Microsoft has just released the Windows 11 Insider build 22526 for testers in the Dev Channel, which is the new preview version of Windows 11 since the beginning of 2022. The main new feature in this build is the new support for Wideband speech for users of Apple Airpods, which should improve audio quality for voice calls.
Select Insiders who install this build will also notice that ALT + TAB keyboard shortcut for switching between application-level windows will now provide a windowed experience instead of a full-screen one. Moreover, the Windows Insider team mentioned some Windows Search improvements resulting from the app indexing more file locations on Insiders’ PCs.
Today’s build also fixes various bugs affecting Windows Search, Spotlight Collection, and the Widgets board. You can find the full list of changes, improvements, and known issues in the build 22526 below:
Changes and Improvements
- We’re experimenting with showing ALT + TAB as windowed instead of full screen for some Insiders.
- We have added support for wideband speech when using Apple AirPods products (AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max), improving audio quality for voice calls.
- Starting with Build 22518, Credential Guard is now enabled by default on Windows 11 Enterprise (E3 and E5) licensed PCs that are enterprise-joined.
- We are experimenting with indexing more file locations so that using search to find important files in Files Explorer is quicker.
Fixes
[File Explorer]
- Did some work to help address an issue where if you’d used search in File Explorer, and then explorer.exe crashed, the next time you tried to search in File Explorer it wouldn’t work.
[Search]
- We’ve made another fix to help address the recent searches flyout getting stuck on the screen (appearing transparent except the border).
- Improved the resolution of app icons displayed in search results when the display scaling was set to greater than 100%.
[Spotlight collection]
- If you’re using spotlight collection, the current image should migrate on upgrade now (if the build you’re upgrading from is Build 22523 or higher).
[Widgets]
- Fixed an issue result in the Widgets board potentially not having the correct resolution when hovering over the entry point on a secondary monitor.
- Addressed an issue where the Widgets board would temporarily be blank, showing only an Add Widgets button (which also opened to a blank dialog).
[Other]
- Fixed a bugcheck with KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED remote desktop users were encountering when attempting to shutdown or restart.
- Microsoft Store should no longer show a message that trying to install the latest Web Media Extension update is returning error code 0x80073CFB.
- Addressed a DWM crash impacting some Insiders on the previous flight.
NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.
Known issues
[General]
- You may be unable to sign-in to certain apps such as Feedback Hub. Restarting your PC should correct the issue.
- We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are seeing driver and firmware update failures in recent builds with the error 0x8007012a.
[Start]
- In some cases, you might be unable to enter text when using Search from Start or the taskbar. If you experience the issue, press WIN + R on the keyboard to launch the Run dialog box, then close it.
[Taskbar]
- The taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.
- The network icon sometimes goes missing in the taskbar when it’s supposed to be there. If you encounter this, please try using Task Manager to restart explorer.exe.
- If you have multiple monitors connected to your PC and right-click on the date and time on the taskbar on your primary monitor, it will crash explorer.exe
[Search]
- After clicking the Search icon on the Taskbar, the Search panel may not open. If this occurs, restart the “Windows Explorer” process, and open the search panel again.
[Settings]
- When viewing the list of available Wi-Fi networks, the signal strength indicators do not reflect the correct signal strength.
- Settings may crash when going to System > Display > HDR.
- There is a blank entry under Bluetooth & Devices.
- We’re working on a fix for an issue impacting some Insiders, resulting in Settings crashing when trying to access the Installed Apps, Startup Apps, and Default Apps pages. If you are one of those impacted and need to uninstall an app, using winget should work.
[Widgets]
- Changing the taskbar alignment can cause the Widgets button to disappear from taskbar.
- When having multiple monitors, Widgets content on taskbar may get out of sync between monitors.
- With the taskbar left-aligned, information such as temperature is not shown. This will be fixed in a future update.
[Voice access]
- Some text authoring commands, e.g., “select that” or “delete that”, may not work as expected across Windows applications.
- Recognition of some punctuation marks and symbols such as @ sign is not accurate.
[Narrator]
- Narrator Settings must be restarted after downloading a voice to see “Jenny” and “Aria” in the voice selection combo box.
- Users may see a longer period of time before speech is stopped when pressing the CTRL key in continuous reading scenarios.
If new builds coming from the Dev channel are not matched to a specific release, it’s important to note that some bug fixes that are currently being tested with Dev Channel Insiders may soon make their way to the regular version of Windows 11 for non-Insiders via servicing updates. According to the Windows Insider team, new features and improvements will now come to Windows users “when they’re ready” via full OS updates or servicing releases. This may be the case for the Windows Subsystem for Android and the Amazon Android App Store, which are currently available for Insiders on the Dev and Beta channel.
