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Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26085 (Canary and Dev Channels)

Written By published March 20, 2024

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26085 to the Canary and Dev Channels.

The Canary and Dev Channels receiving the same builds is only temporary. During the times in which the Canary and Dev Channels are on the same builds (e.g. Build 26085), the window is open for Insiders in the Canary Channel to switch to the Dev Channel. At some point in the future, the Canary Channel will jump to higher build numbers and the window will be closed.

NOTE: Some features may begin rolling out to the Canary Channel first before the Dev Channel even if the two channels have the same build.

Changes and Improvements

[Input]

  • The new pointer indicator accessibility setting for low vision Windows users introduced with Build 26052 has been temporarily disabled with Build 26085. We plan to re-enable this feature in a future flight after fixing some bugs. Thanks to Insiders for all the feedback on this!

[Settings]

  • Windows Insiders who have Bluetooth LE Audio capable assistive hearing devices can now set up and manage their devices via Settings > Accessibility > Hearing aids. This new accessibility settings page allows users to check their PC’s compatibility for Bluetooth LE Audio and pair/manage a set of hearing devices for a more streamlined configuration. Please note that this page is a work-in-progress, and the contents of this page may change over time. (Note this change was first introduced in Build 26080.)

Fixes for known issues

[General]

  • Fixed the underlying issue believed to be the cause of shutdown and hibernation not working in the previous flight.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue where the context menu in File Explorer was missing an acrylic background.
  • Fixed an issue where when opening the context menu in File Explorer, the icons might appear out of place and overlapping text.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing File explorer to leak GDI objects and heap memory for every folder navigation, leading to stability and rendering issues over time.
  • Fixed a memory leak when interacting with archive folders in File Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue causing thumbnails in File Explorer to sometimes unexpectedly be black in the previous flight.

[Sudo]

  • Fixed an issue believed to be the cause of the setting to enable sudo (under System > For Developers) not working for some Insiders.
  • Fixed an issue where if you ran the command “sudo pwsh”, it wasn’t working properly in recent builds.

[Windows Security]

  • Fixed a high hitting Windows Security app crash in the previous flight, which is believed to potentially be the cause of Insiders reporting that the Windows Security app icon in the system tray was sometimes missing in that flight.

[Input]

  • With this build, the recent issues with the mouse cursor disappearing, and other recent issues related to the mouse cursor behaving abnormally should be fixed.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing Settings to freeze sometimes so you couldn’t interact with any of the pages.
  • Fixed an issue where the list of Bluetooth devices under Bluetooth & Devices wasn’t being read out by screen readers in recent builds.

[Windows Update]

  • Fixed the issue causing Insiders in the Dev Channel to see error 0x80070002 when trying to install cumulative updates.
  • Fixed an issue where using “Update and Shutdown” wasn’t shutting down your PC upon completion.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue that was causing some Insiders to see bugchecks with CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION recently.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing Voice Access to crash on launch for some Insiders in recent builds.
  • Fixed an issue where after renaming your printer, it might not work with print support app association.

Known issues

[General]

  • [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR GAMERS] Most popular games should work correctly again in the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary and Dev Channels. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on the latest builds. We will be removing this note with the next Canary and Dev Channel flight.
  • [UPDATED] We’re continuing to investigate reports of rollbacks (with error code 0xC1900101) when installing the latest builds.
  • [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing some Insiders to see File Explorer unexpectedly using the previous design and have no tabs in the latest builds.

[Copilot in Windows*]

  • Voice access does not work reliably with the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application.
  • Using Windows Ink to write in Copilot will not work with the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application window.
  • When Copilot in Windows is docked and resized to a large width, Copilot does not always fill the width of the panel. Resizing Copilot usually fixes this issue.
  • With the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application window, you may not be able to bring focus to the “…” or refresh buttons within Copilot when using a keyboard (ex: by using tab to cycle through buttons).

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:

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.

Reminders for Windows Insiders

  • The Canary and Dev Channels receive builds with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
  • Many features in the Canary and Dev Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in these channels.
  • As the Canary and Dev Channels receive the same builds, some features may begin rolling out to the Canary Channel first before the Dev Channel.
  • While the Canary Channel is now on Windows 11, version 24H2, this is just temporary. At some point in the future, the Canary Channel will jump ahead to receiving new builds not matched to any specific release in a higher build series.
  • To get off the Canary or Dev Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder – Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
  • Copilot in Windows* in preview is being rolled out gradually to Windows Insiders in select global markets. The initial markets for the Copilot in Windows preview include North America, United Kingdom and parts of Asia and South America. It is our intention to add additional markets over time.

Thanks,
Amanda & Brandon

Tags:
Windows Insider Program