Hi all, yesterday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23435 to the Dev Channel.
What’s new in Build 23435
Gallery in File Explorer
We are introducing Gallery, a new feature in File Explorer designed to make it easy to access your photo collection. The set of content shown in Gallery is the same as what you’ll see in the All Photos view in the Photos app.
Gallery in File Explorer.
Gallery is optimized for accessing your most recently taken photos. If you have OneDrive Camera Roll Backup set up on your phone, photos you take will show up automatically at the top of the view. You can choose which folders are shown in Gallery through the Collection dropdown. You can also add subfolders of existing sources to filter to a subset of your content, such as desktop backgrounds and SD card/camera imports.
Gallery also works from the file picking dialog, bringing that same ease of use to situations such as inserting attachments, building a PowerPoint deck, or crafting social media posts.
Gallery in the file picking dialog.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience 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 Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
We are continuing the exploration of badging on the Start menu with several new treatments for users logging in with local user accounts to highlight the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA). If you see one of these treatments, give us feedback on what you think. As a reminder, it is normal for us to try out different concepts in the Dev Channel to get feedback.
Different treatments of badging on the Start menu highlighting the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account for users logged in with a local user account.
[File Explorer]
Windows Insiders will begin noticing a “pizza” icon on the command bar in File Explorer. This icon denotes that an Insider is previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer. Functionality in File Explorer remains unchanged, it just switches from using WinUI 2 to using WinUI 3.
Pizza icon in File Explorer’s command bar to denote previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer.
[Narrator]
Narrator users who interact with Traditional Chinese characters are now able to do this with confidence while using Narrator and the IME candidate window in Windows. This was accomplished by creating a Traditional Chinese dictionary for detail reading. Narrator now consumes the dictionary to disambiguate each Traditional Chinese word. Users should be aware that Narrator detailed reading is only supported for the Taiwan language pack. The Hong-Kong language pack is not supported with Narrator.
[Settings]
We are introducing new presence sensor privacy settings and APIs. If you have a device with compatible presence sensors, you can now manage your privacy and block/allow certain apps from accessing these sensors. No images or metadata is collected by Microsoft and all processing is done locally on the device hardware to maximize privacy. You will find these settings under Settings > Privacy & security > Presence sensinghere if your device supports it. App developers with devices with compatible presence sensors can target apps to request and read user presence information after requesting a human presence capability. Learn more about the API here.
New presence sensor privacy settings under Settings if your device supports it.
Fixes
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed a few explorer.exe crashes that were impacting taskbar reliability.
[Input]
Updated the TextInput/EnableTouchKeyboardAutoInvokeInDesktopMode MDM policy to allow “2” as a valid value to enforce showing the touch keyboard on tapping an edit control even when the hardware keyboard is attached.
[Settings]
Fixed an issue which was causing Settings crashes when navigating to various Windows Update related pages in the last couple flights.
[Live captions]
Fixed the issue that caused enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page to require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu on Arm64 devices.
Fixed the issue where you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions) when adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, and language feature installation progress may become hidden.
[Task Manager]
Improved the performance of the expand all / collapse all View options on the Processes page.
[Accessibility]
Updated Narrator’s default for “Context level for buttons and controls” to “3 – Immediate content name and type.”
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[Search on the Taskbar]
There is an issue where some people may not see the search box on the taskbar and/or the settings to adjust the search box experience on the taskbar after updating to Build 23403. We are aware of the issue, and we are working on a fix.
[File Explorer]
Insiders who have Gallery in File Explorer will see the following issues:
[NEW] Gallery may require clicking twice on the node in the navigation pane for initial load.
[NEW] Live updates (including filtering) are currently disabled and require using the Refresh button as a workaround.
[NEW] Thumbnail loading performance for dehydrated cloud files and memory usage in large collections are known issues we are focused on improving. Please capture Performance traces in Feedback Hub for any performance-related issues. Rebuilding your Indexer can help if thumbnails are missing for cloud files; Search for “Indexing Options” and look in Advanced settings to find the rebuild tool.
[NEW] Photos from OneDrive for Business currently must be hydrated to work properly.
[NEW] Some file types (e.g., HEIC) might not be rendered correctly or performantly.
Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer will see the following issues:
Access keys will appear inconsistently if no button is pressed. Pressing a button will cause them to reappear.
Shift + Right click on a file or folder is not opening “Show more options”.
Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer:
Clicking on the Share command will currently bring up the Windows share sheet (non-OneDrive).
[Live captions]
[NEW] Live captions will crash on first launch due to an issue impacting registry data retrieval. A new fix is expected very soon.
Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.
One of the most noticeable changes in Windows 11 is the new right-click menu that appears when you click on a file, folder, or desktop. The new menu is more compact and modern, with rounded corners and icons for common actions. It also integrates with Microsoft’s cloud services, such as OneDrive and Teams. Here are some of the features and tips for using the new right-click menu in Windows 11.
The new menu shows only the most frequently used commands, such as open, cut, copy, paste, rename, delete, and share. If you want to access more options, you can click on the “Show more options” button at the bottom of the menu, which will open the classic context menu that you are familiar with from previous versions of Windows.
You can also access the classic context menu by holding down the Shift key while right-clicking on an item. This is useful if you want to quickly access some advanced commands that are not available in the new menu, such as properties, security, or previous versions.
The new menu has a dynamic layout that adapts to different types of items and screen sizes. For example, if you right-click on an image file, you will see additional commands for editing, printing, or setting as desktop background. If you right-click on a text file, you will see commands for opening with Notepad or WordPad. If you right-click on a folder, you will see commands for opening in a new window or pinning to Quick Access.
The new menu also supports keyboard shortcuts for faster navigation. You can use the arrow keys to move up and down the menu items, and press Enter to select an item. You can also use the first letter of an item to jump to it directly. For example, pressing S will select the Share command. You can also press Esc to close the menu without selecting anything.
The new menu is integrated with Microsoft’s cloud services, such as OneDrive and Teams. If you right-click on a file or folder that is synced with OneDrive, you will see commands for managing your online storage, such as freeing up space or viewing online. If you right-click on a file or folder that is shared with Teams, you will see commands for opening or chatting in Teams.
The new menu is customizable to some extent. You can add or remove items from the menu by using the Registry Editor or third-party tools. However, this is not recommended for novice users, as it may cause system instability or errors. You can also change the appearance of the menu by using different themes or colors in Windows 11 settings.
The new right-click menu in Windows 11 is designed to make your workflow more efficient and convenient. It offers a sleek and simple interface that matches the overall look and feel of Windows 11. It also connects you with Microsoft’s cloud services and apps that enhance your productivity and collaboration. Try it out and see how it works for you!
Hi all, yesterday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1546 and Build 22624.1546 (KB5025310) to the Beta Channel.
Build 22624.1546 has new features rolling out and turned on by default.
Build 22621.1546 has new features off by default.
Insiders who were previously on Build 22623 will automatically get moved to Build 22624 via an enablement package.
Insiders who landed in the group with new features off by default can choose to install the update that will have features rolling out.
The blog post also lists some changes, improvements, fixes and known issues in the new builds.
My Beta Channel decvice update quickly & without issues
Happy upgrades! & Happy Easter!
Changes and Improvements in Build 22624.1546
[General]
In the previous flight, we documented that Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) works on desktop PCs – however, it does not. We have updated that blog post. Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) also needs to be enabled by the OEM (the manufacturer of the device). As a result, this feature is not available on all laptop or 2-in-1 devices.
[Settings]
Improved the performance of search within Settings.
Pressing the print screen key will now open Snipping Tool by default. This setting can be turned off via Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. If you have previously modified this setting yourself, your preference will be preserved.
A limit of 20 most recent tabs has been introduced under Settings > Multitasking to show tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.
Fixes in Build 22624.1546
[Input]
Fixed an issue where text input features like touch keyboard, voice typing, and emoji panel might not launch.
Fixed an issue where the buttons in the Pinyin IME’s settings flyout were hard to see when they had focus if a contrast theme was enabled.
[Task Manager]
Fixed an issue where some of the details in the Performance page wouldn’t display properly until you resized the window or changed pages back and forth.
Known issues
[Search on the Taskbar]
If you have the Bing button in the search box on the taskbar and you restart your computer, you may see the daily rotating search highlight for some time before getting the Bing button back.
[File Explorer]
Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer:
[NEW] Shift + Right click on a file or folder is not opening “Show more options”.
[Live captions]
On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page will require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu.
Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
When adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, language feature installation progress may become hidden, and you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions). (You can use the language’s “Language options” to monitor progress.) If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the live caption setup experience detects this and lets you continue.
Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.
Hi all, yesterday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23430 to the Dev Channel.
The build introduces some changes and improvements, such as a view notification button for urgent or important notifications, a new setting for developers to enable end task on the taskbar, and a limit of 20 most recent tabs in Settings > Multitasking.
The build also fixes some issues related to input, Task Manager, and accessibility.
The build has some known issues with search on the taskbar and File Explorer.
All of my Dev Channel devices upgraded without issues.
Happy Upgrades!
What’s new in Build 23430
Changes and Improvements
[General]
Urgent or important notifications that break through when do not disturb is turned on while using apps at full screen will now display a “view notification” button to view the content of the notification for privacy.
Urgent or important notifications now show display a view notification button to view the content of the notification when using an app in full screen.
In the previous flight, we documented that Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) works on desktop PCs – however, it does not. We have updated that blog post. Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) also needs to be enabled by the OEM (the manufacturer of the device). As a result, this feature is not available on all laptop or 2-in-1 devices.
[Settings]
A limit of 20 most recent tabs has been introduced under Settings > Multitasking to show tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.
[Developer]
We are introducing a new setting under Settings > Privacy & security > For developers to enable end task when right-clicking an app on the taskbar. This setting is in Build 23430 but does not currently work when the feature is toggled on. It will be fixed in a future flight.
Fixes
[General]
Fixed an underlying issue causing some Insiders to see an increase in explorer.exe crashes in the last 2 flights.
[Input]
Fixed an issue where text input features like touch keyboard, voice typing, and emoji panel might not launch.
Fixed an issue where the buttons in the Pinyin IME’s settings flyout were hard to see when they had focus if a contrast theme was enabled.
[Task Manager]
Fixed an issue impacting Task Manager reliability.
The search box should no longer be cropped at the top when the window is maximized.
[Accessibility]
Fixed an issue where in Quick Settings, Narrator was reading out the previous page’s title instead of the active page’s.
After downloading voice access, information to help you get started with it should correctly open again now.
Fixed an issue where popups for voice access weren’t translated correctly.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[Search on the Taskbar]
There is an issue where some people may not see the search box on the taskbar and/or the settings to adjust the search box experience on the taskbar after updating to Build 23403. We are aware of the issue, and we are working on a fix.
If you have the Bing button in the search box on the taskbar and you restart your computer, you may see the daily rotating search highlight for some time before getting the Bing button back.
[File Explorer]
Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer:
Access keys will appear inconsistently if no button is pressed. Pressing a button will cause them to reappear.
[NEW] Shift + Right click on a file or folder is not opening “Show more options”.
Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer:
Clicking on the Share command will currently bring up the Windows share sheet (non-OneDrive).
[Live captions]
On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page will require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu.
Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
When adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, language feature installation progress may become hidden, and you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions). (You can use the language’s “Language options” to monitor progress.) If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the live caption setup experience detects this and lets you continue.
Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.
Hi all, Yesterday Microsof treleased Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25336 to the Canary Channel.
A very short blogpost details some of the changes, expecting to find some more while we test this new build 🙂
All Canary devices went smoothly here.
Happy upgrades! & Happy Easter!
Changes and Improvements
[Settings]
Improved the performance of search within Settings.
Customers with 2 or more discrete graphics adapters with no integrated graphics can now choose which of the discrete graphics adapters is considered high-performance. Navigate to Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Default graphics settings and select which of the discrete graphics adapters you would like to be designated as the Default high performance GPU.
A limit of 20 most recent tabs has been introduced under Settings > Multitasking to show tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist. This change rolled out with Build 25330 last week.
Hi all, Last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25330 to the Canary Channel.
Smooth upgrade here, looks like Snippingtool’s recoring feature has been fixed in this build (https://aka.ms/AAjus5q)
Feedback Hub had some issues connecting at first, restarting the app fixed it
Happy Upgrades!
Changes and Improvements
[Settings]
Pressing the print screen key will now open Snipping Tool by default. This setting can be turned off via Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. If you have previously modified this setting yourself, your preference will be preserved.
The settings page for wheel devices such as the Surface Dial has been updated to better match the Windows 11 design principles.
Updated wheel devices settings page.
[Windows Sandbox]
If you have changed your primary mouse button under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse, Windows Sandbox will now follow that setting.
[Remote Desktop]
We updated the Remote Desktop Connection setup window (mstsc.exe) so that it now follows the text scaling settings under Settings > Accessibility > Text Size. In cases where the text scaling is very large, it will show a scrollbar.
[BitLocker]
When encrypting a drive using BitLocker, you can now minimize the encryption progress dialog.
[Inbox apps]
You can now uninstall the Camera app if you need to.
Microsoft Store Update
Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels running version 22303.1401.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvements rolling out:
Install free apps and games from search results: We’ve introduced a new way to install free apps and games. Hovering over a free product on the search results page opens a new expanded card experience, where you can find a convenient install button. This will trigger the installation without having to navigate into the product page.
Quickly install free apps and games from search results in the Store.
New design when purchasing apps and games in the Store: Discover a new and redesigned experience when purchasing apps and games inside the Microsoft Store! The purchase dialog’s styles align better with Windows 11 to bring you a more pleasant checkout experience.
New design when purchasing apps and games in the Store.
New UX for in-app ratings dialog: Developers of your favorite apps and games often use a Microsoft Store feature that requests ratings from within the app or game. We’ve updated this in-app ratings experiences to be faster, more reliable, and to better align with Windows 11 styling.
New UX for in-app ratings dialog in the Store.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.
Hi all, Last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23419 to the Dev Channel.
They also released ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.
Smooth updates on my devices on the #DevChannel keep an eye out for the iPhone sync option in Phone Link, it’s starting to be rolled out…
Happy Upgrades!
What’s new in Build 23419
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.
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.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Task Manager.
USB4 Settings Page
We are adding a USB4 hubs and devices Settings page for users under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > USB > USB4 Hubs and Devices. USB4 enables new productivity scenarios for docking, high performance peripherals, displays and charging. The USB4 settings page provides information about the system’s USB4 capabilities and attached peripherals on a USB4 capable system. These insights are meant to assist with troubleshooting in case users need support from their device manufacturer (OEM) or system administrator. The features provided by this page are:
View the tree of connected USB4 hubs and devices.
View attributes and capabilities associated with the USB4 domain.
Copy the details into the clipboard so it can be shared with customer support or system administrators for troubleshooting.
USB4 Settings page with details shown.
If the system does not support USB4 with the Microsoft USB4 Connection Manager, this page will not be displayed.
To confirm whether your system is USB4 capable or not, check for “USB4 Host Router” populating in the Device Manager.
USB4 Host Router as shown in Device Manager.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Buses.
Cloud Suggestion in Simplified Chinese IME
We are trying out some changes that will allow you to easily type popular words in Simplified Chinese. The changes include an improved cloud suggestion and integrated search suggestion. The cloud suggestion adds the most relevant word from Bing to the IME candidate window. We’ve updated the back-end logic so that we can provide better, fresh suggestions.
Simplified Chinese IME candidate window with a word suggestion from Bing at the second place.
The integrated search suggestion gives you additional suggestions that are similar to what you see in Bing search page. You can either insert a suggestion as text or search it directly in Bing.
Bing search suggestions expanded from IME candidate window.
To turn on these features, select a chevron button at the right end of the IME candidate window. You’ll find Turn on button.
IME candidate window with a balloon tip that points to the chevron button.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Input and Language > Text Input.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
The new features for app defaults in Windows 11 as mentioned here in this blog post are included in this build. The features for app pinning are coming in a future flight.
[Start menu]
We are trying out a small change with some Windows Insiders where the “Recommended” section of the Start menu is changed to “For you”. Let us know what you think in Feedback Hub if you see this change.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
The glanceable VPN status show overlayed over an active network connection into the system tray when connected to a recognized VPN profile now displays in your system accent color.
Glanceable VPN status in the system tray using system accent color.
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.
Option to show seconds in the system tray clock.
[Search on the Taskbar]
Once you have access to the new Bing, the search box on the taskbar will include a button that opens the Bing chat experience in Edge. If you don’t have access to the new Bing, the search box on the taskbar will feature a dynamic search highlight button. We’re beginning to roll this out to Insiders, not everyone will see it right away.
[Voice access]
The redesigned in-app help page in voice access introduced with Build 23403 now includes all commands and the supplementary information accurately.
Pressing the print screen key will now open Snipping Tool by default. This setting can be turned off via Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. If you have previously modified this setting yourself, your preference will be preserved.
Improved the experience on logon after booting up by reducing the performance impact of startup apps.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to read the position before the name on system tray icons.
Fixed an issue causing the show hidden icons flyout to open behind things like OneNote flyout and live captions.
Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe crashes related to drag and drop.
[Search on the Taskbar]
Fixed a search crash from the last flight.
[File Explorer]
Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening Home if certain content was visible in the Recent section.
Made some improvements to the performance of loading File Explorer in the case where there’s a disconnected network drive visible in the navigation pane.
[Start menu]
Fixed an issue where dragging content across an open Start menu folder could cause a crash.
[Input]
Fixed an issue where after using voice typing your PC might not enter modern standby.
[Live captions]
We fixed the issue causing live captions to not work for Chinese Traditional on Arm64 devices.
[Task Manager]
Fixed an issue where some of the details in the Performance page wouldn’t display properly until you resized the window or changed pages back and forth.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[Search on the Taskbar]
There is an issue where some people may not see the search box on taskbar and/or the settings to adjust the search box experience on the taskbar after updating to Build 23403. We are aware of the issue, and we are working on a fix.
[ADDED] If you have the Bing button in the search box on taskbar and you restart your computer, you may see the daily rotating search highlight for some time before getting the Bing button back.
[File Explorer]
Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer:
Access keys will appear inconsistently if no button is pressed. Pressing a button will cause them to reappear.
Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer:
Clicking on the Share command will currently bring up the Windows share sheet (non-OneDrive).
Clicking on the “Open File Location” command will pop an error dialog that can easily be dismissed.
Clicking on the ‘Remove from list’ command will result in no actions.
[Live captions]
On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page will require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu.
Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
When adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, language feature installation progress may become hidden, and you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions). (You can use the language’s “Language options” to monitor progress.) If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the live caption setup experience detects this and lets you continue.
Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.
Hi all, Last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25324 to the Canary Channel.
They also released ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.
On this build My Phone Link app started showing the option to link not only an android but also the option to link an iPhone.
look for Phone Link in your start menu
slightly redacted view of my Phone Link app linked to my iPhone
What’s new in Build 25324
Evolved Widgets Board
We are beginning to preview a revamp of the widgets board experience with a larger canvas (3-columns if supported by the device) and dedicated sections for widgets and feed content with a clear separation between them. This will provide users with quick access to glanceable content from their apps and services as well as enable users to take a high-value break with personalized news content.
Example of updated widgets board with larger canvas and dedicated sections for widgets and feed content.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Canary 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 > Widgets.
USB4 Settings Page
We are adding a USB4 hubs and devices Settings page for users under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > USB > USB4 Hubs and Devices. USB4 enables new productivity scenarios for docking, high performance peripherals, displays and charging. The USB4 settings page provides information about the system’s USB4 capabilities and attached peripherals on a USB4 capable system. These insights are meant to assist with troubleshooting in case users need support from their device manufacturer (OEM) or system administrator. The features provided by this page are:
View the tree of connected USB4 hubs and devices.
View attributes and capabilities associated with the USB4 domain.
Copy the details into the clipboard so it can be shared with customer support or system administrators for troubleshooting.
USB4 Settings page with details shown.
If the system does not support USB4 with the Microsoft USB4 Connection Manager, this page will not be displayed.
To confirm whether your system is USB4 capable or not, check for “USB4 Host Router” populating in the Device Manager.
USB4 Host Router as shown in Device Manager.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Buses.
Unsafe password copy and paste warnings
Starting in Windows 11, version 22H2, Enhanced Phishing Protection in Microsoft Defender SmartScreen helps protect Microsoft school or work passwords against phishing and unsafe usage on sites and apps. We are trying out a change starting with this build where users who have enabled warning options for Windows Security under App & browser control > Reputation-based protection > Phishing protection will see a UI warning on unsafe password copy and paste, just as they currently see when they type in their password.
Example warning dialog on unsafe password copy and paste.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Canary 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 Security and Privacy > Microsoft Defender SmartScreen.
Introducing SHA-3 Support
Starting with this build, we are adding support for the SHA-3 family of hash functions and SHA-3 derived functions (SHAKE, cSHAKE, KMAC). The SHA-3 family of algorithms are the latest standardized hash functions by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Support for these functions has been enabled through the Windows CNG library.
Supported SHA-3 hash functions: SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512 (SHA3-224 is not supported)
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Developer Platform > API Feedback.
Changes and Improvements
[Widgets]
We are beginning to roll out animated icons for Widgets on the taskbar. The animation triggers when you hover or click on the Widgets taskbar entry-point or when a new widget announcement is displayed on your taskbar. Currently, only a few weather and finance icons are supported.
Example of animated icons for Widgets on the taskbar.
[Search on the Taskbar]
Once you have access to the new Bing, the search box on the taskbar will include a button that opens the Bing chat experience in Edge. If you don’t have access to the new Bing, the search box on the taskbar will feature a dynamic search highlight button. We’re beginning to roll this out to Insiders, not everyone will see it right away.
[Input]
We have updated several simplified Chinese fonts and the Microsoft Pinyin IME to support GB18030-2022. With this update, you can enter and display characters from conformance level 1 or 2 via the additions to Microsoft Yahei, Simsun and Dengxian. Unicode Extensions E and F are now supported in our Simsun Ext-B font to meet the requirements for level 3.
If you have multiple cameras that support Windows Hello, you can now select your preferred camera under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options.
Showing a new dropdown in sign-n settings for your preferred camera, saying “let Windows choose” or letting you pick the camera.
[File Explorer]
Made some changes which should noticeably help improve the performance of the “calculating” phase when sending a large number of files at once in File Explorer to the recycle bin.
Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23403 to the Dev Channel.
This is the 1st build released to the new Dev Channel as these are 23xxx builds, it is not possible to get the build if your device is on 25xxx from being in the Dev Channel before.
If you are currently on 25309 you eighter have to choose to go Canary Channel to continue flighting 25314 and up, or if you want to flight in the New Dev Channel you will need to reinstall you device with a build lower than 23403.
I switched a device from the Release Preview Channel (22xxx) to the Dev Channel but ran into a snag at 64% ‘Working on updates’ the animation kept spinning left it on for 24hrs with that screen, then powered it down. (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAjxcao)
update: I looked through the logfiles & turned out it was trying to install something blocked by device guard so I turned that of & tried again. currently 66% & counting.
Happy Flighting!
What’s new in Build 23403
Introducing live captions in more languages
Live captions help everyone and people who are deaf or hard of hearing read live captions in their native language. The first release of live captions in the Windows 11 2022 Update provided captions in English, with a focus on English (United States). In this build, live captions gains the ability to also provide captions in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish and other English dialects. We will add more languages as they become available.
Live captions in Japanese.
To get started, live captions can be turned on with the WIN + Ctrl + L keyboard shortcut, or from the quick settings accessibility flyout via Quick Settings. When turned on for the first time, live captions will prompt for download of the required speech recognition support to enable on-device captioning. If speech recognition support is not available in your preferred Windows language or you want support in other languages, you will be able to download speech recognition support for live captions under Settings > Time & Language > Language & region.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Live captions.
Access Keys in File Explorer
We are adding access key shortcuts into the XAML context menu in File Explorer. An access key is a one keystroke shortcut that allows a keyboard user to quickly execute a command in context menu. Each access key will correspond with a letter in the display name. It’s part of our effort to make File Explorer more accessible. To try this out, you can click on a file in File Explorer and press the menu key on your keyboard.
Access keys in the XAML context menu in File Explorer.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience 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 Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.
File Recommendations in File Explorer
File Recommendations are coming to File Explorer Home to bring users the most relevant file content right to their fingertips. This feature (as pictured below) will be available to users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account. Files that are recommended will be cloud files associated with that account, either owned by the user, or shared with the user.
File recommendations in File Explorer for users signed in with an AAD account.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience 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 Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.
Voice access improvements
Redesigned in-app command help page: We have completely renovated the in-app command help page in voice access to make it simpler to use and comprehend. The search bar allows users to quickly find commands and the various categories provide further guidance. Every command now has a description and examples of its variations, making it easier to understand and use.
You can access the command help page from Help > View all commands on the voice access bar or use the voice command “what can I say”.
Redesigned in-app help page in voice access.
Please note that the redesigned in-app help page in voice access may not include all commands and the supplementary information may be inaccurate. We plan to update this in future builds. If you want an exhaustive list of Voice Access commands and extra information about them, we recommend you refer Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice – Microsoft Support.
Voice access is available in English dialects: We have extended voice access to support other English dialects such as English -UK, English – India, English – New Zealand, English – Canada, English – Australia.
When voice access is turned on for the first time, you will be prompted to download a speech model to enable on-device recognition of voice data. In case voice access does not find a speech model matching your display language, you can still choose to proceed ahead to use voice access in English – US.
You can always switch to a different language by navigating to Settings > Language on the voice access bar.
Language on the voice access bar.
New text selection & editing commands: We have added some more useful commands to make text selection and editing easier with voice access.
To do this
Say this
Select a range of text in the text box
“Select from [text 1] to [text 2]”, e.g., “Select from have to voice access”
Delete all the text in a text box
“Delete all”
Apply bold/underline/italicize formatting on the selected text or last dictated text
“Bold that”, “Underline that”, “Italicize that”
Remove all whitespaces from selected text or last dictated text For example, you dictated “Peyton Davis @outlook.com” in the last utterance and you want to remove all spaces to get output as PeytonDavis@outlook.com
“no space that”
Insert “text” at the cursor and capitalize first letter of each word. For example, you want to insert “Hello World ” at the text cursor
“Caps [text]” ,e.g., “Caps hello world”
Inserts “text” at the cursor without any whitespace before “text”. For example, the text “Peyton” is entered in the text box and now you want to insert “Davis” but do not want a space to be added before Davis. (output: PeytonDavis)
“No space [text]” e.g., “No space Davis””
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice Access.
Updated Touch Keyboard Settings
We are introducing updates for the new touch keyboard setting that replaces the “Show the touch keyboard when there’s no keyboard attached” checkbox under Settings > Time & language > Typing > Touch keyboard with a new dropdown menu with 3 options to control whether tapping an edit control should launch the touch keyboard:
“Never” suppresses the touch keyboard even when no hardware keyboard is attached.
“When no keyboard attached” will show the touch keyboard only when the device is used as a tablet without the hardware keyboard.
“Always” will show the touch keyboard even when the hardware keyboard is attached.
New touch keyboard settings.
Narrator Outlook Support
Narrator will now retrieve updates to its Outlook support when Narrator is started. You can learn more about the work we did for Outlook in Chapter 5 of the Narrator User Guide. We have not added any additional functionality to our Outlook support, but this work will allow updates to the Outlook experience to be made through the Microsoft Store. You will receive a notification after the download is completed to inform you that the update has been retrieved. With this change, Narrator’s Outlook support is limited to U.S. English only. Other languages will be supported in a future flight.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.
Multi-App Kiosk Mode
Multi-app kiosk mode is a lockdown feature for Windows 11 that allows an IT administrator to select a set of allowable apps to run on the device, while all other functionalities are blocked. This enables you to create multiple different apps and access configurations for different user types, all on a single device.
Some lockdown customizations include:
Limiting access to Settings, except selected pages (e.g., Wi-Fi and screen brightness)
Lock down the Start menu to show only allowed apps.
Block toasts and pop-ups that lead to unwanted UI.
Multi-app kiosk mode is ideal for scenarios in which multiple people need to use the same device. This can include frontline workers and retail scenarios, education and test taking.
Currently, multi-app kiosk mode can be enabled using PowerShell and WMI Bridge, with support for Intune/MDM and provisioning package configuration coming soon.
To configure using WMI, follow these instructions. Using the Windows 10 sample XML will enable the feature, but will result in an empty Start menu. To populate the Start menu with your apps, follow these instructions to generate the list of pinned apps, then add it to your XML file after closing the StartLayout section, like the below:
<win11:StartPins><![CDATA[ <em>Your JSON here </em>]]></win11:StartPins>
Don’t forget to update the namespace by replacing the AssignedAccessConfiguration tag with the below:
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Device Lockdown
Changes and Improvements
[General]
Users will now see a copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts from apps installed on the PC or from phones linked to the PC. We make a best effort to determine if a notification toast has an authentication code but please send us feedback if we got it wrong or if we failed to detect the code in a notification toast. This change is beginning to roll out, so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel will see it right away.
New copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts.
[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 over the active network connection. Currently, the overlayed VPN icon does not use your system accent color but will do so in a future build.
A glanceable VPN status into the system tray.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The search box on taskbar will be lighter when Windows is set to a custom color mode. Specifically, when the Windows 11 mode is set to dark, and the app mode is set to light under Settings > Personalization > Colors you will see a lighter search box on taskbar.
The search box on taskbar will be lighter when Windows is set to a custom color mode.
[Input]
We have updated the Simplified Chinese handwriting recognition engine to be faster and more accurate as well as supported characters defined in GB18030-2022. Currently you can write characters in GB18030-2022 Level 2 and some of characters in GB18030-2022 Level 1 in the handwriting panel or directly into the text field when it’s supported. Please try it and let us know what you think.
The Simplified Chinese handwriting recognition engine is faster and more accurate and now supports characters defined in GB18030-202.
[Settings]
Right-clicking on a Win32 app in Start, or searching for the app, and choosing “Uninstall” will now take you to the Settings to uninstall the app.
Fixes
[Search on the Taskbar]
Fixed rendering issues when using the touch keyboard with the search box on taskbar.
Fixed an issue when double clicking the search highlight glyph in the search box makes it disappear.
Fixed an issue where the search box would randomly disappear.
Fixed an issue where the search icon flips incorrectly for right-to-left (RTL) languages.
Fixed on issue where you might have seen some text flicker in the search box when you click into it.
Fixed an issue where the search box might disappear on one monitor if you are using multiple monitors.
Made some accessibility fixes to the settings for search under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
[File Explorer]
Fixed an underlying issue believed to be the cause of File Explorer unexpectedly jumping into the foreground sometimes.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[File Explorer]
Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer:
Access keys will appear inconsistently if no button is pressed. Pressing a button will cause them to reappear.
Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer:
Clicking on the Share command will currently bring up the Windows share sheet (non-OneDrive).
Clicking on the “Open File Location” command will pop an error dialog that can easily be dismissed.
Clicking on the ‘Remove from list’ command will result in no actions.
[Live captions]
On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page will require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu.
Live captions for Chinese Traditional currently does not work on Arm64 devices.
Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
When adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, language feature installation progress may become hidden, and you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions). (You can use the language’s “Language options” to monitor progress.) If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the live caption setup experience detects this and lets you continue.
Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.
[Voice access]
Please note that the redesigned in-app help page in voice access may not include all commands and the supplementary information may be inaccurate. We plan to update this in future builds. If you want an exhaustive list of Voice Access commands and extra information about them, we recommend you refer Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice – Microsoft Support.
Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25314 to the Canary Channel, the 1st Canary Channel release.
For devices that were in de Dev Channel before, the Canary Channel is the easiest way to continue, they would have been on build 25309 where this one is the next build release now in the Canary Channel.
you do get the option to switch to Dev Channel but as they are on 23403 now, you will need to reinstall the device to a build lower than that to enable flighting.
Conclusion, the New Canary Channel is actually renamed from Dev & the Dev Channel is the real new channel if we look at the build numbers.
I flighted 3 devices in the Canary Channel, 2 that were on Dev before + 1 after clean install all upgrades went smooth.
Happy Upgrades!
What’s new in Build 25314
Access Keys in File Explorer
We are adding access key shortcuts into the XAML context menu in File Explorer. An access key is a one keystroke shortcut that allows a keyboard user to quickly execute a command in context menu. Each access key will correspond with a letter in the display name. It’s part of our effort to make File Explorer more accessible. To try this out, you can click on a file in File Explorer and press the menu key on your keyboard.
NOTE: If you see the “pizza” icon on the command bar in File Explorer that denotes you are previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer, you will not see this feature yet.
Access keys in the XAML context menu in File Explorer.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Canary 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 Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.
File Recommendations in File Explorer
File Recommendations are coming to File Explorer Home to bring users the most relevant file content right to their fingertips. This feature (as pictured below) will be available to users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account. Files that are recommended will be cloud files associated with that account, either owned by the user, or shared with the user.
File recommendations in File Explorer for users signed in with an AAD account.
[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Canary 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 Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.
Introducing LSA Protection Enablement on Upgrade
Local Security Authority (LSA) protection helps protect against theft of secrets and credentials used for logon by preventing unauthorized code from running in the LSA process and by preventing dumping of process memory. Starting with on upgrade, we will audit for a period of time to check for incompatibilities with LSA protection. If we do not detect any incompatibilities, we will automatically turn on LSA Protection. You can check and change the enablement state of LSA protection in the Windows Security application under the Device Security > Core Isolation page.
Local Security Authority (LSA) protection in Windows Security.
LSA protection records whether programs are blocked from loading into LSA in the event log. If you would like to check if something has been blocked, information on the logs recorded is available here.
Feedback: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN+F) under Security and Privacy > Logging Into Your PC.
Narrator Outlook Support
Narrator will now retrieve updates to its Outlook support when Narrator is started. You can learn more about the work we did for Outlook in Chapter 5 of the Narrator User Guide. We have not added any additional functionality to our Outlook support, but this work will allow updates to the Outlook experience to be made through the Microsoft Store. You will receive a notification after the download is completed to inform you that the update has been retrieved. With this change, Narrator’s Outlook support is limited to U.S. English only. Other languages will be supported in a future flight.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
To increase security in Windows 11, starting with this build and later we are disabling the Remote Mailslot Protocol by default. The legacy Remote Mailslot Protocol is a simple, unreliable, insecure, and unidirectional inter-process communications protocol between a client and server and was introduced in Windows NT 3.1 and will be deprecated in a future Windows release. If an application attempts to open a Remote Mailslot session over the SMB protocol, you may see one or more of the following errors:
3025 ERROR_REMOTE_MAILSLOTS_DEPRECATED
“The requested operation failed. Remote mailslots have been deprecated.”
If your application still uses Remote Mailslot, contact your vendor about updating their software. The legacy Remote Mailslot is not secure and should not be used under any circumstances. If you need to temporarily enable Remote Mailslot, run the following command in an elevated PowerShell console:
