendar events or making phone calls with your favorite apps.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• We updated the icons in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) on this build.

Fixes

[General]

• Updated the underlying speech platform to improve voice activity detection for voice access, live captions, and voice typing, as well as address some issues with how punctuation is recognized.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue related to loading the system tray icons in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar which could cause Settings to crash when opening that page recently. This issue may have also led to some explorer.exe crashes for impacted Insiders.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue leading to Insiders seeing error 0x800703E6 when copying files from Google Drive.
• We made another change to help improve the performance of loading Home.
• Fixed an issue where if you had ever opened the context menu, doing CTRL + ALT + DEL and cancelling would lead to explorer.exe crashing.
• Fixed a sporadic explorer.exe crash when closing File Explorer windows.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue where if Settings suspended, it could lock up explorer.exe in certain cases.
• Improved how Narrator reads out remaining space available in System > Storage.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed some issues related to access key use in Task Manager, including that you weren't able to directly press ALT + without first releasing the ALT key, and that displaying the access keys wouldn't work after having used and dismissed them.
• If the CPU reaches 100%, the CPU column header should no longer unexpectedly become unreadable in dark mode.

[Windows Security]

• Fixed an issue which could result in Smart App Control unexpectedly blocking correctly signed applications.

[Other]

• Addressed an issue which was leading to Memory Integrity unexpectedly getting turned off in some cases after rebooting.
• Fixed an issue causing the Update Stack Package to show install error 0xc4800010.

[Corrine]

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25120

ARM64 devices will be able to update to this build and ISOs are released for the build.  They can be downloaded here.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

As described 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 preview build, some Insiders will see one of these conceptual features as we begin to explore exposing lightweight interactive content on the Windows desktop. Today, Windows exposes this type of content in the Widgets board. To begin assessing this general idea and interaction model, the first exploration in this area adds a search box displayed on the desktop that enables you to search the web.

If you would like to remove this search box, you can right-click on the desktop, choose "Show more options," and toggle the "Show search" option.

We are excited to learn your feedback on this interaction model, 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.

Fixes

[Suggested Actions]

• Suggested actions should appear for more date and time formats now.
• Addressed some issues with certain formats when copying a date and/or time.
• Improved overall performance and reliability of the feature.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue that could crash Settings when opening and looking at the battery usage graph.
• Improved performance of displaying Wi-Fi networks after enabling Wi-Fi from the Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings.

[Task Manager]

• Addressed an issue leading to some unreadable text in the Performance page when a contrast theme was enabled.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which could cause Windows Update to stall and roll back updates for WSA users.
• Did some work to address a stutter in the progress wheel animation when upgrading to a new build.

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.