Aug 16

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27924 (Canary Channel)

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Hi all, last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27924 to the Canary Channel.

ISOs for this build are available > downloaded here <

Glad to see the Copilot+ experience features enabled in Canary.

Upgrades weent fast and smooth here, Happy Updates!!

What’s new in Build 27924

Copilot+ PC experiences

We are beginning to enable many of the Copilot+ PC experiences* for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel on Copilot+ PCs such as:

Note that some features are gradually rolling out such as Improved Windows Search and agent in Settings. And we’re still working to enable some features like image descriptions in Narrator – so if you don’t see something right away on your Copilot+ PC after updating to this build, that’s expected. We’re working hard to get everything enabled across the board over for the Canary Channel.

As is normal for the Canary Channel, the quality of these features will not match the quality of the same features in the Dev or Beta Channels. Expect some of these features to not work quite right. We will try to document known issues for the most impactful issues for these features and one such issue regarding Click to Do is documented in the known issues below. As always, please file feedback on any issues you see when using these Copilot+ experiences via Feedback Hub.

Advanced Settings

Advanced settings are now available via Settings > System > Advanced with some new features. The Advanced page is a redesign of the For Developers page, intending to make its settings easier to find for a broader audience. With the redesign of this page, we’ve added additional settings: Enable long paths, Virtual workspaces, and File Explorer + version control.

Enable long paths allows you to remove MAX_PATH limitations from common Win32 file and directory functions. Virtual workspaces allow you to enable/disable virtual environments such as Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and more. File Explorer + version control provides the ability to display Git information directly inside File Explorer. Simply select your repository folder and File Explorer will display information such as your branch, diff count, last commit message, and more.

Advanced settings page for File Explorer.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback on GitHub at microsoft/WindowsAdvancedSettings.

Changes and Improvements

[Input]

  • Adjusted the pointer indicator to be a little more transparent, so it’s easier to see what’s under the crosshairs when it’s enabled.
  • For the time being we have changed the keyboard shortcut for the new pointer indicator from CTRL + WIN + X to CTRL + WIN + ALT + X WIN + CTRL + SHIFT + X, to help reduce accidental invocations.

[Windows MIDI Services]

  • The inbox preview MIDI Service and API has a feedback-driven breaking change to optionally allow for waiting for messages to be completely sent before returning from function calls. Any apps written against previous versions of the Windows MIDI Services MIDI 2.0 SDK will need to update to the latest preview available at https://aka.ms/midireleases and be recompiled to continue working properly. For more discussion and feedback, please join our discord server at https://aka.ms/mididiscord.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an issue where the progress wheel might show as a rectangle glyph instead of rendering correctly when upgrading to the latest builds.

[Widgets]

  • Fixed an issue causing widgets to disappear or not work for some Insiders after the previous flight.

[Remote desktop]

  • Fixed an issue in the latest flights where remote desktop only used your primary monitor even if it was configured to use multiple monitors.

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying webauth.dll crash in the previous flight which may have impacted the ability to use passkeys.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • You may see multiple error pop ups about unexpected elements when opening Group Policy Editor.
  • There’s an underlying issue with dao360.dll in this build which may result in some apps crashing.
  • [ADDED 8/15] We’re investigating reports that Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files is getting stuck when scanning files. We are also investigating previous Windows Installations also not showing. 

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:

  • [NEW] Text and image actions in Click to Do may not work and Click to Do may crash. This issue will be fixed in the next flight.

[File Explorer]

  • [ADDED 8/15] In dark mode, the red color used for a low space drive in This PC may be unexpectedly light colored in this build. Some of the other colors may also be incorrect, including that black is used for space remaining instead of a more visible color.

Snipping Tool Update

We are rolling out an update for Snipping Tool (version 11.2507.14.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. In this update, we’re introducing window mode screen recording in Snipping Tool—an easy way to capture activity within a specific app window. To get started, toggle over to the Record option in the capture toolbar and click on the dropdown menu for Recording area to select window mode.

New option to set recording region by selecting a specific app window in the Snipping Tool toolbar.
New option to set recording region by selecting a specific app window in the Snipping Tool toolbar.

When you select window mode, Snipping Tool will automatically size the recording region to tightly match the app window you choose, making setup quick and precise. Once recording begins, however, the region remains fixed—so if the app moves or gets covered by another window, the recording won’t follow it. This gives you a simple, focused way to record what’s happening in a defined space on your screen, without needing to crop or adjust later.

Screen recording setup of the Paint app window with UI denoting that screen recording is set to the position of that specific app window.
Screen recording setup of the Paint app window with UI denoting that screen recording is set to the position of that specific app window.

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

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 10

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27919 (Canary Channel)

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Hi all, last Friday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27919 to the Canary Channel.

Triple channel Friday as not only Canary but also Dev & Beta got new builds.

Canary updates went through smoothy on all my devices, some nice new updates & tweaks in this one

Happy Upgrades!

Changes and Improvements

[Windows Search]

  • Today, we rationalize and organize Windows Search settings under Settings > Privacy & security under a “Search permissions” settings page and a “Searching Windows” settings page. We are beginning to roll out a change that brings those two settings pages together so you can easily access to all the Windows Search settings under a single settings page via Settings > Privacy & security > Search. The page is refreshed with a new modern visual for you to clearly browse the settings and control your experiences inside Windows Search, with the items listed in a better order.
The updated single settings page for Windows Search.
The updated single settings page for Windows Search.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where File Explorer might crash when trying to view the digital signatures tab in the properties for a file.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing the Microsoft Changjie Input method to not work properly in the previous build.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing phonetic keyboards, such as the Hindi Phonetic Input keyboard and the Marathi Phonetic keyboard, to not work properly in the previous build.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • The progress wheel may show as a rectangle glyph instead of rendering correctly when upgrading to this build.
  • [NEW] You may see multiple error pop ups about unexpected elements when opening Group Policy Editor.
  • [NEW] There’s an underlying issue with dao360.dll in this build which may result in some apps crashing.

[Remote desktop]

  • [NEW] There’s an issue starting with the last build where remote desktop only uses your primary monitor even if it’s configured to use multiple monitors.

[Widgets]

  • [ADDED] We’re investigating reports that widgets are non-functional and unavailable after upgrading to this build.

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 10

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5742 (Dev Channel)

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Hi all, last Friday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5742 (KB5064075) to the Dev Channel.

3 Channel Friday update party 🙂 Dev, Canary and Beta got a new build the same day. All my Dev channel devices updated fast and smoothly.

Happy Upgrades!

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Start menu]

  • We’ve redesigned the mobile device companion with an updated layout that lets you access more right from Start. Now, you can scroll to access more recent activity items so you can stay on top of updates from your mobile device. Users will be able to access messages, calls, photos, mobile app updates and more from this new updated layout.
The redesigned mobile device companion experience for the Start menu showing an Android device on the left and iPhone® on the right.
The redesigned mobile device companion experience for the Start menu showing an Android device on the left and iPhone® on the right.

[Settings]

We’re moving more time and language settings from Control Panel to Settings:

  • You can now add additional clocks from Settings > Time & language > Date & time under the collapsed section which can be expanded for “Show time and date in the system tray”. For those unfamiliar with the feature, these additional clocks display in Notification Center, as well as the tooltip when hovering over the clock in the taskbar.
  • You can now change your time server from Settings > Time & language > Date & time, under “Additional settings”.
  • The formatting settings for date and time have moved from Settings > Time & language > Language & region to Settings > Time & language > Date & time, and you can now change your AM/PM symbol from here as well (along with other existing formatting settings).
  • You can now change number and currency format from Settings > Time & language > Language & region, under the “Region” section.
  • If you’d like to enable Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support, there is now a toggle for this under Settings > Time & language > Language & region, under the “Language” section.
  • If needed, you can now copy current user language and region settings to welcome screen and system account, as well as new user accounts, from Settings > Time & language > Language & region, under “Additional settings”.

We’re moving more keyboard settings from Control Panel to Settings:

  • The setting for character repeat delay/rate has moved to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.
  • The setting for cursor blink rate has moved to Settings > Accessibility >Text cursor. Keyboard character repeat delay/rate is used to control the character repeat duration and repeat frequency. Cursor blink rate is used to control the cursor blinking frequency.

[Other]

  • We have updated more dialogs to match the Windows 11 visuals including the dialog for when an app can’t open.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where some of the icons in Details, Preview, and navigation panes of File Explorer weren’t properly mirrored when Arabic or Hebrew display languages.
  • Fixed an issue where the tooltips in File Explorer might unexpectedly stay visible.
  • Fixed an issue where duplicating a tab in File Explorer on a maximized window would result in a black flash.
  • Improved support for text scaling on desktop icons, addressing an issue which could lead to overlapping icons and text.
  • Fixed a couple cases where Narrator was unexpectedly not announcing actions in File Explorer (when using the “create new” library option, and when expanding details while copying files).
  • Made some more performance improvements – particularly to help the performance of launching cloud files and loading context menus.

[Start menu]

  • Fixed an issue for Insiders with the new Start menu, where they might unexpectedly see a category generated for every letter of the alphabet with blank icons, when opening the Start menu in the “All” section after updating to the previous build.
  • Fixed an issue where Visual Studio wasn’t showing in the correct category.

[Task Manager]

  • Fixed a few issues impacting Task Manager reliability, including a recent issue which could cause Task Manager to freeze when going to the performance section for some Insiders.
  • Fixed a few issues impacting accessibility – including adjusting minimum field sizes, improving contrast for the column headers on the Details page when contrast themes are enabled, and addressing a focus issue with the ‘Select Columns’ dialog on the Details page.

[Input]

  • Fixed an underlying issue where if you tried to type Chinese with an IME after copying something with CTRL + C could result in the first character getting dropped.
  • Fixed an issue where if you were typing on the touch keyboard with the Changjie, Bopomoji, or Japanese IME wouldn’t work if you had switched to using the previous version of the IME.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue where if you attempt to add a security key under Settings > Account > Sign-in options could result in Settings crashing.

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying issue with dao360.dll resulting in some apps crashing after the last two builds.
  • Fixed an issue causing a small number of Insiders to experience bugchecks with SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION in the latest builds.

Known issues

[General]

  • Some Windows Insiders may experience a rollback trying to install this update with a 0x80070005 in Windows Update. We’re working on a fix for Windows Insiders impacted. If you are impacted, using Settings > System > Recovery > “Fix issues using Windows update” may resolve the issue.

[For developers]

  • We are investigating reports after updating to Build 26200.5722 and higher in the Dev Channe that Visual Studio may crash on Arm64 PCs when running various scenarios that depend on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:

  • [NEW] After updating to Build 26200.5742, text and image actions in Click to Do may not work and Click to Do may crash. This issue will be fixed in the next flight.
  • Windows Insiders on AMD or Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs may experience long wait times on the first attempt to perform intelligent text actions in Click to Do after a new build or model update.

[Start menu]

  • [NEW] For Insiders with the new Start menu, the layout may temporarily show a smaller Start menu (ex. 6 columns of pinned apps instead of 8). This issue will be resolved shortly, and the larger layout will be restored.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • We are investigating reports that all apps pinned to the taskbar are unpinned for some Insiders after updating to Build 26200.5722 and higher.

[File Explorer]

  • In dark mode, the red color used for a low space drive in This PC may be unexpectedly light colored in this build. Some of the other colors may also be incorrect, including that black is used for space remaining instead of a more visible color.

[Live Captions]

  • Live captions may crash when attempting to use live translation on a Copilot+ PC.

[Xbox Controllers]

  • Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 02

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27913 (Canary Channel)

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Hi all, last Wednesday today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27913 to the Canary Channel.

Smooth update on all Canary Channel devices

Happy Upgrades!

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

[Input]

[Settings]

  • The search box in Settings will now be located at the top center to deliver a more consistent and better search experience.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an issue where the Windows Vista boot sound was unexpectedly being used instead of the Windows 11 boot sound.

[Desktop background]

  • Did some underlying work to help address issues which could result in the desktop background unexpectedly becoming black rather than displaying the expected wallpaper image. If you continue experiencing issues, please don’t hesitate to report them in the Feedback Hub under Desktop Environment > Background and Wallpaper.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue in the latest builds which could cause Settings to crash when interacting with the options under Settings > System > Power & Battery.
  • Fixed an underlying issue where some of the apostrophes across text in Settings and settings-related dialogs were not displaying correctly and were showing random characters.

[Audio]

  • Fixed an issue which could result in audio not working a few seconds after casting to a TV.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue in the latest builds causing a small number of Insiders to experience repeated bug checks with KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE after upgrading. This may occur when connecting to VPN.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could result in acrylic in certain apps unexpectedly being transparent.
  • Made another fix for the issue causing Group Policy Editor to not display correctly in certain languages (like Chinese), showing large blank areas.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • [NEW] The progress wheel may show as a rectangle glyph instead of rendering correctly when upgrading to this build.

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 02

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5722 (Dev Channel)

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Hi all, last Monday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5722 (KB5062669) to the Dev Channel.

Quick and smooth updates on my Dev Channel devices except for Recall being disabled after the 1st boot pointing to needed updates (https://aka.ms/AAxfl3z) was fixed after rebooting the device again.

Happy upgrades!

New Copilot+ PC experiences

Introducing the new agent in Settings rolling out for AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs

We are rolling out the new agent in Settings experience for AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs. This experience is designed to help solve one of the most common frustrations we heard: finding and changing settings on your PC. With this update to Settings, you will be able to simply describe what you need help with like, “how to control my PC by voice” or “my mouse pointer is too small” and the agent will recommend the right steps you can take to address the issue. An agent uses AI on your PC to understand your intent and with your permission, automate and execute tasks on your behalf. Please note that this experience works if your primary display language is set to English.

agentic function to increase the mouse pointer

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

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[General]

  • Some Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels will see a refreshed SCOOBE screen (Second Chance Out of Box Experience) for reviewing recommended settings on your PC. This redesigned screen is meant to be more intuitive and streamlined, allowing you to choose the recommended settings you want for your PC without having to navigate through multiple setup screens. If you see this screen, let us know if you have any feedback via Feedback Hub.
Screenshot depicting recommended setting in Windows 11
Refreshed SCOOBE screen for reviewing recommended settings.

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following changes and improvements are rolling out for Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs:

  • We are beginning to roll out a new tutorial for Click to Do. When you launch Click to Do for the first time, you’ll be offered a quick interactive tutorial that shows you how to accomplish tasks faster. During the tutorial, you’ll take actions on both text and images, so you’ll know how to quickly get a summary of a large block of text or remove the background from an image. You can revisit the tutorial at any time by selecting …, then Start tutorial.
Screenshot depicting a New tutorial in Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs.
New tutorial in Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • We are making a change to how quickly Windows can apply enterprise pins to the taskbar when initiated by the IT admins. We want to reduce the gap between an IT admin applying the pinning policy and when their users see a pin on their taskbar. Today, the policy only applies when explorer restarts. With this change, the gap is only up to ~8 hours (policy refresh interval) and sidesteps the explorer restart requirement.

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • In the left pane of the search results in the Windows Search box on the taskbar, we are introducing a new grid view to help you more quickly and accurately identify the desired image within your search.
Screenshot depicting Search results for the word puppy in the Windows Search box
Search results in the Windows Search box with grid view of images highlighted in a red box.

[Lock screen]

  • We have made some updates to the UI for configuring widgets on the lock screen under Settings > Personalization > Lock screen.

[Notification Center]

  • To address your feedback, we are extending the functionality of Notification Center to secondary monitors. This means you will be able to see your calendar on any of your monitors as well as the option to show a bigger clock with seconds above calendar. You will be able to open Notification Center on any monitor by clicking the date and time in the system tray of your taskbar.

[Task Manager]

  • After disabling to fix some issues, we are beginning to roll out the change the way Task Manager calculates CPU utilization for the Processes, Performance, and Users pages again to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels. Task Manager will now use the standard metrics to display CPU workload consistently across all pages and aligning with industry standards and third-party tools. For backward compatibility, a new optional column called CPU Utility is available (hidden by default) on the Details tab showing the previous CPU value used on the Processes page.
New CPU utility column option for Details page in Task Manager.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue where the Task View icon in the taskbar might be unexpectedly invisible if you turned it off and back on in Settings (the space was reserved and you could click it to open Task View, but nothing showed in the space).
  • Fixed a race condition which could lead to the Widgets icon not displaying in the taskbar although it was enabled in Settings (no space reserved, clicking the area did nothing).

[Login and lock]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing the text for lock screen widgets to be unreadable in some cases because it was white on a light background.
  • Did some work to address an underlying issue which could lead to the taskbar being slow to load when unlocking your PC after coming out of sleep. This issue could also have led to the password field and other login screen contents not rendering when transitioning from lock screen to login screen after sleep. If you continue experiencing issues, please report them in the Feedback Hub under Install and Update > Logon hangs.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where if you tried to use the unblock open in Properties for a file, it will still show as blocked when you opened Properties the next time.

[Start menu]

  • Fixed an issue for those with the new Start menu where if you used touch to navigate the new Start menu, it wasn’t working reliably. For example, it didn’t support the swipe-up gesture.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing the Microsoft Changjie Input method to not work properly in the previous build.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing phonetic keyboards, such as the Hindi Phonetic Input keyboard and the Marathi Phonetic keyboard, to not work properly in the previous build.

[Administrator Protection]

  • Fixed an underlying issue where the Xbox app wouldn’t launch when administrator protection was enabled. This may have also impacted other apps too, showing error  0xC0000142 or 0xC0000045.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue where under Settings > System > Storage > Disks and Volumes there might show a link for BitLocker drive encryption although it wasn’t supported in that case. Clicking it would result in BitLocker opening and displaying error 0x80004005.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue causing Insiders to see multiple error pop ups about unexpected elements when opening Group Policy Editor.
  • Fixed an underlying issue causing a small number of Insiders to experience a bugcheck with error DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in the latest builds.
  • Fixed an underlying issue impacting installers for certain apps on ARM64 PCs, which could result in a long stall during the installation process.

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[Graphics]

  • Fixed an issue where external graphics cards connected over Thunderbolt were unexpectedly not discoverable in some cases.

Known issues

[General]

  • Some Windows Insiders may experience a rollback trying to install this update with a 0x80070005 in Windows Update. We’re working on a fix for Windows Insiders impacted. If you are impacted, using Settings > System > Recovery > “Fix issues using Windows update” may resolve the issue.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • [ADDED 7/30] We are investigating reports that all apps pinned to the taskbar are unpinned for some Insiders after updating to Build 26200.5722.

[Live Captions]

  • Live captions may crash when attempting to use live translation on a Copilot+ PC.

[Xbox Controllers]

  • Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:

  • Windows Insiders on AMD or Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs may experience long wait times on the first attempt to perform intelligent text actions in Click to Do after a new build or model update.

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 02

Windows 11 Recall: Your Instant Second Brain and Time-Saving Sidekick

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In a world where our digital lives are fast-paced and scattered across apps, websites, chats, and documents, keeping track of it all can feel like trying to find a paperclip in a hurricane. That’s where Windows Recall steps in — not just as a feature, but as a game-changer.

⏱️ What Is Windows Recall?

screenshot of Recall getting ready for use

Windows Recall is like having a photographic memory built into your PC. It quietly and securely keeps track of what you’ve seen and done, letting you “recall” something from your past activity — whether it was a webpage you browsed, a document you edited, or a conversation you had — almost instantly.

You know that feeling when you vaguely remember something you read, but can’t remember where or when? With Recall, those moments become history.

💻Requirements

Not every pc will be able to use Recall it requires a Copilot+ PC, Your devices must have a CPU with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of at least 40 TOPS, 16GB or more of RAM, and at least 256GB of SSD storage. Security features like TPM 2.0, BitLocker or Device Encryption, and virtualization-based security must also be enabled

🔐 Is It Safe? Yes — Privacy First

Microsoft built Recall with security as its cornerstone. The snapshots captured by Recall are stored locally, encrypted on your device. That means you’re the only one who can see or search them — not Microsoft, not third-party apps, not even your IT admin. You can pause Recall, delete specific snapshots, or erase everything in one click. It’s your memory, on your terms.

screenshot of Recall requiring Windows Hello authentication before accessing your data

🚀 Superpowers for Work and Life

Here’s how Windows Recall saves your time and boosts your productivity:

  • Find Anything Instantly: Search with natural language — “Show me the recipe for mushroom risotto I looked at last week,” and Recall will find it.
  • Multitask Like a Pro: Recall helps you jump back into work exactly where you left off, across apps and browsers.
  • Creative Research Made Easy: Writers, designers, researchers — you can rediscover sources or inspiration from days or even weeks ago.

🤯 A Second Brain You Didn’t Know You Needed

Imagine having your own personal digital historian who remembers what you saw, when you saw it, and how to get back to it — without judgment or forgetfulness. That’s Windows Recall. It’s not just a tool — it’s an extension of you.

Using Recall over the past few months has genuinely transformed the way I manage my day-to-day responsibilities. It’s not just a tool—it’s become an extension of how I think and organize my work. From streamlining follow-ups to capturing key insights during meetings, Recall has helped me stay on top of everything without feeling overwhelmed. I’ve noticed a significant boost in my productivity and clarity, and I feel more confident knowing that nothing important slips through the cracks anymore.

screenshot for Recall showing everything from my recent activity on TechNine as search term

It’s also important to highlight that Recall can only be activated on your own device and account, and only if your company has explicitly allowed its use. This ensures full transparency and respects both individual privacy and organizational policies. You’re always in control—Recall doesn’t record or analyze anything unless you’ve chosen to enable it within the boundaries set by your employer. That balance between personal productivity and corporate governance has made it a trustworthy and compliant tool in my daily workflow.

Make sure to test it out when it is available to you!

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Jul 26

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27909 (Canary Channel)

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Hi all, lats nigh Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27909 to the Canary Channel.

A quick update to fix some known issues with the previous build.

Happy Upgrades!

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

Fixes

[Administrator Protection]

  • Fixed an underlying issue where the Xbox app wouldn’t launch when administrator protection was enabled. This may have also impacted other apps too, showing error  0xC0000142 or 0xC0000045.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue where the battery percentage was unexpectedly missing from the top of System > Power & Battery in the last few builds.

[Remote desktop]

  • Fixed an issue causing extreme graphical distortion and rendering issues using remote desktop on Arm64 PCs in the last couple builds.

[Other]

  • Fixed a high hitting pcasvc.dll crash in the previous build.
  • Fixed an underlying issue where if you disconnected the device you were casting to from outside of Media Player, Media Player would still show an option to disconnect from the device.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing Remote Credential Guard scenarios between the latest Windows 11 builds and Server 2022 (and below) to fail.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • There’s an issue starting with the latest builds causing a small number of Insiders to experience repeated bugchecks with KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE after upgrading. This may occur when connecting to VPN.
  • This Canary Channel flight comes with a delightful blast from the past and will play the Windows Vista boot sound instead of the Windows 11 boot sound. The fix should be coming in a future Canary Channel flight soon.

[Settings]

  • We’re investigating an issue in this build which could cause Settings to crash when interacting with the options under Settings > System > Power & Battery.
  • We’re investigating an issue where some of the apostrophes across text in Settings and settings-related dialogs are not displaying correctly and are showing random characters.

source: Windows Blogs

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Jul 19

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5710 (Dev Channel)

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Hi all, Yesterday Microsoft released the 2nd build this week in the Dev Channel Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5710 (KB5062676) to the Dev Channel.

Glad to see the new Copilot+ option to describe images roll out to Intel and AMD se quickly

Quick and smooth upgrades on all my Dev Channel devices.

Happy Upgrades!

New Copilot+ PC experiences

New describe image action in Click to Do rolling out for AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs

We are introducing a new “describe image” action in Click to Do to get detailed descriptions of images, charts and graphs for AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs. This feature was introduced for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs in the previous Dev Channel flight. This feature is useful to get a quick overview of the visual content. This feature is designed to improve accessibility and can be used by everyone in scenarios like getting a quick overview of a graph or a chart, generating alt text for artefacts you create, etc. When you use the action for the first time, the required models are set up, and the descriptions are generated locally on your device making sure your sensitive data stays on your PC.

Describe image action in Click to Do menu highlighted in a red box.
Describe image action in Click to Do menu highlighted in a red box.
Image description dialog shown with text description of image of Brandon’s dog Kilo.
Image description dialog shown with text description of image of Brandon’s dog Kilo.
Image description dialog shown with text description of a graph.
Image description dialog shown with text description of a graph.

You can learn more about using Click to Do here. You can check out frequently asked questions about rich image descriptions here.

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

Making visual content more accessible with image descriptions in Narrator

We are enhancing digital accessibility with the ability to get rich, detailed descriptions of images, charts, graphs in Narrator by using the power of AI on Copilot+ PCs. In today’s digital world, images are everywhere—on websites, apps, and documents. But for blind and low-vision users, many of these visuals remain inaccessible due to missing or inadequate alt text. After beginning the rollout for this feature for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, we are also now rolling this feature out for  AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs.

With this new feature that is beginning to roll out, Narrator will now generate richer image descriptions on your Copilot+ PC. Simply press Narrator key + Ctrl + D and Narrator will read out a contextual description of the image describing people, objects, colors, text, and numbers from the image. On non-Copilot+ PCs, this experience will continue to give you very basic image descriptions.

For example, for an image about stock performance, users will get the following detailed description. The image is a graph showing the stock prices of Microsoft Corporation, with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Computer indexes. The graph shows a steady increase in Microsoft’s stock price over the period from June 18th to June 23rd.

Screenshot of Edge browser containing an image of “stock performance graph” with “Describe image” window open next to it showing the description of the image.
Screenshot of Edge browser containing an image of “stock performance graph” with “Describe image” window open next to it showing the description of the image.

The window also contains regenerate, like, dislike and copy button at the bottom.

Screenshot of Edge browser with Narrator’s focus on an image of graph. There’s an info bar on top of the screen which says, “We are setting up image description feature. Keep your PC connected to internet and check back soon.” along with a “Check status” button.
Screenshot of Edge browser with Narrator’s focus on an image of graph. There’s an info bar on top of the screen which says, “We are setting up image description feature. Keep your PC connected to internet and check back soon.” along with a “Check status” button.

To turn Narrator on, you can press “Ctrl + Windows key + Enter” on your PC or search for “Narrator” in Windows search box. When you try the image descriptions feature for the first time using Narrator Key + Ctrl + D, we download the models required for getting image descriptions. You can check the download status via Settings > Windows update.

If you are new to Narrator, you can find more information and learn about using Narrator from the  complete guide to Narrator.

Also check out frequently asked questions about rich image descriptions in Narrator here.

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

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[General]

  • As part of our commitment to improving Windows performance, logs are now collected when your PC has experienced any slow or sluggish performance. Windows Insiders are encouraged to provide feedback when experiencing PC issues related to slow or sluggish performance, allowing Feedback Hub to automatically collect these logs, which will help us root cause issues faster. Use the Desktop > System Sluggishness category when filing feedback to allow Feedback Hub to automatically pick up these logs. These logs are stored locally (%systemRoot%\Temp\DiagOutputDir\Whesvc folder) and only sent to Microsoft via Feedback Hub when feedback is submitted.

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following changes and improvements are rolling out for Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs:

  • We are trying out a change that removes the search box in the top bar of Click to Do.

[Lock screen]

  • We’re updating lock screen widgets experience for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel, with widget suggestions to help you easily discover more widgets. This feature can be enabled or disabled with the “Discover widgets” toggle under Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Please note this experience is still being refined and will change in future flights.

[Settings]

  • You can now visit the Settings > Privacy & security > Text and image generation to see which third-party applications recently used generative AI models provided by Windows. This page gives you visibility into the specific apps leveraging local Windows provided generative AI models and allows you to control which apps are permitted to use them—putting you in charge of your device’s AI experience. The UI is present in this flight today, however the functionality will light up in a upcoming flight.
Text and image generation settings page with recent activity highlighted in a red box for seeing which apps use generative AI models provided by Windows.
Text and image generation settings page with recent activity highlighted in a red box for seeing which apps use generative AI models provided by Windows.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Notification Center]

[Other]

  • Fixed an underlying issue with dbgcore.dll, which could lead to explorer.exe and some other apps crashing recently.

Known issues

[General]

  • Some Windows Insiders may experience a rollback trying to install this update with a 0x80070005 in Windows Update. We’re working on a fix for Windows Insiders impacted. If you are impacted, using Settings > System > Recovery > “Fix issues using Windows update” may resolve the issue.
  • You may see multiple error pop ups about unexpected elements when opening Group Policy Editor.

[Start menu]

The following are known issues for Windows Insiders with the new Start menu:

  • Using touch to navigate the new Start menu may not work reliably. For example, it currently does not support the swipe-up gesture.
  • Drag and drop capabilities are limited from “All” to “Pinned.”

[Live Captions]

  • [NEW] Live captions may crash when attempting to use live translation on a Copilot+ PC.

[Xbox Controllers]

  • Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:

  • Windows Insiders on AMD or Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs may experience long wait times on the first attempt to perform intelligent text actions in Click to Do after a new build or model update.

[Input]

  • The Microsoft Changjie Input method doesn’t work properly in this build – not able to select words. Reverting to the previous version of the IME in Settings should mitigate the issue while we work on a fix.  

source: Windows Blogs

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Jul 19

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27902 (Canary Channel)

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Hi all, Last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27902 to the Canary Channel.

ISOs for this build – they can be >downloaded here<.

All devices upgraded without issues on my Canary Channel devices

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue in the previous build where File Explorer might fail to persist any view changes. This also impacted desktop icons, which could unexpectedly move or change size back to default. Jen is happy this bug is fixed.

[Camera]

  • Fixed an issue which could cause the Camera app to get stuck on some PCs in the last couple builds after switching between front and back camera.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
  • [NEW] There’s an issue starting with the previous build causing a small number of Insiders to experience repeated bugchecks with KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE after upgrading. This may occur when connecting to VPN.
  • This Canary Channel flight comes with a delightful blast from the past and will play the Windows Vista boot sound instead of the Windows 11 boot sound. The fix should be coming in a future Canary Channel flight soon.

[Settings]

  • We’re investigating an issue in this build which could cause Settings to crash when interacting with the options under Settings > System > Power & Battery.
  • [NEW] We’re investigating an issue where some of the apostrophes across text in Settings and settings-related dialogs are not displaying correctly and are showing random characters.

[Remote Desktop]

  • You may see extreme graphical distortion and rendering issues using remote desktop on Arm64 PCs in this build.

source: Windows Blogs

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Jul 19

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5702 (Dev Channel)

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Hi all, Last Monday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5702 (KB5062653) to the Dev Channel.

Cool new Copilot+ PC features got added

Happy Upgrades!

New Copilot+ PC experiences

[UPDATED 7/16] New describe image action in Click to Do

We are introducing a new “describe image” action in Click to Do to get detailed descriptions of images, charts and graphs – useful to get a quick overview of the visual content. When you use the action for the first time, the required models are set up, and the descriptions are generated locally on your device making sure your sensitive data stays on your PC. This feature is designed to improve accessibility and can be used by everyone in scenarios like getting a quick overview of a graph or a chart, generating alt text for artefacts you create, etc.

Describe image action in Click to Do menu highlighted in a red box.
Describe image action in Click to Do menu highlighted in a red box.
Image description dialog shown with text description of image of Brandon’s dog Kilo.
Image description dialog shown with text description of image of Brandon’s dog Kilo.
Image description dialog shown with text description of a graph.
Image description dialog shown with text description of a graph.

The new describe image action in Click to Do is rolling out to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, with support for AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs coming soon. You can learn more about using Click to Do here.

You can check out frequently asked questions about rich image descriptions here.

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

New features gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

Administrator protection

Administrator protection is an upcoming platform security feature in Windows 11, which aims to protect free floating admin rights for administrator users allowing them to still perform all admin functions with just-in-time admin privileges. This feature is off by default and needs to be enabled via Windows Security under Account protection or via group policy. For more information on administrator protection, please read this blog post here from Katharine Holdsworth.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[General]

  • We’re updating the design of the privacy dialogs for app permissions. When an app requests permission to access location, camera, mic, etc., it is now a system modal dialog. When one of these dialogs appears from an app requesting permission, the screen will slightly darken now, and the privacy dialog will take focus in center of the screen.
Before and after of design change for privacy dialogs.
Before and after of design change for privacy dialogs.

[Windows Security]

  • Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with Smart App Control in evaluation mode may see Smart App Control get turned on in Windows Security. If Smart App Control is turned on, it can be switched off via Windows Security > App & browser control > Smart App Control.

[Other]

  • Windows PowerShell 2.0 is deprecated and in the most current Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel, is removed. More information will be shared in the coming months on the removal of Windows PowerShell 2.0 in an upcoming update for Windows 11.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • Fixed an issue which could cause random File Explorer preview windows to appear when hovering over unrelated app icons in the taskbar.

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue where the search box in the taskbar might show animations even if animations were turned off in Settings.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to file operation progress dialogs to stop appearing when displayed from apps.
  • Made some more improvements to the performance of zip extraction – specifically in the case if you were trying to extract a zip file that was downloaded from the web and contained many small files.
  • Fixed an issue where if you’d pinned the shortcut for an app to your desktop, after the app updated, the icon may become a white page icon rather than having a proper thumbnail image.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer Home to flash white again when launching File Explorer.

The following are fixes for AI actions in File Explorer:

  • Fixed an issue where Narrator scan mode might not work properly in the action result canvas window for the Summarize AI action for Microsoft 365 files when reading bulleted lists.

[Live captions]

  • Fixed an issue where if you changed the opacity of live captions in Settings > Accessibility > Captions > Caption Style, it would have no effect.

[Dynamic Lighting]

  • Fixed an issue in Dynamic Lighting where the Dynamic Lighting Background Controller would occasionally consume excessive CPU after unlocking the machine.

[Graphics]

  • Fixed an issue where game content might become out of sync with the cursor position after using ALT + Tab to switch away and back from certain games running in full screen exclusive mode (when the game resolution didn’t match the desktop resolution).

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue which could cause Settings to crash when navigating to Time & Language > Language & Region in the previous flight.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue which was resulting in some people unexpectedly seeing error 2042 in Event View, citing a problem with Windows Firewall config not being read correctly.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause apps to not come to the foreground when interacting with notifications – for example if you clicked on an Outlook notification.

Known issues

[General]

  • Some Windows Insiders may experience a rollback trying to install this update with a 0x80070005 in Windows Update. We’re working on a fix for Windows Insiders impacted. If you are impacted, using Settings > System > Recovery > “Fix issues using Windows update” may resolve the issue.
  • [NEW] You may see multiple error pop ups about unexpected elements when opening Group Policy Editor.

[Start menu]

The following are known issues for Windows Insiders with the new Start menu:

  • Using touch to navigate the new Start menu may not work reliably. For example, it currently does not support the swipe-up gesture.
  • Drag and drop capabilities are limited from “All” to “Pinned.”

[Xbox Controllers]

  • Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.

[Click to Do (Preview)]

The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:

  • Windows Insiders on AMD or Intel™-powered Copilot+ PCs may experience long wait times on the first attempt to perform intelligent text actions in Click to Do after a new build or model update.

[Input]

  • [NEW] The Microsoft Changjie Input method doesn’t work properly in this build – not able to select words. Reverting to the previous version of the IME in Settings should mitigate the issue while we work on a fix.  

[Widgets]

  • Until we complete support for pinning in the new widgets board experience, pinning reverts you back to the previous experience.

source: Windows Blogs

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