If you want to sell or donate your old PC or just the drive inside, you need to make sure that none of your personal data can be recovered by the next person. Simply deleting your files or resetting Windows is not enough, as there are tools that can easily undelete them. You need to securely erase your drive, which means overwriting all the data with zeros or random patterns.
One way to securely erase your drive is to use the Windows Reset This PC feature, which is built into Windows 10 and 11. This feature allows you to reset your PC to its factory default state, while giving you the option to clean the drive as well. Here’s how to use it:
Open Settings and go to Update & Security > Recovery.
2. Under Recovery options, click Reset this PC.
3. Choose Remove everything.
4. Choose Cloud download (new image, local reinstall will take longer as it need to check & repair the local image)
5 Choose change settings to access the clean data option to Fully clean the drive. The standard option is faster, but less secure. Setting Clean Data second option will take several hours, but will overwrite everything on the drive with zeros, making it harder to recover any data.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the reset process.
Note that this method will only work if you have a single drive in your PC, or if you want to erase the drive that has Windows installed on it. If you have multiple drives or partitions, or if you want to erase an external drive, you can use the Windows built-in command-line tool cipher to erase folder or entire drives.
If you want to upgrade to Windows 11, you may need to convert your disk from MBR to GPT. MBR stands for Master Boot Record, and it is an old way of partitioning disks that has some limitations. GPT stands for GUID Partition Table, and it is a newer and more flexible way of partitioning disks that supports larger capacities and more partitions.
One of the easiest ways to convert your disk from MBR to GPT is to use the MBR2GPT.exe tool that comes with Windows 10. This tool can convert your disk without deleting any data or requiring any additional software. However, before you use this tool, you should back up your data and make sure your system meets the requirements for Windows 11.
To use the MBR2GPT.exe tool, you need to follow these steps:
Open an elevated command prompt by right-clicking on the Start menu and selecting Command Prompt (Admin).
Type mbr2gpt /validate /allowfullos and press Enter. This will check if your disk is eligible for conversion and if there are any issues that need to be fixed.
If the validation is successful, type mbr2gpt /convert /allowfullos and press Enter. This will start the conversion process, which may take a few minutes depending on the size of your disk.
After the conversion is done, type exit and press Enter to close the command prompt.
Restart your computer and enter the BIOS or UEFI settings by pressing the appropriate key during boot (usually F2, F10, F12, or Del).
Change the boot mode from Legacy or BIOS to UEFI and save the changes.
Restart your computer again and check if Windows 10 boots normally.
You can now check if your disk is converted to GPT by opening Disk Management and looking at the partition style column.
Congratulations! You have successfully converted your disk from MBR to GPT using MBR2GPT.exe. You are now ready to upgrade to Windows 11 when it becomes available.
Hi all, last Friday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23531 to the Dev Channel.
A nice list of fixes for this DevChannel build
One of my devices took 12hrs to pass the 65% completed screen, just before I planned to power it down it rebooted & continued the upgrade without further issues (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAmaxak)
Happy Upgrades!
Changes and Improvements
[General]
[REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 23526. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Dev Channel.
In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows system components use the default browser to open links.
[Search on the Taskbar]
We’re re-introducing the search experience for invoking the search flyout when you hover over the search box gleam. This behavior can be adjusted by right-clicking on the taskbar, choosing “Taskbar settings” and adjusting your preferred search box experience.
Fixes
[General]
Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to not work in safe mode.
[File Explorer]
Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when closing File Explorer.
Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when navigating to Gallery if you had a large number of images.
Fixed an issue where “Automatically type into the Search Box” wasn’t working when File Explorer was open to Home.
Fixed an issue where if you tried to copy and paste, a file out of a compressed folder and into a OneDrive folder might fail with an error code.
[HDR Backgrounds]
Fixed an issue which could cause HDR wallpapers to appear washed out when HDR was enabled.
[Task Manager]
Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to move the Task Manager window with touch or pen.
Fixed an issue where Task Manager was crashing when using the reset to default button in Settings.
Fixed an issue which was causing sporadic crashes when using Task Manager, including when ending tasks.
Fixed an issue where if you did a search and then cleared it, the view would still be filtered even though there was no search anymore.
Fixed an issue where the search icon would become overlapped with the Task Manager text in the title bar.
Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.
Updated the summary view for the Performance page (that you see when double clicking the graphs in the navigation pane) to make the window smaller.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[Start menu]
Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.
[Search on the Taskbar]
Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.
[Windows Copilot]
You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.
All devices on the Canary channel went fine for me some messages on twitter noted a GSOD during first attempt though
What’s new in Build 25936
Post-OOBE Experiences
We are trying out several new experiences for after completing OOBE (“out of box experience”) starting with this build. You may see one of these three experiences launched automatically on your device after completing OOBE.
If you choose ‘Development Intent’ within the ‘Let’s Customize Your Experience’ page during OOBE, Dev Home will be automatically launched on your device after logging in and reaching the desktop for the first time after OOBE setup.
If you choose ‘Development Intent’ within the ‘Let’s Customize Your Experience’ page during OOBE, the Get Started app will be automatically launched on your device after logging in and reaching the desktop for the first time after OOBE setup. The Get Started app will show you a personalized flow that will help you learn more about Dev Home and give you the opportunity to open Dev Home.
If you choose to ‘Restore’ your device during OOBE, the Get Started app will be automatically launched on your device after you log into your device for the second time after completing OOBE. The Get Started app will show you a personalized flow that will help you learn about key apps and settings, tell you that Windows has restored on your device and show you how to access your restored apps on Start menu or taskbar.
These experiences will help you learn about new features in Windows 11 and help you complete your device setup. These experiences will only be available to a small subset of Insiders in the Canary Channel at first and you may see different variations of these experiences.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Initial out of box setup.
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 9/15/2024 starting with Build 25931. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.
[Dynamic Lighting]
We have added the ability to choose a custom color to light up your devices with.
[Task Manager]
We’ve updated the Task Manager settings page to match the design principles of Windows 11. The design has a similar look and feel to the Settings in Windows 11 and provides a cleaner UI separating categories into different sections.
Redesigned Task Manager settings.
[Settings]
The end task feature under System > For Developers no longer requires Developer Mode to be enabled first before it can be used.
Fixes for known issues
Fixed the underlying crash which was causing .NET updates to get stuck requesting restart in Windows Update Settings in recent Canary Channel builds.
Fixed a few issues which were causing the End Task option in the taskbar to not work, or to close more than just the app you had selected.
Hi all, last Thusday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23526 to the Dev Channel.
There are also ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.
All my DevChannel devices upgraded smoothly, including the Windows 365 one.
Happy Upgrades!
Changes and Improvements
[General]
Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 23526. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Dev Channel.
[Start menu]
For files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided, it will no longer show a blank preview area. This is part of the work for rich thumbnail previews (tooltips) for cloud files on Start that began rolling out with Build 23511.
Updated tooltip on the Start menu for files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided.
[Cast]
Building off the Cast improvements introduced with Build 23516, we have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.
Cast flyout in Quick Settings now shows link for troubleshooting device discovery and other casting issues.
[Narrator]
We have made the following improvements for Narrator:
Changed default verbosity level from 2 to 3 which will now announce “Immediate Context Name and Type”. The Control context type like “list” or “toolbar” will allow users to better understand the focused control – same default as JAWS and NVDA.
Narrator users are unblocked for typing Traditional Chinese characters in Windows by addition of Traditional Chinese dictionary for detailed reading.
We have made the following improvements for Narrator with Braille:
When navigating to any attachment in Outlook with scan mode, narrator announces the & of the attachment, the same is now reflected on braille display.
Navigate to different headings in Scan Mode using down arrow, or ‘Space + 4’ key in Braille device, now navigating to heading is reflected in Braille.
When navigating a list with items , whenever Narrator announces index with the menu item name, Braille display also reflects the same index values as “1 of 4”.
Fixes
[Start menu]
Fixed an issue that was making the System label in Start’s all apps list the wrong color in high contrast themes.
Fixed an issue where if you attempt to uninstall certain apps, it would just open Settings and not navigate to the Installed Apps page.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed an issue where the taskbar wasn’t loading for some Insiders when logging into their PC after installing the previous build.
Disabled the setting for uncombining taskbar buttons on other screens by default when no secondary monitors are connected.
Fixed an issue where if the taskbar was set to uncombined it would still show animations even if they’d been turned off.
Fixed an issue where app icons on the taskbar would become empty (with no icon) in recent Insider builds after switching between desktops.
Fixed an issue where the hidden icons flyout might close unexpectedly when using keyboard navigation to move focus between icons.
Fixed an issue where using drag to rearrange icons in the overflow area wasn’t working well when the taskbar was set to uncombined.
Fixed an issue where the new bell icon might be very difficult to see in some cases because it was using a dark outline when your taskbar was dark.
Fixed an issue where if you had enabled the End Task option in the taskbar, the setting wouldn’t persist across upgrades.
Fixed an issue where after upgrading the Bluetooth icon in the system tray might not display in the system tray after upgrade even though your PC supported Bluetooth and the Bluetooth options were shown in Settings.
[File Explorer]
Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash when launching or interacting with File Explorer in the last couple flights.
Fixed an issue where using the Reset Folders button in Folder Options could cause explorer.exe to crash.
Fixed an issue where the chevrons in the File Explorer address bar were pointing in the wrong direction if your display language was set to Arabic or Hebrew.
Fixed an issue where saving files to OneDrive locations in File Explorer could take a very long time, making it seem like the app you were saving from had become unresponsive, in the latest Insider builds.
Fixed an issue where the context menu and dropdown menus in File Explorer weren’t working with touch.
Made another fix for the issue causing the context menu and dropdown menu backgrounds to be transparent.
Fixed an issue where the menu shown when doing a right click drag on one of the newly supported archive formats didn’t have an extract option like it does for zip files.
[Dev Drive]
Fixed an issue where Dev Drives might not auto-mount after upgrading to a new build, causing apps that tried to access them to not work.
Improved error messages if Dev Drives fail to format.
Fixed an issue related to the use of Dev Drives which could cause a bugcheck with an INVALID DATA TRAP on upgrade (and then the upgrade would roll back).
[HDR Backgrounds]
Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.
[Narrator]
Fixed an issue where Narrator was not reading various list items in a combo box on various web pages when navigating with up and down arrow.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly announcing combo boxes as read-only even when users could actually select different values from the combo box list items.
Addressed the issue where Narrator was not announcing the checked and unchecked status of radio buttons but was announcing selected for every item.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing older information while navigating in date/time picker using arrow keys .
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading contents of previous cell and the current cell when navigating in a table using right and left arrow keys.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is incorrectly reading older Window title even after navigating to inner control.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is reading entire paragraph when up arrow is invoked in online word document.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading out last word of previous paragraph when a new paragraph started with a punctuation mark.
Fixed a bug where Narrator was not announcing the character being deleted when using backspace key in some text fields on the web.
Fixed an issue in narrator where while entering any number in CVV edit field, Narrator should only announce as “hidden”, instead of “CVV edit, hidden new line selected”.
Fixed an issue where Narrator is not able to detect different headings on some web pages in scan mode while using “h” key to navigate.
Fixed an issue where Narrator scan mode arrow navigation skipped first item in container.
Fixed an issue, where Narrator is skipping the first item after navigating via landmark using “d” key in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator focus did not move past the first check box if there was a list of check boxes when using up and down arrow key in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator was not activating combo box when navigating using up and down arrow and using enter/spacebar to activate it in scan mode.
Fixed an issue where Narrator would collapse the combo boxes in scan mode when navigating with up and down arrows.
Fixed an issue where navigation commands are not executed as expected in a dialog box when you enter the dialog the second time.
Fixed an issue where Narrator find was not working consistently on web pages when using Narrator key + Ctrl + F key combination.
[Input]
Fixed an issue where typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs may not have performed as expected in certain apps in the last few flights when you had selected the option to use the previous version of the IME. If you are continuing to experience issues with this build installed, please file feedback.
Fixed an issue where when inking into a text field, if you were writing in Chinese, certain characters were being perceived as taps and not working.
Fixed an issue where inking into a text field while magnifier was running was not working well as the ink was offset.
[Other]
Fixed an issue where removing a monitor while connected to a Cloud PC could result in a black screen with only a mouse visible in recent builds.
Made some fixes to improve how the Share dialog worked with screen readers, as well as addressing some other accessibility issues.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues
[General]
We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.
[Start menu]
Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.
[Search on the Taskbar]
Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.
[Windows Copilot]
You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.
DC location will no longer use NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based discovery by default
We have previously announced the deprecation of both Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) and Remote Mailslots (see this blog post here for information on Remote Mailslots). These deprecations are legacy technologies that are no longer secure in today’s environments. As part of these deprecations, DC location in your environment may be affected mainly because many legacy applications still specify short NetBIOS-style domain names when trying to locate a domain controller (DC). To help ease this transition with these deprecations, we are making two improvements to the DC locator algorithm in Windows.
First, we are blocking by default the use of NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based methods for DC-discovery. This behavior can be reverted with the use of a new Group Policy setting (BlockNetBIOSDiscovery). In addition to disabling the new BlockNetBIOSDiscovery policy, reversion to default behavior also requires enabling the EnableMailslots SMB configuration option. (You can query and set the EnableMailslots setting using the Get-SmbClientConfiguration and Set-SmbClientConfiguration PowerShell cmdlets.)
PLEASE NOTE: Reversion should be considered only as a temporary measure while more viable, longer-term solutions are explored.
Screenshot of the BlockNetBIOSDiscovery Group Policy setting.
Second, we have added additional client-side logic to aid in the mapping of short NetBIOS-style domain names to DNS domain names. This improvement consists of two parts:
DC locator will now automatically download additional information about the child domains in trusting forests and use that information as part of the discovery algorithm.
As a last-resort fallback, and to accommodate unforeseen situations, forest administrators can manually configure a set of DNS-to-NetBIOS-domain-name mappings (using the Active Directory Domains and Trusts management snap-in) which are also downloaded and used by DC Locator during discovery.
Screenshot of the DC Locator domain name mappings property page in the Active Directory Domains and Trusts snap-in.
Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 25931. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.
In addition to the Camera app and Cortana, the Photos app, People app, and Remote Desktop (MSTSC) client can be uninstalled.
[File Explorer]
Added more fields to show in the Details pane, including image dimensions for pictures, number of pages for .docx, space used and free information for drives, and many others.
[Dynamic Lighting]
You can now instantly sync your Windows accent color with the devices around you with the “Match my Windows accent color” toggle under “Effects” for Dynamic Lighting via Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.
[Windows Spotlight]
After doing an OS update, in certain cases such as using the default Windows 11 background or a solid color – Windows Spotlight may be enabled for you. If you decide you don’t want Windows Spotlight enabled, you can turn it off and in future OS updates it should not be enabled for you again unless you choose to re-enable the experience.
Fixes for known issues
We fixed a major issue where you could no longer connect over SMB to a third-party storage device using guest (no username or password) credentials.
Hi all, last Thursday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23521 to the Dev Channel.
Public preview of Windows 365 switch is here, have a lok it’s cool! I use it every day
Happy Upgrades!
What’s new in Build 23521
Changes and Improvements
[Windows 365]
Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels can participate in the public preview of Windows 365 Switch. Windows 365 Switch provides the ability to easily move between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop using the same familiar keyboard commands, as well as a mouse-click or a swipe gesture through Task View on the Windows 11 taskbar. Please read this blog post for all the details on how to participate.
Easily switch between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop via Task View.
[Windows Copilot]
Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who login and are managed by AAD (soon to be Microsoft Entra ID) will see Windows Copilot enabled for them again without the need to enable it via Group Policy Editor.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
To make it easier to enable never combined mode on the taskbar, we have updated the settings. You can turn never combined mode on by simply adjusting “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” to never. And we provide a separate setting for turning this on for other taskbars (multiple monitor scenarios for example).
Updated settings for never combined mode.
[Dynamic Lighting]
You can now instantly sync your Windows accent color with the devices around you with the “Match my Windows accent color” toggle under “Effects” for Dynamic Lighting via Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting. This improvement started rolling out in last week’s Dev Channel flight.
We have added the ability to choose a custom color to light up your devices with.
[Task Manager]
We’ve updated the Task Manager settings page to match the design principles of Windows 11. The design has a similar look and feel to the Settings in Windows 11 and provides a cleaner UI separating categories into different sections. Oh, and we updated some dialogs in Task Manager too.
Redesigned Task Manager settings.
[Windows Spotlight]
After doing an OS update, in certain cases such as using the default Windows 11 background or a solid color – Windows Spotlight may be enabled for you. If you decide you don’t want Windows Spotlight enabled, you can turn it off and in future OS updates it should not be enabled for you again unless you choose to re-enable the experience.
[Search on the Taskbar]
Windows Search now uses the Microsoft Bing Search app to return web content and search results. In the European Economic Area (EEA), you can enable installed Microsoft Store apps that implement a web search provider to return web content and search results in Windows Search through Settings.
[Settings]
The end task feature under System > For Developers no longer requires Developer Mode to be enabled first before it can be used.
[ADDED] Under Settings > Personalization > Device usage, we have added “Development” to the list and toggling it on will launch Dev Home. This matches what is shown in OOBE (“out of box experience”).
[Other]
In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows will now require consent to share data between Windows and other signed-in Microsoft services. You will see some Windows features start to check for consent now, with more being added in future builds. Without consent to share data between Windows and other signed-in Microsoft services, some functionality in Windows features may be unavailable, for example certain types of file recommendations under “Recommended” on the Start menu.
Fixes
[File Explorer]
Fixed an issue where you couldn’t drag a file out of an archived folder to extract it with one of the newly supported archive formats.
Fix an issue where when extracting one of the newly supported archive formats using the Extract All option in the context menu, it wasn’t working unless Windows Explorer was set as the default for that file type.
When trying to extract one of the new archive formats and the file is password encrypted, it will now show a message saying this isn’t currently supported.
Fixed a bug where Insiders may have experienced a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.
We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer address bar that began rolling out with Build 23475:
Fixed an issue which was causing the search box in File Explorer to not work well with IMEs.
Fixed an issue where pasting using the context menu in the address bar wasn’t working (or other context menu actions in the address bar).
We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer Home that began rolling out with Build 23475:
Fixed an issue where when trying to scroll with touch on Home might result in everything getting selected.
Fixed a white flash in dark theme when switching between Home and Gallery.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Fixed an issue that removed the USB icon and its options from the system tray.
Fixed an issue where the titles were missing from taskbar previews when turning on tablet-optimized taskbar while using uncombined taskbar.
Fixed an issue where uncombined taskbar’s app indicators weren’t shown correctly after it showed something was being downloaded.
Fixed an explorer.exe crash impacting system tray reliability.
Fixed an issue where the End Task feature wasn’t working if you tried it when there were multiple windows open of that app.
Fixed an issue where using End Task on certain apps would cause other unrelated apps to close.
[HDR Backgrounds]
Fixed an issue where your HDR wallpaper might appear washed out although HDR was enabled.
Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to select .JXL files for your wallpaper slideshow.
[Other]
If Get Help isn’t installed, when opening one of the troubleshooters in Settings, it will now prompt you to install it, rather than showing an error about not having an app associated for the action.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.
[Start menu]
Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.
[Search on the Taskbar]
[ADDED] Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.
[Windows Copilot]
You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.
[Input]
We’re investigating reports that typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs is not working correctly after the last flight.
Widgets Update: Pin widgets board open
We are beginning to roll out an update to Widgets for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels that lets you pin the widgets board open, so your widgets board is always just a glance away. To pin the board open, simply click the pin icon in the top right corner of the board. Once your board is pinned open, the widgets board will no longer light dismiss.
New pin icon at the top of the widgets board to pin the widgets board open.
While the board is pinned, you can still close it by:
Open the widgets board via the Widgets button on the taskbar.
Pressing the ESC key while Widgets is in the foreground.
Swiping on the left edge of the screen if you have a touch device.
To unpin the board, select the unpin icon in the top right corner of the board.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.
Snipping Tool Update
We are beginning to roll out an update to Snipping Tool (version 11.2306.43.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. This update introduces new buttons to edit in Paint for screenshots and edit in Clipchamp for screen recordings.
New buttons in Snipping Tool for editing screen clips in Paint and screen recordings in Clipchamp.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub by clicking here.
The issue where .NET update KB5028949 keeps showing as restart required on my Canary Channel PC, even after I restart has been resolved ins this build (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAm11vy)
Notifications will now show as a bell in the system tray and when new notifications come through, the bell will colorize based on your system accent color. When there are no notifications and the clock is visible, the bell will be empty. Notification counts are no longer shown.
Notification bell in the system tray for new notifications and no notifications.
[Graphics]
Starting with Build 25921, we have added options for tuning intensity and color boost to the color filters via Settings > Accessibility > Color Filters. Please note there is an issue in which the labels for the sliders are missing. The first slider is for “Intensity” and the second slider is for “Color Boost”. The labels will appear as expected in a future flight.
Fixes for known issues
We fixed the issue causing devices with mobile broadband connectivity to not be able connect to a wireless network due to an issue in which the APN configuration may get lost on upgrade with Build 25921.
Snipping Tool Update
We are beginning to roll out an update to Snipping Tool (version 11.2306.43.0 and higher) to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. This update introduces new buttons to edit in Paint for screenshots and edit in Clipchamp for screen recordings.
New buttons in Snipping Tool for editing screen clips in Paint and screen recordings in Clipchamp.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub by clicking here.
Hi all, last Wednesday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23516 to the Dev Channel.
My Surface Laptop 3 got stuck upgrading at 65% after the reboot for more that 12 hours, after powering it down it succesfully booted & the 2nd try the upgrade went through fine. (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAlysgu)
All other devices in cluding my Windows 365 cloud PC upgraded smoothly to this build
Happy Upgrades!
August 2023 Bug Bash: Starting today August 2nd, the bug bash begins and will run through Monday August 7th at 11:59pm PDT. The bug bash will span the latest features available in the currently available preview builds across the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels. Check Feedback Hub for quests!
What’s new in Build 23516
Improving the screen casting experience
Casting from your Windows PC allows you to wirelessly extend your display to another nearby PC, TV or other external displays. We are making some improvements that focus on educating people about the Cast feature, improving its discoverability, and simplifying the overall experience in Windows 11. Those improvements include:
When doing multitasking activities on your PC such as often switching between windows to complete a task or using Snap Assist to organize your screen space, we will provide the suggestion to Cast via a notification toast.
We will now provide inline setup of a PC from within the Cast flyout in Quick Settings, with step-by-step guidance for users to enable:
Installation of the optional Wireless Display feature.
Discoverability of the PC to other devices, via the “Projecting to this PC” Settings page.
Inline setup of a PC from within the Cast flyout in Quick Settings.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Display and Graphics > Wireless Display and Casting.
HDR Background Support
You can now set JXR files to be your desktop background and if you have an HDR display, they will render in full HDR.
First – make sure your device has an HDR display or is connected to a HDR display that supports HDR. You can check this by going to Settings > System > Display and checking the HDR toggle.
Next, download an HDR .JXR file to your device. Then right-click on your desktop, choose “Personalize” and then “Background”, and under “Personalize your background” – go and select the .JXR file you downloaded to your device.
The background should load on your display. If you have multiple displays attached to your device, the background will show as HDR or SDR depending on each display’s capabilities. When using external displays attached to your device, we recommend running the HDR Calibration app for best picture quality. Please note that for this build, there may be some issues with the HDR version of the desktop background not correctly display on some laptops with HDR.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Background and Wallpaper.
Voice access is now available to use on more areas in Windows
We have added support for voice access to work right when you start your PC. You can use voice access to login to your PC and access other areas on the Lock screen. You can turn on voice access from the accessibility flyout on Lock screen or have it on automatically every time by checking the setting to “Start voice access before you sign in to your PC” via Settings > Accessibility > Speech.
You can use voice access to login to your PC and access other areas on the Lock screen.
New setting to start voice access before you sign in to your PC.
Note: If you have never tried voice access, we recommend you search for voice access in search on the taskbar and complete the initial setup before trying it first time on the lock screen.
You can follow the instructions on the voice access bar to get your focus on the password field and use your voice to dictate your password or PIN. Alternatively, you can say “show keyboard” to bring up the touch keyboard with number labels on it. You can say the numbers on the keys to enter the letters associated with it. This will mask the actual password you are entering from being heard by anyone in your vicinity.
The touch keyboard with number labels on it to use voice access to enter a password.
You can also use other commands such as “show numbers” or “click [element name]” to access other elements on lock screen or UAC prompt.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice Access.
Narrator Natural Voices in French, Portuguese, English (India) ,German and Korea
We are introducing new natural voices in French, Portuguese, English (India) ,German and Korean that allow Narrator users to comfortably browse the web, read, and write mail, and do more. Natural Narrator voices use modern, on-device text to speech and once downloaded are supported without an internet connection.
To use one of the natural voices, add it to your PC by following these steps:
Open Narrator Settings by pressing the WIN + Ctrl + N hotkey.
Under Narrator’s voice, select the Add button next to Add natural voices.
Select the voice you want to install. You can install all voices, but you must install them separately.
The new French voices are Microsoft Denise (Female) and Microsoft Henri (Male)
The new Portuguese voices are Microsoft Francisca (Female) and Microsoft Antonio (Male)
The new English (India) voices are Microsoft Neerja (Female) and Microsoft Prabhat (Male)
The new German voices are Microsoft Katja (Female) and Microsoft Conrad (Male)
The new Korean voices are Microsoft SunHi (Female) and Microsoft InJoon (Male)
To start the download of the selected voice, select Install. The new voice will download and be ready for use in a few minutes, depending on your internet download speed.
When the new voice has downloaded, in Narrator settings select your preferred voice from the drop-down menu in Narrator’s voice > Choose a voice.
Note: If your display language is not set to any of the above languages, then in step 3 you will first need to select “Choose a different language” and then select the appropriate language followed by the specific voice.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.
Presence Sensing Improvements
For PCs with presence sensors that support attention detection, we are introducing Adaptive Dimming. Now your device can intelligently dim your screen when you look away and undim when you look back. You will find these settings under Settings > Privacy & security > Presence sensinghere if your device supports it.
New Adaptive Dimming setting.
Wake on Approach, Lock on Leave, Adaptive Dimming are all powered by Presence Sensing in Windows and now can be enabled via the OOBE (“out of box experience”) setup process when choosing your privacy settings for your device. This will give more control of the presence sensing features and app access to presence information when setting up a new device with a compatible sensor.
Enabling Presence Sensing in Windows via OOBE.
As a reminder, app developers with devices with compatible presence sensors can target apps to request and read user presence information after requesting a human presence capability. Learn more about the API here.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Sensors.
Changes and Improvements
[Windows Copilot]
[REMINDER] As of Build 23511, Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who login and are managed by AAD (soon to be Microsoft Entra ID) will notice that the Windows Copilot Preview is no longer available in this build. This is just a temporary issue. You may enable it temporarily via this policy located here in Group Policy Editor: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot. Please note that this policy name will change in an upcoming flight. The Windows Copilot Preview will be defaulted on in a future flight including support for Bing Chat for Enterprise.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
As mentioned here with Build 23481, Microsoft Teams (free) is now pre-pinned to the taskbar in Windows 11. This change continues to roll out so not all Insiders will see it right away. Windows Insiders who click to launch Teams will discover a mini communications experience making it possible to chat, call, and meet with their people within just a click or two. Not only does its compact size make it easy to place the window anywhere on desktop, but you can passively keep tabs on your conversations with the ability to have it visible as they browse the web or connect with your communities. Phone Link integration is also coming soon to Microsoft Teams (free) as well.
New mini communications experience in Microsoft Teams (free).
[File Explorer]
Added more fields to show in the Details pane, including image dimensions for pictures, number of pages for .docx, space used and free information for drives, and many others.
Fixes
[General]
After updating to Build 23511, some Insiders may have seen the Photos app pinned to the taskbar. This issue only occurred with that build and should no longer occur. We apologize for the issue.
[File Explorer]
Fixed an issue where the icons displayed in the tabs in File Explorer could become out of sync with the current folder after navigating.
Fixed a memory leak in File Explorer with the latest updates which could cause explorer.exe crashes and other issues over prolonged usage.
Fixed an underlying issue causing desktop icons to all go blank in the last few flights.
Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to show “Working on it” in an empty folder.
Fixed an issue where the text box for naming newly created files or folders on the desktop was showing in the wrong position (far away or way too close) relative to the thumbnail.
Fixed an issue where opening the context menu in the previous flight was crashing explorer.exe for some Insiders.
Fixed an issue where right clicking items in the navigation pane wouldn’t open a context menu after you changed folders.
Fixed an issue where ALT + P and Shift + Alt + P keyboard shortcuts weren’t working when focus was set to one of the images in Gallery.
Fixed an issue where Home and Gallery could get stuck in the wrong colors if they were open when changing between light and dark mode.
Fixed an issue where thumbnails in Gallery might not load after changing the view to a smaller icon size (for example, medium to small).
Fixed an issue where after refreshing Home, actions to pin and unpin favorite files might not work.
We fixed the following issues for Insiders with the modernized details pane in File Explorer:
Fixed an issue where the design of the details pane was displaying from left to right instead of right to left when using Hebrew or Arabic display languages.
We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer address bar that began rolling out with Build 23475:
The ALT + D, CTRL + L, and F4 keyboard shortcuts should work now to set focus to the address bar.
Fixed an issue where typing drive letters, %localappdata%, and certain other things in the address bar wasn’t causing suggested paths to appear in a dropdown.
We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer Home that began rolling out with Build 23475:
Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening Home.
Fixed an issue where the tooltip would get stuck on the screen when you scrolled Home with touch.
Fixed an issue where collapsing and expanding the sections of Home didn’t always work.
Made some small adjustments to the size of elements, including reducing the size of the text.
Fixed an issue where mouse wheel scrolling wasn’t working if your mouse was hovered over the recommended section of Home.
Fixed an issue which was causing certain mouse actions (including resizing windows with mouse) to not work over remote desktop.
[Dynamic Lighting]
Fixed an issue where switching user accounts could turn off device LEDs.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.
[Start menu]
Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.
[Windows Copilot]
You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.
[File Explorer]
Insiders may experience a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.
[Windows Ink]
Windows Ink does not convert handwriting to text into the main content (e.g., Word documents and Excel spreadsheets) in Microsoft 365 applications.
Search boxes in Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Microsoft Word) might not work correctly.
Comment fields in Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Microsoft Word) might not work correctly.
[Input]
We’re investigating reports that typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs is not working correctly after the last flight.
Hi all, yesterday Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25921 to the Canary Channel.
All my Canary channel devices upgraded smoothly to this build, looks like togeter with this build Edge Canary having authentication & out of memory issues got solved too.
Installing Edge Canary with winget has a small glitch today: (Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AAlydhm)
Winget hash check fails on Edge Canary
Happy Upgrades!
August 2023 Bug Bash: The August 2023 bug bash continues and runs through Monday August 7th at 11:59pm PDT. The bug bash will span the latest features available in the currently available preview builds across the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels. Check Feedback Hub for quests!
What’s new in Build 25921
HDR Background Support
You can now set JXR files to be your desktop background and if you have an HDR display, they will render in full HDR.
First – make sure your device has an HDR display or is connected to a HDR display that supports HDR. You can check this by going to Settings > System > Display and checking the HDR toggle.
Next, download an HDR .JXR file to your device. Then right-click on your desktop, choose “Personalize” and then “Background”, and under “Personalize your background” – go and select the .JXR file you downloaded to your device.
The background should load on your display. If you have multiple displays attached to your device, the background will show as HDR or SDR depending on each display’s capabilities. When using external displays attached to your device, we recommend running the HDR Calibration app for best picture quality. Please note that for this build, there may be some issues with the HDR version of the desktop background not correctly display on some laptops with HDR.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Background and Wallpaper.
Rich thumbnail previews (tooltips) for cloud files on Start
For people logged into a Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise editions with an AAD account (soon to be Microsoft Entra ID), we are providing a richer thumbnail preview (tooltips) when hovering over cloud files such as Word documents under Recommended on the Start menu. For this initial release, richer thumbnail previews will not be available for all files and a later update will enable the experience for more files and for MSA users. Additionally, when right-clicking on cloud file recommendations, there is now an option to quickly share these files.
What will appear only for people logged with an AAD account currently are the richer thumbnail previews for cloud files if available such as Word documents. People who are logged in with an AAD account will see richer thumbnail previews for cloud files that look like this:
Example of richer thumbnail preview when hovering over files such as Word documents under Recommended on the Start menu.
People who are logged in with a local account or MSA will see this experience when hovering over files (cloud files and local files) under Recommended on the Start menu:
Example updated tooltip when hovering over files without a rich thumbnail preview.
However, what is currently a bug is that for files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided, it should not be showing the preview area (where the thumbnail preview would be) with the file format icon like this:
Example of a bug when hovering over files under Recommended on Start without rich thumbnail previews to provide.
NOTE: This feature previously rolled out to the Dev Channel with this flight and to the Beta Channel with this flight. We adjusted the text in both those blog posts based on feedback from Insiders.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Start menu.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
Cortana can be uninstalled in this build. For more on the end of support for Cortana, click here.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
Beginning to roll out with this build, Chat is now Microsoft Teams – Free. Microsoft Teams – Free is pinned by default to the taskbar and can be unpinned like other apps on the taskbar. Windows Insiders who click to launch Teams will discover a mini communications experience making it possible to chat, call, and meet with their people within just a click or two. Not only does its compact size make it easy to place the window anywhere on desktop, but you can passively keep tabs on your conversations with the ability to have it visible as they browse the web or connect with your communities. Phone Link integration is coming soon to Microsoft Teams (free) as well.
New mini communications experience in Microsoft Teams (free).
[Task View & Desktops]
When navigating between desktops in Task View (WIN + CTRL + left or right arrows), labels will be shown. New sliding animations will also show when you change your desktops using trackpad gestures, touch gestures, hotkeys and by clicking on the Task View flyout.
Labels will appear when switching between desktops.
[Networking]
A new asynchronous error-handling feature in the DHCP client service will allow for faster response time for some runs of ipconfig /renew on the Windows command line. Improvements will vary depending on system and network conditions, but ideal cases will improve from ~4.1 seconds to ~0.1 seconds per run.
Known issues
After updating to this build, devices with mobile broadband connectivity may not be able connect to a wireless network due to an issue in which the APN configuration may get lost on upgrade. You can either add in the APN configuration manually as a workaround or hold off taking this build as we expect to have the issue fixed in the next flight.
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