Windows 11 Insider DEV Channel

Corrine · December 15, 2021, 06:12:12 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22523 | Windows Insider Blog

Note:

ARM64 PCs will be offered this build.
We are providing ISOs for this build which can be downloaded here.
This will be our final flight for the holidays. See you in 2022!

Fixes

[Taskbar]

Fixed an issue related to text input initialization that could lead to the shell (for example, Start menu and search) becoming non-responsive on ARM64 PCs.
The battery icon tooltip should no longer unexpectedly show a percent above 100.
App icons should no longer overlap the date & time on secondary monitors when there are a lot of open apps.

[File Explorer]

Did some work to address an issue that was leading to losing keyboard focus sometimes after pressing Enter when using F2 to rename OneDrive files.

[Spotlight collection]

After enabling spotlight collection, your first image (after Whitehaven Beach) should arrive a little faster now.
Added icons to the spotlight collection context menu entries.

[Input]

Improved reliability of invoking voice typing.
Fixed an issue where the border of our text input experiences (voice typing, emoji panel, etc) wasn't drawing correctly when a contrast theme was enabled.
Mitigated an intermittent crash with the pen menu process if it was launched and then immediately closed before the launch happened.

[Widgets]

We fixed the issue causing links to not open properly when opening the widgets board using hover.

[Settings]

Settings content should no longer get truncated off the side of the window when making the Settings window small.
Settings should no longer sporadically crash when opening comboboxes, which was impacting certain settings such as the ability to set custom click actions for the pen.
Addressed an issue where the "Add a device" option in Bluetooth & Devices was silently crashing when trying to connect new Bluetooth devices.
Added a number of keywords to make the Voice Access feature appear in settings search results.

[Other]

Fixed an issue that was causing ARM64 PCs to experience bug checks citing a memory management error in the previous flight.
Fixed an issue that was causing DWM to crash (causing the screen to flash repeatedly) when trying to use certain apps.
Mitigated an issue leading to certain apps hanging when Narrator was running.
Added some missing information when examining the details in the properties of narratorquickstart.exe.
Addressed an issue where Narrator would not respond to UIA events such as notifications, live regions or text events.

Corrine · January 06, 2022, 06:08:52 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22526

Changes and Improvements

We're experimenting with showing ALT + TAB as windowed instead of full screen for some Insiders.
We have added support for wideband speech when using Apple AirPods products (AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max), improving audio quality for voice calls.
Starting with Build 22518, Credential Guard is now enabled by default on Windows 11 Enterprise (E3 and E5) licensed PCs that are enterprise-joined.
We are experimenting with indexing more file locations so that using search to find important files in Files Explorer is quicker.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

Did some work to help address an issue where if you'd used search in File Explorer, and then explorer.exe crashed, the next time you tried to search in File Explorer it wouldn't work.

[Search]

We've made another fix to help address the recent searches flyout getting stuck on the screen (appearing transparent except the border).
Improved the resolution of app icons displayed in search results when the display scaling was set to greater than 100%.

[Spotlight collection]

If you're using spotlight collection, the current image should migrate on upgrade now (if the build you're upgrading from is Build 22523 or higher).

[Widgets]

Fixed an issue result in the Widgets board potentially not having the correct resolution when hovering over the entry point on a secondary monitor.
Addressed an issue where the Widgets board would temporarily be blank, showing only an Add Widgets button (which also opened to a blank dialog).

[Other]

Fixed a bugcheck with KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED remote desktop users were encountering when attempting to shutdown or restart.
Microsoft Store should no longer show a message that trying to install the latest Web Media Extension update is returning error code 0x80073CFB.
Addressed a DWM crash impacting some Insiders on the previous flight.

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

Corrine · January 12, 2022, 06:38:34 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22533

Note: The rollout of the updated entry point for Widgets with weather on the taskbar has been reset.

Changes and Improvements

We have updated the flyout design for the hardware indicators for brightness, volume, camera privacy, camera on/off and airplane mode, to align with Windows 11 design principles. These new flyouts will appear when you press the volume or brightness keys on your laptop and will honor light/dark mode to give you a more coherent Windows experience. Brightness and volume indicators continue to be interactive with the update.

Fixes

[General]

Fixed an issue where Insiders may have seen error 0x8007012a during a driver or firmware update.
Addressed an issue causing Insiders to be unable to sign-in to certain apps sometimes, such as Feedback Hub.
Fixed the text in the exploit protection description in the Windows Security app so it just refers to Windows and not Windows 10.
Fixed an issue resulting in not being able to import photos from certain cameras and mobile phones into the Photos app (it would just loop forever saying 0 items found so far).
Launching Windows Sandbox, closing it, and then launch it again, should no longer lead to having two Windows Sandbox icons in the Taskbar (one of which is non-functional).

[Taskbar]

The Wi-Fi icon should appear more reliably in the Taskbar now.
If you have multiple monitors connected to your PC and right-click on the date and time on the taskbar on your primary monitor, explorer.exe will no longer crash.
Holding CTRL and hovering your mouse over the Task View icon in the taskbar should no longer make explorer.exe crash.

[Settings]

Mitigated an underlying issue related to the use of mica in Settings which was impacting overall reliability of the Settings app in recent flights.
Fixed an issue impacting some Insiders which was resulting in Settings crashing when trying to access the Installed Apps, Startup Apps, and Default Apps pages.
Mitigated an issue that was making the Wheel page in Settings crash when adding an action for an app.
You should no longer hear a crackle if playing audio and repeatedly clicking the volume slider in Quick Settings to change the volume.

[Windowing]

If you hover your mouse over a truncated window title in ALT + Tab or Task View a tooltip showing the full window name will now appear.

[Input]

Improved how the text color and buttons look with theming applied on candidate window, emoji panel and clipboard (before this, some buttons/text was hard to see with certain custom background colors).
The voice typing launcher should no longer unexpectedly reappear after clicking the microphone icon to invoke voice typing.
For Insiders with the updated input switcher experience, accessibility tools like Magnifier and Narrator should work better with it now.

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

Corrine · January 19, 2022, 06:49:24 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22538

See the blog post for information about some updates to the voice features included in the Build.

Changes and Improvements

The updated entry point for Widgets with weather on the taskbar first introduced with Build 22518 should now be available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
In ALT + TAB, Task view, and Snap assist, the focus rectangle that shows what is selected will now use your chosen accent color on your PC.
Our updated IMEs and touch keyboard designs will now show on the Lock screen and where you enter your account information such as username and password. This change is currently rolling out to a subset of Windows Insiders at first and we'll expand over time based on feedback.
We are beginning to roll out the ability for voice typing to download Speech Packs from the Microsoft Store for device-based speech recognition that provides a better performance of transcription.
We're experimenting with improving the discoverability of certain input features in various areas across the OS.
For those who need it, you can access ncpa.cpl directly again.
We have added HTTPS boot for Hyper-V Generation 2 VMs. The feature is enabled by default.
For PCs that support it, display calibration is now directly available under Settings > Display > HDR instead of having to open a separate Settings page.

Fixes

[General]

Pressing the hardware buttons for volume up/down should no longer cause explorer.exe to crash for some Insiders.
We believe that the issue causing some Insiders to see text in Settings and other places mixed up in the previous flight should no longer repro in this build.
Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to crash in text boxes when using scan mode.
Mitigated an issue where for some PCs, after resuming from sleep or hibernate, video playback would resume instantly but the audio could take 10 seconds to start playing.

[File Explorer]

Folders named Advanced should no longer unexpectedly open the Advanced Sharing Settings page in Settings.

[Search]

We've done some work to address an issue wherein typing when using Search from Start or after clicking the Search icon Taskbar would not actually start a Search, as no text was input. If you continue to experience this issue after upgrading, please file a new piece of feedback under Desktop Environment > Search in Feedback Hub.

[Taskbar]

Taskbar's date and time in the long format should no longer cut off on secondary monitors.

[Settings]

There should no longer be a random blank entry under Bluetooth & Devices.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was reading the Resume updates button as "Check for updates" in the Windows Update page.
Settings should no longer crash when going to System > Display > HDR.
Fixed an issue believed to be the root cause of Settings crashing sometimes when using the clear location history option.
Mitigated an issue that was causing Settings to crash for some Insiders when viewing the properties of a Wi-Fi network.
The "private" and "public" controls in network properties should no longer flicker for people with dual network cards.
If you search for "network reset" the Settings page for doing that will now appear in the search results.
When viewing the list of available Wi-Fi networks in Quick Settings, the signal strength indicators should now reflect the correct signal strength instead of all showing full strength.

[Input]

Removed the "try out your setup" box from Personalization > Text Input > Custom Theme, since it didn't work.
The customized text color from Settings > Personalization > Text input > Custom theme" should actually apply to the text in the candidate window / clipboard history/ emoji panel now.
Mitigated an issue which was impacting the performance for Insiders with the new input switcher when rapidly switching input back and forth.
Tapping the search box in the expressive input area of the touch keyboard should no longer cause the touch keyboard to immediately dismiss the first time you do it after switching input language.
Fixed an unexpected 1-pixel gap between the side of the touch keyboard and edge of the screen when docked.
Adding missing inverted interrobang (⸘) to the general punctuation section of WIN + Period.

[Windowing]

For those using the custom mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors, the background of ALT + Tab, Task View, and Snap Assist should now follow the default Windows mode for light or dark and not the default app mode.
Dragging and dropping windows in Task View while using an Arabic or Hebrew display language should drag in the correct direction again now.
Explorer.exe shouldn't crash now when closing snap groups which include 3 or 4 apps.

[Widgets]

We fixed the issue where if you changed the taskbar alignment, it would cause the Widgets button to disappear from taskbar.
Widgets content on taskbar should not get out of sync between monitors when multiple monitors are connecting to your PC.

[Voice access]

Fixed an issue where recently removed microphone shows up as the selected microphone.
An issue was addressed to ensure the microphone state changes are announced for screen reader users.
Fixed an issue to ensure microphone names are read out for screen reader users on the microphone selection page while setting up voice access for the first time.
Fixed an issue to ensure microphone labels communicate the current microphone state for screen reader users.
Fixed an issue where duplicate number labels were showing up on Microsoft Edge home page with the command "show numbers".
Fixed an issue where the command "lowercase previous character" was not working as expected.
Fixed an issue where voice access would give an incorrect message to say "voice access wake up" even when no microphone is connected.
Fixed an issue where the command "switch to Edge" was not prompting for input when two Microsoft Edge windows are open with one of them maximized.
Fixed an issue where the command "go to font" didn't give expected results in Microsoft Word.
Addressed an issue where the command "voice access wake up" was not activating voice access microphone when you speak continuously without any pauses.
Addressed an issue where dictation was not working as expected on the desktop and File Explorer.
Addressed an issue where the command "show numbers" was not showing number labels on the window in focus.

[Task Manager]

Fixed an issue that was impacting Task Manager reliability.
Update App History tab column name in Task Manager from "Tile updates" to "Notifications".

Corrine · January 21, 2022, 06:14:07 PM

From Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22538:

UPDATE 1/21: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22538.1010 (KB5010882). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Corrine · January 27, 2022, 06:10:00 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22543

What's New: More natural voices are being introduced to Narrator as well as new keyboard commands for Narrator.

Fixes

[General]

Task Manager shouldn't crash when switching to the Performance tab.
The updated flyout for the hardware indicators for volume will now show the level.
Fixed an issue where certain characters (like characters with umlauts) weren't allowed when naming your PC in OOBE, even though it was allowed in Settings after finishing OOBE.
Addressed an issue which was leading to OneNote crashing in recent builds when trying to open pages with inserted PDFs.
Mitigated an issue that was leading to unresponsive UI after enabling HDR.

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue that could lead to explorer.exe crashing when dragging and dropping a file out of a zipped folder in File Explorer.
The context menu in File Explorer now shows a CTRL + Shift + C keyboard shortcut next to Copy as Path.

[Input]

Fixed an issue which was leading to the cursor unexpectedly disappearing in certain apps.
Fixed a crash in Quick Settings when opening the input switcher from there.
Addressed an issue which was leading to the candidate window customization being unexpectedly missing from Personalization > Text Input for Chinese Simplified IME users sometimes.

[Taskbar]

We fixed the issue causing two arrows to appear for the hidden icon flyout and the Quick Settings icons, and the date and time were misaligned.

[Settings]

Mitigated an issue leading to Settings getting stuck in a suspended state and couldn't be launched.
If you've opted to turn off the startup sound, that setting should persist upgrades going forward.
Fixed the icon in the notification that shows if you have chosen to postpone finishing setting up your device.
Tabbing through Quick Settings should no longer set focus to an invisible element.
Fixed an issue that was sometimes causing the media controls above Quick Settings to be off-screen.

[Windowing]

The underline indicating the active desktop in Task View will now follow your chosen accent color instead of being blue.
Mitigated a WER issue which was leading to DWM crashes in recent flights.

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

Corrine · February 03, 2022, 07:03:42 PM

Via Twitter: (1) Windows Insider Program on Twitter: "Hey Folks - Unfortunately our build candidate this week didn't meet our quality bar for release so we don't have a new flight for #WindowsInsiders in the Dev Channel this week. We hope to be back at it with a flight next week. ^AL https://t.co/2Pbj37e331" / Twitter

Corrine · February 10, 2022, 05:50:52 PM

No Windows 11 DEV Channel Build again this week. Windows Insider Program on Twitter: "Hey Folks, we're still working out a few issues so no new build this week. We hope to be back at it with a flight next week." / Twitter

Corrine · February 16, 2022, 06:46:51 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557

Due to builds in the Dev Channel being irrelevant to the features and improvements included within them, the branch builds are released from has changed to NI_RELEASE. For more on the approach to how things are released to the Dev Channel, What's coming for the Windows Insider Program in 2022.

See the blog post for information on the many features as well as changes and improvements included in the build.

Fixes:

[General]

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

[Taskbar]

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

[File Explorer]

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

[Input]

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

[Voice access]

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

[Search]

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

[Settings]

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

[Windows Spotlight]

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

[Windowing]

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

[Network]

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

[Narrator]

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

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

Corrine · February 24, 2022, 07:09:57 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563

Note: This build is available for ARM64 PCs.

Fixes:

[General]

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

[Taskbar]

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

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

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

[Start menu]

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

[File Explorer]

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

[Input]

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

[Search]

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

[Settings]

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

[Widgets]

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

[Task Manager]

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

[Windowing]

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

[Network]

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

[Narrator]

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

[Other]

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

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

Corrine · March 02, 2022, 06:33:36 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22567

See the referenced blog post for information about both new features as well as updated information about the Dev Channel.

Fixes:

[General]

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

[Taskbar]

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

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

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

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

[Start menu]

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

[File Explorer]

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

[Input]

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

[Settings]

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

[Windowing]

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

[Voice access]

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

[Live captions]

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

[Narrator]

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

[Task Manager]

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

[Lock screen and logging in]

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

[Other]

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

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

Corrine · March 04, 2022, 07:55:22 PM

UPDATE 3/4: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22567.100 (KB5012427). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Corrine · March 08, 2022, 12:02:04 AM

UPDATE 3/7: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22567.200 (KB5012432). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

NOTE: Windows Insiders on Home edition will not be able to install the Build 22567.100 and Build 22567.200 updates.

Corrine · March 09, 2022, 06:27:49 PM

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22572

The build includes the addition of Microsoft Family and ClipChamp as inbox apps. Additionally, Search Highlights will begin rolling out next week. See the blog post for additional information about the addition of the inbox apps, Search Highlights as well as changes and improvements.

Fixes:

[General]

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

[Taskbar]

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

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

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

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

[Start menu]

Improved how the "Pinned" header name is rendered in the Arabic display language.

[File Explorer]

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

[Input]

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

[Search]

Did some work to address a high hitting search crash.

[Settings]

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

[Windowing]

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

[Narrator]

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

[Task Manager]

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

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

Corrine · March 11, 2022, 08:16:08 PM

UPDATE 3/11: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22572.100 (KB5012817). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.