In this article, we will talk about another Preview Build for Windows 11 26H1, with the Build 28020.1362 or KB5073095 in the Canary Channel.
In the latest Build for the Canary Channel, you may notice the New Windows 11 26H1 Version, which is a New Version that Microsoft is using to test the New Platform for the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Devices and Nvidia N1X Processors.
26H1 is not a feature update for version 25H2 and only includes platform changes to support specific silicon. There is no action required from customers.
25H2 remains the primary place for new features. Windows 11 continues to have an annual feature update cadence, with releases in the second half of the calendar year.
As a reminder, in the Windows Insider Program, new experiences will continue to land first in the Dev and Beta Channels, with Canary primarily focused on platform changes.
In other words, Microsoft is testing the New Features that will make their way into the Main Release in the second part of 2026, with the 26H2 Update.
New Features in this Build
New Xbox Fullscreen Experience
The full screen experience (FSE) is now available on more Windows 11 handheld devices after its initial launch on ASUS ROG Ally and ROG Ally X. FSE gives you a console-style interface with the Xbox app, making handheld gaming clean and distraction-free. It improves performance by minimizing background tasks, so gameplay stays smooth and responsive. To turn it on, go to Settings > Gaming > Full screen experience, and set Xbox as your home app. You can open FSE from Task View or Game Bar or configure your handheld to enter full screen experience on startup.
New Drag Tray
- Drag Tray now supports multi-file sharing, intelligently surfaces more relevant apps, and enables seamless file movement to a chosen folder.
- Microsoft added the ability to turn Drag Tray on/off from Settings > System > Nearby sharing.
New File Explorer Features
- Dark Mode: Microsoft made improvements to the dark mode experience in File Explorer starting with key actions like copy, move, and delete dialogs. You’ll now see a consistent dark mode experience in:
- The default and expanded state for copy, move, and delete dialogs
- Progress bars and chart views
- Dialogs for confirming states like skip, override, and file selection
- Multiple confirmation and error dialogs
- For Insiders with Copilot+ PCs, we’re updating the File Explorer Search Box placeholder text to raise awareness of the improved Windows Search experience introduced earlier this year. Learn more in our January blog post.
- 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.
New Mobile Devices Settings Page
- You can now directly add and manage your mobile devices from Settings on your Windows PC by navigating to “Mobile Devices” under the Bluetooth & Devices section. This page allows you to view your mobile devices, add new mobile devices, and manage features such as using your device as a connected camera or accessing your device’s files in File Explorer.
New Windows Spotlight
Microsoft is trying out a change that adds “Learn more about this background” and “Next desktop background” to the context menu when you click on your desktop if you have Windows Spotlight chosen as your desktop background under Settings > Personalization > Background.
New Input Changes
- Microsoft is moving more keyboard settings from Control Panel to Settings – this includes that the setting for character repeat delay / rate is now available under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Keyboard, and the setting for cursor blink rate is now available under Settings > Accessibility > Text cursor.
- Keyboard backlight performance has improved on supported HID-compliant keyboards. Compatible keyboards display keys clearly in low-light environments, and the backlight adjusts to help conserve power.
- The AltGr layer is now enabled for the Arabic 101 keyboard layout. The left Alt key continues to function as before, while the right Alt key acts as a modifier to access additional symbols. The first new symbol mapped to AltGr on the Arabic 101 layout is the Saudi Riyal currency symbol (AltGr+S). The Saudi Riyal currency symbol is also available on the touch keyboard’s symbols page and the expressive input panels currency tab. Users who switch languages with Alt+Shift can continue to use the left Alt+Shift or the general shortcut Windows logo key+Spacebar. Arabic 102 and Arabic 102 AZERTY layouts are updated similarly.
- Pens that support haptic feedback will now deliver tactile responses during certain interactions with the system UI. For example, you may feel vibrations when hovering over the close button or when snapping and resizing windows.
New Game Pass
- In this build we have modified references to Game Pass plans in Settings to reflect updated branding and benefits.
New OneDrive Icon
Microsoft is rolling out the new OneDrive icon in Accounts and Homepages in Settings.
New Recovery Change
- Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) now runs a one-time scan on PCs with settings quick machine recoveryand automatically check for solutions are both turned on. If a fix isn’t available immediately, QMR directs you to the best recovery options to get your PC running again.Alt txt: In Settings for Systems, Recovery, “Quick machine recovery” and “Automatically check for solutions” are enabled to run a onetime QMR scan by default.
New Advanced Settings
- You can now turn on Virtual Workspaces in Advanced Settings. Virtual Workspaces allow you to enable or disable virtual environments such as Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox. To access Virtual Workspaces, go to Settings> Systems > Advanced.
New Paint App Update
With Paint version 11.2511.281.0, we’re introducing the collapse toolbar feature in Paint. To get started, open Paint and click the chevron icon at the bottom-right of the ribbon to enable Automatically hide toolbar. Once the toolbar collapses, use the Show toolbar button to bring it back and switch tools. To hide it again, click the Hide toolbar button or anywhere outside the toolbar. When you’re ready to return to the default view, click the chevron icon and select Always show toolbar.
Fixes in this Build
File Explorer
- Fixed an issue where File Explorer might unexpectedly not show thumbnails for video files containing certain EXIF metadata.
- Fixed an issue where an old white toolbar might sometimes appear unexpectedly in File Explorer.
- Fixed an issue where when you right-clicked a file, the app icon next to the Open option might appear generic instead of showing the default app for that file type.
- Fixed an issue where when opening a folder from another app (for example, opening the Downloads folder from a browser), your custom view — including sorting files by name, changing the icon size, or removing grouping — unexpectedly might reset back to default.
- Fixed an issue where the body of the File explorer window might no longer respond to mouse clicks after invoking the context menu.
- Fixed an issue where extracting very large archive folders (1.5gb+) might fail with a “Catastrophic Error” (error code 0x8000FFFF).
- Fixed an issue which could cause File Explorer to become unresponsive when opening Home.
Settings
- Fixed and issue where Settings might become unresponsive when attempting to navigate to the Network & Internet section.
- Fixed an issue where the search bar in Settings might become overlapped with the minimum and maximum buttons in the title bar.
- Fixed an issue where the processor name in Settings > System > About might be truncated.
Taskbar
- Fixed an issue where the automatically hide the taskbar setting might unexpectedly turn off, after seeing a message saying a toolbar is already hidden on this side of your screen.
- Fixed an issue where Voice access wasn’t working correctly when attempting to interact with the taskbar (calling out a number might not invoke that item).
- Fixed and issue where the taskbar icons might automatically scale to be smaller, although there was enough room left without scaling changes.
- Fixed an issue where if you hovered over an app icon on the taskbar, and then selected the window preview, the preview might dismiss and not bring the window to the foreground.
Start Menu
- For Insiders with the new Start menu, the Windows Search panel now matches the new Start menu in size. This update aims to create a smoother transition when searching.
Internet
- Made some underlying improvements to help address an issue which could lead to not having internet after resuming from disconnected standby. Please don’t hesitate to file feedback under Network and Internet in the Feedback Hub if you continue experiencing issues.
Display and Graphics
- Improved performance when apps query monitors for their full list of supported modes. When this happened it could previously lead to a momentary stutter on very high-resolution monitors. This work should help prevent and reduce stuttering in these scenarios.
- Fixed an issue where All-in-one PCs might experience issues with their brightness slider, where it unexpectedly would revert to the original brightness when interacting with it.
- Fixed an issue where recently certain games might display the message Unsupported graphics card detected, although a supported graphics card was being used.
- Fixed an issue where apps and browsers might display partially unresponsive onscreen content when other maximized or full-screen apps were updating in the background. This issue was particularly noticeable when scrolling, as only parts of the window content might update.
- Fixed an issue where text might not render correctly when editing content within a multiline text box in certain apps.
Login and Lock Screens
- Made some underlying changes to improve the performance of loading the taskbar after unlocking your PC from sleep. This also should help in cases where the password field and other sign-in screen contents didn’t render when transitioning from the lock screen to the sign-in screen after sleep.
- Fixed an issue where it might be very slow the first time when signing into a new account.
- Fixed an issue where when your lock screen was set to slide show, there might be a memory leak. Memory leaks can lead to performance or reliability issues over time.
Narrator
- Fixed an issue where Narrator might take abrupt random pauses during continuous reading. in word docs.
Windows Update
- Fixed an underlying issue which could cause “Update and shutdown” to not actually shut down your PC after updating
- Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to some Insiders seeing error 0x8007042B when attempting to upgrade to Canary from recent Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2-based builds.
Task Manager
- Fixed an issue where Task Manager might open as expected, but if you tried to close it it would remain running in the background, with the number of processes growing each time you opened Task Manager. This could also lead to Task Manager unexpectedly appearing on boot.
Other
- Fixed an issue where certain apps might become unresponsive when launching the Open or Save Dialog.
- Fixed an issue where interacting with the desktop might unexpectedly invoke Task View.
For more information about this Build, 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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