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Windows 11 Windows 11 Insider 24H2 Insider Preview, Beta Channel
Windows Insider

Build 26120.5742

Build 26120.5742: Windows Insider Beta Channel, August 2025. Start menu mobile companion and settings changes

In short

Dev and Beta Channel builds add a redesigned Start menu mobile companion in Dev and move more time, language, and keyboard settings into Settings. They also include fixes and documented issues.

Does it affect you? Applies to: Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel on Windows 11, version 25H2, and in the Beta Channel on Windows 11, version 24H2.

Builds
26120.5742 · 26200.5742
Review notes Additional details from the official release notes (1) Read note
  • Known issues Some Insiders may see installation rollbacks, Click to Do failures or delays, a smaller Start menu, File Explorer color problems, Live Captions crashes, or Xbox Controller Bluetooth bugchecks. Dev Insiders may also see Visual Studio crashes on Arm64 PCs or taskbar pins removed.

The official sources are linked at the end of the page.

This is a test build for people in the Windows Insider Program. Features in it can change, be removed, or never reach regular Windows releases.

What changes

Fixes 13 changes

File Explorer

Gradual rollout 2 items

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Icons in File Explorer’s Details, Preview, and navigation panes display correctly in Arabic and Hebrew.1
  • File Explorer tooltips no longer unexpectedly stay visible.2

Desktop icons

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Text scaling support for desktop icons addresses an issue that could make icons and text overlap.3

Narrator

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Narrator announces details in the Copy dialog.4

Start menu

Gradual rollout 2 items

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • The new Start menu no longer shows blank-icon categories for every letter of the alphabet in the “All” section after updating from the previous build.5
  • Visual Studio appears in the correct Start menu category.6

Task Manager

Gradual rollout 2 items

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Task Manager reliability issues are fixed, including an issue that could make it freeze when opening the Performance section.7
  • Task Manager accessibility gets fixes for field sizes, column-header contrast, and focus in the Select Columns dialog.8
    The column-header contrast change applies when contrast themes are enabled.

Input

Gradual rollout 2 items

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Typing Chinese with an IME after copying text no longer causes the first character to be dropped.9
    The source identifies copying with CTRL + C as the preceding action.
  • The touch keyboard works with Changjie, Bopomoji, and Japanese IMEs after switching to the previous IME version.10

Settings

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Settings no longer crashes when you try to add a security key from Sign-in options.11
    Settings path: Account > Sign-in options.

Applications

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Some apps no longer crash because of an issue with dao360.dll.12
    The issue followed the previous two builds.

System

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • A fix addresses an issue that caused a small number of Insiders to experience SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION bugchecks.13

Improvements 10 changes

Settings

Gradual rollout 8 items

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • You can add additional clocks in Settings. They appear in Notification Center and in the taskbar clock tooltip.14
    Settings path: Time & language > Date & time > “Show time and date in the system tray”.
  • You can change the time server in Settings.15
    Settings path: Time & language > Date & time > “Additional settings”.
  • Date and time formatting options are in a new Settings location, where you can also change the AM/PM symbol.16
    Formatting settings moved from Time & language > Language & region to Time & language > Date & time.
  • You can change number and currency formats in Settings.17
    Settings path: Time & language > Language & region > “Region”.
  • A Settings toggle lets you enable Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support.18
    Settings path: Time & language > Language & region > “Language”.
  • You can copy your current language and region settings to the welcome screen, system account, and new user accounts.19
    Settings path: Time & language > Language & region > “Additional settings”.
  • The keyboard character repeat delay and rate setting is now in Settings.20
    Settings path: Accessibility > Keyboard.
  • The cursor blink rate setting is now in Settings.21
    Settings path: Accessibility > Text cursor.

Dialogs

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • More dialogs, including the one shown when an app cannot open, use Windows 11 visuals.22

File Explorer

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels with the latest-updates toggle on

  • Launching cloud files and loading context menus get performance improvements.23

New feature 1 change

Start menu

Gradual rollout

For: Insiders in the Dev Channel with the latest-updates toggle on

  • The mobile device companion has a redesigned layout and lets you scroll through recent activity and access messages, calls, photos, and mobile app updates.24

Technical details

Data sheet · Security · Downloads · Components Click to collapse or expand

Data sheet

Released
2025-08-08
Type
Windows Insider build
VersionBuildChannel
— 26120.5742 Beta Channel
25H2 26200.5742 Dev Channel

Security

No vulnerabilities are listed for this update.

Sources

Updated
Cited passages from Microsoft's official notes (24)
  1. 1. Fixed an issue where some of the icons in Details, Preview, and navigation panes of File Explorer weren’t properly mirrored when Arabic or Hebrew display languages. blogs.windows.com
  2. 2. Fixed an issue where the tooltips in File Explorer might unexpectedly stay visible. blogs.windows.com
  3. 3. Improved support for text scaling on desktop icons, addressing an issue which could lead to overlapping icons and text. blogs.windows.com
  4. 4. [UPDATED 8/14] Fixed a case where Narrator was not announcing details in the Copy dialog. blogs.windows.com
  5. 5. Fixed an issue for Insiders with the new Start menu, where they might unexpectedly see a category generated for every letter of the alphabet with blank icons blogs.windows.com
  6. 6. Fixed an issue where Visual Studio wasn’t showing in the correct category. blogs.windows.com
  7. 7. Fixed a few issues impacting Task Manager reliability, including a recent issue which could cause Task Manager to freeze when going to the performance section for some Insiders. blogs.windows.com
  8. 8. Fixed a few issues impacting accessibility – including adjusting minimum field sizes, improving contrast for the column headers on the Details page when contrast themes are enabled blogs.windows.com
  9. 9. Fixed an underlying issue where if you tried to type Chinese with an IME after copying something with CTRL + C could result in the first character getting dropped. blogs.windows.com
  10. 10. Fixed an issue where if you were typing on the touch keyboard with the Changjie, Bopomoji, or Japanese IME wouldn’t work if you had switched to using the previous version of the IME. blogs.windows.com
  11. 11. Fixed an issue where if you attempt to add a security key under Settings > Account > Sign-in options could result in Settings crashing. blogs.windows.com
  12. 12. Fixed an underlying issue with dao360.dll resulting in some apps crashing after the last two builds. blogs.windows.com
  13. 13. Fixed an issue causing a small number of Insiders to experience bugchecks with SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION in the latest builds. blogs.windows.com
  14. 14. You can now add additional clocks from Settings > Time & language > Date & time blogs.windows.com
  15. 15. You can now change your time server from Settings > Time & language > Date & time, under “Additional settings”. blogs.windows.com
  16. 16. The formatting settings for date and time have moved from Settings > Time & language > Language & region to Settings > Time & language > Date & time, and you can now change your AM/PM symbol from here as well blogs.windows.com
  17. 17. You can now change number and currency format from Settings > Time & language > Language & region, under the “Region” section. blogs.windows.com
  18. 18. there is now a toggle for this under Settings > Time & language > Language & region, under the “Language” section. blogs.windows.com
  19. 19. you can now copy current user language and region settings to welcome screen and system account, as well as new user accounts blogs.windows.com
  20. 20. The setting for character repeat delay/rate has moved to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. blogs.windows.com
  21. 21. The setting for cursor blink rate has moved to Settings > Accessibility >Text cursor. blogs.windows.com
  22. 22. We have updated more dialogs to match the Windows 11 visuals including the dialog for when an app can’t open. blogs.windows.com
  23. 23. Made some more performance improvements – particularly to help the performance of launching cloud files and loading context menus. blogs.windows.com
  24. 24. We’ve redesigned the mobile device companion with an updated layout that lets you access more right from Start. blogs.windows.com
Checked automatically: 8 of 8 checks passed, 24 quoted passages
  • Quotes found in the official pages: passed
  • Numbers found in the sources: passed
  • Vulnerabilities from the dossier only: passed
  • Links to allowed domains only: passed
  • Every official change covered: passed
  • Readable plain text: passed
  • Changes confirmed by the file list: passed
  • Sources agree: passed

A second AI read the text against the sources: correctness 4/5, clarity 4/5, completeness 3/5. How we work

Published by The Update Bureau. Written with AI from Microsoft's own documents, checked by rules and a second AI. How we work · Report a mistake