Microsoft has once again graced us with a fresh update, rolling out the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.3930 (KB5040550) to the Beta Channel.

As always, these updates are pivotal in shaping the final versions that reach your devices, offering a glimpse into the future of Windows.

Let’s dive deep into what this build brings and how it can enhance your computing experience.

The Evolution of Windows 11: Beta Channel Updates

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Microsoft continues to refine and enhance the Windows 11 experience for those in the Beta Channel.

The latest update follows the trend of version 23H2, introduced via an enablement package (Build 22635. xx). Insiders can toggle settings to receive features as soon as they are available. This progressive rollout ensures that early adopters can test and provide feedback while others receive these enhancements gradually.

New Features Gradually Rolling Out

Shared Content in File Explorer Home

File Explorer is evolving to become more intuitive and connected. The new feature allows users to access files shared with them quickly. Whether you’re signed in with a personal Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra ID for commercial users, you can now see shared files directly from the File Explorer Home under the ‘Shared’ tab. This includes files from email, Teams chats, and other Microsoft services, making collaboration seamless.

Additionally, File Explorer now supports various file types in the Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections. This means that files from Designer, Loop, Power BI, and Forms, among others, will be more accessible, enhancing productivity.

Taskbar & System Tray Enhancements

The taskbar and system tray receive a notable upgrade with a simplified system tray highlighting the date/time in a shortened form and showcasing the notification bell icon based on your Do Not Disturb (DND) status. This minimalist approach reduces clutter, though you can revert to the traditional view through settings if preferred.

Moreover, Microsoft has refined the previews that appear when you hover over taskbar apps, enhancing the animations based on user feedback. First-letter navigation on the taskbar is another nifty feature, allowing users to quickly jump to apps by pressing the corresponding letter key. This is especially useful for power users who rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts.

Windows Studio Effects

Windows Studio Effects is pushing the boundaries of what AI can do for your camera and audio. Available on devices with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), these effects can now be accessed more conveniently via a new icon in the system tray.

Clicking this icon launches the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings, streamlining access and usability. This enhancement ensures that users can quickly adjust settings during video calls or recordings, improving overall user experience.

Windows Share

Sharing content with Android devices has never been easier. The Windows share window’s UI has been updated, moving the option to share with Android devices under “Nearby Share.” This feature requires pairing your Android device with your Windows PC using the Link to Windows app, facilitating seamless content transfer between your devices.

Narrator Performance Improvements

For users relying on Narrator, Microsoft has significantly improved scan mode, particularly enhancing its performance in Microsoft Edge and large documents. These changes ensure that the Narrator is more responsive, making it a valuable tool for users who depend on it for navigation and reading.

System Info (msinfo32) Update

To make Windows more accessible, System Info (msinfo32) now adheres to your text size preferences set under Settings > Accessibility > Text Size. This change ensures that vital system information is easier to read for users with visual impairments.

Fixes Gradually Rolling Out

Start Menu Fixes

The start menu sees improvements, particularly addressing issues where screen readers didn’t read the All apps list correctly and some apps were not sorted properly under certain display languages.

Taskbar & System Tray Fixes

Issues where keyboard focus might get lost while navigating the taskbar with Shift + Tab have been resolved. This fix enhances the overall usability for keyboard-centric users.

Fixes for Everyone in the Beta Channel

A critical fix addresses an issue where users couldn’t view or interact with the taskbar after installing KB5039302 on Windows N editions. This problem, specific to editions lacking most media-related tools, has been rectified, ensuring smoother operations post-update.

Known Issues to Be Aware Of

As with any new build, some known issues persist. For the simplified system tray, if the “Show notification icon” setting is greyed out, toggling “Notifications” off and on again should resolve it.

Certain issues with shared file visibility, keyboard focus, and Narrator functionality have been identified in File Explorer. The team is actively working on fixes for these areas.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

It’s crucial to remember that updates in the Beta Channel are experimental. Features and experiences may change, evolve, or be removed based on feedback and testing outcomes. This iterative process helps Microsoft fine-tune the user experience before a broader release.

Additionally, many features start in the Beta Channel but may not be fully localized initially. Localization issues can be reported via Feedback Hub, contributing to a more polished final product.

Conclusion

The Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.3930 represents Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement and user-centric design. By gradually rolling out new features and improvements, Microsoft ensures that Insiders can test and provide valuable feedback, shaping the future of Windows 11.

As always, your feedback is invaluable. Whether through the Feedback Hub or community forums, every piece of input helps refine and perfect the Windows experience.

Stay tuned for more updates and happy testing, Insiders!

This time around, the company has made available build 22621.730 and build 22623.730, with the latter arriving as KB5017385.

Of course, both follow the newfound philosophy of one version rolling out new features and the other taking them off by default. As the announcement post clarifies, build 22623.730 has new features on, and build 22621.730 has them off.

Only in this case, build 22622 has been changed to build 22623.

Microsoft elaborated on this change below:

“Insiders who were previously on Build 22622 will automatically get moved to Build 22623 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts.”

Good change!

So, what’s new? Build 22623.730 introduces a few new features. Its main highlight is the introduction of the tablet-optimized taskbar, which the company says is designed to make you feel more confident and comfortable using your device as a tablet.

We also have updates to the System Tray that now affect all device types, not just 2-in-1 machines. With this change, users will see a rounded focus and hover treatment on all icons in the lower right due to the continued modernization of this experience.

Of course, this change makes it impossible to drag and drop or rearrange your system tray icons, but this is something that will be addressed in a future build.

Rounding things up is the usual array of bug fixes and known issues that are part of almost every Windows 11 build release.

But at least, they are not split across both Beta builds, as was the case at the very start of the month.

As per the norm, these are split into two builds: one with features turned off by default and the other with new features rolling out. In this particular case, build 22621.598 has these new additions off, while build 22622.598 has them on.

The announcement post from Microsoft details this confusing state of affairs.

Perhaps the only change worth mentioning in this second release—build 22622.598—is that you will not be able to uninstall apps with interdependencies. This basically means programs that rely on dependencies to function.

For example, Steam and gaming software that runs on Steam.

The same holds true for repairing Win32 software. If you go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps to remove or change your installed applications, you can’t do it.

The company has not detailed what exactly is the reason for this little problem, but it does mention that this is a temporary hurdle and Insiders will need to endure this for the time being. One could be forgiven for thinking that this niggle will be taken care of by the time the next release makes its way out.

Speaking of which, this build includes a couple of fixes, including one that prevented a small set of Insiders from launching File Explorer.

Another problem fixed is where command bar items like copy, paste, and empty Recycle Bin were unexpectedly not enabled when they should have been.

Both builds also received fixes for a duplicate print queue and an issue with Roaming User Profiles.

There is one particular known issue that you must be aware of. It involves clicking the network icon on the Lock Screen, not working, and crashing it altogether. The company says that this may require you to reboot to log in. After doing so, you can switch between wireless networks as needed.

This is odd, seeing as the whole point of splitting the Beta channel and releasing two builds concurrently was to test all the new additions in one specific build. One build comes with new features enabled, other comes disabled.

Confusingly, Microsoft seems to have taken this approach with the fixes this time — the fixes in both these new versions of the preview are also split between the two builds.

You can locate the official blog post here.

It has Microsoft talking about what these two new builds, build 22621.590 and build 22622.590 (KB5017846), come packing. Build 22622 was supposed to receive new features, but since these releases are all about fixes, they are split between both.

Not evenly, of course.

Windows 11 build 22622.590 is the one that comes with the majority of fixes, including an issue where the Control Panel failed to launch from the Start Menu, Search, or if it was pinned to the Taskbar in the previous flight.

Redmond has also disabled the ability to share a local file directly to OneDrive using the built-in Windows share feature that it recently rolled out to Insiders.

This is also the case with the latest Dev channel release, Windows 11 build 25193, so no surprises here!

Moving beyond, we have several fixes for the good old Taskbar, including one where the overflow flyout now follows your accent color like the rest of the Taskbar. The company also took care of a number of issues that could lead to sporadic explorer.exe crashes.

There are only a couple of fixes for both build 22621.590 and build 22622.590, including one minor one that affects Robocopy.

Wrapping things up, there are a few known issues that you might want to be aware of. The first of which is rather severe in the sense that audio stopped working altogether for some users. Other niggles include the inability to open File Explorer and a problem where command bar items are not enabled.

The company has been updating both these versions regularly.

It released a refresh again this week, with new builds for folks to check out. They are build 22621.586 and build 22622.586 (KB5016701), the details of which you can gather yourself from the official blog post.

These new versions of the preview launched alongside the Dev channel build 25188, which brought many new features and improvements, only some of which the company officially cataloged.

Anyway, getting back to the Beta channel builds, build 22622.586 is the one that has new features rolling out, while build 22621.586 has the new features off by default. This is par for the course for Microsoft after the split.

As the announcement post outlines, both builds have plenty of improvements, bug fixes, and known issues.

Redmond primarily fixed a problem that caused DWM crashes, which led to black flashes or content stuck on the screen. It also fixed an issue that caused SQL Server Management Studio to fail to launch.

However, the development team paid special attention to File Explorer, which received the bulk of the attention.

The company fixed an issue that prevented the left half of the File Explorer title bar from being draggable via mouse or touch. Selecting multiple folders and then using the context menu to open them now does that instead of opening the first folder in a new tab and all the others in a new window.

Microsoft also made a problem history that caused Home, Documents, Pictures, and potentially other folders to become unexpectedly duplicated.

Also fixed is an issue that suddenly caused the Delete key to stop working on files in File Explorer. Redmond also vaporized a problem where the min/max/close button was not visible in File Explorer when using a contrast theme.

These are pretty standard releases, but very necessary.

Get these versions if you are enrolled in the Beta channel of the Windows Insider program.

This is part of the company’s initiative to split the Beta channel into two—one bucket gets new features turned on by default, while users in the other bucket may find that new features are not showing up.

In this case, we have Build 22621.575 in the former camp and Build 22622.575 in the latter.

As Microsoft notes, the first build improves File Explorer and includes many fixes. The second build, on the other hand, doesn’t have any new features but still includes a range of welcome fixes.

If you’re lucky enough to have new features rolled out after installing build 22622.575, there is one notable improvement. In File Explorer, middle-clicking a folder with your mouse will open it in a new tab.

Very much like clicking a folder in the body of File Explorer already does.

Build 22622.575 also gets a list of fixes, with Microsoft taking care of an issue when launching File Explorer in dark mode ended up in light mode. There were also problems with the left/right arrows launching in light mode and problems with using F11 to expand File Explorer in full-screen mode.

The company has also fixed some drag-and-drop and divider overlapping issues in the navigation pane. A translation error with the right-click context menu is also now history.

You can check the blog post above for the full list of fixes.

Speaking of, both flavors of this new Beta channel build received some fixes, with the ones just for build 22622.575 above. These include a fix for a crashing Photos app in Beta channel builds for Windows 11, which is now rolling out via the Microsoft Store.

Another interesting issue that has been fixed is one that prevented you from opening a URL of more than 2084 characters. This update now supports a URL of up to 8192 characters.

If you are on the Beta channel, get to downloading!

Today, we also have updates for these two versions.

Build 22622.450 will roll out new features, while build 22621.450 will have these new capabilities turned off by default after deployment for testing purposes—which is exactly why Microsoft began flighting these two separate builds.

As the company notes, it has launched fresh updates for both versions.

These updates are available for Insiders on the Beta channel for a staggered release. Both builds come with a handful of fixes and improvements outlined below and also include improvements to how the company applies updates.

That last bit is detailed above, how their new capabilities are turned on or off by default.

So, regarding new improvements in Beta builds 22621.450 and 22622.450, we have a fair bit to go through regarding what they bring.

For starters, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint now has the canny ability to identify and intercept ransomware and advanced attacks. This enhancement now makes it even better to stop these severe kinds of threats.

Next, in the new column, we have a file compressed regardless of its size if you have configured Server Message Block (SMB) Compression. Finally, improved storage replication that occurs over low bandwidth or congested wide area networks (WAN) is also on the table.

Prime among the fixes is an issue that, in certain cases, causes an application to use a high amount of CPU resources.

Speaking of, there are only a couple of known issues in these builds today.

Give the announcement post above a scan if you deploy them.

The latter of these comes with new features enabled.

And to test said features, Redmond wants you to join a good old-fashioned Bug Bash. This is to make sure that these new options are ready for mainstream and arrive for end users without any problems or major issues.

Microsoft talked about enlisting for this new Bug Bash in the announcement post.

Detailing that if you are running this particular build, you can crack open the Feedback Hub to find a selection of Quests that are waiting for you to try and give feedback on. However, the company did not mention what the bug bashers would receive for their efforts.

However, judging by previous such events, participants were awarded a Bug Bash sticker that appeared in the Feedback Hub.

If you want to join, though, you’ll have to be quick.

The Bug Bash will only run between July 20 to July 25 PDT, meaning if you want in on the Quests, you will have to get your machine to update fairly quickly and start spotting and reporting any bugs that you encounter.

For those of you who are curious about the tasks, fairly run-of-the-mill activities await you. Previous Quests included tasks like “Access your Microsoft Account free benefits in Settings” and “Easily find the Settings you need via the Settings in-app search box.”

In other words, these are the simplest of tasks that only the absolute novice would struggle with. But the again, newbies usually are not running a beta build of Windows 11, anyway.

Feel free, then, to join the hunt and provide your feedback to Microsoft — feedback that is sure to come in handy for the company as it gets ready to launch the first feature update for Windows 11 in the coming months.

Well, the software titan is in that mood again.

It has released an update with new two new builds, namely build 22621.436 and build 22622.436.

As usual, these build several improvements and bug fixes, including those for a Start Menu crash issue that has been plaguing certain users. Also included are a few new features that should be of interest to users enrolled in this outer channel.

You can check the full details in the announcement post.

Build 22622.436 is the more interesting of the two, as it brings a couple of improvements to the operating system’s sharing features. The first is related to Nearby Sharing, and the second is for sharing local files to OneDrive.

For the former, using UDP along with Bluetooth to discover nearby devices has enhanced the discovery of devices under nearby share when sharing a local file from the desktop, File Explorer, Photos, Snipping Tool, Xbox, and other apps that use the built-in Windows share window.

You will be able to discover and share to more devices, including desktop PCs.

The latter addition is for sharing a local file to the cloud, whereby a new option is now available that lets you choose OneDrive and share it further, along with access control options for your chosen files.

All this can be done right from sharing local files in File Explorer without any context switches or opening up the OneDrive app.

These build releases offer a whole bunch of fixes for both builds. A single known issue has crept in as well: the up arrow is misaligned in File Explorer tabs, which the company says will be fixed in a future update.

Well, the company has tried something similar here again.

Redmond has just released two new builds to the Beta channel of its preview program. One group received a build with a new feature turned on by default, while the other, smaller group received a new build without new features enabled.

Microsoft explains this change of strategy in elaborate detail:

“This approach will help us validate our ability to release updates with features turned off by default. It will also allow us to have greater insight into the impact of enabling new features. By comparing feedback and usage data between Insiders in these two groups, we will get to see if a feature is causing issues with reliability, for example.

Based on this insight, it will help us make decisions on whether to make new features available for more Insiders by increasing their rollout or, in some cases, disable a feature to address bugs. The goal is to use the comparison data to ensure the best possible experience as we try out new features and experience with Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel.

This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. As a reminder, features we try out with Windows Insiders will ship when they are ready and not every feature that we try out in the Beta Channel will ship to general customers.”

The builds in question are build 22621.290 and build 22622.90.

The latter will have new features and options getting rolled out and turned on via enablement packages. The former are the ones that will find that their new features are turned off by default on their installations.

Do note that the majority of the Insiders in the Beta channel will automatically get builds in the 22622 range. Insiders who land in the group with the features turned off can still check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out.

You can take a look at the two builds and what they offer in the announcement post above.