Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23545 (Dev Channel)

[Brandon LeBlanc]

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23545 to the Dev Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here.

Changes and Improvements​

[Search on the Taskbar]​

• Instead of providing a hover experience that opens the search box on the taskbar, we are trying out some different experiences for when you click on the search highlight gleam in the search box instead. In some cases, clicking on the gleam will take you to a Bing.com page for the search highlight. A tooltip will always be shown for the search highlight gleam when hovering over the search box. As a reminder, we regularly try out different concepts and get feedback with Insiders in the Dev Channel.

[Windows Share]​

• We’re beginning to roll out the ability to quickly give your device a more friendly name to identify sharing to and from with nearby share under Settings > System > Nearby sharing.
• We’re also rolling out the ability to see Microsoft Teams (work or school) contacts and to send files to them directly within the built-in Windows share window if you’re signed in with an Entra ID (AAD) account.

Fixes​

[File Explorer]​

• Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when closing File Explorer.
• Fixed an issue where when switching between dark and light mode (or a contrast theme) File Explorer’s address bar, command bar, and context menu could get stuck in the wrong colors, making it difficult to see.
• Fixed an issue where if you launched File Explorer in dark theme you could see a bright white flash as content loaded.
• Fixed an issue where rapidly opening two File Explorer windows might make explorer.exe crash.
• Made a few more fixes to help improve File Explorer launch performance, including fixing a leak which would impact performance over time.
• Fixed an issue which could make explorer.exe crash when navigating away from Home.
• Fixed an issue where trying to open Gallery after new images had been added might result in a crash.
• Fixed an issue where the progress wheel in the tab would get stuck showing that File Explorer was loading a folder when the loading had actually already finished.
• Fixed an issue where File Explorer sorting changes wouldn’t persist in folders after you navigated away and back.
• Fixed an issue which could cause the icons in File Explorer tabs to be incorrect.
• Fixed an issue which was causing icons on the desktop to turn into white generic icons until you refreshed the desktop.

[Taskbar]​

• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash in the latest builds impacting taskbar reliability.

[Search on the Taskbar]​

• Fixed an issue that was causing search to not launch sometimes in the latest Dev Channel builds.

[Input]​

• We fixed the issue causing Unicode Emoji 15support which began rolling out with Build 23475 and the updated color font format with COLRv1 support that began rolling out with Build 23506 to no longer appear. These experiences should again be working with this build.
• Did some work to help address an issue that could cause the Japanese and Chinese IME candidate windows to not appear after using connected standby, due to a crash.
• Fixed a high hitting tabtip.exe crash that may have impacted the ability to type in the last couple flights.

[Settings]​

• Fixed an issue where Settings wasn't launching in safe mode for some Insiders.

[Other]​

• Fixed an issue where trying to take window mode screenshots was taking screenshots of the entire screen instead of the app in focus for some Insiders.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues​

[Start menu]​

• Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]​

• We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you'll need to use "Show grid" commands to click in the "Ask me anything" box for the first time.

For developers​

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

• .NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
• C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
• BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines. SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel. Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel​

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds. The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features. In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links​

• You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
• Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.

Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

Continue reading...