Beta Channel builds

What's being tested 3 new · 4 improved · 3 fixes

• New Taskbar — Alternate Taskbar Position: You can move the taskbar to the bottom, top, left, or right of the screen. Some features are not yet supported in alternate positions,...
• New Taskbar — Smaller Taskbar: A smaller taskbar uses smaller icons and less screen height, leaving more room for apps.
• New Search: A new setting lets you choose whether web and Microsoft Store suggestions appear alongside local results.

What's being tested 4 new · 4 improved · 1 fix

• New Narrator: HID braille displays work over USB without extra setup. Compatible displays include Orbit Reader 20, Orbit Slate 340, Freedom Scientifi...
• New Narrator: HID braille displays can connect wirelessly after pairing in Bluetooth settings.
• New Narrator: HID braille displays work over USB during the initial Windows setup, so deaf-blind users can set up a PC independently from the first s...

What's being tested 9 new · 8 improved · 1 fix

• New Touchpad: Precision touchpads gain new gesture capabilities, including automatic scrolling and optional single-finger scrolling.
• New Touchpad: Repeated scrolling speeds up, helping you move through long documents more quickly.
• New Start menu: You can show or hide the Pinned, Recent, and All sections independently.

What's being tested 1 new · 2 fixes

• New Windows 11 Pro Education upgrade: K–12 education environments can upgrade Windows 11 Home devices to Pro Education at no additional cost. The upgrade is one-way; returni...
• Fix File Explorer: The OneDrive shortcut in File Explorer works when File Explorer runs in administrative mode.
• Fix Outlook: Outlook responds to the close button for users who were experiencing that problem.

What's being tested 3 improved · 1 fix

• Improved Windows Update: Driver, .NET and firmware updates are coordinated with the monthly quality update, reducing the update experience to a single monthly r...
• Improved Voice Access: Voice Access supports Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil) and Korean (South Korea).
• Improved Fonts: Mongolian Baiti text appears more accurately and consistently when using Mongolian script.

What's being tested 2 new · 2 improved

• New Mobile Device Settings: You can add and manage mobile devices in Settings, including using a device as a connected camera or accessing its files in File Explor...
• New Remote Recovery Management: A remote-management plug-in extends recovery-management capabilities for device-management providers.
• Improved The build includes a small number of minor bug fixes and improvements. The notes do not specify them.

What's being tested 1 new · 2 improved · 1 fix

• New Smart card removal policy: Administrators can configure certain remote sessions to disconnect automatically when a redirected smart card is removed.
• Improved Taskbar: The taskbar system tray loads more reliably.
• Improved Sounds: System sounds are improved when Windows is in dark mode.

What's being tested 1 improved

• Improved Audio: The built-in HD Audio driver is more reliable.

What's being tested 2 improved · 1 fix

• Improved Start menu: The Start menu more reliably reflects newly installed or removed apps without requiring a sign-out or restart.
• Improved Settings: Settings > Apps > Startup works more reliably.
• Fix Virtualization: An issue that could cause some devices to crash during restarts, virtual machine operations, or some games is addressed.

What's being tested 1 new · 1 improved

• New Accessibility: Screen tint: Screen tint overlays the display with color to soften its intensity.
• Improved Task Scheduler: Task Scheduler remembers task-list column width adjustments between sessions.

What's being tested 4 new · 8 improved · 5 fixes

• New Widgets: Badges on Widget navigation bar icons can show missed alerts for a dashboard. They clear when you leave that dashboard, and you can tur...
• New Accessibility: Screen tint overlays the display with a preset or custom color, and a slider adjusts its strength. It can ease eye fatigue and light se...
• New Windows Magnifier: Magnifier settings include preset zoom steps from 5% to 400%.

What's being tested 1 improved · 1 fix

• Improved Other improvements: A small number of minor improvements are included; the release notes do not describe them.
• Fix Bug fixes: A small number of minor bugs are fixed; the release notes do not identify them.

What's being tested 1 new · 3 fixes

• New Windows Update: You can extend update pauses as many times as you need.
• Fix Audio: Audio works again for some Insiders after recent flights.
• Fix Settings: Settings > Apps > Installed Apps is more reliable after recent flights.

What's being tested 1 new · 1 improved

• New Windows Ready Print: A new setting lets you control the default installation behavior for printers.
• Improved Search: Search finds files when you type part of a compound file name or its content, such as “april” or “status”.

What's being tested 2 new · 4 fixes

• New Voice Access: Voice Isolation filters nearby speakers and background noise so Voice Access can better understand you. Setup takes about a minute, and...
• New Accessibility: Screen tint applies a color overlay across the display to reduce its intensity. You can choose a preset or custom color and adjust its...
• Fix explorer.exe: A cyclical crash that could make the screen or taskbar blink and repeatedly refresh should be resolved.

What's being tested 1 new · 3 improved · 1 fix

• New Voice access and Voice typing: Fluid Dictation is available in Spanish and French. It corrects grammar, punctuation, and filler words as you speak, reducing the need...
• Improved Windows Insider channel movement: The move to the new Beta experience begins for Beta Channel users.
• Improved Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP): SSDP notifications are more reliable, helping prevent the service from becoming unresponsive.

What's being tested 1 new · 2 improved · 1 fix

• New EDU Licensing: Eligible K–12 education organizations can upgrade Windows 11 Home devices to Pro Education at no additional cost. The upgrade is one-wa...
• Improved Administrator Protection: Japanese input is more reliable when Administrator Protection is enabled.
• Improved Desktop app icon shortcuts: Desktop app icon shortcuts load more reliably.

What's being tested 1 new · 2 improved · 1 fix

• New Windows Share: Windows Share can suggest apps to install for AAD accounts. You can turn promotional app recommendations on or off in its settings.
• Improved Storage: You can specify sizes in GB, rather than only MB, when creating a Dev Drive or changing a volume size in Settings > System > Storage.
• Improved Task Scheduler: Task Scheduler keeps task-list column widths across sessions.

What's being tested 3 improved · 1 fix

• Improved Print Drivers: The Internet Protocol Print driver gets new hardware IDs ahead of upcoming changes to printer driver ranking order.
• Improved Start menu: Clicks at the taskbar’s left edge are detected more reliably to open Start when taskbar icons are left-aligned.
• Improved Times New Roman: Times New Roman better supports marks added to Greek and Cyrillic letters.

What's being tested 8 improved

• Improved Settings: When Location services is off, Default location and Allow location override appear disabled because apps and services are not receiving...
• Improved Settings: Opening Installed apps from Settings is more reliable.
• Improved File Explorer: Icons in the File Explorer search box are positioned more consistently across PCs.

What's being tested 4 new · 8 improved · 1 fix

• New Feedback Hub: A refreshed Feedback Hub app is available to Beta Channel Insiders.
• New Feedback Hub: You can submit a compliment to call out what is working well.
• New Feedback Hub: You can choose whether your feedback is visible to the Insider community.

What's being tested 2 new · 3 improved · 2 fixes

• New Windows Protected Print Mode: Print settings show an icon to indicate where a printer supports Windows Protected Print Mode.
• New Input: Compatible input devices provide haptic feedback for some actions, such as aligning objects, snapping or resizing windows, and hovering...
• Improved Xbox mode: Xbox full screen experience is now called Xbox mode.

What's being tested 2 new · 2 improved · 2 fixes

• New Administrator Protection: A Settings toggle lets Insiders turn on Administrator Protection; a restart is required.
• New Touchpad: A new setting lets you choose the size of the bottom-right touchpad zone where a single-finger press makes a right-click.
• Improved Task Manager: Task Manager can show more about AI processor use, including which processes use it and how much dedicated or shared memory they use. G...

What's being tested 2 improved · 1 fix

• Improved Input: Closing the input flyout is more reliable.
• Improved Input: Configuring the fluid dictation option in voice typing settings is more reliable.
• Fix Network and Sharing: After switching Wi-Fi networks, Network and Sharing Center correctly shows one active connection instead of incorrectly displaying two.

What's being tested 3 new · 6 improved · 1 fix

• New Policy-Based Removal of Preinstalled Microsoft Apps: IT admins can add package family names to a policy list to remove additional preinstalled Microsoft Store apps on Windows Enterprise an...
• New Windows Setup Experience: During Windows setup, you can choose a custom name for your user folder on the Device Name page. If you skip this, Windows uses the def...
• New Windows Driver Policy update: Windows changes which third-party drivers it trusts by default. Some cross-signed drivers might be blocked after the policy is enabled.