Windows 11 Insider DEV Channel

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.1843 (Dev Channel)

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

Shared Content in File Explorer Home
File Explorer will now provide you with quick access to files that have been shared with you. If you are signed into Windows with your Microsoft account, you will be able to view files that have been shared with your account, such as email, Teams chat, etc. If you are a commercial customer who is signed-in with your Microsoft Entra ID account, you will additionally be able to view files that they have shared with others. You can access this feature by launching File Explorer Home and clicking on the 'Shared' tab item.

You will also be able to view a broader set of file types in their Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections on the homepage. For example, if you've recently opened/edited files in Designer, Loop, Power BI, Forms, etc. these files will now be available in your Recent list.

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

Windows Sandbox Client Preview
This build includes the new Windows Sandbox Client Preview that is now updated via the Microsoft Store. As part of this preview, we're introducing runtime clipboard redirection, audio/video input control, and the ability to share folders with the host at runtime. You can access these via the new "..." icon at the upper right on the app. Additionally, this preview includes a super early version of command line support (commands may change over time). You can use 'wsb.exe –help' command for more information.

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security & Privacy > Windows Sandbox.

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

[General]
  • For new PCs or new user accounts on managed commercial devices (PCs running Windows 11 Enterprise, Education, or Pro logged in with an Entra ID (or domain), the Microsoft 365 app will be pinned to the taskbar for quick access to Copilot for Microsoft 365. Existing commercial PCs that still have the previous Copilot in Windows experience will see that replaced with the Copilot app pinned to their taskbar.
[Lock screen]
  • We have updated the Lock screen so that the media controls will now show at the lower bottom center of the Lock screen now when media is being played.
[Start menu]
  • When right-clicking on apps pinned to the Start menu, jump lists will be shown for apps that have them such as PowerPoint.
  • Based on feedback, we've made some updates to the new account manager on the Start menu making the sign out option directly visible, and adding a list of signed in users under "..." so it's faster to switch accounts.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
  • We are trying out a more simplified system tray to highlight the date/time in a shortened form and to show the notifications bell icon based on DND status. Without the notification bell icon, you can get to your notifications by clicking the date and time to Notification Center. You can revert to the long form of the date/time and bell icon visuals by toggling the values in the Settings via Settings > Date and Time under "Show time and day in the system tray" and Settings > System > Notifications under "Notifications". These settings are also accessible through the context menu shown by right clicking the system tray clock/bell icon button.
[Search on the Taskbar]
  • We are beginning to roll out the ability to share local files directly from within the search results shown in the search box on the taskbar.
[Input]
  • We have updated Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touch to have a new section for touch screen edge gestures, where you can choose if you would like to disable the left or right screen edge touch gesture.
[Notifications]
  • If desired, there's now an option to turn off the suggestions to disable notifications from certain apps. You can now press the "..." within the notification to disable the notification, as you can with other notifications, or you can go to the list of notification senders in Settings > System > Notifications and turn it off from there (called "Notification Suggestions" in the list). Note – this entry will only appear in the senders list after you have received one.
[Settings]
  • In response to feedback, we have added a detach virtual hard disk (VHD/`VHDx) button to Settings making it much simpler to detach your VHD/VHDx as needed. This option is available under Settings > System > Storage > Disks & Volumes, in the properties for your VHD/VHDx.
  • We've designed the settings page for Delivery Optimization under Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization to match the Windows 11 design principles.
  • We've updated the dialog when viewing your Wi-Fi password under Settings > Network & internet to match the Windows 11 visuals.

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

[File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue where when pressing WIN + E, a screen reader might unexpectedly say a pane had focus, or focus may not be set within File Explorer at all.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing CTRL + F to sometimes not start a search in File Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue where keyboard focus might get lost sometimes when doing Shift + Tab in File Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue causing screen readers to not announce when you were opening or navigating items in the breadcrumb flyouts of the open or save dialog.
  • Fixed an issue causing screen readers to not announce anything when opening or navigating items in the column header flyout in File Explorer.
[Input]
  • Updated the logic for the setting "Press the lower right corner of the touchpad to right-click" Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touchpad so it shouldn't show in cases where the touchpad doesn't support the functionality.
[Task Manager]
  • Fixed an issue where the background wasn't displayed correctly in Task Manager settings.

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[General]
  • We can confirm that the Recall feature is no longer showing as an option under the 'Turn Windows features on or off' dialog in the Control Panel in Windows.
  • Fixed an underlying issue believed to be the cause of Insiders on the previous flight finding the Windows Modules Installer (tiworker.exe) unexpectedly using 100% of the CPU, causing freezes and other issues on PCs.
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to fail to install the latest updates, seeing error 0x800f0993.
[Input]
  • Fixed an issue causing text suggestions for the hardware keyboard to not work properly (selecting one unexpectedly concatenates).
[Widgets]
  • Fixed an issue which could result in the Widgets icon unexpectedly displaying in the taskbar twice sometimes.

[Other]

This update includes fixes for the following issues:

  • [FrameShutdownDelay] The browser ignores its value in the "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main" registry key.
  • [Unified Write Filter (UWF) and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)] An SCCM task to re-enable UWF fails because of a deadlock in UWF. This stops the device from restarting when you expect it.
  • [OpenSSH] This update adds a prompt that asks you to confirm when you turn on OpenSSH using the Server Manager UI.
  • [NetJoinLegacyAccountReuse] This update removes this registry key. For more information refer to KB5020276—Netjoin: Domain join hardening changes.
  • [Domain Name System (DNS)] This update hardens DNS server security to address CVE-2024-37968. If the configurations of your domains are not up to date, you might get the SERVFAIL error or time out.
  • [vmswitches] They fail to enumerate using Get-VMSwitch command.
  • [Windows Installer] When it repairs an application, the User Account Control (UAC) does not prompt for your credentials. After you install this update, the UAC will prompt for them. Because of this, you must update your automation scripts. Application owners must add the Shield icon. It indicates that the process requires full administrator access. To turn off the UAC prompt, set the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer\DisableLUAInRepair registry value to 1. The changes in this update might affect automatic Windows Installer repairs; see Application Resiliency: Unlock the Hidden Features of Windows Installer.
  • [Group Policy Preferences Item Level Targeting (ILT) and Local Users and Groups] You cannot choose a group from the target domain for ILT. Also, you cannot choose an account from Local Users and Groups. The forest does not appear. This issue occurs when you deploy multiple forests, and the target domain has a one-way trust with the domain of the admin. This issue affects Enhanced Security Admin Environment (ESAE), Hardened Forests (HF), or Privileged Access Management (PAM) deployments.
  • [Task Manager] Graphs on the Performance page in Task Manager do not show the correct colors when you use dark mode.
  • [Remote Desktop Services] It stops responding.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.1912 (Dev Channel)

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

[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.
[Mobile Hotspot]
  • The Windows Mobile Hotspot has been enhanced to support 6 GHz connections. The new band requires chips that support the feature and updated drivers; not all chips that support 6 GHz Wi-Fi in general will support the 6 GHz mobile hotspot. The change will be visible under Settings > Network & internet > Mobile hotspot when you edit the mobile hotspot properties. For compatibility with existing devices, the mobile hotspot will only use 6 GHz when explicitly enabled.

[Other]

This update includes fixes for the following issues:

  • [Open Source Software] This update adds attributions to txt files for Rust OSS components.
  • [Task Manager]
    • Its Settings page might have a white background when it should not.
    • It stops responding when you switch from a high contrast theme to a normal theme.
  • [Input Method Editor (IME)] When a combo box has input focus, a memory leak might occur when you close that window.
  • [WebView2 apps] They do not detect input from Xbox 360 and Bluetooth controllers.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.1930 (Dev Channel)

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

[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.
[Fonts]
  • There is a new simplified Chinese font (Simsun-ExtG) with 9,753 ideographs supporting Unicode Extensions G, H and I. Included is the highly requested character for Biangbiang noodles. This character U+30EDD is said to be the most complicated Chinese character, as you can see in the image below. We are aware that some applications may not be able to display these new extension characters yet.
    • Unicode range G 30000-3134A (4,939 chars)
    • Unicode range H 31350-323AF (4,192 chars)
    • Unicode range I 2EBF0-2EE5D (622 chars)
[Windows Sandbox]
  • The new Windows Sandbox Client Preview that began rolling out with Build 26120.1843 should now be available to all Insiders in the Dev Channel.

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

[Other]
  • Fixed an issue for some Insiders with dual boot devices, where the boot menu (where you select which OS to boot into) wasn’t displaying correctly (the color was wrong, and it might only display in half the available space).

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel

[Settings]
  • We are adding the ability to configure the Copilot key. You can choose to have the Copilot key launch an app that is MSIX packaged and signed, thus indicating the app meets security and privacy requirements to keep customers safe. The key will continue to launch Copilot on devices that have the Copilot app installed until a customer selects a different experience. This setting can be found via Settings > Personalization > Text input. If the keyboard connected to your PC does not have a Copilot key, adjusting this setting will not do anything. We are planning further refinements to this experience in a future flight.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2122 (Dev Channel)

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

[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.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
  • We've updated the previews that show when you mouse-over/hover over apps on the taskbar. We have also improved the animations for when these previews show on the taskbar based on Insider feedback.
[Task Manager]
  • We've updated the design of the Disconnect and Logoff dialogs in Task Manager to now support dark mode and text scaling.
  • In the Performance section we now label listed disks with their type.

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

[Windowing]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause the screen to go black for a few seconds for some people when using ALT + Tab.

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[General]
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see error 0x800f0825 when trying to install the latest Dev Channel builds.
[Other]
This update includes fixes for the following issues:
  • [Remote Desktop Gateway Service] Fixed: The service stops responding. This occurs when a service uses remote procedure calls (RPC) over HTTP. Because of this, the clients that are using the service disconnect.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2130 (Dev Channel)

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

[Start menu]
  • “All apps” is now just “All” on the Start menu.
[Input]
  • We’re beginning to roll out a new Gamepad keyboard layout for the on-screen keyboard in Windows 11 that supports the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type. This includes button accelerators (example: X button for backspace, Y button for spacebar) additionally the keyboard keys have been vertically aligned for better controller navigation patterns.
[Narrator]
  • We have added a new shortcut “Narrator key + control + X” to copy what Narrator last spoke to clipboard. It follows the pattern of using “Narrator key + X” which repeats the last spoken phrase out loud and is a good way to memorize similar shortcuts. You can use these shortcuts to review and copy what Narrator spoke, useful in cases you want to quickly copy some content or descriptions or codes/numbers for use.
  • Narrator will now auto-read contents of a mail in the new Outlook app similar to behavior in Outlook classic.
[Networking]
  • If you use the netsh wlan show networks command, you should be able to read SSIDs that are UTF-8 encoded. This means that Wi-Fi SSIDs with Unicode characters (like emojis) should be properly displayed in netsh output. This change is beginning to roll out so not all Insiders in the Canary Channel will see it right away.

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

[General]
  • Fixed an issue for a small number of Insiders after the latest builds, where on locking your PC, after waking the PC from sleep the login screen contents wouldn’t load and you couldn’t sign back in.
[Input]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to clipboard history not displaying items you’d copied.
[Taskbar]
  • Fixed an issue where if you had multiple windows open for an app on your taskbar, pressing WIN + multiple times wasn’t cycling between the windows, for example, pressing WIN + 1.
[Narrator]
  • We have addressed a performance issue where Narrator would slow down after 15 minutes of continuous use with a single application. If you continue to experience any performance delays, do report using Feedback Hub.
  • Fixed an issue where Narrator would add an additional announcement “contains style” whenever its focus is on text that has styling attributes such as bullets, numbers across applications such as Microsoft Edge, Teams, Outlook, etc.
  • Fixed an issue where few dialogs in Narrator were not adopting the 200% text scaling setting in Windows.
[Live captions]
  • Fixed an issue causing live captions to crash for some people in the previous flight when you tried to use it.
[Other]
  • Fixed an issue causing mica to not work correctly when using a slideshow for your desktop background.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2200 (Dev Channel)

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

[Windows Studio Effects]
  • Windows Studio Effects delivers AI-based camera and audio enhancements on devices equipped with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Today, you can access Studio Effects in Quick Settings from the system tray of the taskbar. To further streamline your experience, an icon will now appear in the system tray when using any application with a Studio Effects-enabled camera. Simply click on this icon to launch the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings. Additionally, hovering over the icon will display a tooltip indicating which application is utilizing the camera.
[Dynamic Lighting]
  • When no compatible devices are attached, the Dynamic Lighting settings page will now show a placeholder message and Brightness and Effects controls are disabled.
  • On the Dynamic Lighting settings page, we have added Forward, Backward, Outward and Inward direction options to the Wave effect, and added the Forward direction option to the Gradient effect.
Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on

[Start menu]
  • Fixed an issue where if you clicked or tapped on a letter on Start menu’s All apps list, the All apps list may break.
[Taskbar]
  • Fixed an issue where explorer.exe was crashing for some Insiders when hovering over certain open apps in the taskbar.
[Settings]
  • Fixed an issue where there was a blank entry in Privacy & Security and clicking it would crash Settings.
[Input]
  • Updated the mouse option “Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key”, so that the circles displayed are now DPI-aware, and aren’t really small on high DPI monitors.
Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[Other]
  • [Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file (DriverSiPolicy.p7b)] Fixed: This update adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
  • [HTML Applications (HTA)] Fixed: HTA optional components (OC) are now in ARM64 Windows PE.
  • [Live kernel debug files (dumps)] Fixed: sys creates live kernel debug files when it should not.
  • [User interface (UI)] Fixed: You cannot view some parts of the UI when you run certain apps.
  • [Winlogon] Fixed: A stop error occurs during shutdown.
  • [sfc /scannow command] Fixed: You get errors every time you run the command.
  • [Windows Disk Cleanup app] Fixed: This update addresses some of the causes for the wrong free space estimates and improves its accuracy.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2213 (Dev Channel)

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

[Input]
  • We are beginning to roll out a change where we now hide the IME toolbar when apps are in full screen mode for those who have the IME toolbar enabled and type in Chinese or Japanese.
  • We have temporarily disabled the new Gamepad keyboard layout for the on-screen keyboard in Windows 11 that began rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel with Build 26120.2130 to address some issues. This feature will roll out again in a future flight.

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

[Start menu]
  • Fixed an issue impacting Start menu reliability.
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see an unexpected amount of spacing between items in the Start menu apps list.
  • Fixed an issue where ability to pin / unpin apps to and from Start menu was unexpectedly unavailable for some people.
[File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue which was causing the items in the navigation pane to become very spread out (with unexpected padding between each item) for some people.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing RAW images taken in portrait mode to unexpectedly display in landscape mode thumbnails.
[Taskbar]
  • Made a change so you will now see a search box if the taskbar auto-hides when the setting for search on the taskbar is set to "Search box" (rather than an icon).
  • Made a fix for WIN + <# associated with position on taskbar> not working in some cases in the latest flights.
  • Fixed an issue where the X button to close an app window from the taskbar wasn't working for some Insiders.
  • Fixed an issue on secondary monitors for left aligned taskbar users, where the widgets text in the taskbar might overlap the date and time.
[Dev Drive]
  • Fixed an underlying issue leading to Dev Drives potentially not being accessible within WSL after the latest flights.
[Other]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could potentially lead to not being able to join a domain.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to DISM /StartComponentCleanup not working properly, getting stuck at 71% and showing error 6842.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing the Get-WindowsCapability command to get into a state sometimes where it would fail unexpectedly until rebooting your PC.
  • Fixed an issue where rotation info about JPGs couldn't be queried via APIs (for example, via PowerShell).

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

[General]
  • Fixed an underlying issue leading to some games not launching in the previous flight.
[Task Manager]
  • Fixed an issue causing Task Manager to show a 0 count for apps and processes.
[Network]
  • Fixed an underlying issue impacting DHCP where unexpected duplicate options would fail lease acquisition, which could cause DHCP to not get an IP address, leading to Wi-Fi not working.
  • Fixed an issue where DirectAccess wasn't working and might stay stuck in a connecting state.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2222 (Dev Channel)

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

[General]
  • If you hold Shift and CTRL when clicking on a jump list item in Start menu or taskbar, this will now launch that item as admin, just like if you were to do Shift + CTRL and click the app icon itself. For example, if you right-click on Windows Terminal, and hold Shift and CTRL when you click PowerShell, it would open a PowerShell window as admin.

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

[File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue causing the See More (“…”) menu to open in the wrong direction (and potentially display offscreen as a result).
[Input]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause the mouse to unlock from a game window on a system with multiple monitors after opening and closing Game Bar, so you couldn’t use it within the game.
[Windowing]
  • Fixed a recent issue causing windows to potentially unexpectedly move around after waking from sleep if you had multiple monitors.
[Other]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to Registry Editor going unresponsive if you pressed Alt after clicking on the license information in the About section.
 
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