Microsoft releases big Windows 11 25H2, 24H2 Release Preview with Recovery, Update features

Microsoft has released today new Release Preview channel builds for Windows 11 Insiders. The new builds, 26100.8728 and 26200.8728, are for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 flighters, respectively. Meanwhile 26H1 flighters get 28000.2333. The new builds include new features related to Windows Update, Recovery, and more. The full changelogs, which are quite long today, are given below.

First up we have for Builds 26200.8728 and 26100.8728:

Gradual rollout

This section highlights some new features and enhancements for Windows 11 PCs, including AI-powered capabilities, continuous innovation, and performance improvements.

• [Point-in-time restore for Windows] New! This flexible recovery feature helps you quickly roll back your PC, including apps, settings, and personal files, to a recent automatic restore point. It helps reduce downtime and simplifies troubleshooting when issues occur. To learn more, see Point-in-time restore for Windows.

• [Windows Update] New! A calendar experience in Windows Update settings (Settings > Windows Update) lets you pause updates by choosing an end date, for up to 35 days. You can extend the pause by selecting a different end date and re-pause updates as needed.

• [Widgets] New! A quieter, more focused Widgets experience helps reduce interruptions and improves default settings and notification controls:

  • Reduce distractions: Widgets no longer open on hover. Notifications and taskbar badges are minimized by default, and badges use colors that match your Windows accent.
  • Simpler: Open to the Widgets dashboard by default on first use. New users see a simplified experience on lock screen with Weather as the only default widget.
  • Customize: Configure Widgets the way you want by selecting Settings in the navigation bar, then changing any default settings.
  • Stay informed: Dashboard icons show the number of alerts, and badges clear automatically when you leave a dashboard.
  • Adjusted defaults: Some default settings are preserved based on usage, while others adjust to reduce interruptions.
  • Performance improvements: This update provides improved reliability, responsiveness, and visual quality across the Widgets experience.

• [Accessibility] New! This update makes your screen easier to see and helps you customize your zoom experience:

  • Screen tint: Apply a full-screen color overlay to help reduce eye strain and improve readability. Choose from preset tint options, adjust intensity, or turn it on automatically. Find this feature in Settings > Accessibility.
  • Magnifier: Enter a zoom percentage directly and change it in increments in the Magnifier window for more precise, flexible control.
  • Magnifier settings menu: Modify zoom increments directly from the Magnifier bar instead of navigating to Windows Settings each time.

• [File Explorer]

  • When you hover over a file in File Explorer Home, commands such as Open file location and Ask Copilot appear as quick actions. This experience is now supported for work and school accounts (Entra ID). This feature isn't available in the European Economic Area.
  • The address bar now supports paths containing double backslashes and quotation marks (for example, C:\Users\user or "C:\Users\user"), improving compatibility with a wider range of inputs.
  • The address bar suggestion dropdown is more reliable and now consistently closes after an item is selected.
  • This update addresses an issue on File Explorer Home where OneDrive files could appear duplicated in the Favorites section.
  • This update includes several refinements to the Rename experience:
    • Addresses an issue where text was repeatedly selected when renaming items in folder views.
    • Addresses an issue where case-only name changes were not immediately reflected in folder views for items stored locally or in the cloud.

• [Bluetooth] This update improves reliability and performance when connecting to and using Bluetooth devices:

  • New! Windows now keeps the microphone mute state in sync between the audio mixer and the Hands-Free Profile (HFP) for a more consistent experience with Bluetooth headphones with mute buttons or indicators.
  • Device compatibility: Improves compatibility with certain Bluetooth audio devices, helping AirPods appear faster in pairing mode and improving microphone reliability on Beats Studio Pro headphones.
  • Bluetooth audio stability and quality:
    • Improves Bluetooth audio stability with certain PC manufacturer drivers (error code 0x9F).
    • Improves Bluetooth audio quality and reliability for voice calls when using classic audio devices with the Hands-Free Profile (HFP).
    • Improves reliability of LE Audio streaming after a connection is lost and restored.
    • Reduces time for LE Audio accessories to start playing audio while using the microphone.
  • Device management: Bluetooth device removal is now more reliable when the Bluetooth radio is disabled or changed after pairing, reducing occurrences of the "Remove failed" message.
  • Settings experience: Improves stability when using the Bluetooth & devices settings page for a smoother, more consistent experience.
  • Connection reliability and responsiveness:
    • Reduces the time it takes for classic Bluetooth audio devices to reconnect after Windows resumes from hibernation.
    • Improves reliability when LE Audio accessories disconnect, such as when another device (for example, a phone) connects.

• [Bluetooth and Phone Link] This update improves audio routing for calls made through a connected phone:

  • When an outgoing call is dialed from a paired phone, audio remains on the phone while ringing and transfers to the PC only when the call is answered from the PC.
  • When Do Not Disturb is enabled on Windows, incoming call audio from a paired phone no longer rings on the PC.

• [Voice access and voice typing] New! You can now use voice access and voice typing in French, German, and Spanish. As you speak, your PC improves your text in real time. It corrects grammar, punctuation, and recognition errors, and helps improve clarity, even in the presence of background noise. This makes dictation smoother and reduces the need for manual edits. Available on Copilot+ PCs.

• [Audio] This update improves the reliability of the inbox HD Audio driver.

• [Taskbar] This update improves the reliability of invoking the Start menu when clicking the left edge of the taskbar when icons in the taskbar are left-aligned.

• [Emoji panel] The emoji panel (Windows key + period (.)) now uses GIPHY as the GIF provider, delivering a smoother GIF browsing and sharing experience following the deprecation of Tenor.

• [Networking]

  • This update includes networking improvements for virtualized environments. Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs) now use SR-IOV hardware acceleration by default for improved network throughput, and a configuration issue in nested Hyper-V virtualization network setup has been corrected to ensure reliable VM network provisioning.
  • This update improves the reliability of the Windows networking stack. It reduces bug checks (blue screen errors) related to Wi-Fi power and improves cellular (WWAN) connectivity, including support for IPv6 VPNs. Compatibility with third-party VPN software and SR-IOV configurations on server hardware is also improved. Network adapter settings and bindings are now preserved across OS upgrades.

• [Printing] New! New printer installations use Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) by default when supported, simplifying setup and improving reliability. To control this behavior, use the toggle in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Default install printers using Windows Ready Print.

• [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)] This update improves usage of WSL in mirrored networking mode with VPNs.

• [Display and graphics]

  • Improves reliability of rendering content while scrolling for certain apps spanning across multiple monitors.
  • Improves reliability and persistence of applying color profiles.

• [Location services] This update changes how some location settings are displayed in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location to help with clarity. When location services are turned off, settings like Default location and Allow location override do not immediately apply, since location information is not given to apps or services. These settings are now greyed out when location services are off to reduce confusion over when they take effect.

• [Search] This update improves the reliability of setting Search-related group policies.

• [Input] New! You can now customize the size of the right-click zone in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad. Choose from default, small, medium, or large to control how much of the bottom-right corner responds to a single-finger right-click. This setting is only available on touchpads with a pressable surface. If your device manufacturer provides customization through their app, a Custom option appears to reflect those settings. This update also improves recognition of English characters when using Japanese handwriting.

• [General Reliability] This update makes underlying changes to help improve explorer.exe reliability, including addressing reliability issues on the login and lock screens related to the use of third-party credential providers, reducing the probability of taskbar icons appearing as blank gray placeholders, improving reliability of navigating to File Explorer Home during OneDrive sync, improving explorer.exe reliability when switching between multiple desktops, improving app launch reliability when shell extensions are installed, and addressing reliability issues related to acrylic blur effects in Start menu, Settings, and the lock screen.

Normal rollout

This non-security update includes quality improvements. The following summary outlines key issues addressed by the KB update after you install it. Also, included are available new features. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change.

• [Secure Boot] With this update, Windows quality updates include additional high confidence device targeting data, increasing coverage of devices eligible to automatically receive new Secure Boot certificates. Devices receive the new certificates only after demonstrating sufficient successful update signals, maintaining a controlled and phased rollout.

• [Authentication] This update improves Netlogon secure channel connections between domain controllers, enabling successful connections from member servers to domain controllers set up before 2025.

• [Networking] This update improves how your device connects to shared network resources. Connections used by apps and system features, such as the NetUseAdd function, now work more reliably, including unauthenticated (null session) connections.

• [Start Menu] This update improves the Start menu experience, allowing newly installed or removed apps to appear without requiring sign-out or restart. This mainly affects apps that create a Start menu folder with multiple shortcuts.

• [Taskbar] This update improves notification badge display across your apps. Notification counts and badge visuals now update correctly, helping you stay up to date with new activity.

Up next we have build 28000.2333:

Gradual rollout

Windows 11 PC experiences

This section highlights some new features and enhancements for Windows 11 PCs, including AI-powered capabilities, continuous innovation, and performance improvements.

• [Magnifier in Windows]

  • New! Magnifier now provides clearer and more consistent announcements when working with a screen reader. You'll hear helpful announcements when you zoom in or out, switch views, turn color inversion on or off, or turn Magnifier On or Off. This makes it easy to stay oriented while you work.
  • New! Magnifier now supports magnification of permitted protected content.
  • This update improves smoothness when moving Magnifier in lens mode.

• [Task Manager]

  • New! Task Manager now offers improved visibility into NPU usage on PCs with an NPU. New optional NPU and NPU Engine columns are available on the Processes, Users, and Details pages, along with NPU Dedicated Memory and NPU Shared Memory optional columns on the Details page. Neural engines that are part of a GPU now appear on the Performance page, providing a more complete view of AI-related activity. A new optional Isolation column on the Processes and Details pages shows which apps are running in an AppContainer. You can add any of the new columns by right-clicking a column header in Task Manager and selecting them from the menu.
  • This update improves CPU speed display on the Performance page of Task Manager for VMs, so it doesn't show higher than unexpected numbers after resuming from hibernate.

• [Camera] New! Windows 11's Multi-App Camera feature allows multiple applications to access your camera stream at the same time. Basic Camera mode in Windows 11 enables simplified camera functionality, useful for troubleshooting or improving stability when your camera is not working correctly. Enterprise admin can now set Multi-App Camera mode or Basic Camera mode through Group Policy, under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Camera > Configure Camera Options.

• [Windows Setup] New! You can now choose a custom name for your user folder on the Device Name page during Windows setup. The updated experience makes it easier to select a custom name during setup only. If this step is skipped, Windows uses the default folder name and continues setup as usual. User folder names must follow standard Windows naming requirements.

• [General Performance] This update accelerates app launch and core shell experiences such as Start menu, Search, and Action Center.

• [Personalization] This update improves:

  • Color selection accuracy when adjusting your accent color to match your wallpaper when the automatic accent color selection is enabled in Personalization settings.
  • Wallpaper persistence reliability across restarts and upgrades, including better support for large-resolution wallpapers and other scenarios to prevent solid color wallpaper fallback.

• [Windows Hello] This update improves:

  • This update optimizes the Windows Biometric service (WinBio) to help improve performance when your device resumes from Modern Standby.
  • This update reduces unexpected authentication blocks in Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security by resolving missing secure enrollment metadata.
  • This update improves sign-in behavior on the lock screen and sign-in screen. When Windows Hello face or fingerprint is set up and available, it is now the default sign-in method every time you sign in, even if you used a different method previously. If you need to use your Windows PIN instead and use it three times in a row, Windows will stay with PIN until you switch to another sign-in method.

• [Windows Search Box] Windows Search will now find and prioritize files with as few as two characters.

• [Storage]

  • The dialog box for creating a Dev Drive now supports specifying the size in gigabytes (GB) instead of only megabytes (MB). This option is also available when resizing volumes in Settings > System > Storage.
  • In Settings > System > Storage, you now see a User Account Control (UAC) prompt only when you choose to view temporary files, instead of immediately when opening the page.

• [USB]

  • This update improves reliability for displays attached to USB4 docks and hubs. These displays now light up more consistently, particularly when coming out of standby.
  • The USB3 stack is updated to have additional resiliency and recovery measures in place against certain unexpected hardware faults and conditions. Users will experience higher reliability with USB devices.

• [Sensors] This update improves resiliency against apps that could keep the sensor hub powered on and drain power, impacting battery life.

• [Human Interface Device (HID)] This update improves battery life related to the HID and Input stack for failed HID devices. Power hygiene is also improved against applications that might initiate HID transfers during standby.

• [Input] The update improves:

  • Reliability of the touch keyboard on the sign-in screen, including when entering or changing a password.
  • Reliability of explorer.exe when closing the input switcher.
  • Performance when opening or navigating to clipboard history.

• [Fonts] The Times New Roman font family is updated to improve the rendering of combining diacritical marks across Greek and Cyrillic scripts. This update provides more accurate and visually consistent text by addressing mark positioning issues. These changes improve readability, reduce rendering inconsistencies, and better support global language users working with Greek and Cyrillic content.

• [Task Scheduler] Task Scheduler now saves column width adjustments in task list view across sessions.

• [Desktop icons] This update improves reliability of loading desktop app shortcuts.

• [Microsoft Store]

  • This update includes underlying changes that improve download performance and bandwidth usage.
  • This update improves error reporting when downloads fail due to Windows Update group policy settings being enabled.

• [Reliability] This update improves Windows reliability on the sign-in and lock screens, in File Explorer, when using touch gestures on touchscreen devices, and when changing themes in Settings.

Normal rollout

This non-security update includes quality improvements. The following summary outlines key issues addressed by the KB update after you install it. Also, included are available new features. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change.

• [Authentication] This update improves Netlogon secure channel connections between domain controllers, enabling successful connections from member servers to domain controllers set up before 2025.

• [BitLocker] This update improves BitLocker testing reliability by ensuring the required files are available for the BitLocker Drive Encryption USB BIOS Logo Test.

You can find the blog post for builds 26100.8728/26200.8728 here and build 28000.2333 here.