Oct 22

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25977 (Canary Channel)

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25977 to the Canary Channel.

There are ISOs availabe for this build – they can be > downloaded here <

All Devcies upgraded without issues here, quite some updates in this build

What’s new in Build 25977

Improving accessibility with Bluetooth® LE Audio

We’re excited to announce that Windows has taken a significant step forward in accessibility by supporting the use of hearing aids equipped with the latest Bluetooth® Low Energy Audio (LE Audio) technology. Customers who use these new hearing aids are now able to directly pair, stream audio, and take calls on their Windows PCs with LE Audio support.

This feature is available on Windows devices with our recently announced Bluetooth® LE Audio support, which will be a growing market of devices in the coming months. In upcoming flights, we will be introducing additional capabilities to the hearing aids experience on Windows, such as controlling audio presets directly within Windows settings. Stay tuned for more details about these new capabilities as they roll out.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drives > Bluetooth – Audio quality, glitches, choppiness and stuttering.

Windows Location Improvements

We’re adding new controls to help you manage which apps have access to the list of Wi-Fi networks around you, which could be used to determine your location.  You can view and modify which apps can access the list of Wi-Fi networks by navigating to Settings > Privacy & security > Location.

New location access prompt.
New location access prompt.

To simplify the process of sharing your location with trusted apps, we have also added a new prompt that will appear the first time an app attempts to access your location or Wi-Fi information. This prompt will enable location services and allow the app to access your location, helping you complete tasks such as finding directions or checking the weather without navigating to Settings. Additionally, the prompt will notify when an app unexpectedly requests access to location services so that you can deny it. If you never want apps to access your location, you can turn off ‘Notify when apps request location’ on the Location Settings page to hide these prompts when location has been turned off.

New setting to hide location prompts.
New setting to hide location prompts.

Once you have granted permission, apps that use location or Wi-Fi information will now appear in Recent activity on the Location page, and the location icon will show in the taskbar while the app is in-use. This will help you better monitor when apps are using this information.

App developers can learn about changes to the API permissions and actions they can take to improve app experiences by reviewing https://aka.ms/WifiAccessChange

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Location Services.

SMB over QUIC Client Access Control

Starting with this build (Build 25977), SMB over QUIC now supports additional access control options for clients. This improves the existing SMB over QUIC feature, which introduced an alternative to the TCP network transport, providing secure, reliable connectivity to edge file servers over untrusted networks like the Internet.

With this new option, administrators can restrict which clients can access SMB over QUIC servers. This option gives organizations additional SMB over QUIC connection protections but does not change the Windows authentication used to make the SMB connection or the end user experience.

This new feature requires both the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25977 as well as a Windows Server Insider Preview Build 25967 or higher running in a VM.

For more information on configuring SMB over QUIC client access control, review https://aka.ms/SmbOverQuicCAC.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • Starting with this build, Mail and Calendar will no longer be installed after doing a clean install using the provided ISOs here. This ONLY applies for clean installs of Build 25977 and higher in the Canary Channel today. Mail and Calendar will not be removed on upgrade for Insiders in the Canary Channel. You can click here to learn more about the future of Mail and Calendar in Windows.

[Start menu]

  • The Xbox Game Bar will now show as just Game Bar under the Start menu and also under Settings > System > System Components. This change will come through a Game Bar update via the Microsoft Store.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

  • [ADDED] The network icon in the system tray now animates when a connection is in progress. This animation replaces the disconnected globe when a network is taking time to establish internet.

[Input]

  • We are including two new keyboard layouts in this flight. These keyboards implement the two new German extended layout standards (E1 and E2). The extended layouts allow users to type all characters needed for German (including German quotations marks, which were not previously available), all Latin-based languages of the EU, Greek, IPA phonetic transcription, Egyptian hieroglyph transcription, most Latin-based languages of the entire world (including Vietnamese with its multiple accents per character), and more. To enable one of these layouts, go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region and select Language options under the ellipsis for the language you would like to use this keyboard with. On the Options page, select “Add a keyboard” and look for the new keyboard layouts “German Extended (E1)” or “German Extended (E2)”. For more information, visit this Wikipedia page.

[Settings]

  • In Settings, when looking at your Wi-Fi password under the Wi-Fi properties, we now show a QR code so you can more easily share it with others. We also show a QR code when you set up a mobile hotspot to share your network connection.

Fixes for known issues

  • Fixed an underlying issue believed to be the root cause of various games having issues launching (citing graphics issues) or changing resolution in Build 25967.
  • Did some work to help improve performance when expanding the navigation pane in Task Manager.
  • Fixed an issue where certain .rar files would open blank or with an unexpected message saying there was insufficient memory to open the file.

Known issues

  • [NEW] Using dictation in voice access makes voice access crash.
  • We’re working on the fix for an issue causing the print queue to no longer be accessible and showing an error when you try to open it.
  • Some popular games may not work correctly on the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on these builds.

source: Windows Blogs

Oct 15

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23565 (Dev Channel)

Hi all, Last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23565 to the Dev Channel.

ISOs for this build are available – they can be downloaded here.

To celebrate the 9-year anniversary of the Windows Insider Program this month, we are releasing two new special desktop backgrounds for you to download and use with Insider Preview builds. Download the light theme version here and download the dark theme version here. Thank you for being Windows Insiders! All Insiders will receive the below 9-year anniversary badge in Feedback Hub!

Windows Insider Program 9-year anniversary badge.
Windows Insider Program 9-year anniversary badge.

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]

  • Copilot in Windows now shows the new icon on the taskbar.
New Copilot in Windows icon on the taskbar.
New Copilot in Windows icon on the taskbar.

[Windows Spotlight]

  • We are trying out Windows Spotlight on desktop on by default as the default background for upgrades where Insiders are using one of the inbox default desktop backgrounds. We are trying this experience out with a limited number of Insiders at first.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed a few issues impacting File Explorer reliability.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause File Explorer windows to hang for OneDrive users.
  • If there are a lot of images to load in Gallery, it will now show a loading state rather than implying Gallery is empty while it loads.

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

[Start menu]

  • Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Copilot in Windows*]

  • Some Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel in global markets where Copilot in Windows is available* in preview who are on the Home edition of Windows 11 Insider Preview builds may notice that Copilot in Windows has disappeared from the taskbar. We’re working to resolve this issue in a future flight.
  • When first launching or after refreshing Copilot in Windows while using voice access, you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

source: Windows Blogs

Oct 07

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25967 (Canary Channel)

Hi all, last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25967 to the Canary Channel.

It’s been a while since the Canary channel was blessed with a post a s long as this, many nice tweaks in this build personally I was positively surprised by the scrolling option in quick settings #kudo’s to the team!

Happy Upgrades!

What’s new in Build 25967

Introducing the new Settings homepage 

We’re introducing a new homepage in Settings that offers you a dynamic and personalized experience. It provides an overview of your device, quick access to key settings, and helps manage your Microsoft account.

New Settings homepage.
New Settings homepage.

We created interactive cards that represent various device and account related settings, grouped by commonly accessed functions. Each card is optimized to offer the most relevant information and controls at your fingertips. In this release, you’ll see up to seven cards, with more coming soon.

Here’s an overview of each card:

  1. Recommended settings: This card adapts to your specific usage patterns, providing timely and relevant settings options. It’s designed to streamline your settings management and save you time.
  2. Cloud storage: Gives you an overview of your cloud storage use and lets you know when you’re nearing capacity.
  3. Account recovery: Helps keep your Microsoft account more secure by helping you add additional recovery info so you never get locked out of your account, even if you forget your password.
  4. Personalization: Brings customization to the forefront by offering one-click access to update your background theme or change your color mode.
  5. Microsoft 365: Provides a quick glimpse of your subscription status and benefits, along with the ability to take some key actions right in Settings instead of going to the web.
  6. Xbox: Similar to the Microsoft 365 card, you’ll be able to view your subscription status and manage the subscription from the Settings app.
  7. Bluetooth Devices: To simplify your Bluetooth device management experience, we’ve brought this to the forefront so you can quickly access and connect to your favorite Bluetooth-enabled devices.

You can take swift actions directly from this page with just a click, making device and account management seamless and efficient. What sets the homepage apart even further is that it’s more than just a landing page—it evolves and learns with you. As you use your device, it’ll adjust to provide the most relevant and useful information based on your usage and preferences.

NOTE: This experience will only be available on Windows 11 Home and Pro editions and not on devices managed by organizations.

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

Changes and Improvements

[General]

[Start menu]

  • [ADDED 10/6] Under All apps in the Start menu, Windows 11 system components will now show a “system” label.

[Quick Settings]

  • We are trying out a scrollable view of quick settings to some Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel as part of evaluating effectiveness of different layouts. As part of the change, rather than having to edit the list to add new quick actions, the user now has a scrollable list of quick actions that can be rearranged.
A scrollable view of quick settings.
A scrollable view of quick settings.

[Settings]

  • System Components currently listed in Settings > Apps > Installed Apps page, have moved to its own page under Settings > System > System Components.
New System Components Settings page.
New System Components Settings page.
  • Xbox Game Bar is now Game Bar under Settings > Gaming.

[Windows Subsystem for Linux]

  • The September 2023 update for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) has been rolled out and includes networking improvements in the latest Insider Preview builds. See this blog post for more details.

Fixes for known issues

  • Fixed an issue which was causing Insiders to see bugchecks (green screens) in recent Canary Channel builds when shutting down, logging out, or restarting.
  • Fixed a white flash when opening File Explorer in dark mode, as well as an issue where File Explorer could get stuck with the wrong colors after switching between light and dark mode.
  • Fixed a few issues that were leading to explorer.exe crashes.
  • Fixed an issue where File Explorer sorting changes wouldn’t persist in folders after you navigated away and back.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing icons on the desktop to turn into white generic icons until you refreshed the desktop.
  • Did some work to help improve File Explorer performance, including fixing a memory leak which would impact performance over time, and fixing an issue where the tab would get stuck with a loading icon even though loading was finished.

Known issues

  • [NEW] If you need to roll back to the previous build (Build 25951) if this build has issues, you may experience an issue where the Start menu or Settings do not work. See this forum post on how to get out of this state. After updating to the next set of builds in the Canary Channel, this issue will be resolved for rolling back.
  • We’re investigating reports that the print queue is no longer accessible.
  • Some popular games may not work correctly on the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on these builds.

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels running version 22309.xxxx.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out:

Visual refresh of Windows license pages: We’ve improved the look and feel of Windows license pages in the Microsoft Store to be consistent with Windows 11. The pages provide comparison tables between Windows editions to help make it easier to choose what license is best for you.

Redesigned Windows license page in the Microsoft Store.
Redesigned Windows license page in the Microsoft Store.

source: Windows Blogs

Oct 07

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23560 (Dev Channel)

Hi all, Last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23560 to the Dev Channel.

Smooth update here on all Dev Channel devices

Happy Upgrading!

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]

  • We’re beginning to roll out the ability to use Copilot in Windows with ALT + TAB. Using the ALT + TAB hotkey now displays the thumbnail preview for Copilot in Windows among the other thumbnail previews of open windows, which you can switch between by pressing Tab. [UPDATE] This change does not change the ALT + TAB experience in Windows 11. Copilot only shows in ALT + TAB if Copilot is invoked from the taskbar.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue which could make the File Explorer dropdowns and context menu unexpectedly have a transparent background sometimes.
  • Fixed an issue where the search box wasn’t showing the correct folder name when you were in Gallery.

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed an explorer.exe crash impacting taskbar reliability.

[Narrator]

  • Fixed an issue where languages other than U.S. English couldn’t preview Narrator natural voices in Settings.
  • Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn’t reading out the time stamps on recommended items in Start correctly.

[Task Manager]

  • Did some work to help improve performance when expanding the navigation pane in Task Manager.

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

[Start menu]

  • Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Copilot in Windows*]

  • [NEW] Some Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who are on the Home edition of Windows 11 Insider Preview builds may notice that Copilot in Windows* has disappeared from the taskbar. We’re working to resolve this issue in a future flight.
  • The new Copilot icon is not shown currently in the latest Dev Channel builds. It will be updated in an upcoming flight – stay tuned!
  • When first launching or after refreshing Copilot in Windows while using voice access, you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

[ADDED 10/5] Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels running version 22309.xxxx.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out:

Visual refresh of Windows license pages: We’ve improved the look and feel of Windows license pages in the Microsoft Store to be consistent with Windows 11. The pages provide comparison tables between Windows editions to help make it easier to choose what license is best for you.

Redesigned Windows license page in the Microsoft Store.
Redesigned Windows license page in the Microsoft Store.

source: Windows Blogs

Sep 30

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23555 (Dev Channel)

Hi all, Last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23555 to the Dev Channel.

Fast & smooth updates here on local & Windows 365 Devices

Copilot updates, hope you have tried & embraced the use of Copilot it is so awesome!

Fixes

[Copilot]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash when trying to open Copilot from the taskbar.

[Narrator]

  • Fixed an issue that was preventing you from previewing Narrator natural voices in Settings.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Narrator from reading the time stamp on Start’s recommended items correctly.

[Task Manager]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing a Task Manager crash when changing Always on Top mode.

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

[Start menu]

  • Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

  • [NEW] The new Copilot icon is not shown currently in Dev Channel builds. It will be updated in an upcoming flight – stay tuned!
  • We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
  • You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
  • When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

source: Windows Blogs

Sep 23

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23550 (Dev Channel)

Hi all, Yesterday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23550 to the Dev Channel.

Smooth upgraded on all DevChannel devices here,

Happy Upgrades!

What’s new in Build 23550

Voice Access in OOBE  

As part of the work mentioned in Build 23516 for making voice access available to use on more areas in Windows, voice access can be used for setting up your new Windows devices and navigate through OOBE (“out of box experience”). You can launch the accessibility flyout on the bottom right corner of their screens and click on voice access to enable it.

Users can use the accessibility flyout in OOBE to launch voice access.
Users can use the accessibility flyout in OOBE to launch voice access.

NOTE: You will need to make sure you set up an internet connection while setting up a new device to enable the language model download and set up voice access to use it.  

You can navigate OOBE, insert passwords using the on-screen keyboard, type text using dictation and control your mouse and focus using number and grid overlays once voice access has been enabled.

Number overlays using voice access in OOBE.
Number overlays using voice access in OOBE.

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

Changes and Improvements

[Windows Subsystem for Linux]

  • The September 2023 update for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is rolling out and includes networking improvements in the latest Insider Preview builds. See this blog post for more details.

Fixes

[General]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing sporadic explorer.exe and Start menu crashes for Insiders in recent builds.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue which was causing thumbnails in Gallery to flash sometimes when scrolling.

[Start]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing some icons in Start’s recommended section not to show correctly.

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue where the magnifying glass wasn’t displaying correctly when search was set to “Search icon and label”.

[Task Manager]

  • Fixed an issue where the dialog when collecting a process memory dump erroneously said it was collecting a kernel memory dump.
  • Fixed an issue causing Task Manager to not launch for some Insiders.

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

[Start menu]

  • Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

  • We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
  • You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
  • When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

source: Windows Blogs

Sep 16

CTRL key Tips in Task Manager

Here are 3 Task Manager hidden features that might come in handy:

Stopping task manager from refreshing

One of the features of the Windows Task Manager is that it automatically refreshes the data every few seconds. This can be useful for monitoring the performance and activity of your system, but sometimes you may want to pause the refresh for various reasons. For example, you may want to examine a particular process or service more closely, or you may want to take a screenshot of the current state of your system. To stop the refresh, you can use a simple keyboard shortcut: holding down the Ctrl key while the Task Manager window is active. This will freeze the data until you release the Ctrl key. very useful when in details view, sorted by CPU usage to stop the processes from jumping up and down the list

Task Manager details pane sorted by CPU usage – paused by pressing CTRL key

Opening an elevated Command Prompt quickly

One way to launch a new program without closing the task manager is clicking on the run new task option. This will open the create new task window (also known as run) For example, if you want to open Notepad, you can type notepad.exe and press enter. The program will start in the background and you can switch to it using the task manager or the taskbar. Holding down the ctrl key prevents the task manager from closing when you run a new task, which can be useful if you need to monitor the performance or processes of your system.

Clicked ‘Run new task’ while holding down CTRL key opens elevated cmd

Ending a process

One of the useful features of the Windows Task Manager is the ability to quickly end a process that is not responding or consuming too much resources. However, sometimes you may encounter a situation where the End Task button is grayed out or does not work. In that case, you can try holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on the End Task button. This will force the process to terminate without waiting for confirmation from the system. This can be handy when you need to close a frozen application or a malware process that is preventing you from using your computer normally.

End task in task manager while holding down CTRL key forces process end

Sep 16

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23545 (Dev Channel)

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23545 to the Dev Channel.

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

Local & cloud pc’s upgraded without any issues

Enjoy upgrading!

Changes and Improvements

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • Instead of providing a hover experience that opens the search box on the taskbar, we are trying out some different experiences for when you click on the search highlight gleam in the search box instead. In some cases, clicking on the gleam will take you to a Bing.com page for the search highlight. A tooltip will always be shown for the search highlight gleam when hovering over the search box. As a reminder, we regularly try out different concepts and get feedback with Insiders in the Dev Channel.

[Windows Share]

  • We’re beginning to roll out the ability to quickly give your device a more friendly name to identify sharing to and from with nearby share under Settings > System > Nearby sharing.
  • We’re also rolling out the ability to see Microsoft Teams (work or school) contacts and to send files to them directly within the built-in Windows share window if you’re signed in with an Entra ID (AAD) account.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when closing File Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue where when switching between dark and light mode (or a contrast theme) File Explorer’s address bar, command bar, and context menu could get stuck in the wrong colors, making it difficult to see.
  • Fixed an issue where if you launched File Explorer in dark theme you could see a bright white flash as content loaded.
  • Fixed an issue where rapidly opening two File Explorer windows might make explorer.exe crash.
  • Made a few more fixes to help improve File Explorer launch performance, including fixing a leak which would impact performance over time.
  • Fixed an issue which could make explorer.exe crash when navigating away from Home.
  • Fixed an issue where trying to open Gallery after new images had been added might result in a crash.
  • Fixed an issue where the progress wheel in the tab would get stuck showing that File Explorer was loading a folder when the loading had actually already finished.
  • Fixed an issue where File Explorer sorting changes wouldn’t persist in folders after you navigated away and back.
  • Fixed an issue which could cause the icons in File Explorer tabs to be incorrect.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing icons on the desktop to turn into white generic icons until you refreshed the desktop.

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash in the latest builds impacting taskbar reliability.

[Search on the Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing search to not launch sometimes in the latest Dev Channel builds.

[Input]

  • We fixed the issue causing Unicode Emoji 15support which began rolling out with Build 23475 and the updated color font format with COLRv1 support that began rolling out with Build 23506 to no longer appear. These experiences should again be working with this build.
  • Did some work to help address an issue that could cause the Japanese and Chinese IME candidate windows to not appear after using connected standby, due to a crash.
  • Fixed a high hitting tabtip.exe crash that may have impacted the ability to type in the last couple flights.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue where Settings wasn’t launching in safe mode for some Insiders.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue where trying to take window mode screenshots was taking screenshots of the entire screen instead of the app in focus for some Insiders.

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

[Start menu]

  • Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

  • We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
  • You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
  • When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

source: Windows Blogs

Sep 16

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25951 (Canary Channel)

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25951 to the Canary Channel.

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

More security updates on this build, SMB legacy authentication protocols are beeing disabled by default.

An update to snipping tool was also released, text redaction tool built in: New updates for Snipping Tool and Phone Link begin rolling out to Windows Insiders | Windows Insider Blog

All upgrades went smoothly here, Happy Upgrades!

What’s new in Build 25951

SMB NTLM Blocking

Starting with this build (Build 25951), the SMB client now supports blocking NTLM for remote outbound connections. This changes legacy behavior, where Windows SPNEGO would negotiate Kerberos, NTLM, and other mechanisms with the destination server to decide on a supported security package. NTLM in this case refers to all versions of the LAN Manager security package: LM, NTLM, and NTLMv2.

With this new option, an administrator can intentionally block Windows from offering NTLM via SMB. An attacker who tricks a user or application into sending NTLM challenge responses to a malicious server will no longer receive any NTLM data and cannot brute force, crack, or pass a password, as they will never be sent over the network. This adds a new level of protection for enterprises without a requirement to entirely disable NTLM usage in the OS. You can configure this option with Group Policy and PowerShell. You can also block the use of NTLM in SMB connections on demand with NET USE and PowerShell.

For more information on configuring and troubleshooting NTLM blocking, review https://aka.ms/SmbNtlmBlock.

SMB Dialect Management

Starting with this build (Build 25951), the SMB server now supports controlling which SMB 2 and 3 dialects it will negotiate. This changes legacy behavior, where Windows SMB always negotiated the highest matched server dialect from SMB 2.0.2 to 3.1.1 clients. Beginning in Windows 10, support was added for controlling SMB client dialects, but not server dialects.

With this new option, an administrator can remove older SMB protocols from usage in the organization, blocking older, less secure, and less capable Windows devices and third parties from connecting.

You can configure this option with Group Policy and PowerShell. Both SMB client and server now include complete management support (previously the client support was only manual registry editing).

For more information on understanding and configuring SMB dialects, review https://aka.ms/SmbDialectManage.

Changes and Improvements

[Lock screen]

  • We’ve adjusted the network flyout on the Lock screen to better match the UI of the network flyout from quick settings in system tray on the taskbar.

Known issues

  • Some popular games may not work correctly on the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on these builds.
  • [NEW] We’re investigating reports that the print queue is no longer accessible.

source: Windows Blogs