Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23526 (Dev Channel)

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23526 (Dev Channel)

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23526 to the Dev Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 23526. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Dev Channel.

[Start menu]

• For files that do not have rich thumbnail previews that can be provided, it will no longer show a blank preview area. This is part of the work for rich thumbnail previews (tooltips) for cloud files on Start that began rolling out with Build 23511.

[Cast]

• Building off the Cast improvements introduced with Build 23516, we have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

[Narrator]

We have made the following improvements for Narrator:

• Changed default verbosity level from 2 to 3 which will now announce “Immediate Context Name and Type”. The Control context type like “list” or “toolbar” will allow users to better understand the focused control – same default as JAWS and NVDA.
• Narrator users are unblocked for typing Traditional Chinese characters in Windows by addition of Traditional Chinese dictionary for detailed reading.

We have made the following improvements for Narrator with Braille:

• When navigating to any attachment in Outlook with scan mode, narrator announces the & of the attachment, the same is now reflected on braille display.
• Navigate to different headings in Scan Mode using down arrow, or ‘Space + 4’ key in Braille device, now navigating to heading is reflected in Braille.
• When navigating a list with items , whenever Narrator announces index with the menu item name, Braille display also reflects the same index values as “1 of 4”.

Fixes

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue that was making the System label in Start’s all apps list the wrong color in high contrast themes.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where the taskbar wasn’t loading for some Insiders when logging into their PC after installing the previous build.
• Disabled the setting for uncombining taskbar buttons on other screens by default when no secondary monitors are connected.
• Fixed an issue where if the taskbar was set to uncombined it would still show animations even if they’d been turned off.
• Fixed an issue where app icons on the taskbar would become empty (with no icon) in recent Insider builds after switching between desktops.
• Fixed an issue where the hidden icons flyout might close unexpectedly when using keyboard navigation to move focus between icons.
• Fixed an issue where using drag to rearrange icons in the overflow area wasn’t working well when the taskbar was set to uncombined.
• Fixed an issue where the new bell icon might be very difficult to see in some cases because it was using a dark outline when your taskbar was dark.
• Fixed an issue where if you had enabled the End Task option in the taskbar, the setting wouldn’t persist across upgrades.
• Fixed an issue where after upgrading the Bluetooth icon in the system tray might not display in the system tray after upgrade even though your PC supported Bluetooth and the Bluetooth options were shown in Settings.

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue where if you attempt to uninstall certain apps, it would just open Settings and not navigate to the Installed Apps page.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crashes when launching or interacting with File Explorer in the last couple flights.
• Fixed an issue where using the Reset Folders button in Folder Options could cause explorer.exe to crash.
• Fixed an issue where the chevrons in the File Explorer address bar were pointing in the wrong direction if your display language was set to Arabic or Hebrew.
• Fixed an issue where saving files to OneDrive locations in File Explorer could take a very long time, making it seem like the app you were saving from had become unresponsive, in the latest Insider builds.
• Fixed an issue where the context menu and dropdown menus in File Explorer weren’t working with touch.
• Made another fix for the issue causing the context menu and dropdown menu backgrounds to be transparent.
• Fixed an issue where the menu shown when doing a right click drag on one of the newly supported archive formats didn’t have an extract option like it does for zip files.

[Dev Drive]

• Fixed an issue where Dev Drives might not auto-mount after upgrading to a new build, causing apps that tried to access them to not work.
• Improved error messages if Dev Drives fail to format.
• Fixed an issue related to the use of Dev Drives which could cause a bugcheck with an INVALID DATA TRAP on upgrade (and then the upgrade would roll back).

[HDR Backgrounds]

• Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue where Narrator was not reading various list items in a combo box on various web pages when navigating with up and down arrow.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly announcing combo boxes as read-only even when users could actually select different values from the combo box list items.
• Addressed the issue where Narrator was not announcing the checked and unchecked status of radio buttons but was announcing selected for every item.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing older information  while navigating in date/time picker  using arrow keys .
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading contents of previous cell and the current cell when navigating in a table using right and left arrow keys.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator is incorrectly reading older Window title even after navigating to inner control.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator is reading entire paragraph when up arrow is invoked in online word document.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading out last word of previous paragraph when a new paragraph started with a punctuation mark.
• Fixed a bug where Narrator was not announcing the character being deleted when using backspace key in some text fields on the web.
• Fixed an issue in narrator where while entering any number in CVV edit field, Narrator should only announce as “hidden”, instead of “CVV edit, hidden new line selected”.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator is not able to detect different headings on some web pages in scan mode while using “h” key to navigate.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator scan mode arrow navigation skipped first item in container.
• Fixed an issue, where Narrator is skipping the first item after navigating via landmark using “d” key in scan mode.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator focus did not move past the first check box if there was a list of check boxes  when using up and down arrow key in scan mode.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was not activating combo box when navigating using up and down  arrow and using enter/spacebar to activate it in scan mode.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator would collapse the combo boxes in scan mode when navigating with up and down arrows.
• Fixed an issue where navigation commands are not executed as expected in a dialog  box when you enter the dialog the second time.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator find was not working consistently on web pages when using Narrator key + Ctrl + F key combination.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs may not have performed as expected in certain apps in the last few flights when you had selected the option to use the previous version of the IME. If you are continuing to experience issues with this build installed, please file feedback.
• Fixed an issue where when inking into a text field, if you were writing in Chinese, certain characters were being perceived as taps and not working.
• Fixed an issue where inking into a text field while magnifier was running was not working well as the ink was offset.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where removing a monitor while connected to a Cloud PC could result in a black screen with only a mouse visible in recent builds.
• Made some fixes to improve how the Share dialog worked with screen readers, as well as addressing some other accessibility issues.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[General]

• We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[Start menu]

• Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.

[Windows Copilot]

• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk.

SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

• .NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
• C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
• BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines.

SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel.

Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds.

The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features.

In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready.

The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

• You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
• Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.

Thanks,
Amanda & Brandon
Source: Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23526 (Dev Channel)