Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25947 (Canary Channel)

[Brandon LeBlanc]

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25947 to the Canary Channel. REMINDER: As builds released to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” we will offer limited documentation for builds flighted to the Canary Channel including documenting only the most significant and highly impactful known issues. Please note that we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build.

Fixes for known issues​

• Fixed a high hitting ctfmon.exe crash in recent flights, which may have impacted the ability to type for some Insiders.
• Fixed a few issues impacting explorer.exe reliability, including fixing an issue which could cause File Explorer to crash when navigating to Gallery.
• Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to not work in safe mode.
• Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.
• Fixed the issue causing some Insiders to see an unexpected pop up asking you to “Select an app to open this ‘ms-screenclip’ link” after the latest Snipping Tool app update.

Known issues​

• Some popular games may not work correctly on the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on these builds.

Microsoft Store Update​

Windows Insiders in all channels running version 22308.1401.x.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out: New Game Pass page: Explore and subscribe to PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate through our new dedicated page. With the new experience, you can learn about Game Pass benefits, such as exclusive games, deals, free perks, EA Play, and more. It's also easier to discover, jump in, and play your next favorite game, including Day One games, new games on Game Pass, Bethesda games, and more. [caption id="attachment_176529" align="alignnone" width="481"] New Game Pass page in the Microsoft Store.[/caption] FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

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 Canary Channel​

The Canary Channel is the place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers. Some examples of this include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc. Builds that we release to the Canary Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and some of the changes we try out in the Canary Channel will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. The builds that will be flighted to the Canary Channel are “hot off the presses,” flighting very soon after they are built, which means very little validation and documentation will be done before they are offered to Insiders. These builds could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows. We will offer limited documentation for the Canary Channel, but we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build. Our Canary Channel won’t receive daily builds; however, we may ramp up releasing builds more frequently in the future. 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

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