Thanksgiving is over and dusted off for another year, but Microsoft has Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel to thank for it: a new version of Windows 11!
Build 25252 comes with a handful of improvements and fixes, but also highlights some new known issues.
Changes and improvements in this release include:
[Taskbar & System Tray]
- Microsoft has added a visible VPN status in the system tray when connected to a recognized VPN profile. The VPN icon, a small shield, will be overlaid in your system’s accent color over the active network connection.
[Search on the Taskbar]
- In this release, Microsoft continues to try different treatments for the appearance of Taskbar Search. Insiders who get this experience will have the option to change how taskbar search is handled in the settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items.
Fixes in this release include:
[Taskbar & System Tray]
- Fixed explorer.exe crash when using Alt+F4 with Show Hidden Icons flyout menu in open system tray.
- Fixed several explorer.exe crashes affecting system tray performance.
- Updated the battery icon tooltip to let you know if your device is charging slowly.
- A small refinement has been made for users of the tablet-optimized taskbar to make it a bit easier to develop the taskbar without calling the Start menu.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent taskbar jumplists and preview tiles from displaying in the correct position for Insiders with 2-in-1 PCs.
[Start menu]
- Fixed an issue preventing Start menu folders from opening on the first try.
[Other]
- Fixed an issue that caused some Insiders to see a bug with the SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION error after upgrading to the previous flight.
- Fixed an issue that caused some apps (including Media Player) to crash when playing media in the background during recent flights.
- Fixed an issue that could cause your PC to sleep when configured not to sleep.
- Fixed an issue where network to local copying (e.g. when copying a file from a network share) was slower than expected by some users.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in the Insider Preview builds of the Dev Channel may end up in servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.
Known issues in this release include:
[General]
- [NEW] Under certain circumstances, widgets may appear to be missing for a small subset of Windows Insiders, causing explorer.exe to crash in a loop after upgrading to this build.. If it is missing, you can install it here. Microsoft recommends doing this before upgrading. If you are upgrading and are affected, please follow these steps to roll back the version.
- [NEW] There is an issue in Build 25247+ that prevents some Insiders from seeing certain secondary drives — this may also affect other PCI devices. The device displays an error in Device Manager. Microsoft is working on a fix, once you upgrade to a version with the fix it should be functional again.
- Microsoft is investigating reports that audio stopped working for some insiders after upgrading to the latest flights.
- Microsoft is investigating reports of crashes with a few different apps and games in recent builds.
- Microsoft is working on fixing an issue causing various UI elements to disappear and reappear in apps in recent builds.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
- The taskbar is sometimes reduced to half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar.
- [NEW] Microsoft is working on fixing an issue causing the Bluetooth section of Quick Settings to crash from the previous flight. If you’re affected, please use Settings > Bluetooth & Devices for now instead.
[Search on the Taskbar]
- For some files ending in .cmd, .exe, or .bat, you will need to press the backspace key after typing before seeing results.
The following known issues only apply to Windows Insiders who have received one of the various taskbar search display treatments, as mentioned above in this blog post:
- [NEW] When you change your primary monitor, such as plugging in an external display, you’ll see a search box that appears to float on the desktop. You can fix this by going to Personalization > Taskbar > Search and toggling the setting.
- [NEW] When using multiple monitors, the search box is not visible on the non-active monitor when the search drop-down menu is open. This is only present when “Show my taskbar on all screens” is enabled.
- [NEW] When you click the search box on the taskbar, the search box flashes momentarily before the search flyout appears
- [NEW] In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, there are layout issues with the text in the taskbar search box.
- [NEW] Some Japanese IME candidate items are truncated in the taskbar search box.
[Task Manager]
- Filtering by publisher name does not match correctly on Process page.
- Some services may not display on the Services page after applying filtering.
- If a new process starts while a filter is set, that process may appear for a fraction of a second in the filtered list.
- Some dialogs may not display in the correct theme when applied from the Settings page of Task Manager.
- The Processes page data content area may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
- There is an issue Microsoft is investigating where Task Manager does not display light and dark content correctly, resulting in unreadable text. This happens when your mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors is set to Custom. As a workaround, please switch it to Light or Dark.
- The Starter Apps page in Task Manager does not list any apps for some Insiders. If you’re affected, please use Settings > Apps > Startup for now.
[Widgets]
- In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, content animates out of view before the widget table is resized when you click on the expanded view of the widget table.
Image credit: rawf8 / Shutterstock
