Having trouble with your Windows activation on an OEM device? You might be able to fix it by retrieving the key from the bios.
Run this in Powershell (Elevation should not be needed)
(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey
If your device came with a license this command will show the key (looks like this: XXXXX-XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX)
Next you’ll want to check if Windows was installed with your key:
slmgr.vbs /dlv
This will after a few seconds return a pop-up window like this:
If the Partial Product Key is not the same as the last 5 digits of the key we retrieved in the 1st step, your operating system is not using the original device license key.
This can be fixed in multiple ways, command-line or via the gui, the 2nd one works in more cases (not all key changes are supported through cli).
Type changepk in the terminal you already have open, it will open up settings at System > Activation
The Gui Option:
Select the change button & copy in the key we retrieved earlier.
Enter your Product Key
Select Activate
All Done, select close
The Command Line Option
The steps above rolled into a script look like this:
$Key = (wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey) $ProductKey = ($Key[2]) if (!$ProductKey) { Write-Host "No key present" } else { Write-Host "Installing $ProductKey" & changepk.exe /ProductKey $ProductKey } slmgr.vbs /dlv Write-Host "If Partial Product Key (last 5 digits) is not the same as above, run changepk.exe, click change to manually input the key above"
The reason the script does not always work is not all upgrade paths or key changes are supported in the same way more info on this can be found here: MS Learn website – edition upgrades
Hi all, Last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25295 to the Dev Channel.
Upgrades went smooth here, spotted some new stuff:
Task Manager shows a different results in performance & details tab (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAjlw92)
Performance Tab Showing 100% CPU load
As shown in the screenshot above CPU load seems 100% while the processor is only throttled at 1.93 Ghz, switching to the Details pane shows the actual info, the device is not at High CPU
Snipping Tool still crashes when used to create a snip or recording from the app interface (using Windows Key + Shift + S works fine) (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAjmha9)
The app also refuses to start a snip when you select the photo camera icon & press New (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAjmaoc)
Happy Upgrades!
What’s new
New commercial policy: Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default
This new policy enables commercial customers to enable features introduced via servicing (outside of the annual feature update) that are off by default for devices that have their Windows updates managed. Windows update managed devices are those that have their Windows updates managed via policy; whether via the cloud using Windows Update for Business or on-premises with Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). While this policy is available for Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel, there aren’t any features currently in Dev Channel behind the policy. However, we expect to make this policy available in the Beta Channel shortly where there are features behind the policy. Learn more about this new policy here.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
Users will now see a copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts from apps installed on the PC or from phones linked to the PC. We make a best effort to determine if a notification toast has an authentication code but please send us feedback if we got it wrong or if we failed to detect the code in a notification toast.
New copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The new search on the taskbar experience that began rolling out with Build 25252 is now available for all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Insiders can change the treatment of search on taskbar in settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items.
New search box experience on the taskbar.
Fixes
[General]
The issue causing repeated bugchecks for some Insiders after upgrading to Build 25284+ should be fixed now.
Made another fix for an issue causing Insiders to experience freezes in recent flights (specifically in this case where apps might freeze if you tried to use them while also trying to play games).
Fixed an issue where the Update history page under Settings > Windows Update > Update history was blank for some users after installing Build 25290.
Fixed an issue where some users experienced longer than expected update times installing recent builds. If you experience this issue again, please submit a new feedback item with logs in Feedback Hub. We moved this back to the known issues and are investigating.
[File Explorer]
Fixed an issue where the add and close tab buttons weren’t working in File Explorer if File Explorer was maximized, and you were using an Arabic or Hebrew display language.
[Input]
Fixed an issue which could lead to app windows becoming unresponsive after using multi-finger on screen touch gestures.
Fixed an underlying issue which was causing your mouse to appear like pointer trails was enabled when sharing your screen.
[Settings]
The Add a Device dialog should no longer have an unexpectedly big border.
[Windowing]
Fixed an issue which could cause certain apps to move very slowly when you dragged it across the screen.
Fixed a DWM crash in recent flights which could cause your screen to flash black.
Fixed an issue where snapped windows might not remember their positions if you disconnected and reconnected your monitor.
[Other]
Fixed an underlying crash impacting the ability the ability for apps using Graphics.Capture to take screen captures in recent flights.
Fixed an underlying issue causing crashes in certain apps when trying to print to PDFs in recent flights.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
[ADDED] The ability to show seconds in the clock on the system tray, first introduced with Build 25247, has disappeared for Insiders after updating to Build 25295. We’re aware of the issue and this will return shortly in a new flight.
[NEW] Some AAD (Azure Active Directory joined users are now seeing “Getting ready for you” screens when signing into Windows after updating the latest builds. We are investigating the issue.
[NEW] Some users are experiencing issues authenticating to enterprise websites that require windows integrated authentication. This will be addressed in a future update.
Launching Group Policy Editor may show an error about a displayName attribute not being found.
Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on Arm64 PCs. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue related to combase.dll, causing crashes with multiple apps using GetKnownFolder APIs after upgrading to Build 25290, including Notepad and Windows Terminal for IME users.
While using Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) or in doing a clean install of Build 25290, users may encounter rendering issues which create difficulty in using these processes. If you need to do a clean install to your device, please obtain the latest Dev Channel ISO from https://aka.ms/wipISO.
[ADDED 2/10] We are investigating an issue where some users are experiencing longer than expected update times installing recent builds. If you experienced this issue, please submit a new feedback item with logs in Feedback Hub.
[ADDED 2/10] We are investigating reports that the Windows Insider Program settings page is showing that a newer build is available in Windows Update even though they are on the latest available build in the Dev Channel.
[Widgets]
The link for “Find more widgets” in the widgets picker currently is broken. This will be fixed and linked to the Store collection here in a future update.
Third-party widgets may occasionally disappear from the widgets board. They can be re-added by clicking refresh or by re-pinning them from the widgets picker.
Third-party widgets may occasionally get unpinned when the Microsoft account is used to sign-in multiple Windows 11 devices.
The undo button on the widget pinned/unpinned toast notification sometimes doesn’t work.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
App icons on the taskbar may appear on the wrong monitor for some Insiders with multiple monitors.
[Search on the Taskbar]
There is an issue where you will be unable to change taskbar search box to show as icon only via taskbar settings in some cases. To work around this issue, first change to a different option and then after, you should be able to choose to show as icon only.
[Windows Spotlight]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments of Windows Spotlight that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25281:
Clicking on a secondary monitor does not dismiss the full screen experience.
Spotlight wallpaper doesn’t show the correct resolution on multiple / mixed resolution monitors.
Running the previous build of Windows 11 or Windows 10 and the new build is not showing up for you?
Checked updates in setting with no new build available?
This might be due to policies set on your device trough Group policies or Intune set by you company admin.
If those are not interfering with your attempt to update, you might be facing a compatibility issue.
To find out what’s going on you can check the ‘redreason’ key in the registry.
Option 1: lookup the key with regedit
with registry editor navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\TargetVersionUpgradeExperienceIndicators
This key will have key referring to the target edition your device has checked for compatibility in this case NI22H2.
with that key selected in the navigation pane, the pane on the right should contain a key called RedReason
Option 2: use a PowerShell script
PowerShell script to pull the info without opening regedit:
If you RedReason is none and you are still not seeing the new build offered, you can re-trigger the compatibility check by Removing everything under the ‘TargetVersionUpgradeExperienceIndicators’ key + reboot the device.
To do this with PowerShell (requires run as admin)
# Define the registry path
$registryPath = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\TargetVersionUpgradeExperienceIndicators\'
# Get all subkeys
$subKeys = Get-ChildItem -Path $registryPath
# Iterate over each subkey and remove it
foreach ($subKey in $subKeys) {
Remove-Item -Path "$registryPath\$subKey" -Recurse -Force
}
# Get all values
$values = Get-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath
# Iterate over each value and remove it
foreach ($value in $values.PSObject.Properties.Name) {
Remove-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $value
}
Write-Output "All sub-items and keys under $registryPath have been removed, but the root has been preserved."
To manually trigger a re-check for compatibility, after the reboot
Press Windows logo key + S or select Search, type cmd, and then select Run as administrator under Command Prompt on the right side.
Hi all, Last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25290 to the Dev Channel.
The new Widgets are great, Messenger, Spotify,… quick access like never before, they do tend to get unpinnend from the widgets pane after a reboot, but that’s being worked on: https://aka.ms/AAjhst7
What’s new
New Widgets: Spotify and Phone Link
Last week, we promoted a preview of the widget for the Messenger app. Spotify and Phone Link are now rolling out preview versions of their widgets as well. To give them a try, go to the widgets collection in the Microsoft Store and update to the latest version of the apps. Then open the widgets board and navigate to the widgets picker by clicking the “+” button at the top-right of the board to pin your widgets.
The Spotify and Phone Link widgets on the widgets board.
As you give these and other new widgets a try, please let us know what you think through the Widgets feedback link in the widgets picker. You should expect to see additional new widgets as more developers create and release widgets for their apps.
With the release of Windows App SDK 1.2 developers are now able to create widgets for their apps. Users can access these experiences on their Windows 11 widgets board in current Dev Channel Insider Preview builds. If you’re interested in developing a widget, watch our latest tutorial video:
Changes and Improvements
[Start menu]
Back in October with Build 25227, we started trying out a small change to the Start menu where some Insiders saw badging on their user profile notifying them that certain actions need to be taken. We concluded that initial exploration in November. Starting today, we are starting a new exploration of badging on the Start menu with two new treatments that some Insiders in the Dev Channel will see. If you see one of these treatments, give us feedback on what you think. As a reminder, it is normal for us to try out different concepts in the Dev Channel to get feedback.
Different treatments of badging on the Start menu.
Fixes
[General]
We fixed the issue causing Arm64 devices to fail to resume from sleep/hibernate when running Build 25281 and getting stuck at the OS boot logo.
Fixed an issue where some Insiders may have issues accessing websites and other resources via VPN connections. If you used the workaround documented in this forum post, please reverse those changes once you have this new build installed.
Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience freezes when using the browser and certain other apps in recent Dev Channel builds.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed an explorer.exe crash which could cause the taskbar not to load for some Insiders.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
Fixed an issue where the search box would randomly disappear sometimes when you clicked it (leaving a blank space on the taskbar).
Fixed an issue where the search box was shifting to the side slightly when you clicked it.
[Task Manager]
Fixed an issue where the data content area of the Processes page might flash once when theme changes were applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
Fixed an issue where some dialogs did not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
Fixed an issue where properties in the Memory section of the Performance page were getting truncated even though there was space to display them.
Reduced the transparency of graph colors in the Performance page, and adjusted the borders, to help make them stand out more.
Fixed a few issues causing Task Manager crashes.
Typing F in the search box should work again now.
You now shouldn’t have to make Task Manager be as wide before the navigation pane appears.
If text scaling has been increased, the search box shouldn’t overlap with the title bar text anymore.
Made some tweaks to address cases where text in dialogs was getting cut off when text scaling was increased.
Fixes an issue where certain parts of the title bar couldn’t be used to drag the window.
[Windows Spotlight]
The following fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments of Windows Spotlight that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25281:
We fixed the issue causing some people to not get a consistent refresh of images on a daily basis.
[Settings]
Fixed an issue where the preview for Sans Serif Collection in Personalization > Fonts was displaying broken glyphs.
[Other]
Fixed an issue that was preventing Narrator from announcing dropdown lists in Excel.
Fixed an underlying issue which could cause Snipping Tool screenshots to become stretched out and distorted in the last few builds if you had multiple monitors.
Fixed an issue which could cause a bugcheck with SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.
Fixed an issue which could make the Open With dialog crash on launch.
Fixed an issue where the Open File dialog would hang if you clicked it while using an IME after having selected “Choose an app on your PC” from the Open With dialog.
Fixed an issue which could cause Group Policy Editor to unexpectedly show “An error has occurred in the script on this page” with an invalid character error when editing a group policy.
If you have OpenSSH Server set to start at boot (instead of manual), that preference should be remembered across OS upgrades now. Please note, you need to be on a build with this fix before it will take effect with your next upgrade.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
[NEW] The Update history page under Settings > Windows Update > Update history is blank for some users after installing Build 25290. This will be fixed via a newer Update Stack Package delivered via Windows Update when available.
[NEW[ Investigating reports that some Insiders are experiencing repeated bugchecks after upgrading to Build 25284.
[NEW] Launching Group Policy Editor may show an error about a displayName attribute not being found.
Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on Arm64 PCs. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
Some users are experiencing longer than expected update times installing recent builds. We are actively investigating this issue.
[ADDED 2/3] We’re investigating reports that some Insiders who use IMEs are experiencing crashes with some apps like Notepad and Terminal after upgrading to this build.
[ADDED 2/3] While using Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) or in doing a clean install of Build 25290, users may encounter rendering issues which create difficulty in using these processes. If you need to do a clean install to your device, please obtain the latest Dev Channel ISO from https://aka.ms/wipISO.
[Widgets]
[NEW] The link for “Find more widgets” in the widgets picker currently is broken. This will be fixed and linked to the Store collection here in a future update.
Third-party widgets may occasionally disappear from the widgets board. They can be re-added by clicking refresh or by re-pinning them from the widgets picker.
Third-party widgets may occasionally get unpinned when the Microsoft account is used to sign-in multiple Windows 11 devices.
The undo button on the widget pinned/unpinned toast notification sometimes doesn’t work.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
[NEW] App icons on the taskbar may appear on the wrong monitor for some Insiders with multiple monitors.
The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar. You may also see this issue on secondary monitors.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
There is an issue where you will be unable to change taskbar search box to show as icon only via taskbar settings in some cases. To work around this issue, first change to a different option and then after, you should be able to choose to show as icon only.
[Windows Spotlight]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments of Windows Spotlight that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25281:
Clicking on a secondary monitor does not dismiss the full screen experience.
Spotlight wallpaper doesn’t show the correct resolution on multiple / mixed resolution monitors.
Hi all, last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25284 to the Dev Channel.
Be sure to test out the messenger widget, it’s a great one! (it does seem to decide to remove itself from my widgets pane at random)
Snipping Tool still gets tricked by different DPI scaled monitors. ( Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAj9qlk)
Happy upgrades!
What’s new
New Widget
With the release of Windows App SDK 1.2 developers are now able to create widgets for their apps. Users can access these experiences on their Windows 11 widgets board in current Dev Channel Insider Preview builds.
Ready to try out a new widget? The Messenger app now has a preview version of its widget available. To give it a try, go to the Microsoft Store and update to the latest version of Messenger. Then open the widgets board and navigate to the widgets picker by clicking the “+” button at the top-right of the board to pin your widget.
The Messenger widget on the widgets board.
As you give this widget a try, please let us know what you think through the Widgets feedback link in the widgets picker. You should expect to see additional new widgets as more developers create and release widgets for their apps.
Fixes
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed an issue where right clicking on certain icons in the hidden icons flyout would make the flyout dismiss rather than bringing up the context menu for that icon.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
Fixed an explorer.exe crash which was impacting some Insiders, related to the search box in the taskbar.
[Input]
When search suggestions are triggered while using the Pinyin IME, keyboard focus will now stay on the current candidate. To move focus to the search suggestions, press Tab.
[Windowing]
Fixed an issue for PCs with touch, where when using certain apps in full screen mode it wasn’t possible to swipe down from the top of the screen to make the title bar appear.
[Other]
Fixed an issue which was causing certain apps to hang or crash when saving files as PDF in the last few builds.
Fixed an issue where using the cast option in an app may unexpectedly not show any devices in recent builds.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
[NEW] Some Insiders may have issues accessing websites and other resources via VPN connections. See this forum post for details and how to workaround the issue.
IMPORTANT: Some Arm64 devices may fail to resume from sleep/hibernate when running Build 25281, experiencing a hang at the OS boot logo. To bypass this bug, please use the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to roll your device back to the previous build. Instructions can be found here: ms/WinRERollback.
Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on Arm64 PCs. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
Some users are experiencing longer than expected update times installing recent builds. We are actively investigating this issue.
We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are experiencing freezes when using the browser and certain other apps after the previous Dev Channel flight.
[Widgets]
[NEW] Third-party widgets may occasionally disappear from the widgets board. They can be re-added by clicking refresh or by re-pinning them from the widgets picker.
[NEW] Third-party widgets may occasionally get unpinned when the Microsoft account is used to sign-in multiple Windows 11 devices.
[NEW] The undo button on the widget pinned/unpinned toast notification sometimes doesn’t work.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar. You may also see this issue on secondary monitors.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
There is an issue where you will be unable to change taskbar search box to show as icon only via taskbar settings in some cases. To work around this issue, first change to a different option and then after, you should be able to choose to show as icon only.
[Task Manager]
Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
[Windows Spotlight]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments of Windows Spotlight that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25281:
[NEW] Clicking on a secondary monitor does not dismiss the full screen experience.
[NEW] Spotlight wallpaper doesn’t show the correct resolution on multiple / mixed resolution monitors.
[NEW] In some cases, people are not getting a consistent refresh on a daily basis.
Hi all, last Thusday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25281 to the Dev Channel.
Notepad is getting Tabs, currently rolling out to devices in the dev channel. Dedicated Blog Post
Tabs in Notepad
Snipping Tool is running into a strange issue when using deffent DPI scaled monitors, the resulting snip might be missing a part in the resulting image: (FeedBack Hub: https://aka.ms/AAj9qlk)
Snip cut off due to DPI scaling issue in Snipping Tool
Happy Upgrades!
What’s new
Improving Windows Spotlight
Starting with this build, we are beginning to try out different treatments for how Windows Spotlight looks. All treatments will continue to share existing core Windows Spotlight features such as hovering over the icon on the desktop, right-clicking on the icon on the desktop, and double-clicking on the icon on the desktop. The treatments for Spotlight will include richer UI around displaying the title and description and learning more information about the image displayed on your desktop via Spotlight. We’re also trying out different ways of switching to different pictures with previews, a full-screen experience, and a minimized experience. Insiders in the Dev Channel will see different treatments across their PCs so not everyone will see the same thing and the treatments will be shown in English only.
One of the multiple treatments for Windows Spotlight with richer UI showing in the full-screen experience. Clicking anyway on the desktop dismisses the full-screen experience.
To enable Windows Spotlight on your PC today, right-click on your desktop and choose “Personalize” and then choose the new Spotlight theme. Additionally, you can directly enable Windows Spotlight but going to Settings > Personalization > Background and choosing the option under the “Personalize your background” dropdown.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Windows Spotlight.
Changes and Improvements
[Settings]
Aligning with the new Windows 11 design principles, we’ve redesigned the graphics settings page under Settings > Display > Graphics to help you get to graphics configurations such as ‘GPU preference’ and ‘Auto HDR’ with greater ease. The functionality of these settings remains unchanged from prior versions of Windows, but we now have a more streamlined visual appearance. For more on all the graphics settings in Windows 11 – check out this blog post on the DirectX Blog.
The graphics settings page has been updated to better match the Windows 11 visuals.
When removing a paired Bluetooth device from Settings > Bluetooth and Devices, it will no longer pop up a prompt to confirm before removing it.
Fixes
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Updated the printer icon in the system tray when printing something, so it better aligns with other modern icons.
When navigating the taskbar using WIN + T and arrow keys, the position of the app icon should now be called out by Narrator (for example, File Explorer might say “one out of fifteen”, if it’s in the first position and there are 15 app icons on your taskbar).
[File Explorer]
Updated the error dialog when network discovery is off so that it points to the correct location to enable it.
Fixed an explorer.exe crash which could happen when closing File Explorer.
[Settings]
Fixed an issue where SSID wasn’t being populated on the properties page for your Wi-Fi in Network & Internet Settings.
In the scenario where you are prompted with the UAC dialog when switching a network between private and public, that UAC dialog should now come to the foreground rather than being behind other windows.
Fixed an issue where Quick Settings might not be able to re-open after going to the Wi-Fi section and closing the flyout.
[Windowing]
Right clicking a snap group in Task View and selecting “show this group on all desktops” shouldn’t crash explorer.exe anymore.
[Narrator]
[ADDED 1/20] Fixed an issue where Braille devices were incorrectly saying there was no screen on the latest version of Braille.
[Other]
Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn’t announcing when the @ mentions window popped up in Outlook.
Fixed an issue that could cause some app uninstalls to get stuck and fail the uninstall in the last few builds.
Fixed an issue which was causing the Windows print queue window to crash sometimes in recent builds.
Fixed an issue which could cause SQL Server Management Studio to fail to launch.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on Arm64 PCs. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
Some users are experiencing longer than expected update times installing recent builds. We are actively investigating this issue.
We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are experiencing freezes when using the browser and certain other apps after the previous Dev Channel flight.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar. You may also see this issue on secondary monitors.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
There is an issue where you will be unable to change taskbar search box to show as icon only via taskbar settings in some cases. To work around this issue, first change to a different option and then after, you should be able to choose to show as icon only.
[Task Manager]
Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
Hi all, Last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25276 to the Dev Channel.
A strange issue affecting only a few upgrades is a very long wait at a little over 64% complete, is feels like the update is just stuck but if you give it time the upgrade completes without error.
It happened to one of my devices 2 builds ago, took hours to complete. For me the issue did not repeat however some users have had this issue on all of the latest build upgrades. (it’s in the known issues section of 25276)
Running setup diag once finished shows the process was waiting & timing out during this step.
Another issue spotted in a niche sittuation in snipping tool, when you take a screenshot with Windows + shift + S and draw on the shot and then close the app choosing not to save the artwork you made, the app crashes after a few second instead of closing (drawing on the picture is required for the test to succeed if you want to reproduce it) FeedBack Hub: https://aka.ms/AAj42ge
Happy Upgrading!
What’s new
Create live kernel memory dumps in Task Manager
We are introducing a set of new developer-focused features in Task Manager to aid the collection of live kernel memory dumps (LKDs). This is in addition to the existing “Memory dump” for user mode processes. The goal of kernel live dump is to gather data to troubleshoot an abnormal situation but allow the OS to continue operation. This reduces downtime when compared to a bug check for “non-fatal” but high-impact failures and hangs. Click here for more info on live kernel dumps.
To capture a live kernel memory dump (LKD), go to the Details page in Task Manager, right-click on the System process and the context menu should light up to show “Create live kernel memory dump file” to capture a Full live kernel or Kernel stack memory dumps.
Choose the new “Create live kernel memory dump file” option when right-clicking on a process on the details page in Task Manager.
You can also go to the Task Manager Settings page to view/edit the settings for live kernel memory dumps.
Configure live kernel dumps options in Task Manager settings.
[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders in the Dev Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Task Manager.
Updates to your cloud storage in settings for Windows 11
In November, we introduced a visual overview of your cloud storage usage in Settings app. As we mentioned here, you will see updates to the Microsoft 365 apps and service data included in your cloud storage. Outlook attachment data will be included in your cloud storage as displayed on the visual with today’s build. This change will gradually roll out starting with a small number of insiders, so not everyone will see it right away. You may see an alert regarding your storage usage; however, it does not impact your storage amount as early as February 1st, 2023. Learn more about cloud storage here.
A consolidated storage quota bar shown on Accounts page in Settings app with a banner that will alert you if you’re running low on storage.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Settings > User Profile Account Settings.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
We have updated the dialog that shows when an app has a known compatibility issue to use the new Windows 11 design. The dialog is a work-in-progress, and you may see issues with it in dark theme. As always, file feedback in Feedback Hub for any issues you might see.
The dialog that shows when an app has a known compatibility issue now uses the new Windows 11 design.
[Start]
[ADDED] The search box design in the Start menu has been updated with more rounded corners to reflect the design of the search box on the taskbar.
Design of search box on the Start menu has more rounded corners.
[Windows Security]
We are temporarily disabling the updated the Windows Security (firewall) notification dialogs that match the Windows 11 visuals that we introduced with Build 25267. We plan to re-introduce this change in a future flight after addressing some bugs.
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25267 and later Pro editions no longer allow a user to connect to a remote share by using guest credentials by default, even if the remote server requests guest credentials. This matches the stronger security of the Enterprise and Education editions that’s been in place since Windows 10, to further improve Windows 11 default security. For more information on this behavior and to configure insecure guest authentication to a third party SMB server device that only supports guest authentication, review this documentation.
Fixes
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed an issue where switching windows through taskbar previews wasn’t working.
Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes affecting the system tray.
When opening a flyout from the taskbar, pressing the Esc key to close the flyout should now return keyboard focus to the button it was invoked from.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
We fixed the layout issues with the text in the search box on taskbar when using right-to-left display languages like Arabic.
Fixed an issue where the selected search style in Taskbar Settings wasn’t persisting across updates. This setting should persist now on subsequent Insider Preview build upgrades.
[File Explorer]
Fixed an explorer.exe crash which could happen when opening File Explorer, related to loading your recent files.
[Voice access]
Voice access will now work correctly for entering numbers in the Calculator app.
Fixed a crash when giving move left and right commands with voice access.
[Input]
Fixed an issue where the “insert text” button wasn’t working when using the Pinyin IME in double pinyin mode.
[Widgets]
Fixed an issue where the widgets board will get stuck open in an invisible state for Insiders in China (and potentially others), causing clicks on the left side of the screen to not work. If you’re continuing to experience this, please make sure to check the Microsoft Store for the latest app updates.
[Other]
To improve clarity, when Windows Defender Credential Guard is enabled, when attempting to use remote desktop with default credentials, it will now explicitly say “Windows Defender Credential Guard does not allow using Windows logon credentials. Please enter your credentials”.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on Arm64 PCs. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
[NEW] Some users are experiencing longer than expected update times installing recent builds. We are actively investigating this issue.
[NEW] We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are experiencing freezes when using the browser and certain other apps after the previous Dev Channel flight.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar. You may also see this issue on secondary monitors.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
There is an issue where you will be unable to change taskbar search box to show as icon only via taskbar settings in some cases. To work around this issue, first change to a different option and then after, you should be able to choose to show as icon only.
[Task Manager]
Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
[Widgets]
In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, content animates out of view before the widgets board resizes when clicking to expanded view of the widgets board.
Yesterday, January 13th an unintentional impact was triggered by a pattern update (1.381.2140.0) to users that had the ASR rule “Block Win32 API calls from Office macro” set to block mode.
The impact was hard to miss, shortcuts pinned to taskbar & in the start menu went missing.
The best thing to do was change the ASR policy to audit mode as soon as possible to limit the impact.
the manual way to fix apps:
Windows 10:
Select Start > Settings > Apps > Apps & features
Select the app you want to fix.
Select Modify link under the name of the app if it is available.
A new page will launch and allow you to select repair.
Windows 11:
Type “Installed Apps” in the search bar.
Click “Installed Apps”.
Select the app you want to fix.
Click on “…”
Select Modify or Advanced Options if it is available.
A new page will launch and allow you to select repair
Microsoft posted a remediation script on Tech Community here:
Hi all, Happy 2023 !, last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25272 to the Dev Channel, the 1st Insider release of the new year!
My 1st impression after upgrade was ‘this feels faster’ than before… hard to quantify but overall performance & response seems even faster than with previous builds
Startup pane in Task Manager is no longer empty
Happy Upgrades!
[Changes and Improvements]
[General]
Moved Quick Assist out of Windows Tools so it displays directly in the Start menu’s All apps list and is easier to find.
We are removing the suggestion action for searching copied text in Microsoft Edge and showing recommend common websites on the Recommended section in Start – both of which began rolling out with Build 25247. Thanks to all the Insiders who gave us feedback on these two experiences. As a reminder, features and experiences we try out in the Dev Channel may get removed and never released beyond the Dev Channel as we incubate new ideas and get feedback from Insiders.
[WSL]
Starting with Build 25267, the inbox version of Windows Subsystem for Linux has been removed. When you install a build with this change if you’re a WSL user you will need to update to the latest WSL version outlined here in this GitHub post to ensure WSL continues working on your PC. Once you have done that, WSL will continue working on subsequent build updates. In future builds we’re looking to have this done automatically.
[Printing]
Added a refresh button to the Windows print queue.
Fixes
[General]
Fixed an issue where some Arm64 devices experienced a black screen while resuming from sleep or hibernate.
Fixed an issue causing various UI elements in apps to disappear and reappear sometimes in recent builds.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
We fixed the issue causing the search box on taskbar to not render correctly and display visual artifacts.
Japanese IME candidate items should display correctly now inside the search box on the taskbar.
[Task Manager]
Fixed an issue causing filtering by publisher name to not match correctly on the Processes page.
Fixed an issue causing some services to not show in the Services page after filtering is applied.
Fixed an issue which resulted in new processes appearing in a filtered list if launched while a filter is set.
Fixed an issue where Task Manager did not display light and dark content correctly, rendering potentially unreadable text.
Fixed an issue causing the Startup apps page in Task manager to not list any apps for some Insiders.
If there are no matching search results, Task Manager will now explicitly say that.
Fixed a Task Manager crash that could happen when attempting to end certain processes.
You can now set focus to the search box by pressing CTRL + F.
[Narrator]
Fixed an issue that was causing Settings to crash after turning Narrator on or off in Lithuanian and Hungarian builds.
Narrator should now be working correctly with Windows Defender Application Guard for Edge.
[Live Captions]
We fixed the issue that was causing Live Captions to not work in the latest Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel.
[Input]
When using the Japanese IME with Narrator, Narrator will no longer read out the entire composition string each time you press a key.
The message displayed the first time you use ALT + Shift should no longer display if you only have one input language installed.
Fixed an issue where the Surface Pen could no longer advance PowerPoint slides in recent builds.
Made a change to help improve performance when using a high report rate mouse while gaming.
Fixed an issue where if you used the touch gesture for opening the Start menu, it could get stuck halfway.
Fixed an issue which could cause Excel to stop responding on certain mouse drag events when using the Japanese or Chinese IMEs.
[Settings]
Fixed an issue which could cause a hang if you cancelled out of certification authentication when connecting to VPN.
Fixed an issue which was causing Settings to crash when opening Power and Battery sometimes.
Fixed an issue causing Quick Settings crashes sometimes when navigating to the Bluetooth section.
Fixed an issue where the app icons under Settings > Apps > Default apps might be blurry.
[Windowing]
Fixed an issue causing a black screen when ALT + Tabbing out of certain games in recent builds.
The maximize button should no longer be slightly smaller than the close and minimize buttons when you highlight it in File Explorer and certain other apps while using dark mode.
Fixed a couple DWM crashes that were introduced in recent builds.
[Other]
Fixed an issue which was causing some Windows Security app crashes.
Fixed an issue where the print queue was showing stale job information for printer connection printers.
Fixed an issue where when creating a FIDO2 credential for a website in a browser, you might see the dialog twice in a row in certain cases.
This build contains the fix for an issue impacting Windows Hello on certain PCs. We are continuing to investigate an issue specific to Arm64 PCs (see known issues).
Fixed an issue which could lead to the Camera app showing that something went wrong if you pressed Pause while recording video.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on Arm64 PCs. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar. You may also see this issue on secondary monitors.
[Search on the Taskbar]
The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:
In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, there are layout issues with the text in the search box on taskbar.
[ADDED 1/6] There is an issue where you will be unable to change taskbar search box to show as icon only via taskbar settings in some cases. To work around this issue, first change to a different option and then after, you should be able to choose to show as icon only.
[Task Manager]
Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
[Widgets]
We’re investigating an issue where the widgets board will get stuck open in an invisible state for Insiders in China (and potentially others), causing clicks on the left side of the screen to not work. If you encounter this, pressing WIN + D may resolve the issue.
In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, content animates out of view before the widgets board resizes when clicking to expanded view of the widgets board.
