Microsoft is overhauling how Windows 11 Taskbar Search works, while users may also soon get a small shield icon on their taskbar system tray to indicate when a PC is connected to a vpn.
In Windows 11 build 25252 which was posted on the Dev Channel, Microsoft is testing different ways to display search in the taskbar. An example is directly inspired by Windows 10 and offers a search box that users can type into, with the results displayed in a separate window. The other is a pill-shaped “search button” that opens a window where text can be entered. There’s also the smaller search icon that opens a new window for searching, and a “hide” option where there’s no box or icon in the taskbar and users would hit the Windows icon to open the start page, which has a search box at the top.
Microsoft is looking for feedback on how it displays search on the taskbar. Testers can do this in the Feedback Hub.
This release includes a new VPN status icon, a small shield icon, which is overlaid on the active network connection icon. It is intended to provide users with a visible VPN status icon, which could be useful in the event that the VPN connection to a work or personal VPN app has been dropped.
Not all features shown in the Dev Channel will make it into the Beta Channel or consumer versions of Windows 11.
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Microsoft has deployed fixes in this release to address various issues. Two new known issues are that widgets may appear missing to some Windows Insiders, causing explorer.exe to crash in a loop after upgrade. Users can install Widgets if missing. Alternatively, users can cancel the build.
Additionally, there is an issue in Build 25247+ that prevents some Insiders from seeing certain secondary drives, possibly including other PCI devices. Microsoft says it’s working on a fix.
Microsoft has also rolled out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1020 and Build 22623.1020 (KB5020035) to the beta channel.
Build 22623.1020 includes rolling out new features, while build 22621.1020 has new features disabled by default.
Fixes are available for both versions. Microsoft has combined Windows Spotlight with themes on the Personalization page. It also provides users with the total amount of storage capacity across all OneDrive subscriptions and now displays total storage on the Accounts page of the Settings app.
These versions also include OneDrive storage alerts when users are close to their storage limit. These alerts appear on the Systems page of the Settings app.
