Windows Insider Canary Channel

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26212 (Canary Channel)

Developers, please note that for a short period of time, we will not be releasing an SDK for builds we flight to the Canary Channel.

Changes and Improvements

[Windows Share]
  • Users will be able to now generate QR codes for URLs and cloud file links through the Windows share window to seamlessly share webpages and files across their devices. To try this out in Microsoft Edge, just click the share button in the Edge toolbar and choose “Windows share options”.
  • To prevent accidentally closing the Windows share window, clicking outside the Windows share window will no longer close it. To close the Windows share window, just press the close button at the top right corner.
  • If your Microsoft account uses a Gmail address, you can now send email to yourself from Windows share window and receive it in your Gmail account.
[Copilot in Windows*]
  • Over the last few months, we’ve been trying out different experiences for Copilot in Windows (Preview) with Windows Insiders across the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels. Some of these experiences include the ability for Copilot in Windows to act like a normal application window and the taskbar icon animating to indicate that Copilot can help when you copy text or images. We have decided to pause the rollouts of these experiences to further refine them based on user feedback. Copilot in Windows will continue to work as expected while we continue to evolve new ideas with Windows Insiders.

Fixes for known issues

[General]
  • We fixed the issue causing advanced startup options to not work. This also fixes the progress wheel from not showing when booting.
  • We believe we fixed the issue causing Features on Demand (FODs) to not install.
[Copilot in Windows*]
  • We are rolling out a fix for the issue causing Copilot to auto-launch unexpectedly for Windows Insiders in the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels after restarting their PCs. This issue was unrelated to the auto-launching experience we tried out with Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels in early Februarywhich we stopped rolling out in March.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
  • Fixed an issue that caused the taskbar to be partially off the screen on secondary monitors.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Narrator to be silent while rearranging your apps on taskbar.
[File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to sporadically crash when using path suggestions in the address bar.
  • Fixed an issue which could cause File Explorer to crash sometimes when going from the search box to the body of File Explorer.
[Windowing]
  • Fixed a couple DWM crashes, which could cause the screen to appear to flash.
[Other]
  • Fixed an issue that was causing some people to repeatedly see a message saying live captions were being missed.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing Visual Studio to fail to debug x64 .NET framework console applications (the app would crash in ntdll.dll upon load).
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26217 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

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

Fixes for known issues

[Settings]
  • Fixed an issue where after using the Disable button for a camera under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Cameras, the Enable button wouldn’t work.
  • Fixed an issue where the text showing the color filters keyboard shortcut was missing from Settings > Accessibility > Color filters.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26227 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[Copilot in Windows*]
  • As part of this update, we’re also evolving the Copilot* experience on Windows as an app that will be pinned to the taskbar. This enables users to get the benefits of a traditional app experience, including the ability to resize, move, and snap the window – feedback we’ve heard from users throughout the preview of Copilot in Windows. This model also allows Microsoft to more agilely develop and optimize the experience based on user feedback.
  • As part of the Copilot experience’s evolution on Windows to become an app that is pinned to the taskbar, we are retiring the WIN + C keyboard shortcut. For new devices that ship with a Copilot key, this key will open Copilot. For existing devices without that key, using the WIN + (number position for Copilot pinned to your taskbar) is a great way to open Copilot.
[Emoji]
  • We’re adding support for Emoji 15.1 which introduces a small number of brand-new emoji such as head shaking horizontally and vertically, phoenix, lime, brown mushroom and broken chain. Other changes for Emoji 15.1 include Unicode’s decision to revert family combinations to symbol-like shapes. Windows has chosen to stay with our existing style that use people in family combinations. We are also supporting the new directionality updates for person/man/woman walking, kneeling, with cane, running, manual wheelchair and motorized wheelchair. You can now select right facing or the original left facing orientation for these emoji.
[Settings]
  • We are introducing a new Linked devices page under Settings > Accounts that allows you to manage PCs and Xbox consoles that you are signed in to with your Microsoft account. This settings page will only show on the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 and if you’re signed into Windows with your Microsoft account.
Fixes for known issues

[General]
  • Fixed an issue believed to be the underlying cause of some Insiders noticing stutters in some animations recently (dropping frames), particularly with Task View.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to some apps not starting on startup even though they were enabled as startup apps in Settings. It would show as Suspended in Task Manager, but not appear in the taskbar.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to the pop up asking for permission to use location not appearing, which could lead to app issues without location access.
[Windowing]
  • Fixed an issue related to showing tabs in Alt + Tab, which could lead to frequent explorer.exe crashes if you had a very large number of tabs.
[Widgets]
  • Fixed the issue causing the WIN + W keyboard shortcut to not work correctly and open the Widgets board.
[Other]
  • Fixed explorer.exe crashes impacting live captions and voice access.
Introducing Suggested Replies in Phone Link for Android

We’re excited to announce the addition of a new feature to the Phone Link app for Android users: Suggested Replies. Powered by our cloud-based intelligent suggestion model, this feature is designed to make your messaging experience seamless and more efficient.

With Suggested Replies, you’ll see 3 contextually relevant reply bubbles to choose from when you receive a message. The feature is turned on by default, so you can start using it right away. Simply select a suggested reply and it’ll be sent immediately.

Suggested Replies are beginning to roll out to Windows Insiders across all channels with Phone Link version 1.24051.98 and higher.

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Phone Link.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26231 (Canary Channel)

What’s new with Build 26231

Narrator users can now use voice access to dictate text hands-free
Narrator users can start using voice access in Windows 11 to dictate text with voice and hear what is dictated. In addition, you can also use voice access to give Narrator commands. For example, “Turn on Narrator,” “speak faster,” “read selection,” “read next line,” etc.

To know the entire list of Narrator commands supported with voice access, click help icon (?) on the voice access bar, select “View all commands” and choose “Narrator commands.”

What will work:
  • Start and set up voice access which includes downloading a speech model.
  • Read a list of voice access commands and Narrator commands from voice access help menu.
  • Changing voice access microphone state.
  • Dictating text with voice and hearing back what was dictated.
Tips:
  • If you don’t use headphones for listening to the screen reader, the audio output from the screen reader may get picked up by voice access microphone, leading to unwanted behavior.
[We are beginning to roll this out to Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.]

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

Auto Restart for Voice Access & New Voice Access Command for Windows Search
We are introducing auto restart for voice access in Windows 11. This feature ensures that voice access will automatically restart if it encounters any issues so that individuals with limited mobility can get back to using voice access as quickly as possible. Customers will no longer need to rely on alternative assistive technologies or assistance from others to reactivate voice access. Should voice access automatically restart due to a crash, we are making it easier to report those crashes once voice access restarts so the team can investigate and work on fixes.

We are introducing a new command for searching directly with Windows search. Users can now say the command Search “Entity”; Search Windows for “Entity”; or Search for “Entity” to search for their desired application or file in Windows (“Entity” is replaced with whatever application or file you want to search.)

[We are beginning to roll this out to Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice access.

Changes and Improvements

[Windows Share]
  • We are beginning to roll out the ability to copy files from the Windows share window. Just click the new copy button.
[Settings]
  • The change that updates the visuals for the “Rename your PC” and “Change date and time” dialogs to match the Windows 11 visuals that began rolling out with Build 26217 should now be available to everyone in the Canary Channel.
Fixes

[File Explorer]
[Task Manager]
  • Updated the units (from MHz to MT/s) for DDR speed.
  • Fixed an issue where the Safely Remove Hardware option for ejecting USB devices wouldn’t work if Task Manager was open.
  • Did some work to ensure Task Manager releases process handles quickly when terminating processes.
  • Made some more improvements to help with Task Manager reliability.
  • We have improved the performance when changing the sort order.
  • Made multiple improvements to overall accessibility of Task Manager, including improving keyboard focus, tab navigation, text scaling, names of items read out by screen readers, and more.
  • We made it a little easier to resize Task Manager when trying to resize by grabbing the top of the window.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26236 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[General]
  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.
[Start menu]
  • This update starts the roll out of the new account manager on Start menu. When you sign in with a Microsoft account, the new design gives you a quick glanceable view of your account benefits and makes it easy to manage account settings.
Fixes

[Taskbar]
  • Fixed an issue causing the taskbar to not appear for a small number of Insiders in the last couple flights.
[Audio]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing the preferred audio volume (under Settings > System > Sound > Volume Mixer) for Microsoft Edge to not persist across restarting the app.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26244 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[General]
  • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.
[Windows Backup]
  • If you have both Personalization and Other Windows settings toggled on under Settings > Accounts > Windows backup, many of your sound settings (including chosen sound scheme) will be backed up which can be restored via the Windows Backup app.
[Settings]
  • To ensure you don't lose access to your Microsoft account, we're beginning to roll out a new banner with a "Add now" button under Settings > Account for adding a recovery email address if you haven't added one for your Microsoft account yet. This will only show if you are signed in with a Microsoft account.
  • We are introducing a new Game Pass recommendation card on the Settings homepage. The Game Pass recommendation card on Settings Homepage will be shown to you if you actively play games on your PC. As a reminder – the Settings homepage will be shown only on the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 and if you're signed into Windows with your Microsoft account.
  • We're beginning to roll out a change that redirects links for the Fonts Control Panel page to the Fonts settings page at Settings > Personalization > Fonts. Insiders who see this change can still access the Fonts Control Panel UI by navigating to the system fonts folder in File Explorer and a link to the system fonts folder is also provided on the Font settings page.
Fixes

[Other]
  • Fixed the underlying issue causing some Insiders to see a Pcasvc.dll error dialog pop-up with the message "Missing entry: PcaWallpaperAppDetect" after upgrading from Windows 11, version 22H2/23H2 to a 26xxx build.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26252 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[Lock screen]
  • We’re beginning to roll out Weather and more to your lock screen starting with this build in the Canary Channel. Stay informed and efficient with dynamic updates that bring finance, traffic, and sports to your Lock screen, alongside weather. The card design has been improved with acrylic blur, card size, spacing, and font optimizations. To turn on this feature, go to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. To learn more, see Personalize your lock screen.
[Start menu]
  • You can now also pin apps from the Start menu to the taskbar by dragging and dropping items directly to taskbar from the pinned section in the Start menu.
[Settings]
  • Evaluation copy expiry date information is now visible under Settings > System > About.
  • We are beginning to roll out a new energy recommendation for turning off HDR to conserve energy on PCs with HDR displays under Settings > Power & battery > Energy recommendations.

Fixes

[Input]
  • Fixed an issue causing Insiders to see errors when attempting to use Voice Typing with certain languages such as Chinese.
  • Fixed an issue where if you went through Windows Setup (OOBE), pinyin would be unexpectedly displayed twice in the list of available input methods.
[Task Manager]
  • Fixed an issue causing colors in the Performance section to not display correctly in dark mode.
[Settings]
  • Fixed an issue causing the icons in Settings > Apps > Startup too be way too large for the available space for some users, causing them to be cut off.
  • Fixed an issue where Settings > System > Power & Battery unexpectedly had duplicate text when showing a warning about a slow charger.
  • Fixed an issue where the Windows Update page in Settings was not displayed correctly for some Insiders after the previous flight (no text shows). If you are impacted by this, the update to this build with the fix should still happen on its own, however you may need to wait a little bit.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26257 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[File Explorer]
  • We’re rolling out the ability to duplicate a tab by right-clicking on a tab in File Explorer.
[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.
[For Developers]
  • Updated the logic for the “End Task” option in the taskbar so that it no longer shows a Not Responding dialog to give confirmation before ending the task.
[Other]
  • Updated System Info (msinfo32) to now follow your text size preference under Settings > Accessibility > Text Size.

Fixes

[General]
  • Fixed an underlying issue causing some Insiders to see bugchecks in recent builds citing KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE.
[File Explorer]
  • Did some work to help address an issue where the address bar dropdown might appear unexpectedly while you were using File Explorer.
[Settings]
  • Fixed an underlying issue leading to some of the pop-up windows in Settings unexpectedly appearing left aligned, for example, the window for selecting a custom color for Dynamic Lighting.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27686 (Canary Channel)

If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, please take note of a known issue in the referenced article.

SDKs for 27xxx series builds are not being released for the time being.

What’s new with Build 27686

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

[General]
  • Some features that were previously rolled out to Insiders in the Canary Channel may disappear as we flight newer 27xxx series builds. These features should begin rolling out again to Insiders over time.
  • We’ve made optimizations to improve battery life for PCs running Build 27686+ in the Canary Channel. Let us know what you think and if you are not seeing the battery life on your PC you are expecting, let us know via Feedback Hub. When filing feedback in Feedback Hub on any battery life issues you experience, be sure to use the “Start recording” button to capture additional logs.
[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.
[Networking]
  • To help us evaluate future improvements in network performance, your device may periodically run network tests in the background to collect diagnostic data. These tests will use a small amount of data (up to 10MB/day) and will only run on Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections that are not marked as metered. This will only occur on PCs in the Canary Channel running Build 27686 and higher.
[Storage]
  • When formatting disks from the command line using the format command, we’ve increased the FAT32 size limit from 32GB to 2TB.

Fixes

[Dev Drive]
  • Fixed an issue where Dev Drive VHDs weren’t automatically re-mounting when the underlying volume was dismounted and brought back online.
[Lock screen]
  • Did some work to help address an issue where the battery icon displayed on the lock screen might be out of sync with the actual battery level of your PC.
[Windows Security]
  • Fixed an issue in the Windows Security app where if you browsed the networks under Firewall & Network protection, it showed a broken glyph (a rectangle) next to the network name rather than a network icon.
[Settings]
  • Fixed an issue under Settings > System > Storage > Disks and Volumes, where there was no space between the Create and Attach VHD buttons.
  • Fixed an issue where the power mode option in Settings > System > Power & Battery was showing in cases where it couldn’t be changed, leading to a blank dropdown.
  • Fixed an issue where if you searched in Settings for Kiosk and clicked the result for setting up kiosk mode, it wouldn’t navigate to the correct page for doing that.
[Other]
  • Fixed an issue in Registry Editor where when editing a DWORD or QWORD if you pasted in a HEX value into the text box and saved it, the value saved might not be the one you had entered (for example, pasting 0x1 would become 0x411).
 
Update to Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27686 (Canary Channel):

Settings
  • [ADDED 8/16] We're beginning to roll out improvements to Settings > System > Power & battery including the ability to set your Power Mode for both when your PC is plugged in when it's on battery along with a few other UI improvements to the page.
  • [ADDED 8/16] On PCs with HDR displays, we have added the option to allow HDR video streaming even when HDR is off under Settings > System > Display > HDR.

See the blog post for additional information on known issues
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27695 (Canary Channel)

What's new with Build 27695

New position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars
We're beginning to roll out a new position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars. The taskbar entry-point will move to the left of the systems tray and will be wider so you can see richer content from Widgets on your taskbar. When you launch the Widgets board, it will fly out from the right side instead of the left side.

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

Windows LAPS: Retrieve encrypted passwords during Active Directory recovery situations
Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) has been improved with a new ability to recover encrypted passwords from Active Directory (AD) backup media even when there are zero AD domain controllers running.

Windows LAPS encrypted passwords offer much better security over the traditional approach of storing clear-text passwords in Active Directory. Windows LAPS password encryption is based on Cryptography API: Next Generation Data Protection API (CNG DPAPI). Under normal operating conditions, the decryption keys are always retrieved from a running AD domain controller. When an unexpected disaster occurs, there may be no AD domain controllers running.

You can now use the Get-LapsADPassword PowerShell cmdlet to retrieve and decrypt Windows LAPS encrypted passwords from Active Directory backup media (mounted using the AD snapshot browser, aka dsamain.exe) with zero network interaction with any AD domain controller. In fact, this operation is now possible even when running on a non-domain-joined, workgroup machine. If you still have access to your AD backup media, all Windows LAPS encrypted passwords will now be recoverable regardless of the situation.

This new improvement is implemented in the existing Get-LapsADPassword PowerShell cmdlet. When the -Port and -RecoveryMode parameters are both specified, any retrieved passwords will be automatically decrypted in a purely local operation using the decryption keys found in the snapshot browser.

Step 1: Mount the Active Directory backup media database
Step 2: Recover the Windows LAPS passwords from the mounted AD backup media database
Step 3: This step is informative only; the screenshot below demonstrates that the above operations were executed on a workgroup machine

In summary this improvement resolves a key Windows LAPS concern of how to recover Windows LAPS passwords in a disaster scenario where no AD domain controllers are running. For more information see: Retrieving passwords during AD disaster recovery scenarios.

Changes and Improvements

[General]
  • Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2025 starting with Build 27691. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.
  • Some Insiders in the Canary Channel will begin to see an estimated time for how long their PC will be offline to install Build 27695. This estimate will be shown on the Windows Update settings page and via the Start menu power button.
[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.
[Windows Share]
  • We are rolling out the ability to easily share content to an Android device from Windows share window. The feature requires you to pair your Android device to your Windows PC using the Link to Windows app on Android and Phone Link on your PC.
[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.
[Windows Share]
  • We are rolling out the ability to easily share content to an Android device from Windows share window. The feature requires you to pair your Android device to your Windows PC using the Link to Windows app on Android and Phone Link on your PC.
[Widgets]
  • We are rolling out an update to the Widgets Board to improve security and the APIs for creating widgets and feeds for users in EEA regions. As part of this update, the Microsoft Start Experiences app will power the Microsoft Start widget and feed experiences. Also, as part of this update, some existing widgets will be removed and others will be modified, temporarily affecting their functionality. This update sets the foundation for new widgets and other features in development, set to roll out soon.

Fixes

[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.
[Task Manager]
  • Fixed an issue where the colors in the Performance section weren't displayed correctly in dark mode.
[Windows Sandbox]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause Windows Sandbox to fail to launch with error 0x80070005 sometimes.
[Other]
  • Fixed an issue where when installing Windows by booting from recent install media, it wouldn't make itself the default partition if another version of Windows was installed.
  • Fixed an issue underlying issue causing dfrgui.exe (Defrag and Optimize drives) to fail in the previous flight with a pop up saying SXSHARED_UCRT.dll was not found. This is also believed to be the cause of seeing an error saying "the specified module could not be found" errors in that flight when trying to use the backup options in Control Panel.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27718 (Canary Channel)

We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

Changes and Improvements

[General]
  • [REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2025 starting with Build 27695. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.
[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]
  • You can drag apps from the Pinned section of the menu and pin them to the taskbar.
  • [ADDED] 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]
  • Updated the taskbar to now support first letter navigation, so when keyboard focus is set to the taskbar (WIN + T), you can press a letter, and it will jump to the open or pinned app whose name starts with that letter. Pressing the letter multiple times will jump to the subsequent app which starts with that letter, if there are multiple apps for that letter. For those using uncombined taskbar, rather than app name, the first letter navigation will use window name. Along with this, pressing Home and End will now move keyboard focus to the first and last (respectively) items in the taskbar.
[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.
[Windows Share]
  • We're rolling out some minor UI changes to simplify the Windows share window which removes the search box.
[Narrator]
  • We have made several changes to improve the performance of Narrator scan mode. This is expected to make scan mode responses much quicker, especially while using Microsoft Edge, and reading through large documents. To try out scan mode, turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), and then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar during a Narrator session.
[Energy Saver]
  • For laptops on battery, a notification will pop up asking you to plug in your laptop if the battery level reaches 20% while Energy Saver is set to "Always On".
[Windows Update]
  • We've made some small design improvements to the dialog that opens if there's something that needs your attention before proceeding with a Windows update, for example if more space is needed or there's a compatibility issue. This includes updating the icon sizes and spacing.
[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. Note, this feature is rolling out so not all Insiders in the Canary Channel will see it right away.
[Administrator protection]
  • Administrator protection is an upcoming platform security feature in Windows 11, which aims to protect free floating admin rights for administrator users allowing them to still perform all admin functions with just-in-time admin privileges. This feature is off by default and needs to be enabled via group policy. We plan to share more details about this feature at Microsoft Ignite.
Fixes

[General]
  • Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to experience a hang at the boot screen and their PC to roll back with error 0xC1900101 when trying to upgrade to the previous flight.
  • Fixed an issue in the last 2 Canary builds which was causing sporadic explorer.exe crashes when moving windows around.
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders on the last 2 Canary builds to see a bugcheck with error message "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION".
[Input]
  • Fixed an issue causing the emoji panel to close when trying to switch to the kaomoji and symbols sections, or after selecting an emoji.
  • 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.
[Widgets]
  • Fixed an issue which could result in the Widgets icon unexpectedly displaying in the taskbar twice sometimes.
[Other]
  • Fixed a high hitting wmiprvse.exe crash in the last 2 Canary flights.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing certain apps (like Media Player) to crash when playing audio for some Insiders in the last 2 Canary flights.
  • 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).
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27723 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[General]
  • [REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2025 starting with Build 27695. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.
[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.
[Voice Access]
  • We are making improvements for the spelling and corrections experience in voice access. You can now use the experience for the entire voice access session. The spelling experience will now enable you to dictate the characters at a faster speed and offer more editing flexibility inside the experience with dictation commands, namely selection, deletion and text navigation commands.
[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)
[Settings]
  • The detach virtual hard disk (VHD/VHDx) button we added under Settings > System > Storage > Disks & Volumes introduced with Build 27686 has temporarily been disabled starting with Build 27718. We're working to re-enable this change in a future flight soon.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27729 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[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.
Fixes

[General]
  • We fixed an underlying issue causing some games, including Microsoft Solitaire & Casual Games, to crash on launch after installing Build 27718+.
[Windowing]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause the screen to go black for a few seconds for some people when using ALT + Tab.
[Other]
  • We fixed an issue causing BitLocker to not work correctly for a small number of Insiders in the last 2 flights.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27744 (Canary Channel)

What's new with

New Processor Feature Support in Prism
In today's Canary Channel Insider Preview build, we're previewing a major feature update to Prism, our emulator for Windows on Arm, that will make it possible for more 64-bit x86 (x64) applications to run under emulation by adding support for more CPU features under emulation.

This new support in Prism is already in limited use today in the retail version of Windows 11, version 24H2, where it enables the ability to run Adobe Premiere Pro 25 on Arm. Starting with Build 27744, the support is being opened to any x64 application under emulation. You may find some games or creative apps that were blocked due to CPU requirements before will be able to run using Prism on this build of Windows.

At a technical level, the virtual CPU used by x64 emulated applications through Prism will now have support for additional extensions to the x86 instruction set architecture. These extensions include AVX and AVX2, as well as BMI, FMA, F16C, and others, that are not required to run Windows but have become sufficiently commonplace that some apps expect them to be present. You can see some of the new features in the output of a tool like Coreinfo64.exe.

Note that in today's preview, only x64 applications can use these new CPU features. If you have a 32-bit app or a 64-bit app that uses a 32-bit helper to detect CPU feature support, that app won't detect the new features in Prism.

We welcome any feedback from Insiders who are interested in trying out apps and games using this early preview of Prism. Please submit any feedback on compatibility issues or performance regressions through the Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Apps and the specific app you're seeing issues with (if you don't see the app listed, use "All other apps") to help us to ensure that this updated Prism provides a great experience.

Thanks for helping us improve emulation on Windows. We're excited to see customers able to run more apps and games that they care about on Windows on Arm!

Changes and Improvements

[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.
[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.
[Settings]
  • The detach virtual hard disk (VHD/VHDx) button we added under Settings > System > Storage > Disks & Volumes introduced with Build 27686 is now back with this build after being temporarily disabled starting with Build 27718.

Fixes

[General]
  • We fixed the issue causing some Insiders with PCs that have older NVIDIA GPUs (like the GTX 970, Quadro K620, etc.) to experience issues where their displays appear stuck at a black screen and unresponsive or seeing their GPUs showing errors in Device Manager and not working correctly.
[Input]
  • Fixed an underlying issue causing the Emoji Panel and Clipboard History to not open in certain surfaces anymore, including in Registry Editor.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to clipboard history not displaying items you'd copied.
[Windows Sandbox]
  • Fixed an issue impacting performance of Windows Sandbox for some Insiders after the latest updates.
Graphics]
  • Fixed an which could lead dynamic refresh rate to get stuck at 60Hz on first boot.
[Other]
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA starting in Build 27723.
  • Fixed an issue causing remote desktop connection (mstsc.exe) to crash in the previous flight.
  • Fixed a msmpeg2vdec.dll related issue in the last couple flights which was leading to some apps crashing.
  • Fixed an issue where rotation info about JPGs couldn't be queried via APIs (for example, via PowerShell).
  • 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 causing mica to not work correctly when using a slideshow for your desktop background.
  • Fixed an issue which could lead to certain apps not detecting a scanner, although one was connected.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27749 (Canary Channel)

Changes and Improvements

[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.

Fixes

[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 & System Tray]
  • 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).
[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.
[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.
[Task Manager]
  • Fixed an issue causing Task Manager to show a 0 count for apps and processes.
[Audio]
  • Fixed an underlying issue that could lead to the audio on certain audio devices unexpectedly going to 100% on boot or after sleep.
  • Fixed a blank entry in Settings > Privacy, which was crashing Settings if you clicked it.
[Other]
  • Mitigated an issue resulting in Git not working for Insiders with Arm PCs in the previous flight.
  • Fixed an issue causing some insiders to see a bugcheck with KERNEL_MODE_HEAP_CORRUPTION in the previous flight.
  • Fixed an underlying issue which could potentially lead to not being able to join a domain.
  • Fixed an issue where DirectAccess wasn’t working and might stay stuck in a connecting state.
 
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27754 (Canary Channel)

Modernized Windows Hello

At Microsoft, we are committed to security and enhancing user experiences. As part of this commitment, we launched enhanced passkey features in September 2023 and are now revamping the Windows Hello user experience. This represents a significant update to Windows Hello, aligning it with contemporary Windows visual design standards. The primary focus is on making authentication intuitive and seamless.

Modernized Windows Hello Visual Communication: The updated Windows Hello visuals are designed to facilitate fast and clear communication and appear on the Windows Sign-in screen as well as other authentication flows such as passkey, Microsoft Store and many more.

Revamped Windows Hello credential user experience for passkeys and the new administrator protection experience: We redesigned Windows security credential user experiences for passkey creating a cleaner experience that supports secured and quick authentication. Users will now be able to switch between authentication options and select passkey/devices more intuitively.

This experience will also apply for the new administrator protection feature coming to Windows 11, version 24H2 and higher and currently in preview with Windows Insiders in the most recent Canary Channel builds. For more information on administrator protection – you can check out this blog post that highlights our investments in adminlesss experiences in Windows from Microsoft Ignite.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Passwordless experience.

Changes and Improvements

[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.
[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.
  • 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.
Fixes

[General]
  • Fixed the issue with applying policy for the Digital Markets Act in EEA regions in Build 27749.
  • Fixed an issue where an update failing and rolling back could potentially result in a duplicate Windows entry in the boot menu.
[File Explorer]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing RAW images taken in portrait mode to unexpectedly display in landscape mode thumbnails.
  • Did some work so the search box in File Explorer shouldn’t draw off the end of the window anymore.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
  • Fixed an issue on secondary monitors for left aligned taskbar users, where the widgets text in the taskbar might overlap the date and time.
[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.
[Other]
  • Fixed an underlying issue causing some apps used for remoting into other PCs to crash in the latest Canary builds.
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see bugchecks with SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED in the latest Canary builds.
  • Fixed an issue where sfc /scannow was unexpectedly showing errors every time it was run.
  • 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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