Apr 25

Windows Insider Webcast April 2022

> Download Reminder <

Apr 17

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22598

Hi all, Last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22598 to the Dev and Beta Channels.

New ISO’s have been released for this build at https://aka.ms/wipiso

current available Insider ISO’s

Upgrades went fine here, a few devices showed overlapping taskbar icons with the systray after undocking

Ongoing testing of Smart App Control results in multiple devices not working after build upgrade due to the drivers being partially blocked, uninstalling the devices with a yellow exclamation mark in device manager & re-detecting it does fix it. (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAgnfwq )

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.
Windows Spotlight showing a beautiful background with the contest menu to like, unlike backgrounds and switch to a different background.
Windows Spotlight showing a beautiful background with the contest menu to like, unlike backgrounds and switch to a different background.
  • 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.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • Windows Insiders running Windows 10 who join the Dev or Beta Channels to get the latest builds may encounter a download error code 0xc8000402 while trying to download the latest build. As a workaround, please join the Release Preview Channel first, install Windows 11 from there (Build 22000.xxxx), and then switch to the Dev or Beta Channel to receive the latest Insider Preview build. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.
  • We’re investigating reports that a few Insiders have been experiencing an issue where explorer.exe is crashing repeatedly in a loop in the latest builds and unable to successfully load. This build includes another fix that may help some Insiders who were experiencing this.
  • When opening Group Policy editor, an Administrative Template error will pop up. Click “Ok” to dismiss and continue using Group Policy editor normally.

[Taskbar]

  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components.

[File Explorer]

  • Using context menu options in File Explorer or on the desktop for rename, copy, paste, and delete may cause explorer.exe to crash when the context menu dismisses. As a workaround if you are impacted you will need to use other methods for the desired action, for example, pressing F2 to rename a selected file or folder.
  • The option to “Add to Favorites” does not show when right-clicking on a file on Home. As a workaround, this option can be accessed by choosing “Show more options”.

[Widgets]

  • The widgets board may not open successfully when using the gesture from the side of the screen. If you are impacted, please tap the Widgets icon in the taskbar for now instead.

[Network]

  • We’re investigating reports from Insiders about internet connectivity issues when certain VPNs are connected.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.

source: Windows Blogs

Apr 09

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22593

Hi all, last Wednesday after a week with no build, Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22593 to the Dev and Beta Channels.

Sooth upgrades here, the older hardware seemed to get stuck at 86% with the spinning circle forzen for a while but just waiting for a bit turned out fine.

I’ve been actively testing the new Smart App Control feature introduced a couple builds back (requires clean install to turn on)

Smart App Control turned on after reinstall

It looks & feels like a must have thing, currently it does block a lot of critical stuff at first, without breaking anything (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAgmiav) notifications like this do appear often:

opening up Windows Terminal with Smart App Control enabled

Upgrade on my Surface Book 3 has some devices not correctly installed due to this feature blocking of some Intel drivers, resolved after an extra restart of the device.

Win + CTRL + Q to launch Quick Assist is still broken (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAgano3)

Quick Assist app

The new inbox Clipchamp app seems to behave strange on some devices while working fine on others, eighter it gets stuck on the loading screen (spinning circle) or shows an error before sign in to the app (FeedBack Hub: https://aka.ms/AAgltr5)

Happy Upgrading!

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.
The default homepage of File Explorer is now called Home with the name Quick access repurposed for the pinned/frequent folders section and Pinned files is now called Favorites.
The default homepage of File Explorer is now called Home with the name Quick access repurposed for the pinned/frequent folders section and Pinned files is now called Favorites.
  • 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.
Journal, a Microsoft Garage Project, is now pinned by default on the Pen menu.
Journal, a Microsoft Garage Project, is now pinned by default on the Pen menu.

[Windowing]

  • 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.
Memory integrity in Windows Security.
Memory integrity in Windows Security.

[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. [UPDATE 4/7] This issue is not yet fixed and has been moved to known issues below.
  • 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.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • We will not be offering new builds to Windows Insiders in China on Lenovo PCs.
  • Windows Insiders running Windows 10 who join the Dev or Beta Channels to get the latest builds may encounter a download error code 0xc8000402 while trying to download the latest build. As a workaround, please join the Release Preview Channel first, install Windows 11 from there (Build 22000.xxxx), and then switch to the Dev or Beta Channel to receive the latest Insider Preview build. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.
  • We’re investigating reports that a few Insiders have been experiencing an issue where explorer.exe is crashing repeatedly in a loop in the latest builds and unable to successfully load. This build includes a mitigation that may help some Insiders who were experiencing this.
  • When opening Group Policy editor, an Administrative Template error will pop up. Click “Ok” to dismiss and continue using Group Policy editor normally.
  • Devices using Windows Information Protection (formerly EDP) policies will not be able to access controlled data via protected apps such as Outlook, Word, Microsoft Edge, etc. on this build. It is recommended that users temporarily pause updates under Settings > Windows Update until a new Insider Preview build is released with a fix. If you have installed Build 22593 already, you can roll back to the prior build to restore expected data access.

[Taskbar]

  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components.
  • We’re working on fixing an issue where hovering over some app icons in the system tray isn’t showing previews or tooltips.
  • [ADDED 4/7] We are working to resolve an issue where some mouse move events are not being passed to apps for icons in the system tray.

[File Explorer]

  • We’re working on fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.
  • Using the right-click option to rename a file in File Explorer will cause explorer.exe to crash. As a workaround, please single-click to highlight the file and use the rename button in the File Explorer command bar to complete the rename process.

[Widgets]

  • The widgets board may not open successfully when using the gesture from the side of the screen. If you are impacted, please tap the Widgets icon in the taskbar for now instead.

[Network]

  • We’re investigating reports from the previous flight of internet connectivity issues when certain VPNs are connected.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

source: Windows Blogs

Mar 26

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22581

Hello all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22581 to the Dev and Beta Channels.

Yes, both channels got the new build, this is the moment where you can choose to switch between Dev & Beta channel again, users on Dev that want to take it slower can now flip the switch without reinstalling the os.

All upgrades went smoot here, ran in to a couple of post -upgrade freezes, still trying to find the trigger…

Flighting new builds to the Beta Channel

Today we are also releasing Build 22581 to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. Insiders in the Beta Channel can now try out new features such as Live Captions, Start folders, the redesigned Task Manager, tablet optimized taskbar and much more.

Now that the Dev and Beta Channels are receiving the same builds, the limited window has opened for Insiders to switch channels if you wish to do so by following these simple steps:

  1. Open Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program.
  2. Select Choose your Insider settings.
  3. Select Beta Channel.
  4. The next time you receive an update, it will be for your new channel.

IMPORTANT: This window will close once we release builds with higher build numbers to the Dev Channel. If your device stays on the Dev Channel and receives a build that is a higher build number than what is in the Beta Channel, you will have to do a clean installation of the released version of Windows 11 on your device to switch to the Beta Channel.

We will also be kicking off email reminders to Insiders in the Dev Channel about the open window to switch channels as well so that Insiders in the Dev Channel have plenty of time and awareness to switch channels if desired while this window is open.

If your device is in the Beta Channel and you want to stay on the released version of Windows 11, you have 10 days or until we release a newer build to roll back. If you do decide to roll back, be sure to promptly change your channel to Release Preview.

No action is required if you want to continue receiving preview builds in the Dev Channel.

As a reminder, we are evolving the way we develop and release to Insiders with the Dev and Beta Channels now representing parallel development paths from our engineers. The Dev Channel will be a place where we will try out different concepts, incubate new ideas, and work on long lead items that may not get released to general customers. The Beta Channel will be the place we preview experiences that are closer to what we will ship to our general customers. However, this does not mean every feature we try out in the Beta Channel will ship. We encourage Insiders to read this blog post from last month that outlines the ways we’ll try things out with Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels.

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.
Tablet-optimized taskbar in both collapsed and expanded states.
Tablet-optimized taskbar in both collapsed and expanded states.
  • 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.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • [BETA CHANNEL] We will not be offering new builds to Windows Insiders in China on Lenovo PCs in the Beta Channel for the time being.
  • Windows Insiders running Windows 10 who join the Dev or Beta Channels to get the latest builds may encounter a download error code 0xc8000402 while trying to download the latest build. As a workaround, please join the Release Preview Channel first, install Windows 11 from there (Build 22000.xxxx), and then switch to the Dev or Beta Channel to receive the latest Insider Preview build. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.

[Taskbar]

  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components, such as Widgets overlapping with the taskbar.
  • [ADDED 3/24] We’re investigating reports of increased reliability issues when launching Notification Center.

[File Explorer]

  • Opening suggested results shown while entering search terms in File Explorer’s search box may not work.
  • We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Input]

  • [ADDED 3/24] We’re investigating reports of issues displaying input UI surfaces – including emoji panel, candidate windows, and clipboard history.

[Widgets]

  • Sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets. If this happens this will autocorrect within 30 minutes, moving the recently pinned widget to the expected default location. Or you can sign out of your Widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
  • After rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly. If this happens, signing out of your widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
  • The Widgets panel may not load as expected when using the swipe from left edge of screen touch motion. You may launch by clicking the Widgets icon or using the Win + W key combination.

[Narrator]

  • Natural voices are breaking up sporadically in the latest build. Restart Narrator to resolve the issue.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

source: Windows Blogs

Mar 19

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22579

Hi all, last Friday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22579 to the Dev Channel.

What’s new in Build 22579

Exclude USB removable drives from encryption

We are introducing a new policy so that IT administrators can exclude USB removable drives from BitLocker encryption. This will solve the problem of automatic or accidental encryption of storage built into specialized devices like video cameras, voice recorders, conferencing systems, medical devices and many more. When this policy is enabled, you will not be able to encrypt storage that is on the exclusion list, and you will not be prompted for encryption if you connect such storage to a device while “Deny write access to removable drives not protected by BitLocker” policy is enabled on it. This policy so far can only be configured via MDM custom OMA-URI.

Here are the steps an IT administrator can take to exclude storage from encryption:

STEP 1: Gather Hardware IDs of devices you want to exclude. You can follow the steps to get hardware IDs of devices outlined here in this Docs page.

STEP 2: Configure BitLocker Exclusion list Policy in Intune:

  1. Login to Endpoint Manager portal.
  2. Go To Devices > Configuration Profiles.
  3. Click “Create Profile“.
  4. Select Platform “Windows 10 and later” and Profile type: “Templates” then select Template Name: “Custom”.
Create a profile with these dates in the Endpoint Manager portal to setup your BitLocker Exclusion List Policy.
Create a profile with these dates in the Endpoint Manager portal to setup your BitLocker Exclusion List Policy.
  1. On a Basics tab, name your policy and put any description.
Add a name for your policy and description on the Basics tab for the profile you just created.
Add a name for your policy and description on the Basics tab for the profile you just created.
  1. On a Configuration settings tab click Add and:
  • Enter your name and description of the setting.
  • Oma-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/BitLocker/RemovableDrivesExcludedFromEncryption
  • Data type: String
  • Value: enter your Hardware ID copied in previous steps. You can separate each entry with coma.
Add in the above-mentioned details on the Configuration settings tab for the profile you just created.
Add in the above-mentioned details on the Configuration settings tab for the profile you just created.
  1. Click Save and then Next.
  2. On Assignments tab select group that you want this policy to apply to.
On the Assignments tab for the profile you just created, select the group you want the policy to apply to.
On the Assignments tab for the profile you just created, select the group you want the policy to apply to.
  1. Click Next, Next and on Review + create tab click Create.

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

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • As some Insiders noticed, along with our updated Print Queue experience, we have also made an update so that win32 apps which use CPrintDialog to display the print dialog will now show our modern print dialog. In addition, the modern print dialog discovers local network printers automatically. If you choose a new printer, it will be installed without you needing to go into Settings. Please file feedback about your printing experiences under Devices and Drivers > Print in the Feedback Hub.
  • We are reverting the Open With dialog box redesign that began rolling out with Build 22567 to the previous design. We plan to bring this back in the future after addressing some performance issues identified by Windows Insiders. Thank you for your feedback!
  • To ensure users are still able to quickly access the console if Windows Terminal has been uninstalled, we are updating the WIN + X menu to point to Windows PowerShell. If you have Windows Terminal installed and would like Windows PowerShell to open in Windows Terminal, we recommend going to Settings > Privacy & Security > For Developers, and setting Windows Terminal as your default terminal app.
  • Magnifier and the on-screen keyboard now have new Fluent-style icons.

[Start menu]

  • You can now name your folders of apps in Start. To name a folder, simply create a folder (which will have the default name of “Folder”), open it, click on “Edit name”, and type your folder name. Alternatively, use keyboard focus to open the folder then select the text box and start typing.
Folders on Start.
Folders on Start.

[Get Started app]

  • We have added pinned site suggestions to the Get Started app so you can conveniently pin websites to your taskbar. To find this new feature, launch the Get Started app and navigate to the “Apps and sites we think you’ll love” page. Click on any of the sites suggested on the page to pin it to your taskbar so you can access the sites you care about in one-click. Please file feedback in the Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Get Started.
Site suggestions in the Get Started app that you can pin to your taskbar.
Site suggestions in the Get Started app that you can pin to your taskbar.

Note: This experience recommends popular sites and is currently only available to EN-US devices. Personalized site recommendations and other locales will be supported soon.

[Windowing]

  • Continuing our effort to update multi-finger touch gestures to include responsive and delightful animations that follow your finger, try using three fingers to swipe left and right and switch between recently used windows.
Swipe with 3 fingers left and right to switch between recently used windows.
Swipe with 3 fingers left and right to switch between recently used windows.

[Task Manager]

  • Based on feedback, the Run New Task button is now available on all pages of Task Manager.
  • Updated the icon for Run New Task.

[Input]

  • To help improve discoverability, emoji that can be personalized (such as the family emoji) now display a small accent colored dot in the bottom corner of their entries in the emoji panel.
  • Removed the Keyboard Layout section from Quick Settings.

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.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components, such as Widgets overlapping with the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

  • Opening suggested results shown while entering search terms in File Explorer’s search box may not work.
  • We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Widgets]

  • Sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets. If this happens this will autocorrect within 30 minutes, moving the recently pinned widget to the expected default location. Or you can sign out of your Widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
  • After rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly. If this happens, signing out of your widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.

[Focus]

  • The Clock app does not yet update Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions within the app. This will be addressed in a future app update.

[Narrator]

  • Natural voices are breaking up sporadically in the latest build. Restart Narrator to resolve the issue.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

[Task Manager]

  • Some tooltips do not accurately display the preferred visual setting when Task Manager is configured for dark mode.

source: Windows Blogs

Mar 11

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22572

Hi All, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22572 to the Dev Channel.

New BugBash announced 16th-22nd of March

Windows Key + X no longer crashes explorer, the ‘admin menu’ is back ! 🍾🎉🥂

Got a Greenscreen 1x on the 1st day during a Teams call (FeedbackHub: https://aka.ms/AAg8s5f)

What’s new in Build 22572

Microsoft Family is now an inbox app:

Microsoft Family app icon.

The family safety features you use on web and mobile are now available on Windows 11 starting with this build with the Microsoft Family app. Set parental controls to filter inappropriate apps and games and set browsing to kid-friendly websites for Microsoft Edge. Help your kids balance their screen time activity on Windows, Xbox, and Android and use activity reporting to better understand your family’s digital activity. Stay connected even when you’re apart with family location tracking.

The Microsoft Family app for Windows 11.
The Microsoft Family app for Windows 11.

The Microsoft Family app for Windows 11.The Microsoft Family app will only be an inbox app on the Windows 11 Home edition and will be updated via the Microsoft Store. Windows Insiders who are on Windows 11 Pro can go to Settings > Accounts > Family and download the Microsoft Family app from the Store. Let us know what you’d like to see in these updates to help you better care for and empower your family!

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback by clicking in the feedback icon in the top header of the app.

Clipchamp is now an inbox app:

Clipchamp app icon.

Clipchamp is our new video editor focused on making video creation easy, fast, and fun. Clipchamp is equipped with all the basic tools you’d expect, like trimming and splitting, as well as more pro-style features like transitions and animated text. For real-time content capture, there are also built-in webcam and screen recorders.

Clipchamp’s video editing experience with the timeline.
Clipchamp’s video editing experience with the timeline.

But what really sets Clipchamp apart from other video editors is its timeline. Normally, this is an interface reserved for pros because it offers more control (and complication) than the everyday editor can handle. When it comes to Clipchamp, however, things are delightfully different. We’ve kept all the best parts of timeline editing — the flexibility, the ability to fine tune details — and done away with the rest. The result is a refreshingly simple video editing experience anyone can enjoy.

The highlights don’t stop there — in Clipchamp, users will discover more unique offerings, like a stock library filled with more than a million royalty-free videos, audio tracks, and images that can be added to videos. There’s even an Azure-powered text-to-speech generator capable of creating voice overs in more than 70 languages. And, speaking of Microsoft integrations, Clipchamp also connects with OneDrive, meaning you can import files and save videos quickly and securely.

To start creating your own videos, look for Clipchamp in the Start menu on your PC.

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

Coming Soon

Search highlights in Windows 11

Starting early next week, we will begin rolling out an update for Search in Windows 11 that highlights interesting moments in time. Search is right there on your taskbar—your window to discover what’s trending online, in the world, and in your organization. Of course, you can still type to start searching for your apps, files, settings, and quick answers on the web.

The search box in Start and Search will periodically update with content, including fun illustrations, that help you discover more, be connected, and stay productive. These hints in the search box give you a sneak peek into what to expect in search home.

Search highlights will present notable and interesting moments—like holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments in time both globally and in your region. You’ll find rich, bold content in search home that highlights what’s special about today.

Search on the taskbar showing an updated experience for Earth Day. Includes relevant content and illustration in the search box and content relevant to Earth Day in search home.
Search on the taskbar showing an updated experience for Earth Day. Includes relevant content and illustration in the search box and content relevant to Earth Day in search home.

To dig deeper, you can explore additional content in search home related to today’s moment and daily content like word of the day, Microsoft Rewards offers, trending searches, and more. Each day features something different to learn about! The left side of search home also shows an extended list of your recently launched apps, files, settings, and websites to help you get back to what you were doing last.

Search on the taskbar showing an updated experience for an organization, Contoso. Includes relevant content and illustration in the search box and the organization’s people chart in search home.
Search on the taskbar showing an updated experience for an organization, Contoso. Includes relevant content and illustration in the search box and the organization’s people chart in search home.

Signing in with your work or school account enables Search to be your one-stop-shop for your organization’s files and contacts through Microsoft Search. Search highlights will feature the latest updates from your organization and suggested people, files, and more. Explore files that may be of interest to you or browse through your organization’s people chart. As always, just start typing to find everything related to your organization, right at your fingertips using Search.

You have control over the search highlights experience where if you prefer not to see this, you can turn it off or back on in Settings > Privacy & security > Search settings and toggling “Show search highlights”. For organization administrators, there are additional controls available in the M365 admin center. You can learn more about those policies here: Policy CSP – Search.

Search highlights is also coming to the Windows 10 search box where you’ll be able to get the same updates in the search box and search home. Stay tuned for more information in an upcoming blog post when we begin trying out this experience with Insiders on Windows 10 in the Release Preview Channel.

This feature will begin rolling out early next week and won’t be available to all Insiders right away 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 > Search.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • The new Print Queue has an updated design to align with Windows 11 design principles, allow you to easily identify your desired print job, see the status, and manage it. The feature is designed with simplicity in mind, and to allow you better access to your print jobs. To get started, just click print and watch the Print Queue pop up.
A print job showing in the new Print Queue in dark theme.
A print job showing in the new Print Queue in dark theme.
  • Quick Assist now has a new Fluent-style icon.
The new Fluent-style Quick Assist icon.
The new Fluent-style Quick Assist icon.

[Focus]

  • Building off the Focus changes announced in Build 22557, we have updated the icon for Notification Center when do not disturb is set to on.
Updated icon for Notification Center when do not disturb is on.
Updated icon for Notification Center when do not disturb is on.

[File Explorer]

  • Shift + Right-clicking in File Explorer and the Desktop will now open the “Show more options” context menu.

[Narrator]

  • Narrator natural voices are now available for all English languages.

[Terminal]

  • Windows Terminal is now called Terminal under Start.

[Settings]

  • WMIC is now available as an optional feature that can be uninstalled or reinstalled via Settings > Apps > Optional Features.
  • Switched the touch keyboard icon option under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar from being a toggle to now being a dropdown where you can select Never, Always, or When no keyboard attached.

[Windows Sandbox]

  • Windows Sandbox now has a new Fluent-style icon.
New Fluent-style icon for Windows Sandbox.
New Fluent-style icon for Windows Sandbox.

[Other]

  • The legacy version of Windows Media Player available in Windows Tools has been renamed to Windows Media Player Legacy.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an issue for Enterprise edition devices going through the setup experience (OOBE) where the network add screen was skipped on the first attempt.
  • Addressed an issue which was causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with a CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error in the previous build while attempting to do various things including logging in, opening Outlook, and accessing network shares in File Explorer.
  • Mitigated an underlying issue that was leading to audio stutters and touchpad issues in the previous flight.
  • Addressed an explorer.exe crash Insiders were seeing in recent builds when attempting to use Windows Mixed Reality.
  • Fixed an issue with scroll bars not rendering appropriately on some Win32 applications.
  • Fixed another issue where users weren’t hearing the startup sound.
  • Images should no longer be backwards when using a lock screen slideshow with an Arabic or Hebrew display language.

[Taskbar]

  • We fixed the issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash if you right clicked on the Start button or used WIN + X.
  • Mitigated an explorer.exe hang that could happen in the last few flights related to the visual indicator in the taskbar when sharing a window in Microsoft Teams.
  • Adjusted the sensitivity so quickly sliding your mouse across the widgets icon on the path to an open flyout or menu will no longer make it dismiss.
  • Made a change to help address a memory leak in Shell Experience Host when repeatedly opening and closing the Notification Center.
  • Addressed a scenario where the Notification Center might not light dismiss if it was opened on top of certain apps.
  • Fixed an underlying issue when the display scaling was greater than 100% which was causing drag and drop in the taskbar to unexpectedly show that it wasn’t available.

[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.

  • Touch gestures are restored on all device types, as we resolved the issue that broke several of the new touch gestures announced as part of Build 22557 on non-tablet devices.
  • Improved reliability of taskbar auto-collapsing after launching an app.
  • Fixed several bugs related to the taskbar state change when disconnecting or reconnecting your keyboard.
  • Addressed positioning issues with the hidden icons button and flyout when using the Arabic or Hebrew display language.

[Start menu]

  • Improved how the “Pinned” header name is rendered in the Arabic display language.

[File Explorer]

  • Made some more improvements to help with context menu invocation performance.
  • Using the Filter option in Quick Access should work for images now.
  • Fixed an underlying issue causing the title bar in File Explorer when colored to not visually occupy the full area it was supposed if you maximized the File Explorer window.
  • Fixed an issue where if you had a folder selected in the navigation pane and right clicked another folder, options like Open in Windows Terminal would unexpectedly open the first folder.
  • “Pin to Quick Access” is now available in the command bar when a file in Recent Files in Quick Access is selected.

[Input]

  • Mitigated an issue where clicking hyperlinks in RichTextBlocks wasn’t working when performed with touch or pen.
  • Addressed an issue where custom mouse pointers might revert to the default Windows one after rebooting.
  • Fixed an issue where voice typing might display “there is a connection issue” when that wasn’t the cause of the error.
  • Addressed an issue where voice typing might not launch after unlocking your PC.
  • Fixed a touch keyboard crash that could happen on the login screen when there were multiple accounts on the PC.
  • Mitigated an issue impacting pen sensitivity in recent flights.
  • Fixed a rendering issue causing the screen to have small freezes in recent flights when trying to ink in certain apps.
  • Made some refinements to help improve detection of the pinch to zoom gesture on touchpads.
  • Addressed an issue leading to IME toolbar options being unresponsive in some cases for the Chinese (Simplified) IMEs.

[Search]

  • Did some work to address a high hitting search crash.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue causing a hang when trying to access Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors.
  • Addressed an issue where font previews under Personalization > Fonts might not be visible when a contrast mode was enabled.
  • Improved performance when switching between the different available views on Apps > Installed apps.
  • Uninstalling an update via Windows Update > Update History > Uninstall Updates should show a confirmation now before it proceeds.

[Windowing]

  • An acrylic area should no longer get stuck on the screen if you press WIN + D while interacting with snap layouts at the top of the screen.
  • Fixed an issue where if you used snap assist to snap a window that had been minimized, it might not fill the entire available space.
  • Fixed a few animation stutters when using 3-finger on screen gestures.
  • Addressed an explorer.exe crash that could happen if you attempted to use 3-finger on screen gestures while no windows were visible on screen.
  • Addressed an underlying issue which could impact the animations and performance when invoking Task View.
  • Mitigated an underlying issue which was causing you to unexpectedly see an X when attempting to rearrange Desktops in Task View in certain scenarios.
  • Tweaked the logic to help further reduce the number of sounds heard when connecting and disconnecting monitors and docks.
  • Mitigated a recent issue where windows for minimized apps weren’t launching on the expected monitor upon undocking and redocking.
  • The title bar should no longer peek out onto secondary monitors when maximizing certain apps.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing certain windows to show an unexpected white rectangle poking out from underneath, spanning the top of the window.
  • Updated the new full screen gripper for edge gestures to use acrylic.

[Narrator]

  • Fixed an issue preventing Narrator from reading in the Run dialog correctly in scan mode.
  • Narrator in scan mode will now read error messages in the Error List correctly in Visual Studio.
  • Errors while setting up a PIN in device setup (OOBE) will now be read out by Narrator.
  • Pitch range for Narrator natural voices has been adjusted to provide more levels of control.
  • Addressed an underlying issue which was leading to the pitch not changing when adjust Narrator’s speed in the 0 to 5 and 15 to 20 ranges in Narrator settings.

[Task Manager]

  • Improved visibility of content when a contrast mode is enabled.
  • Fixed an issue where critical system processes were unexpectedly displaying as background processes.
  • Addressed an issue that was causing random rows in the processes list to be unexpectedly written in black text when using dark mode.
  • Right clicking the Task Manager icon in the system tray should now actually show the context menu rather than a blank box.
  • Pressing Esc should no longer unexpectedly close Task Manager.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • Users running Windows 10 who try to upgrade directly to build 22563 or higher in the Dev Channel may encounter an install failure with error code 0x8007007f. To bypass, please join the Beta Channel, install the offered Windows 11 build there, and then switch to the Dev Channel to receive the current Dev Channel update. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components, such as Widgets overlapping with the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

  • Opening suggested results shown while entering search terms in File Explorer’s search box may not work.
  • We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Widgets]

  • Sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets. If this happens this will autocorrect within 30 minutes, moving the recently pinned widget to the expected default location. Or you can sign out of your Widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
  • After rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly. If this happens, signing out of your widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.

[Focus]

  • The Clock app does not yet update Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions within the app. This will be addressed in a future app update.

[Narrator]

  • Narrator natural voices sounds garbled and will not read out text accurately. This happens when doing quick navigation, typing or pitch changes. As a workaround, you can switch back to the older voices such as Microsoft David, Mark or Zira.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

[Task Manager]

  • Some tooltips do not accurately display the preferred visual setting when Task Manager is configured for dark mode.

source: Windows Blogs

Mar 11

Event – postponed will be rescheduled: TechNine | IT Pro Insights | Hybrid Event | March Edition

Update – Sad to need to postpone the event, our speakers are not able to attend due to unforeseen circumstances

Let’s get together

We are back – this time in a full hybrid setup! You can join in person or remote for 2 fantasic topics.

Our first session is about Microsoft Endpoint Manager, that used to be called Intune. Did you know it already exists for 12 years? Evolved from a hard to use tool to must have solution for every organization.  Wout Vergauwen of Scappman will show how easy it can be to deploy applications and configure autopilot for zero-touch deployments.

After a short break we continue with Ben Bridts of Cloudar, the AWS integrator of Belgium. We all know AWS, but how well do we know the components of AWS? Do you want to know how it compares to Azure? What are the flavors of Azure Storage, Azure Functions of SQL Databases in AWS?  Want to know what AWS S3, Glacier, EC2, Elastic Beanstalk or Redshift are? Make sure to join this open session where you can ask your own questions!

Agenda

19h30 – Welcome

Welcome with a drink & well-deserved slice of pizza

20h00: Wout Vergauwen | Scappman

App deployment as it should be.

21h00: Ben Bridts | Cloudar

AWS vs Azure – The practical session

Info

  • Date: Tuesday March 22nd starting 19h30
  • Location: Cheops Technology, Prins Boudewijnlaan 7B, 2550 Kontich (attention: new address)

> Registrations cancelled – session will be rescheduled <

Mar 05

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22567

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22567 to the Dev Channel.

While most of us were hoping to see the Start Button right-click / WinKey + X explorer crach to be fixed, it is still a known issue in this build

What’s new in Build 22567

Windows Update leverages more renewable energy

Windows Update will try to schedule update installations at specific times of day when doing so results in lower carbon emissions. Most electrical grids are powered by multiple sources, including renewables and fossil fuels. Whenever possible, Windows 11 will now prioritize installing updates in the background at times when greater amounts of clean energy sources (like wind, solar, and hydro) are available. Users can always choose to install updates immediately by navigating to Settings > Windows Update and choosing “Check for Updates”.

This feature will only be enabled when your PC is plugged-in and regional carbon intensity data is available from our partners electricityMap or WattTime. If enabled, users will see the text shown below on the Windows Update settings page. We’re still working on the content that the text links to – stay tuned for future updates.

Text as it appears in Windows Update when prioritizing installing updates in the background when more clean energy sources are available.
Text as it appears in Windows Update when prioritizing installing updates in the background when more clean energy sources are available.

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update.

Improving Microsoft 365 subscription management in Settings

In October, we introduced subscription management within “Your Microsoft account” under Settings > Account. This enabled you to view your OneDrive storage, recurring billing and sharing information as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription within Windows 11. With today’s build, we’re making it easier for you to manage your Microsoft 365 subscription:

  • We are elevating the Microsoft 365 subscription management experience a level up under Settings > Accounts. As we mentioned here, we will use Online Service Experience Packs to bring more experiences to you within accounts under Settings > Account.
The Microsoft 365 subscription management experience is now at the top of Accounts page in Settings.
The Microsoft 365 subscription management experience is now at the top of Accounts page in Settings.
  • We are introducing payment details within the subscription card experience. This will allow you to view your payment information and be notified when your payment method needs to be updated, allowing you to continue your subscriptions without any disruptions.
Banner shown on Account settings page alerting you to update your payment for your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Banner shown on Account settings page alerting you to update your payment for your Microsoft 365 subscription.

For customers who are not Microsoft 365 subscribers, we are highlighting the free benefits you have access to as part of your Microsoft account on the “Your Microsoft account” page. You can directly access your Office Web Apps, view your OneDrive storage or upgrade to a Microsoft 365 subscription to unlock the premium benefits.

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

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

Device Setup (OOBE): Phone Linking

You can now link your Android phone to your PC as part of the device setup (OOBE) for Windows 11. Linking will give you instant access to everything on your phone, right from your PC. Without needing to constantly swap your attention to your phone, you can use your favorite mobile apps, send text messages, make calls, and more on your PC with the benefit of a full keyboard and mouse.

The new phone linking page in device setup (OOBE).
The new phone linking page in device setup (OOBE).

We will be releasing updated ISOs in the coming weeks that will allow Windows Insiders to do a clean-install if they want to or set up a virtual machine to run through the device setup experience. You can use the PC reset feature under Settings > System > Recovery if you want to run through the device setup experience today.

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

Smart App Control

Smart App Control (SAC) is a new security feature for Windows 11 that blocks untrusted or potentially dangerous applications. SAC can only be enabled on Windows devices that have performed a clean install with the latest Insider Preview build (Build 22567 and higher). SAC is first configured in evaluation mode. While SAC is in evaluation mode, it will learn if it can help protect you without getting in your way too much. If so, it will automatically be turned on. Otherwise, it will automatically be turned off.  While in evaluation mode, a user can manually turn on SAC in the Windows Security app under the App & Browser Control section. More details on this feature will be shared in the future.

Smart App Control listed under “App and browser control” in Windows Security.
Smart App Control listed under “App and browser control” in Windows Security.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Smart App Control.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • We have updated the “Open with” dialog box to align with Windows 11 design principles. The updated dialog box honors light/dark theme. We have also simplified the experience by making it possible to update your default app with just one click. [We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet.
The “Open with” dialog before and after with the updated design.
The “Open with” dialog before and after with the updated design.

[Start menu]

  • When you hover one pinned app icon over another, there will now be a small animation to hint that this will create a folder.

[Windowing]

  • We’re updating multi-finger touch gestures to include responsive and delightful animations that follow your finger.
Use three fingers to swipe down and minimize all windows. Swipe up with three fingers to bring your windows back.
Use three fingers to swipe down and minimize all windows. Swipe up with three fingers to bring your windows back.

[Voice typing]

  • The ability for voice typing to download Speech Packs from the Microsoft Store for device-based speech recognition to provide a better performance of transcription is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel. This began rolling out with Build 22538.
  • The ability for you to choose which microphone to use in voice typing if you have multiple microphones connected to your PC is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel. This began rolling out with Build 22557.
  • The following new commands in voice typing are now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel. This began rolling out with Build 22557.
To insert thisSay this
Enter“Press Enter”
Backspace“Press Backspace”, “Backspace”
Space“Press space”, “Insert Space”
Tab“Press Tab”, “Tab”

[Settings]

  • We have made updates to pages across the Settings app to adopt WinUI controls for consistent look and feel across the app.
  • To make it easier to find settings within the app, we have made improvements to how searching for settings works behind the scenes. These improvements will provide users with a more accurate set of search results as well as bring more relevant search results up to the top of the list.
  • You can now mute and unmute your audio by clicking the volume icon in the hardware indicator for volume.

[Task Manager]

  • The redesigned Task Manager that began rolling out with Build 22557 is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel.

[Windows Sandbox]

  • Windows Sandbox mapped folders now support relative paths. For example, ..\relative\folder..

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an issue where users weren’t hearing the startup sound.

[Taskbar]

  • Using the taskbar to bring an already running app to the foreground should work more reliably now.
  • Fixed an issue where if you changed time zone the calendar flyout wouldn’t update to reflect a date change.
  • Using Narrator key plus Enter or Narrator touch gestures should now work to activate items in the taskbar now.
  • Mitigated an issue that was causing windows to be able to draw on top of the taskbar after dismissing one of the taskbar flyouts.

[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.

  • The taskbar setting has been changed to “Optimize taskbar for touch interactions when this device is used as a tablet”.
  • We have improved mouse click reliability of system tray icons.

[Start menu]

  • Fixed an issue affecting the reliability of the Start menu opening.
  • Fixed an issue where dragging a pinned app icon between pages of pinned apps wasn’t working.
  • Addressed an alignment issue with the More button.

[File Explorer]

  • Clicking the buttons in the new OneDrive flyout should now bring those objects into foreground focus.
  • Star rating supported files (for example mp4 files) should work again now.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening the context menu sometimes.
  • Improved the performance of displaying the content in the Recycle Bin in cases where there were many files.
  • Addressed an underlying crash that was happening when trying to start a search from File Explorer, impacting the ability to search.
  • Fixed a rare issue for people with small screens where the context menu in File Explorer would animate in downwards, disappear, then immediately reappear animating upwards.

[Input]

  • Improved input switching responsiveness when using WIN + Space.
  • Fixed an issue which was leading to some Insiders seeing black text on a dark background in the input switcher.
  • Addressed an issue where the Japanese IME toolbar could become transparent, and the IME candidate window clipped or not displayed at all.
  • If you’re using the Japanese IME with a vertical candidate list, the text should now appear written in the correct direction.
  • Updated the icon used for hiding key press visuals in the touch keyboard when focus is set to a password field to help make it easier to understand.
  • Fixed an issue where the new “Press Backspace” command when voice typing wasn’t working in Japanese.
  • Mitigated an issue that was causing Narrator focus to get stuck in the wrong place after inserting an emoji and dismissing the emoji panel.

[Settings]

  • Items in the app list under Apps > Installed apps should no longer overlap each other.
  • Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to select the restart now button in Settings > Windows Update using touch.

[Windowing]

  • Explorer.exe shouldn’t crash anymore when dragging a window between monitors.
  • If you’re hovering over a Desktop thumbnail in Task View, the tooltip should now actually match the one you’re hovering over.
  • Fixed an issue where snap assist might unexpectedly trigger when you already had a window snapped in that area.
  • Improved reliability of invoking snap layouts at the top of the screen.
  • Task View should now successfully launch if you invoke it while the search flyout from the taskbar is open, rather than invoking and immediately dismissing.

[Voice access]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing Outlook to scroll to the beginning of your emails if you enabled voice access and started talking.
  • Button text in voice access will no longer be cut off when you’ve changed your text size.
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing voice access from launching on ARM64 devices.
  • Voice access will no longer turn on after you log in unless the voice access setting is also turned on.

[Live captions]

  • Live captions will now handle you switching audio devices more smoothly.
  • Changing the size of live captions will no longer cause white flashes in dark mode.
  • You can now search for live captions to find their page in Settings.
  • Accessibility home page in Settings now lists “live captions” under Captions.
  • Settings flyout can now be light-dismissed in the live captions window.

[Narrator]

  • Fixed an issue causing high CPU usage while using Narrator.
  • Narrator will now read out the theme as well as the selection state in Settings > Personalization > Text input > Theme.
  • When a dialog pops up, Narrator will now consistently announce that it’s reading from a dialog when reading its message.
  • When using Microsoft Edge’s History page, Narrator will now announce the name of the page and the focused element correctly.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was impacting Narrator keyboard navigation in webview2 in certain apps.
  • Updated Braille display input and output table type dropdowns in Settings to have a default value now.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to hang when using Norton Power Eraser.
  • If you Review > Check Accessibility in Excel, Narrator will now read the errors, warnings, tips & intelligent services section correctly.

[Task Manager]

  • The suspended and efficiency mode icons should no longer be clipped in Task Manager at high DPIs.
  • Fixed an issue where column preferences weren’t being preserved.
  • The default start page and always on top settings should work now.
  • When there’s nothing to show under the “…” menu, it won’t display now.
  • Mitigated a crash that was happening sometimes when trying to launch Task Manager.
  • Fixed an issue where Efficiency mode icons were missing on some child processes.
  • Fixed an issue where some settings options were not preserved.
  • Fixed an issue where Suspended and Efficiency mode icons were clipped when displayed on monitors with high DPI settings.

[Lock screen and logging in]

  • Fixed an issue causing the accessibility flyout on the Lock screen to flicker.
  • The accessibility flyout on the Lock screen’s location and spacing should now be centered and consistent with the design of other options on this screen.
  • Fixed the border of the accessibility flyout on the Lock screen to show correctly in high contrast mode.
  • Addressed an encoding issue in the message text when using a security key to login.
  • Mitigated an explorer.exe crash some Insiders were seeing when logging into their PC.

[Other]

  • Notification Center will now close when you start a focus session, and the focus timer opens instead of you having to dismiss it.
  • Fixed an issue which was impacting the ability of opening Quick Settings and Notification Center when animations were disabled.
  • Quick Settings and Notification Center should dismiss more reliably now if you had used a gesture to invoke them before trying to dismiss them.
  • Fixed an issue relating to the UiaDisconnectProvider API which was causing certain apps to crash.
  • Mitigated a bug check which was happening in the last few flights for Insiders with more than 8 monitors connected.
  • If you have pinned an app to the taskbar within Windows Sandbox, clicking the app to launch it will now actually work.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • Users running Windows 10 who try to upgrade directly to build 22563 or higher in the Dev Channel may encounter an install failure with error code 0x8007007f. To bypass, please join the Beta Channel, install the offered Windows 11 build there, and then switch to the Dev Channel to receive the current Dev Channel update. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.
  • When going through the device setup experience (OOBE) on the Enterprise edition, the network add screen will be skipped on the first attempt. As a workaround, when users see the “name your computer” option, please reboot and re-start OOBE. The network add screen will now appear as expected.
  • We’re investigating reports from Insiders that Windows Mixed Reality is not working starting with the previous flight, due to repeated explorer.exe crashes.
  • Scroll bars are not rendering appropriately on some Win32 applications. This bug is visual only as users are still able to click/drag the scroll bar as expected.

[Taskbar]

  • If you right click on the Start icon in this build or press WIN + X, explorer.exe will likely crash. Please use CTRL + Shift + Esc for the time being if you use this menu to launch Task Manager.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components, such as Widgets overlapping with the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

  • Opening suggested results shown while entering search terms in File Explorer’s search box may not work.
  • We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Widgets]

  • Sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets. If this happens this will autocorrect within 30 minutes, moving the recently pinned widget to the expected default location. Or you can sign out of your Widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
  • After rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly. If this happens, signing out of your widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.

[Focus]

  • The taskbar icon and tooltip may not match the focus state.
  • The Clock app does not yet update Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions within the app. This will be addressed in a future app update.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is opened will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

[Task Manager]

  • Some tooltips do not accurately display the preferred visual setting when Task Manager is configured for dark mode.

source: Windows Blogs

Feb 26

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563

Hi all, last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563 to the Dev Channel.

Pressing WinKey+X or right-clicking start to open the admin menu crashes explorer on this build (FeebackHub: https://aka.ms/AAfyw1l )

What’s new in Build 22563

Tablet-optimized taskbar

We’re introducing a new taskbar state that’s specifically designed to make you feel more confident and comfortable using your device as a tablet. Your taskbar will automatically transition to this optimized version when you disconnect or fold back the keyboard on your 2-in-1 device.  This feature only works on devices that can be used as tablets. It does not work on laptops or desktop PCs.

There are two states of this taskbar: collapsed and expanded. In the collapsed state, the taskbar gets out your way, gives you more screen space, and prevents you from accidentally invoking the taskbar when you’re holding your tablet. In the expanded state, the taskbar is optimized to be easier to use with touch. You can easily switch between the two states by swiping up and down on the bottom of your device.

Tablet-optimized taskbar in both collapsed and expanded states.
Tablet-optimized taskbar in both collapsed and expanded states.

To see if this feature is available on your device, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors where a new setting called “Automatically hide the taskbar when using your device as tablet” will be shown and set to on by default.

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Taskbar. See the known issues section below for a set of known issues for this feature.

Making Widgets content more dynamic

We’re trying out some changes in Widgets to bring more dynamic content to your Widgets board, by experimenting with bringing together the widgets and news feed experiences as a dynamic blended feed containing both widgets and news content. This should make it easier for you to discover and engage with new widgets and news content through your feed. With a dynamic feed there’s less of a burden on you to curate the canvas on your own, but you’ll still be able to pin your favorite Widgets to the top if you want.

If you’ve already customized your Widgets board, all your pinned widgets will be exactly where you’d expect them to be, your existing customizations won’t be lost.

The Widgets board Insiders see before and how it will look with dynamic content.
The Widgets board Insiders see before and how it will look with dynamic content.

This release focuses on making widgets discoverable from the feed and over time we plan to make the feed even more personalized.

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets OR by clicking on your profile picture on the Widgets board and choosing “Give feedback” toward the bottom above the version number. See the known issues section below for a set of known issues for this feature.

New group policy for managing Windows Update notifications

For IT Admins in education, we have a new policy built with you and your students in mind. Starting with this build, you will finally be able to turn off all Windows Update notifications that might distract your students during the school day. You will be able to provide this better experience while staying compliant as the notifications will start to show again if user action is needed and the devices reaches the deadline, though hopefully most devices are able to automatically restart overnight when the student isn’t there.

The new group policy for managing Windows Update notifications as shown in the group policy editor.
The new group policy for managing Windows Update notifications as shown in the group policy editor.

To get to this new group policy, just open the group policy editor and navigate to Computer configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience > Display options for update notifications.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update.

Changes and Improvements

[Taskbar]

  • [ADDED 2/25] We are beginning to roll out the ability to more easily manage your Bluetooth devices directly within Quick Settings, including the ability to connect, disconnect, and see battery level for supported devices.
Easily manage your Bluetooth devices directly within Quick Settings.
Easily manage your Bluetooth devices directly within Quick Settings.

[File Explorer]

  • Search from Quick Access has been expanded to include content from your OneDrive, Downloads, and any indexed location. Use Quick Access to find results fast.
  • Files in Quick Access without any local presence (for example, files shared to you from another OneDrive) now show thumbnails and work with OneDrive sharing.

[Windowing]

  • We’ve made it even easier to snap the most relevant windows next to each other side by side by introducing Microsoft Edge tabs as suggested windows in snap assist. When a window is snapped, you will now see 3 of your most recent Edge tabs shown (by default) as suggestions. You can always control whether to show Microsoft Edge tabs and number of tabs shown when snapping or pressing ALT + TAB via Settings > System > Multitasking.
Adjust how Microsoft Edge tabs are displayed in snap assist.
Adjust how Microsoft Edge tabs are displayed in snap assist.

[Input]

  • Starting with this build, Windows Insiders can now use 37 new emoji characters in the emoji picker as part of Emoji 14.0. Some of the new emoji include “melting face”, “troll”, “coral”, “beans”, “playground slide”, and “mirror ball”.
New “melting face”, “troll”, “coral”, “beans”, “playground slide”, and “mirror ball” emoji introduced in Emoji 14.0 update.
New “melting face”, “troll”, “coral”, “beans”, “playground slide”, and “mirror ball” emoji introduced in Emoji 14.0 update.
  • Skin tone variations for hands gestures and people bring the total to 112 emoji which includes the hand shake. You can now choose the skin tones between the two hands in the hand-shake emoji.
  • The updated accessibility flyout on the login screen, introduced in Build 22557, is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
The accessibility flyout on the login screen now matches the Windows 11 design principles.
The accessibility flyout on the login screen now matches the Windows 11 design principles.

Fixes

[General]

  • Improved login performance for a specific case where someone had a very large temp folder.
  • Fixed a few issues impacting explorer.exe reliability.
  • Updated the volume flyout when using the hardware keys on your keyboard to account for cases where there is no working audio.

[Taskbar]

  • The auto-hide taskbar will now stay expanded while you use Task View to switch Desktops.
  • When dragging a file or app to the taskbar, we’ve updated the message next to the mouse showing what is and is not supported to now respond to dark mode and contrast themes.
  • Fixed a cyclical explorer.exe crash that was happening for people using the French (Canada) display language, related to the battery icon tooltip.
  • Updated the mute icon in the taskbar so that the tooltip now gives a hint for the keyboard shortcut (WIN + Alt + K).

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

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

  • The top border line of taskbar now extends across the entire taskbar instead of stopping just before the system tray area.
  • The button styling for the hidden icons flyout is now consistent with the design of the rest of the system tray buttons.
  • The taskbar should no longer flicker when switching input methods or during other scenarios where system tray icons are added and removed.

[Start menu]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing the Start menu to not open consistently with the new touch gesture where you swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
  • When recommended items are newly added or removed, their icons will now be animated to fade in and out.
  • The sleep icon in the power menu is no longer incorrectly showing as a bell.
  • Fixed an issue causing the apostrophe in the power button tooltip to not display correctly.
  • Names of apps in folders no longer appear blurred briefly when opening folders in Start.
  • Fixed a crash some people were encountering when trying to share an app from the All apps list.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where the OneDrive icon wouldn’t show up in the File Explorer command bar sometimes when it should have.
  • Removed a random white dot that was appearing in the context menu when right clicking on File Explorer’s title bar in dark mode.

[Input]

  • Made some improvements to the emoji search results based on feedback, including generally putting a stronger preference in the search results to the exact name match of emoji (for example, the balloon emoji first when searching for balloon) over the various other emoji that might be returned for those keywords.
  • Fixed an issue causing Insiders to not see the updated Korean IME design in the previous flight.
  • Fixed a couple issues with the coloring in the IME candidate window.
  • Mitigated a crash that was happening when attempting to access the Personalization > Text Input in Settings after upgrading if you had customized your touch keyboard appearance.
  • Addressed an explorer.exe crash that could happen when switching input methods.
  • Improved the performance of launching the input switcher for the first time.
  • If you have “Show accent color on Start and Taskbar” enabled in Color Settings, the input switcher background color will now follow that preference.
  • Fixed the Typing link name in the touch keyboard settings options, so it matches the Settings page that opens.
  • System > Clipboard in Settings now explains why the “Sync across your devices” option could be grayed out.
  • Added text to the emoji panel to help explain certain scenarios where emoji search results aren’t supported.

[Search]

  • We’ve done some more work to reduce the chance that the recent searches flyout could get stuck on the screen.
  • We’ve addressed an issue in recent Dev Channel builds leading to some Insiders experiencing an issue where search would open, but only show a magnifying glass in the window and not display any results. If you continue experiencing issues, please file feedback under Desktop Environment > Search with details about what exactly you are seeing.

[Settings]

  • Addressed an issue where pop up dialogs (for example, when adding an optional feature, or when configuring your IP address) in Settings were launching left aligned instead of centered.
  • Addressed an issue where RSAT: DNS Server Tools would show that it was installed in Optional Features if you attempted to install it but wouldn’t actually be installed.
  • Fixed an issue where Display settings might not show the option to change refresh rate when your PC was in portrait mode.
  • Settings should no longer crash when attempting to uninstall apps via Apps > Installed apps when your User Account Control settings are set to Always Notify.
  • Windows Update > Update History should show history for feature updates again with this build.
  • Mitigated an issue related to the Windows Update page that could make Settings hang.
  • The link to give feedback in Settings > System > Notifications will now take you directly to notifications feedback section in the Feedback Hub.
  • Fixed an issue preventing you from adding Bluetooth or Cast to the Quick Settings flyout.
  • The media controls above Quick Settings should now show when you open media or hide when you close media more reliably.
  • Fixed an issue where the number in the volume popup that opens when you use your hardware keys didn’t match the volume number in Quick Settings.
  • Improved the positioning of the Accessibility flyout above the button on the login screen.
  • Fixed an issue that was occasionally causing certain Bluetooth devices to not auto-connect after powering on or resuming your PC from sleep/hibernate.

[Widgets]

  • With the taskbar left-aligned, information such as temperature is now shown.
  • Fixed an issue where Widgets weather info may have shown different information across a multi-monitor setup.

[Task Manager]

  • Did some work to help address an issue where the navigation bar in the updated Task Manager design was showing black glitches when you launched Task Manager from a minimized state.

[Windowing]

  • Fixed an issue that was preventing you from using the minimize, maximize, and close buttons on maximized apps (and other scenarios) because Notification Center had kept focus.
  • Did some work to improve the smoothness of the animation when invoking Task View using the 3-finger on screen gesture.
  • Improved general reliability of ALT + Tab to help address scenarios where it could get stuck.
  • Addressed an issue that was impacting the performance when using ALT + Tab, Task View or snap assist in recent builds.
  • Snap group titles should appear properly when using Windows with an Arabic or Hebrew display language now.
  • Made some refinements to the snap layouts invocation experience when moving a window to the top of the screen.
  • Fixed an issue where dragging a snapped window while snap assist is active would include a thumbnail of the dragged window.
  • When using the down arrow to navigate through app thumbnails in snap assist, it should cycle to the top now when you’ve reached the bottom row.
  • Fixed two crashes that could happen when using snap layouts on a secondary monitor or a portrait mode monitor.
  • Made the margins for snapping to the left and right side of the screen a little bigger.
  • Switching desktops using the keyboard shortcuts while the Start menu is open should no longer cause your desktop to unexpectedly switch back after closing Start.

[Network]

  • Added some text to show Disconnecting to communicate if work is in progress after you’ve clicked the Disconnect button in the VPN section of Quick Settings.
  • Fixed an issue where Managed VPN profiles with IPv4 routes specified might disconnect frequently.

[Narrator]

  • Narrator will no longer jump up to the search box in Start after using the power or account menus.
  • After switching to the All apps section of the Start menu, Narrator will now navigate to and read you app information correctly.
  • Narrator in Word online will now read the new line correctly when arrowing up and down between paragraphs.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to stop reading or being able to move the cursor when entering tables in Microsoft Word.
  • Improved how Narrator reads content in the Accessibility flyout on the login screen.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing the back button in the sign in window of certain apps to not to be visible when using a contrast theme.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • Users running Windows 10 who try to upgrade directly to Build 22563 in the Dev Channel will encounter a hang at “0% Downloading” on Windows Update. To bypass, please join the Beta Channel, install the offered Windows 11 build there, and then switch to the Dev Channel to receive the Build 22563 update. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.
  • When going through the device setup experience (OOBE) on the Enterprise edition, the network add screen will be skipped on the first attempt. As a workaround, when users see the “name your computer” option, please reboot and re-start OOBE. The network add screen will now appear as expected.
  • Many users won’t hear the startup sound right now.

[Taskbar]

  • If you right click on the Start icon in this build or press WIN + X, explorer.exe will likely crash. Please use CTRL + Shift + Esc for the time being if you use this menu to launch Task Manager.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

  • Windows Insiders who have this feature enabled will not be able to use new touch gestures that start on the bottom of the screen announced in Build 22557 until they first remove or fold back their keyboard. Insiders with PCs such as laptops that cannot be used as tablets, and who have this feature enabled, will not be able to use the touch gestures that start on the bottom of the screen. This will be fixed in a future flight.
  • The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
  • Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components, such as Widgets overlapping with the taskbar.
  • Transition animations are still being tuned for going between expanded and collapsed taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.

[File Explorer]

  • The File Explorer search box may not work when typing and clicking a suggestion.
  • We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Widgets]

  • Sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets. If this happens this will autocorrect within 30 minutes, moving the recently pinned widget to the expected default location. Or you can sign out of your Widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
  • After rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly. If this happens, signing out of your widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.

[Focus]

  • The taskbar icon and tooltip may not match the focus state.
  • The Clock app does not yet update Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions within the app. This will be addressed in a future app update.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

[Task Manager]

  • We are aware that the Efficiency mode icon is missing on some child processes.
  • Some settings options are not preserved.
  • We are working on fixing issues regarding icon size, visual bugs and in most cases the workaround is to either resize Task Manager or lower the resolution settings from Settings > Display > Display resolution.

source: Windows Blogs

Feb 19

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557

Hello All, last Wednesday, after waiting for 2 weeks on a sable build, Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 to the Dev Channel.

and what a build it is, tons of new stuff to check out & test, the new task manager, editable folders/groups in start, OneDrive’s integration into explorer, folder preview is back & more

A new Quest in Feedback Hub, testing adding languages with the new PowerShell commands:

New Quest in Feedback Hub

Using the Store App Configuration Designer open an unexpected Terminal Window when WT is you default console (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAfsbhs)

With A screen layout like the screenshot below, since this build crossing the top edge of screen 1, ends up on screen 2 while it’s only supposed to do that on the part where both screens touch each other

What’s new in Build 22557

Create and curate folders in the pinned apps area of Start

We’ve heard from many of you that you’d like to customize your pins in Start by organizing them into folders, so we’re introducing the first version of folders in this build. Simply drag an app on top of another to create a folder. You can add more apps to a folder, rearrange apps within a folder, and remove apps from a folder. Keep an eye out for further improvements like the ability to name and rename folders in one of our upcoming builds.

Start showing pinned apps organized into folders.
Start showing pinned apps organized into folders.

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

Introducing Do Not Disturb and Focus

We’ve reimagined focus experiences on Windows. Do not disturb makes it easy to silence notifications. Focus is a new experience that enables everyone to stay in the moment and minimize distractions on their PC. To help you stay on track, focus integrates with the Clock app for other focus tools, such as a focus timer and calming music.

Do not disturb:

It’s now easier than ever to silence notification banners with do not disturb. When you are ready to see the notifications that you may have missed, you can find them in Notification Center.

How do not disturb appears when turned on in Notification Center.
How do not disturb appears when turned on in Notification Center.

You are always in control of your notifications. Under Settings > System > Notifications, you can set up rules to automatically turn on do not disturb. For example, you could set do not disturb to automatically turn on outside of your work hours. Additionally, you can set priority notifications to control whether calls, reminders, and specific apps break through when do not disturb is on.

You can personalize do not disturb in Settings > System > Notifications.
You can personalize do not disturb in Settings.

Focus:

It is easy to start focus right from Notification Center (click on the time and date in the taskbar):

  1. Open Notification Center.
  2. Select the amount of time for your focus session.
  3. Press Start Focus.
Focus session in progress with taskbar badging off, the focus timer on screen, and do not disturb will turn on.
Focus session in progress with taskbar badging off, the focus timer on screen, and do not disturb will turn on.

When you start a focus session, taskbar badging will turn off, flashing of applications in the taskbar will turn off, a focus timer will appear on screen, and do not disturb will turn on. Focus in Windows integrates with focus sessions in the Clock app, so you can play calming music and see a task list from Microsoft To-Do. When your focus session ends, you will receive a notification letting you know your focus time has completed. You can personalize your focus experience (Settings > System > Focus).

You can personalize your focus experience under Settings > System > Focus.
You can personalize your focus experience under Settings > System > Focus.

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

Live Captions

Live captions will help everyone, including people who are deaf or hard of hearing, better understand audio by viewing captions of spoken content. Captions are automatically generated on-device from any content with audio. Captions can be displayed at the top or bottom of the screen, or in a floating window. The caption window can be resized, and caption appearance can be personalized by applying or customizing a caption style. Microphone audio can be included, which can be helpful during in-person conversations. Live captions support English (U.S.) content.

Live captions (launched from Quick Settings Accessibility flyout) generating captions for a video playing in the web browser.
Live captions (launched from Quick Settings Accessibility flyout) generating captions for a video playing in the web browser.

To get started, live captions can be turned on with the WIN + Ctrl + L keyboard shortcut, or from the Accessibility flyout under Quick Settings. When turned on the first time, live captions will prompt for download of the required speech model to enable on-device captioning.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Live captions.

Improving Quick Access in File Explorer

We are rolling out an update to File Explorer’s Quick Access view. First, “Pin to Quick Access” support has been extended from only supporting Folders to now also supporting Files. Pinned files are shown in a new section above Recent files in Quick Access.

Quick Access in File Explorer now supports pinning files and will show files hosted in OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams.
Quick Access in File Explorer now supports pinning files and will show files hosted in OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams.

Next, for users who log into Windows with (or attach as a secondary account) a Microsoft Account or Work/Education account, Pinned and Recent files from Office.com will also be shown in Quick Access. Changes that pin or unpin files hosted in OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams will sync and be reflected in Office.com and Office apps. File activity updates from collaborators such as edits, and comments are shown in Tiles view and can also be shown in Details view.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

See your OneDrive storage in File Explorer

Backing up your files and managing your cloud storage is important for the safety of your stuff. To help you have control over storage consumption and ensure your files are syncing, we’ve added OneDrive integration into File Explorer. When browsing your OneDrive folders, you can now see your sync status and quota usage without having to leave File Explorer.

OneDrive storage as shown in File Explorer when navigating to OneDrive folders.
OneDrive storage as shown in File Explorer when navigating to OneDrive folders.

ALT-TEXT: OneDrive storage as shown in File Explorer when navigating to OneDrive folders.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

New Touch Gestures

This build includes 5 new touch gestures to make it easier and quicker to navigate Windows 11 on a PC with touch:

Swipe to invoke and dismiss Start: Swipe with your finger from the middle of the taskbar to invoke the Start menu and swipe back down to dismiss it.

Swipe with your finger from the middle of the taskbar to invoke the Start menu and swipe back down to dismiss it.
Swipe with your finger from the middle of the taskbar to invoke the Start menu and swipe back down to dismiss it.

Swipe between Pinned/All apps and Recommended/More on Start: Within Start, swipe right to left from Pinned to get to All apps and left to right to get back to Pinned. The same gesture works for Recommended/More.

Within Start, swipe right to left from Pinned to get to All apps and left to right to get back to Pinned. The same gesture works for Recommended/More.
Within Start, swipe right to left from Pinned to get to All apps and left to right to get back to Pinned. The same gesture works for Recommended/More.

Swipe to invoke and dismiss Quick Settings: Swipe with your finger from the bottom right of the taskbar to invoke Quick Settings and swipe back down to dismiss it.

Swipe with your finger from the bottom right of the taskbar to invoke Quick Settings and swipe back down to dismiss it.
Swipe with your finger from the bottom right of the taskbar to invoke Quick Settings and swipe back down to dismiss it.

Swipe to invoke and dismiss Notification Center: We’ve updated the animation when swiping to invoke and dismiss Notification Center from the right edge of your screen so that it’s more responsive and follows your finger.

We’ve updated the animation when swiping to invoke and dismiss Notification Center from the right edge of your screen so that it’s more responsive and follows your finger.
We’ve updated the animation when swiping to invoke and dismiss Notification Center from the right edge of your screen so that it’s more responsive and follows your finger.

Full screen gripper: In full screen touch-oriented apps and games (e.g., Solitaire), notice a gripper that appears if you swipe from the edges of the screen. This feature is designed to keep you in your app if you accidentally swipe near the edges. If you need to access edge content, simply swipe again on the gripper.

In full screen touch-oriented apps and games (e.g., Solitaire), notice a gripper that appears if you swipe from the edges of the screen.
In full screen touch-oriented apps and games (e.g., Solitaire), notice a gripper that appears if you swipe from the edges of the screen.

Note that these gestures are reversed in Right to Left languages. Any swipe from the right becomes a swipe from the left and vice versa.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Input and Language > Touch Input and Gestures.

Improving Snap Layouts

We’ve added a new way to snap windows into snap layouts that works wonderfully with both touch and mouse! To try it out, just drag a window to the top of the screen to reveal the snap layouts, drop the window on top of a zone to snap it, and use snap assist to finish building your layout.

ust drag a window to the top of the screen to reveal the snap layouts, drop the window on top of a zone to snap it, and use snap assist to finish building your layout.
Just drag a window to the top of the screen to reveal the snap layouts, drop the window on top of a zone to snap it, and use snap assist to finish building your layout.

On top of all that, we’ve also improved snap assist to seamlessly animate between zones in a layout for a delightful end-to-end snapping experience.

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

More sustainable power settings and recommendations

The default values for Sleep and Screen off have been updated to reduce energy consumption, and carbon emissions, when PCs are idle. We will also provide power saving recommendations to help reduce carbon emissions to those with Sleep and Screen off set to Never.

Power saving recommendations shown in Settings to help reduce carbon emissions to those with Sleep and Screen off set to Never.
Power saving recommendations shown in Settings to help reduce carbon emissions to those with Sleep and Screen off set to Never.

The changes to default Sleep and Screen off settings will only be seen by those clean-installing Windows 11 with this build or higher. If you intentionally set Sleep or Screen off to Never, please let us know why, especially if sleep is not working as expected. We’re still working on the content that the “Power consumption and carbon emissions” options links to – stay tuned for future updates.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Power and Sleep > Sleep (or use the link above).

More improvements to browsing the web in Microsoft Edge with Narrator

Building off the collection of improvements for Narrator and Microsoft Edge from Build 22509, we have been working on more improvements to web browsing with Microsoft Edge and Narrator. Specifically, when navigating the web more useful information is provided, navigating dialogs is more natural, and editing text should now be more reliable.

When navigating the web, you can have Narrator read the current item (e.g., current page, current time etc.) and when you need to sort a table on the web, Narrator will announce the sort order you’ve selected (e.g., ascending, descending).

We also made it simpler to know when an item is selected in a tree view control and to know the state of a checkbox when these are part of a list. We also improved link navigation, and you will find that tabbing through links on a webpage and pressing Enter will always take you to the link destination.

When you encounter a dialog box on the web, Narrator will help you stay focused within the dialog box and prevent navigation to the content that’s behind it. This improvement is currently available in Microsoft Edge Canary builds.

Lastly Narrator has a few improvements for when you are editing text on the web. First, if you are deleting text on a form field, Narrator will read the character that was deleted and if you need to cut a large set of text with Control + X, Narrator will confirm that the text has been cut.

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

Task Manager Redesign & Efficiency Mode

We have updated the design of Task Manager to match the new Windows 11 design principles. This includes a new hamburger style navigation bar and a new settings page. A new command bar on each page gives access to common actions. We are also excited to bring dark theme to Task manager and will automatically match the system-wide theme configured in the Settings app.

The updated design of Task Manager in dark theme.
The updated design of Task Manager in dark theme.

Last April, we experimented with a new feature called “Eco mode” in Task Manager and we’re bringing this back with a new brand name: Efficiency mode. This feature is helpful when you notice an app consuming high resources and would like to limit its consumption so that the system gives priority to other apps which will lead to faster foreground responsiveness and better energy efficiency.

The new Suspended and Efficiency mode icons as they appear in Task Manager.
The new Suspended and Efficiency mode icons as they appear in Task Manager.

You can apply Efficiency mode either by clicking on the command bar in the Processes page or right click on the process. You can only apply Efficiency mode to single process and not to the entire group process.  If the option is grey out, it generally means that it’s a core Windows process and throttling it might affect the performance of the system. The Efficiency mode process will be marked with a new leaf icon, and we are also introducing new pause icon for Suspended process to indicate the process is in suspended mode

[We are beginning to roll this change out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

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

This new PowerShell Module allows users to easily add languages and related language features and manage settings like System Preferred UI Language, System Locale, Input method (Keyboard), Locale, Speech Recognizer, User Preferred Language List using the PowerShell prompt. These commands work in conjunction with the existing International PowerShell Module to provide the user control over various elements of the UI language on a PC.

 Note: To run the Install and Set commands you must run PowerShell as an administrator.

To do thisCommand
Install a language on the PC.Install-Language Note: Please restart or log out and log back in for changes to take effect. Once you log back in, please change your Windows display language (WDL) via Settings > Time & language > Language & region to change the UI language on the PC. You can also change your WDL by using the international module commands (Set-WinUILanguageOverride ). Params: Language: The bcp47 tag of the language being installed. CopyToSettings (optional): If included, set the system and default device settings (WDL, regional, locale format) to the provided language following the installation.
Get a list of the installed languages on the device, which type of Language Pack is installed, and what Language Features are installed.Get-InstalledLanguage Alias: Get-Language Params: Language (optional): filters the list to only show the given language.
Set a language as the System Preferred UI LanguageSet-SystemPreferredUILanguage Alias: Set-PreferredLanguage, Set-SystemLanguage Params: Language: The bcp47 tag of the language being installed
Get the value of the current System Preferred Language.Get-SystemPreferredUILanguage Note: Please restart or log out and log back to see the changes reflected in the new language. Additional user accounts created on the same system will reflect the new system language. Alias: Get-PreferredLanguage , Get-SystemLanguage
Uninstall a language on the PC.Uninstall-Language Params: Language: The bcp47 tag of the language being installed.

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

Changes and Improvements

[Taskbar]

  • Drag and drop is now supported on the Windows 11 taskbar. Quickly drag and drop files between app windows, by hovering over apps in the taskbar to bring their windows to the foreground. Try attaching a file to an Outlook e-mail by dragging it and hovering over the Outlook icon in the taskbar to bring the window to the foreground. Once in the foreground, drop your file into the e-mail to attach it. You can also customize your taskbar with your favorite apps from Start’s All apps list by dragging and dropping over the taskbar to pin them. You can also drag and drop to the desktop via “Show desktop” at the very right corner of the taskbar.
  • For Insiders using Microsoft Teams for work and school that are using share any window from the taskbar, we have added a new visual indication to the taskbar that indicates which window is being shared. This is especially important when you have multiple applications running or where your attention is split across multiple monitors. When you choose to share a window in your Microsoft Teams call, the shared window will also now be surrounded by a colored border.
When using Share any window, we have added a new visual indication to the taskbar that indicates which window is being shared.
When using Share any window, we have added a new visual indication to the taskbar that indicates which window is being shared.
  • On PC’s with more than one color profile, you will be able to add a quick setting to switch more easily between these modes. On clean install, the Color profile button should not be pinned by default, but it might appear on upgrades.
The new color profile quick setting.
The new color profile quick setting.
  • When casting (WIN + K) from your PC, a Cast icon will appear at the lower-left corner of your taskbar to show you are casting. Clicking the icon will open the Cast Quick Settings where you can quickly stop casting if needed. And expect more improvements coming for this experience.
The new Cast icon as it appears on the taskbar when casting to a display.
The new Cast icon as it appears on the taskbar when casting to a display.
  • As discovered by Insiders with Build 22543, we have updated the battery charging indicator to use a lightning bolt instead of a power cable. This addresses feedback that it was not possible to see lower charging levels at-a-glance because they were obscured by the cable. It’s also consistent with other consumer electronics devices and reflects the evolving landscape of charging to include USB charging devices.
The updated battery charging indicator as shown on the taskbar.
The updated battery charging indicator as shown on the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

  • File Explorer will now show previews of items within folders.
Folders now show previews of the contents within them in File Explorer.
Folders now show previews of the contents within them in File Explorer.
  • When sharing a local file in File Explorer to Outlook – you can now compose an email message directly within the share window without having to go into Outlook directly. You will need Outlook Desktop Integration installed via the Store and this capability is not available for files stored in OneDrive folders as OneDrive has its own share experience. Also, the share window will now suggest contacts from Microsoft 365 to share the file to via Outlook.
Share a local file via Outlook in File Explorer a compose an email without leaving the share window.
Share a local file via Outlook in File Explorer a compose an email without leaving the share window.

[Search]

  • Searching for apps and settings in the Windows search box on the taskbar is now even faster and more accurate than before. Try searching for your favorite app or a setting you use frequently to see faster results. We’ve also fixed an issue that prevented Windows users from being able to search for an app in the first few seconds after it had been installed.

[Windowing]

  • We have updated the snap group visuals to include the desktop wallpaper to make it easier to differentiate your groups from normal windows. This will appear when using ALT + TAB, Task View, and in the taskbar previews. Additionally, ALT + TAB will now show as windowed for all Insiders running Build 22554 and up.
ALT + TAB showing the updated visuals for snap groups.
ALT + TAB showing the updated visuals for snap groups.
  • We are updating the transition animation that shows going from one snapped window state to another. Snap some windows using the snap assist, move windows from one configuration to another and observe the fluidity of the transition with our new animations.
The updated transition animation that shows going from one snapped window state to another.
The updated transition animation that shows going from one snapped window state to another.
  • Rotating your device between portrait and landscape orientation is snappier, more responsive.
We have made rotating your device between portrait and landscape more responsive.
We have made rotating your device between portrait and landscape more responsive.
  • We have reduced the number of notification sounds that play when you connect and disconnect docks and monitors.
  • It is now easier to move your cursor and windows between monitors, by letting your cursor jump over areas where it would previously get stuck. This behavior is controlled in settings with System > Display > Multiple displays > Ease cursor movement between displays.
  • We’ve made some small changes to the snapping options under System > Multitasking to help simplify them and make them easier to understand.

[Narrator]

  • Narrator now provides a new male natural voice called Guy. We introduced new natural voices for Narrator in Build 22543.
Narrator now provides a new male natural voice called Guy to download.
Narrator now provides a new male natural voice called Guy to download.

[Voice typing]

  • We are adding the ability for you to choose which microphone to use in voice typing if you have multiple microphones connected to your PC. [We are beginning to roll this change out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.]
  • We are beginning to roll out the ability for you to use the following new commands in voice typing. [We are beginning to roll this change out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.]
To insert thisSay this
Enter“Press Enter”
Backspace“Pres Backspace”, “Backspace”
Space“Press space”, “Insert Space”
Tab“Press Tab”, “Tab”

[Voice access]

  • A new setting to add punctuation automatically when dictating text has been added. You can turn it on by clicking on the settings icon on voice access UI and selecting automatic punctuation from “manage options”.
  • We added a new setting to filter profanity. This is on by default and any profane or sensitive words will be masked with asterisk (*) when dictating text or commanding. You can turn it off by clicking on the settings icon on voice access UI and selecting filter profanity from “manage options”.
  • It is now easier to use “show numbers” command as we have reduced the occurrence of number labels hiding the controls on windows UI and making it hard to understand the control under a number.
  • We improved feedback messages for unsupported languages.
  • We also improved feedback messages for using voice access when you have multiple displays setup.
  • We improved discoverability of using touch keyboard with voice to enter passwords or PINs, correcting mistakes, and spelling out words using “correct that” and “spell that” commands.
To do thisSay this
Correct the last dictated text“Correct that”, “Spell that”
Correct specific text“Correct [text]”, “Spell [text]”

[Graphics]

  • We’re expanding Dynamic Refresh Rate (DRR) experiences on laptops with 120Hz displays beyond smooth scrolling in Office and low latency inking. When you move the cursor, the system will now boost to 120Hz, making your PC feel more responsive. Touch and pen interactions blend into smooth animations in Windows UI and apps UI. Smooth scrolling is now supported not only in Office, but also in Microsoft Edge Canary and Windows UI such as the Settings app. To enable smooth scrolling on Edge Canary you need to enter the following in the address bar of a new tab: “edge://flags/#edge-refresh-rate-boost-on-scroll”, set the highlighted flag to ‘Enabled’ and then restart Edge.
  • The Windows HDR Calibration app is coming to Windows PCs soon – you’ll be able to improve color accuracy and consistency on your HDR display. For easier access, you’ll be able to access this app via the Windows settings under System > Display > HDR You may see an early access point in HDR settings in this build, but as the app is not live yet, it will simply lead you here.
  • This build introduces a feature called Optimizations for windowed games and is designed to significantly improve latency and unlock other exciting gaming features including Auto HDR and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). Latency improvements can benefit all gamers – from improving your input lag to creating a competitive edge in your gaming experience. Go to System > Display > Graphics > Change default graphics settings to enable the feature. Note that this feature may be already on by default and is also required to use other graphics features such as Auto HDR. To learn more, check out https://aka.ms/WindowedGameOptimizations.

[Input]

  • We’re working on adding an IME On/Off key to the touch keyboard small layout for the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Traditional IMEs. For Insiders with only one keyboard this will be a standalone key on the left of the space key. If you have multiple keyboards the On/Off key is combined with voice typing – to access voice typing, simply press and hold the key. In addition, we’re adding small layout support for the Chinese Simplified Microsoft Pinyin and Microsoft Wubi IMEs. These changes are currently rolling out to a subset of Windows Insiders at first and we’ll expand over time based on feedback.
The small layout in the touch keyboard for the Japanese IME.
The small layout in the touch keyboard for the Japanese IME.
  • Updated some of the emoji based on feedback, including the smile with tear emoji, sakura emoji, and colored heart emojis.
Updated emoji in Build 22554.
Updated emoji in Build 22554.
  • Added a few new items to the kaomoji section in WIN + Period(.) based on feedback, including UwU.
  • Windows 11 now supports Hungarian for handwriting input as of this build. Pick up your pen and write using Hungarian in the handwriting input panel or handwriting keyboard, and have your handwriting be converted to text.

[Settings]

  • We’ve done some work to generally improve results when searching in Settings, including more relevant results and now have some flexibility for returning results in the case when the search terms have common typos.
  • We’ve increased the size of the icons in the Settings navigation pane to make them a bit easier to see.
  • To help customers give their PC a second life, or recycle it, we are including links in Settings to help customers find available programs. Some articles may not be localized.
  • Storage Sense will now be enabled by default for PCs going through OOBE. Your current settings will be persisted on upgrade. You can configure your Storage Sense settings under System > Storage.
  • Updated Settings Time & Language category and Date & time page to now include a live digital clock and information about currently selected option.
  • Updated the design of Network & Internet > Dial-up when you have a connection set up to align with the overall design of Settings in Windows 11.
  • We’ve made some adjustments to Personalization > Fonts to improve the design of the page, including that the drag and drop area for installing fonts is larger now.

[Windows Sandbox]

  • Aligning with Hyper-V behavior, even if you’re not in full screen mode, modifier keys and shortcuts (for example Windows key shortcut) will now be intercepted by Windows Sandbox if the window has focus.
  • Windows Sandbox now supports basic environment variable usage (like %USERPROFILE%) inside in mapped folder paths.

[Other changes]

  • We have updated the accessibility flyout on the login screen to align with Windows 11 design principles.
The accessibility flyout on the login screen now matches the Windows 11 design principles.
The accessibility flyout on the login screen now matches the Windows 11 design principles.
  • Insiders will notice the Mica material in more title bar surfaces. For example, the Run dialog now utilizes Mica.
The Run dialog with Mica in the title bar.
The Run dialog with Mica in the title bar.
  • TKIP and WEP are deprecated security standards and Windows 11 will no longer allow connections to those types starting with this build. Contact your network administrator or update your router to one that supports at least WPA2 (WPA3 is the current standard).
  • Similar to Windows 11 Home edition, Windows 11 Pro edition now requires internet connectivity during the initial device setup (OOBE) only. If you choose to setup device for personal use, MSA will be required for setup as well. You can expect Microsoft Account to be required in subsequent WIP flights.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed a recurring backgroundTaskHost.exe some Insiders were experiencing.
  • Fixed an issue leading to auto HDR not activating as expected in certain games.
  • Mitigated an lsass.exe crash that was resulting in some Insiders seeing crashes on the login screen in recent flights.
  • Addressed an issue that was leading to noticeably distorted audio for audio devices connected using the Xbox Wireless Adapter in recent flights.

[Taskbar]

  • Task View should no longer crash if you hold CTRL while hovering over it.
  • Dragging a file across the taskbar on secondary monitors should no longer cause an explorer.exe crash.

[File Explorer]

  • Updated the Storage Usage button in the Properties dialog for a disk to now be called Details and a little wider, to accommodate for languages where the button text was getting truncated.
  • Improved the performance of deleting files in Recycle Bin.
  • Fixed the Blu-ray icon so it aligns with the other drive and volume icons.

[Input]

  • Addressed an issue where the IME candidate window was unexpectedly not following your preference of light or dark mode.
  • Fixed an issue leading to some elements of the voice typing settings flyout to be invisible in dark mode.
  • The IME candidate window should appear as expected now in the username field of a UAC prompt.
  • Updated the term “Halfwidth alphanumeric / Direct Input” to just say “Halfwidth Alphanumeric” in the Japanese IME context menu.
  • Fixed an issue where after typing hiragana in Kana-input mode if there was a half-width alphabet character before the hiragana in composition it would unexpectedly become full-width.
  • Addressed a rare issue where the input switcher might unexpectedly list the same entry twice.
  • Mitigated an issue leading to an unexpected black box that was appearing in the input switcher sometimes.
  • Updated the input switcher so it can get a bit taller now for people with more than 4 keyboards.
  • Fixed a memory leak in the input switcher leading to explorer.exe crashing after repeated rapid use.
  • Fixed an explorer.exe crash when clicking on More Keyboard Settings in the input switcher.
  • Fixed an issue where the emoji panel might show “you’re offline” even though you had network connectivity.
  • Fixed an issue where the multiply emoji and counterclockwise arrows button emoji were displaying the design for the wrong emoji.
  • Updated the preview in the Personalization > Text input Settings page to reflect your desktop wallpaper rather than the default.
  • Did some work to improve reliability of the Stop media key when media is playing.

[Voice access]

  • We fixed a Visual C++ Runtime mismatch causing voice access to not run on some PCs.

[Search]

  • Fixed a high hitting search crash.
  • Clicking the search box in Start will now immediately switch over to Search without showing the Search window animate in upwards, just like when you press the Windows key and start to type.

[Settings]

  • Addressed an issue where Narrator wasn’t reading the elements of System > Storage correctly.
  • Fixed the broken “size and theme” link under Time & Language > Typing > Touch keyboard.
  • Did some work to help improve performance when updating accent color or mode.
  • We made a change to help reduce clipping in combo boxes in Settings for certain languages and text sizes.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing the icons on the IME settings pages to sometimes be white on white.
  • Mitigated an issue leading to the install button having truncated text in some languages when previewing fonts.
  • Fixed an underlying crash that was causing the preview video on System > Display > HDR to be distorted sometimes.
  • Addressed an underlying issue that could make Settings crash when you scrolled the window.
  • Adjusted the Wi-Fi icon in the Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings so that the lock shown for a secured network now has a small separation from the Wi-Fi strength, making it a bit easier to distinguish.

[Windows Spotlight]

  • Updated the name of Spotlight collection to be Windows Spotlight, so it’s consistent with the Lock screen.
  • Made a change to help make Windows Spotlight update images more reliably.
  • Rather than showing a solid color background, if for some reason new Windows Spotlight images aren’t available for the desktop, it will now fall back to showing the default Windows Spotlight background image (Whitehaven Beach).
  • Right-clicking on “Learn more about this picture” for Windows Spotlight on the desktop will now always show all options, just greyed out if they’re not currently available.
  • When hovering over “Learn more about this picture”, the tooltip should now more consistently align with the current image.

[Windowing]

  • Addressed an issue that was causing the minimize, maximize, and close buttons in File Explorer and some other apps to be invisible in certain cases.
  • Mitigated an issue leading to performance impact when dragging windows with acrylic and other scenarios with acrylic.
  • You should no longer see a briefly visible yellow border when taking screenshots.
  • We’ve made some improvements to address feedback that windows were repositioning unexpectedly.

[Network]

  • Did some work to address an issue that might cause certain VPN connections to fail. If you continue experiencing issues, please file feedback with a capture of the issue under Network and Internet > Connecting with a VPN client.
  • Fixed an issue that was leading to decreased Wi-Fi speeds after waking your PC from sleep in the previous flight.

[Narrator]

  • When backspacing, Narrator will now more consistently announce when you’re deleting characters with backspace.
  • Fixed an issue causing Narrator not to read selected text in the Feedback Hub.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

  • When going through the device setup experience (OOBE) on the Enterprise edition, the network add screen will be skipped on the first attempt. As a workaround, when users see the “name your computer” option, please reboot and re-start OOBE. The network add screen will now appear as expected.

[Start]

  • Names of apps in folders may appear blurred briefly when opening folders in Start.

[Taskbar]

  • The taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.

[File Explorer]

  • Searches from Quick Access may not work.
  • We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Focus]

  • The taskbar icon and tooltip may not match the focus state.
  • Clock app integration requires an app update that is starting to become available today. Most users should get this update automatically, but you can check for app updates manually by navigating to Microsoft Store > Library and clicking Get updates.
  • The Clock app does not yet update Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions within the app. This will be addressed in a future app update.

[Search]

  • After clicking the Search icon on the Taskbar, the Search panel may not open. If this occurs, restart the “Windows Explorer” process, and open the search panel again.

[Widgets]

  • With the taskbar left-aligned, information such as temperature is not shown. This will be fixed in a future update.

[Live captions]

  • Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
  • Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
  • The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

[Task Manager]

  • We are aware that the Efficiency mode icon is missing on some child processes.
  • Some settings options are not preserved.
  • We are working on fixing issues regarding icon size, visual bugs and in most cases the workaround is to either resize Task Manager or lower the resolution settings from Settings > Display > Display resolution.
  • Task Manager has limited keyboard support in navigation and command bar. Users may unable to navigate the UI using the keyboard due to limited support.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk.

SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integrate in CI/CD pipelines.

Your Phone app: Get to your recent Android apps faster

We are excited to announce another feature for the Your Phone app. For those of you with Samsung devices, now you can enjoy more continuity as you move from your phone to your PC. With this latest addition, you can easily access recently used apps from your Android device on your Windows PC.

Your recently used Android apps shown on the taskbar.
Your recently used Android apps shown on the taskbar.

You can access the three most recently used apps from your Android by selecting the Your Phone icon in the Windows taskbar. You can also find a new recent apps section within the apps page in Your Phone app. The feature is now available for all Windows Insiders in all Insider channels with select Samsung devices (details below). Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Recent Apps requirements:

To use recent apps, you will need:

  • Your Phone app version 1.21092.145.0 or higher. Older versions will not show recent apps even if you have a supported device.
  • A supported Android device. Recent Apps requires a deeper level of integration with the Android device and the team worked directly with Samsung to light this up. It is available on select Samsung devices that have Link to Windows, with OneUI 3.1.1 or higher and Link to Windows Service 2.3 or higher, such as:
    • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold
    • Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
    • Samsung Galaxy S series
    • Samsung Galaxy Note series
  • Your Android device and PC need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network for apps to launch on your PC.

source: Windows Blogs