New Windows 11 Build 26120.2415 – Recall is HERE, File Explorer Improvement and more (Dev)

In this article, we will talk about the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build for the Dev Channel, which is Build 26120.2415.

There some changes to the Dev Channel:

• this is just an Enablement Package, KB5037898, on top of 26100, not a full new build (26100 is still RTM)
• this will likely head to the Beta Channel at a future date, it comes from the ge_release_svc_betaflt_prod1 branch, packages refer to the Enablement Package as a Beta EKB and it shows up in update history with a title mentioning “Beta Channel”
• the purpose of this EKB and CUs is to test the remaining features for the initial 24H2 release in September as well as features planned to come after GA
• Feature Drops will probably return under a new codename (not Moments anymore).
• For Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle (shown in the image below) to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update.

Windows Recall is HERE

Recall is an entirely new way to search for things you’ve seen or done on your PC securely. With the AI capabilities of Copilot+ PCs, it’s now possible to quickly find and get back to any app, website, image, or document just by describing its content.

After installing this build, the models for Recall and Click to Do will start to download in the background. You can check the download status via Settings > Windows Update. To open Recall you can find it in the Start menu under the All apps list.

When you open Recall, you can complete the first-run experience, which will ask you to opt-in to saving snapshots. It will also require you to enroll in Windows Hello to confirm your presence. This requires you to enable BitLocker and Secure Boot if you haven’t already. If you don’t enable saving snapshots, Recall will not save any snapshots of your activity.

When you need to find or get back to something you’ve done previously, open Recall and authenticate with Windows Hello.

With Recall, you’re in control of what snapshots are saved and when Recalls saves them. A new icon in the system tray displays status and provides quick access to Recall actions. When Recall is enabled, you’ll see the Recall icon visible. It provides visual cues to remind you when snapshots are being analyzed and saved. Click the icon and you will be able to pause saving snapshots or view more status information. When paused, you see a slash through the icon.

You can delete any snapshot in Recall that you don’t want and tell Recall to ignore that app or website in that snapshot going forward, either when viewing an individual snapshot or by searching for what you want deleted and removing those results.

Microsoft have updated Recall to detect sensitive information like credit card details, passwords, and personal identification numbers. When detected, Recall won’t save or store those snapshots. We’ll continue to improve this functionality, and if you find sensitive information that should be filtered out, for your context, language, or geography, please let us know through Feedback Hub. We’ve also provided an option in Settings that we encourage you to enable that will anonymously share the apps and sites you prefer to be excluded from Recall to help us improve the product. And you can also choose to exclude specific apps and websites through the Recall settings page which we talk about below.

Click to Do with Recall

With Click to Do in Recall, you can get more done with snapshots and improve your productivity and creativity. Click to Do recognizes text and images in snapshots and offers AI powered actions you can take on these, saving you time by helping complete tasks inline, and/or quickly getting you to the app that can best complete the job for you.

Windows Hello

The revamped and modernized Windows Hello user experience that is rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Beta and Canary Channels will start rolling out to Insiders in the Dev Channel soon.

New Narrator Improvements

Microsoft have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Skip past links (N’) allows you to navigate to the text after a link. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. Jump to lists (L’) allows you to quickly access a list on a web page or a document. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘N’ and ‘L’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki page, etc.).

Speech in Windows

Microsoft have improved our speech-to-text and text-to-speech experience on Windows. Users of Narrator, voice access, live captions, live translations, and voice typing might see a message asking them to update their language files manually. The language files will be released separately through Microsoft Store.

Fixes in this Build

Taskbar and System Tray

• Fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash sometimes when interacting with app icons in the taskbar in the latest flights.

Desktop

• Fixed the issue where your desktop background may not show correctly sometimes with multiple monitors (showing big black areas).

File Explorer

• Did some work so the search box in File Explorer shouldn’t draw off the end of the window anymore.

Input

• Fixed an underlying issue in the last few flights that could cause Windows wheel devices to not scroll.

Narrator

• Fixed an issue in the previous flight which caused Narrator to crash on launch if you used one of the natural voices (like Jenny).

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.