Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25211

UPDATE 10/3: We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25211.1010 (KB5019342). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

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Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25211 to the Dev Channel.

TL;DR

• We have some changes and improvements based off Insider feedback in this build – see below!
• We are beginning to roll out a new settings experience for Widgets.
• Windows Insiders who are also Office Insiders can now try the new Outlook for Windows! We’ve got the details below on how to get started.
• We are beginning to roll out an update for Snipping Tool which now includes the ability to automatically save your screenshots.
• As usual, this build also includes a set of fixes to improve the overall experience for Windows Insiders.

What’s new

Widgets settings

In this update, we have separated the widget picker and Widgets settings to make it easier for you to find and interact with each view. Now, the widget picker is opened by the “+” button and Widgets settings is opened by the “Me” button. We re-used the space the picker used to take in Widget settings to cover the highly requested taskbar settings based on Insider feedback to give you control over how the Widgets entry works on your taskbar.

When you open Widgets settings by clicking on the “Me” button shown above, you will see three taskbar behaviors that you can toggle on or off.

Please note the wording for the toggles in Widget settings is slightly different in this build over what’s shown in the above screenshot. In a future update, the text for the toggles in Widget settings will be updated to reflect what is in the (above) screenshot.

With the toggles in Widget settings, you can:

• Control whether the Widgets board opens when you hover over the taskbar icon.
• Control whether Widgets will show notification badging on the taskbar.
• Control whether live Widget content on the taskbar shows more than weather.

[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements

[Taskbar]

• Based on your feedback, we’ve added Task Manager to the context menu when right-clicking on the taskbar. Let us know what you think!

[System Tray]

• This build includes preliminary support to rearrange System Tray icons for Insiders who have the System Tray updates that began rolling out with Build 25197. Further improvements for this experience are coming soon. As a reminder, these System Tray updates are still rolling out and are not available to all Insiders just yet. If your PC does not have these changes, your System Tray experience will remain the same as before.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where the top part of File Explorer (with the search and address box) couldn’t be interacted with when File Explorer was in full screen mode (F11).

[Settings]

• For the time being, you will no longer be able to uninstall apps with interdependencies (e.g., Steam and gaming apps running on Steam) or repair Win32 apps under Settings > Apps > Installed apps. You will still be able to modify and uninstall Win32 apps without interdependencies.

Fixes

[General]

• We are beginning to roll out a server-side fix for the issue causing a “date, time and time zone settings are incorrect” message to be improperly displayed, which was also preventing the installation of the latest Insider Preview builds from proceeding.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed the issue where the command bar items like copy, paste, and empty Recycle Bin were unexpectedly not be enabled sometimes when they have been.
• Fixed an issue which was causing unexpected black bars on the sides of horizontal scroll bars when using dark mode.

[Start]

• When you have Start set to show more pinned items, the animation for opening folders lower on the page will now appear from the right place.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed a high hitting Shell Experience Host crash in recent Dev Channel builds, impacting Quick Settings launch reliability.

[Input]

• The gripper for moving the emoji panel and touch keyboard should now update color correctly when you switch between dark and light mode.
• Fixed a memory leak when repeatedly invoking the input switcher.

[Settings]

• Fixed a Settings crash which could happen when changing your mobile hotspot name.
• Updated the examples used in the Short time selection under Time & Language > Language & Region > Regional Format, to make the 12 hour options (vs 24 hour) a little more obvious by showing morning and afternoon times.

[Task Manager]

• Tweaked the graphs in the Performance page to use a bit more transparency so it’s easier to see the grid lines underneath.
• Made another fix to improve Task Manager reliability.
• Fixed a black flash while might be seen when launching Task Manager in light mode.
• Fixed a few issues where the font color of certain elements wasn’t correct / readable when using a contrast theme.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where Narrator would read out the details of the calendar that opens from selecting the date and time from the taskbar when it was collapsed.
• Fixed an issue where explorer.exe was crashing repeatedly in Windows Sandbox for Insiders with the tablet optimized taskbar and updated system tray.
• Fixed an issue which could lead to hangs in certain apps when opening the Open File Dialog.
• Fixed an issue which was making the screen go black for some Insiders when enabling HDR recently.
• Fixed an issue where after using the Open With dialog, the process might stay running even if it wasn’t in use anymore.
• Fixed an issue which was leading to increased CPU usage for WSL2 users on ARM64 PCs even when WSL was idle.
• Fixed an issue where closing the print dialog could lead to an app crash in the last couple flights.

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 looking into reports that audio stopped working for some Insiders after upgrading to the latest flights.
• We’re investigating reports of a few different apps having started crashing in recent builds.
• [NEW] We’re investigating reports that various UI elements in apps appear to be disappearing and reappearing sometimes in recent builds.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

• The taskbar sometimes flashes when transitioning between desktop posture and tablet posture.
• The taskbar takes longer than expected to transition to the touch-optimized version when switching between desktop posture and tablet posture.
• Using the left or right edge gestures can result in the Widgets or Notification Center (respectively) to overlap with or look truncated by the taskbar.
• When using the bottom right edge gesture to see Quick Settings, the taskbar sometimes stays stuck in the expanded state, instead of dismissing to collapsed state.
• When there are no running windows on the desktop, the taskbar can sometimes collapse, when it should be expanded.

[Widgets]

• In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, content animates out of view before the widgets board resizes when clicking to expanded view of the widgets board.
• Notification badge number may appear misaligned on the taskbar.

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.

Try the new Outlook for Windows

Windows Insiders who are also Office Insiders can try out the new Outlook for Windows. Office Insiders running Beta Channel or Current Channel (Preview) will see a “Try the New Outlook” toggle located in the upper-right corner of your classic Outlook for Windows. Just toggle this on and follow the onscreen instructions. In the coming weeks, this experience will also be made available for Windows Insiders in a similar toggle within the Windows Mail app.

ALT-TEXT: Turn on this toggle to try the new Outlook for Windows.

Since kicking off the early preview back in May, the Outlook team has been hard at work address feedback. The new Outlook for Windows includes a lot of new updates to try – including support for Microsoft accounts.

Read this blog post from Margie Clinton, Group Product Manager on the Outlook team, for all the details on getting started with the new Outlook for Windows and the latest changes with the app!

Snipping Tool automatically saves your screenshots

We are rolling out an update for Snipping Tool (version 11.2209.2.0) to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. With this update, Snipping Tool supports automatically saving your screenshots so you can recall them later. Look for your screenshot history in the Screenshots folder inside Pictures. This feature is on by default, but you can also change this behavior in app settings.

About the Dev Channel

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.

These aren’t always stable builds, and sometimes you will see issues that block key activities or require workarounds. It is important to make sure you read the known issues listed in our blog posts as we document many of these issues with each flight.

Build numbers are higher in the Dev Channel than the Windows 11 preview builds in the Beta and Release Preview Channels. You will not be able to switch from the Dev Channel to the Beta or Release Preview Channels without doing a clean install back to the released version of Windows 11 currently.

ALSO: Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.

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

Important Insider Links

• Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey.
• 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