Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26340.9616

Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Build 26340.9616 to the Experimental Channel.

A fast and smooth upgrade brining along the new search experience, if you’re not seeing the feature active yet make sure to check the feature flags under your Windows Insider settings here:

don’t forget to reboot to activate any changed you made to the flags

While the release was 7 October 2026, the widget notification feature was enabled on the 9th an interesting new evolution in flighting.

Happy Flights!

Changes and improvements gradually being rolled out

[Windows Search]

• New Windows Search experience with inline actions: We’re beginning to roll out a new Windows Search experience built on WinUI 3 that is faster, more efficient, and features a streamlined design that makes results easier to scan. We’re also introducing inline actions, allowing you to quickly complete tasks directly. Turn on dark mode or Bluetooth, adjust your screen brightness, mute your device, or arrange windows from Windows Search.
• We’re improving how Windows Search understands what you’re looking for, including better matching for typos and synonyms. We’ll continue fine-tuning these improvements over the coming weeks. For more information detailing the new changes, check out the Windows Insider Blog.
• English is the only supported language for this initial release.
• After upgrading to this build, restart your device before the New Windows Search Experience feature flag is visible.

[Battery status widget]

• As part of our continued commitment to making Widgets more useful for everyday moments, we’re introducing the Battery Status widget for Insiders on newer builds. This widget provides a unified view of battery levels for your PC and peripheral devices, helping you quickly assess power status without hunting through multiple UI locations. Add it by going to Widgets board > Add widgets > Battery Status.

[Kerberos enhancements]

• IAKerb is now enabled by default for Windows client. IAKerb is a Kerberos extension that allows Windows authentication to succeed in scenarios where traditional Kerberos can’t be used because a direct connection to a domain controller is unavailable. This extension helps reduce reliance on NTLM while improving compatibility for modern authentication scenarios. For additional background, implementation details, and early preview information, see Reducing NTLM Dependency: IAKerb and LocalKDC in Windows Insider Preview.

[Task Manager]

• Task Manager is expanding process grouping to allow apps to combine otherwise separate background processes into a single unified category rather than relying solely on traditional parent-child trees. This makes an app’s resource usage easier to understand. Microsoft Defender is the first app to use this capability.

[Windows Update]

• Fixed the issue causing some Insiders with Windows Sandbox enabled to get error 0x80073712 when attempting to install the latest updates.

[Security]

• We’ve updated the security key PIN entry experience, removing the “other user” icon for a clearer sign-in experience.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue impacting some Insiders recently, which was causing the taskbar app window previews to become slower and noticeably lag over time.

[Settings]

• Removed the backplate from the Settings icon when UAC is invoked from within Settings.

[File Explorer]

• Added support for font preview and installation in the File Explorer and desktop context menus.

[Widgets]

• Windows can now notify you when a new widget becomes available following app installation, making it easier to discover and add widgets to your Widgets Board. Selecting the alert opens Widgets Board, where newly available widgets are highlighted and can be quickly added to your board.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue with msmpeg2ac3dec.dll which was leading to some apps and games crashing recently.

source: Flight Hub