It’s Wednesday, and Microsoft has released another Windows 11 Insider build, this time 25931 to the Canary Channel. First up, there have been some additions from the Dev Channel:
New features from the Dev Channel
This build includes new features from the Dev Channel such as Unicode Emoji 15 support, voice access is available to use on more areas in Windows such as the Lock screen, and more.
Next up, Microsoft is working through how to deal with their deprecations of Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) and Remote Mailslots. These legacy technologies “are no longer secure in today’s environments.” However, in some corporate environments, these two technologies may still be important, and so Microsoft is trying to ease the transition with some improvements to the DC Locator algorithm in Windows, beginning with 25931:
First, we are blocking by default the use of NetBIOS\WINS\mailslot-based methods for DC-discovery. This behavior can be reverted with the use of a new Group Policy setting (BlockNetBIOSDiscovery). In addition to disabling the new BlockNetBIOSDiscovery policy, reversion to default behavior also requires enabling the EnableMailslots SMB configuration option. (You can query and set the EnableMailslots setting using the Get-SmbClientConfiguration and Set-SmbClientConfiguration PowerShell cmdlets.)
PLEASE NOTE: Reversion should be considered only as a temporary measure while more viable, longer-term solutions are explored.
In addition, client-side logic is being added to “aid in the mapping of short NetBIOS-style domain names to DNS domain names.” These improvements come in two parts, as follows:
- DC locator will now automatically download additional information about the child domains in trusting forests and use that information as part of the discovery algorithm.
- As a last-resort fallback, and to accommodate unforeseen situations, forest administrators can manually configure a set of DNS-to-NetBIOS-domain-name mappings (using the Active Directory Domains and Trusts management snap-in) which are also downloaded and used by DC Locator during discovery.
That’s it for new stuff, but some changes and improvements, as is normal, have been made too. The expiration date for Canary Channel builds has been updated to September 15, 2024, changes have been made to the File Explorer details plane, dynamic lighting, and Windows Spotlight, as well as one more notable change:
In addition to the Camera app and Cortana, the Photos app, People app, and Remote Desktop (MSTSC) client can be uninstalled.
And one final detail, a “major issue” as been fixed and you can now again connect over SMB to a third party storage device using guest credentials.
As always, be sure to check out the Windows Insider blog post for all the details.