In this article, we will talk about the latest Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 Insider Preview Build for the Release Preview Channel, which is the Build 26200.8728 or KB5095093.
New Features in this Update
- [Point-in-time restore for Windows] This flexible recovery feature helps you quickly roll back your PC, including apps, settings, and personal files, to a recent automatic restore point. It helps reduce downtime and simplifies troubleshooting when issues occur. To learn more, see Point-in-time restore for Windows.
- [Windows Update] A calendar experience in Windows Update settings (Settings > Windows Update) lets you pause updates by choosing an end date, for up to 35 days. You can extend the pause by selecting a different end date and re-pause updates as needed. For more information, see Pause updates in Windows.
- [Widgets] A quieter, more focused Widgets experience helps reduce interruptions and improves default settings and notification controls:
- Reduce distractions: Widgets no longer open on hover. Notifications and taskbar badges are minimized by default, and badges use colors that match your Windows accent.
- Simpler: Open to the Widgets dashboard by default on first use. New users see a simplified experience on lock screen with Weather as the only default widget.
- Customize: Configure Widgets the way you want by selecting Settings in the navigation bar, then changing any default settings.
- Stay informed: Dashboard icons show the number of alerts, and badges clear automatically when you leave a dashboard.
- Adjusted defaults: Some default settings are preserved based on usage, while others adjust to reduce interruptions.
- Performance improvements: This update provides improved reliability, responsiveness, and visual quality across the Widgets experience.
- [Accessibility] This update makes your screen easier to see and helps you customize your zoom experience:
- Screen tint: Apply a full-screen color overlay to help reduce eye strain and improve readability. Choose from preset tint options, adjust intensity, or turn it on automatically. Find this feature in Settings > Accessibility.
- Magnifier: Enter a zoom percentage directly and change it in increments in the Magnifier window for more precise, flexible control.
- Magnifier settings menu: Modify zoom increments directly from the Magnifier bar instead of navigating to Windows Settings each time.
- [File Explorer]
- When you hover over a file in File Explorer Home, commands such as Open file location and Ask Copilot appear as quick actions. This experience is now supported for work and school accounts (Entra ID). This feature isn’t available in the European Economic Area.
- The address bar now supports paths containing double backslashes and quotation marks (for example, C:\Users\user or “C:\Users\user”), improving compatibility with a wider range of inputs.
- The address bar suggestion dropdown is more reliable and now consistently closes after an item is selected.
- This update addresses an issue on File Explorer Home where OneDrive files could appear duplicated in the Favorites section.
- This update includes several refinements to the Rename experience:
- Addresses an issue where text was repeatedly selected when renaming items in folder views.
- Addresses an issue where case-only name changes were not immediately reflected in folder views for items stored locally or in the cloud.
- [Bluetooth] This update improves reliability and performance when connecting to and using Bluetooth devices:
- New! Windows now keeps the microphone mute state in sync between the audio mixer and the Hands-Free Profile (HFP) for a more consistent experience with Bluetooth headphones with mute buttons or indicators.
- Device compatibility: Improves compatibility with certain Bluetooth audio devices, helping AirPods appear faster in pairing mode and improving microphone reliability on Beats Studio Pro headphones.
- Bluetooth audio stability and quality:
- Improves Bluetooth audio stability with certain PC manufacturer drivers (error code 0x9F).
- Improves Bluetooth audio quality and reliability for voice calls when using classic audio devices with the Hands-Free Profile (HFP).
- Improves reliability of LE Audio streaming after a connection is lost and restored.
- Reduces time for LE Audio accessories to start playing audio while using the microphone.
- Device management: Bluetooth device removal is now more reliable when the Bluetooth radio is disabled or changed after pairing, reducing occurrences of the “Remove failed” message.
- Settings experience: Improves stability when using the Bluetooth & devices settings page for a smoother, more consistent experience.
- Connection reliability and responsiveness:
- Reduces the time it takes for classic Bluetooth audio devices to reconnect after Windows resumes from hibernation.
- Improves reliability when LE Audio accessories disconnect, such as when another device (for example, a phone) connects.
- [Bluetooth and Phone Link] This update improves audio routing for calls made through a connected phone:
- When an outgoing call is dialed from a paired phone, audio remains on the phone while ringing and transfers to the PC only when the call is answered from the PC.
- When Do Not Disturb is enabled on Windows, incoming call audio from a paired phone no longer rings on the PC.
- [Voice access and voice typing] You can now use voice access and voice typing in French, German, and Spanish. As you speak, your PC improves your text in real time. It corrects grammar, punctuation, and recognition errors, and helps improve clarity, even in the presence of background noise. This makes dictation smoother and reduces the need for manual edits. Available on Copilot+ PCs.
- [Audio] This update improves the reliability of the inbox HD Audio driver.
- [Taskbar] This update improves the reliability of invoking the Start menu when clicking the left edge of the taskbar when icons in the taskbar are left-aligned.
- [Emoji panel] The emoji panel (Windows key + period (.)) now uses GIPHY as the GIF provider, delivering a smoother GIF browsing and sharing experience following the deprecation of Tenor.
- [Networking]
- This update includes networking improvements for virtualized environments. Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs) now use SR-IOV hardware acceleration by default for improved network throughput, and a configuration issue in nested Hyper-V virtualization network setup has been corrected to ensure reliable VM network provisioning.
- This update improves the reliability of the Windows networking stack. It reduces bug checks (blue screen errors) related to Wi-Fi power and improves cellular (WWAN) connectivity, including support for IPv6 VPNs. Compatibility with third-party VPN software and SR-IOV configurations on server hardware is also improved. Network adapter settings and bindings are now preserved across OS upgrades.
- [Printing] New printer installations use Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) by default when supported, simplifying setup and improving reliability. For details about third-party driver deprecation, see End of Servicing Plan for Third-Party Printer Drivers on Windows. To control this behavior, use the toggle in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Default install printers using Windows Ready Print. For more information, see Introducing Windows Ready Print and modernized driver selection.
- [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)] This update improves usage of WSL in mirrored networking mode with VPNs.
- [Display and graphics]
- Improves reliability of rendering content while scrolling for certain apps spanning across multiple monitors.
- Improves reliability and persistence of applying color profiles.
- [Location services] This update changes how some location settings are displayed in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location to help with clarity. When location services are turned off, settings like Default location and Allow location override do not immediately apply, since location information is not given to apps or services. These settings are now greyed out when location services are off to reduce confusion over when they take effect.
- [Search] This update improves the reliability of setting Search-related group policies.
- [Input] New! You can now customize the size of the right-click zone in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad. Choose from default, small, medium, or large to control how much of the bottom-right corner responds to a single-finger right-click. This setting is only available on touchpads with a pressable surface. If your device manufacturer provides customization through their app, a Custom option appears to reflect those settings. This update also improves recognition of English characters when using Japanese handwriting.
- [General Reliability] This update makes underlying changes to help improve explorer.exe reliability, including addressing reliability issues on the login and lock screens related to the use of third-party credential providers, reducing the probability of taskbar icons appearing as blank gray placeholders, improving reliability of navigating to File Explorer Home during OneDrive sync, improving explorer.exe reliability when switching between multiple desktops, improving app launch reliability when shell extensions are installed, and addressing reliability issues related to acrylic blur effects in Start menu, Settings, and the lock screen.
- [Secure Boot] With this update, Windows quality updates include additional high confidence device targeting data, increasing coverage of devices eligible to automatically receive new Secure Boot certificates. Devices receive the new certificates only after demonstrating sufficient successful update signals, maintaining a controlled and phased rollout.
- [Authentication] This update improves Netlogon secure channel connections between domain controllers, enabling successful connections from member servers to domain controllers set up before 2025.
- [Networking] This update improves how your device connects to shared network resources. Connections used by apps and system features, such as the NetUseAdd function, now work more reliably, including unauthenticated (null session) connections.
- [Start Menu] This update improves the Start menu experience, allowing newly installed or removed apps to appear without requiring sign-out or restart. This mainly affects apps that create a Start menu folder with multiple shortcuts.
- [Taskbar] This update improves notification badge display across your apps. Notification counts and badge visuals now update correctly, helping you stay up to date with new activity.
How to Enable All New Features
Thanks to phantomofearth for discovering this, follow him for more hidden features!
You will need to download ViveTool, which is a small app that will help us enable hidden features from Windows.
After you download ViveTool, you will need to extract the contents of the archive into a folder of your choice.
Right-click on the archive and then click on Extract all. Select Your Folder and then click on Extract. You will also need to provide some administrative privileges.
After you’ve done that, you will need to open CMD as administrator. Type the following command in CMD:
cd "your-location"Then copy and paste the following command:
New Low Latency Profile for Apps (+additional Features):
vivetool /enable /id:58989177You will now need to restart your computer, for the changes to take effect.
After the restart, you should be able to see the New Low Latency Profile on your Windows 11 PC.
For more information about this Update, you can check this article from the Microsoft Blog.
For a more in-depth presentation of the New Build, you can watch the video below from the YouTube channel.
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