Announcement of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23403 (Dev channel)

Good evening friends! Microsoft has released a new preview build of Windows 11 23403   to Windows Insider program members using the Dev channel.

As a reminder, insiders who were previously on the Dev channel are automatically transferred to the new Canary channel. If you force the Dev channel in your Windows Insider settings while you’re on build 25309, you won’t get build 23403. This is because this build number is lower than the one you’re running. If you don’t want to stay on the Canary channel, then you need to completely reinstall Windows 11.

Full build number: 10.0.23403.1001.ni_prerelease.230225-1635 .

Innovations

Live Captioning is available in more languages

The Live Captioning feature helps all people, including those who are deaf and hard of hearing, read subtitles in their own language. Windows 11 2022 Update only supported English (US) subtitles. Starting with this build, the feature will also support Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, and other dialects of English. The list of languages ​​will be expanded in the future.

Live captioning can be enabled using the keyboard shortcut WIN + Ctrl + L or from the Quick Actions pop-up menu on the taskbar. At the first start, the function will prompt you to download the necessary components for speech recognition on the device. If speech recognition support is not available in your Windows language of choice, or if you need another language, you can download the speech recognition components for Live captions in Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region .

Keyboard shortcut hints in File Explorer

Added keyboard shortcut hints to the XAML-based context menu in File Explorer. The displayed letter or symbol is part of the keyboard shortcut and corresponds to the name of the action in the context menu. To try out the change, select any file and press the context menu key on your keyboard.

This change is not yet available to all Insiders in the Dev channel. Microsoft wants to collect feedback from a small group of users before the change is made available to all Insiders.

Recommended files in File Explorer

File Explorer’s home page now displays recommended files to make it easier for you to find the most up-to-date content. This feature will only be available to users signed in to Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account. The recommended list will include cloud files associated with the account, as well as files owned by the user or shared by colleagues.

This change is not yet available to all Insiders in the Dev channel. Microsoft wants to collect feedback from a small group of users before the change is made available to all Insiders.

Improved voice control

The help page for commands in the voice control settings application has been completely updated to be more convenient and understandable. The search field allows users to quickly find the commands they need, and additional recommendations have been added for each category. Also, descriptions and examples of use are offered for each of the commands.

Please note that the page may not contain all available commands, and additional information may not be accurate. This will be improved in future builds. If you want a comprehensive list of voice access commands and more information about them, check out the information on the Microsoft website .

Voice control in English dialects. The feature now supports other dialects of English, including British, Indian, New Zealand, Canadian, and Australian. The first time you turn on voice control, you’ll be prompted to download a speech model to enable voice recognition on your device. If Voice Control does not find a speech model that matches your language, you can still continue to use US English Voice Access.

New commands have been added to make text selection and editing easier:

Updated touch keyboard settings

Microsoft has made some fixes and is back testing a new touch keyboard setting that replaces the “Show touch keyboard when no keyboard is connected” checkbox in Settings -> Time and Language -> Input -> Touch Keyboard . The new drop-down menu includes three options to define when you want the touch keyboard to launch when you click on an editable field:

• “Never” – disables the touch keyboard, even if a hardware keyboard is not connected to the device.
• If no keyboard is connected – The touch keyboard will only appear if the device is used as a tablet without a hardware keyboard.
• Always – The touch keyboard will always appear, even if a hardware keyboard is connected to the device.

Narrator now supports Outlook

From now on, Narrator will receive updates to support Outlook. Detailed information about this can be found on the official Microsoft website . These changes allow Microsoft to update the Outlook experience through the Microsoft Store. After the process is complete, you will receive a notification that the update is being installed. Narrator’s Outlook support is currently limited to US English. More languages ​​will be supported in future builds.

Kiosk mode with multiple apps

Multi-app kiosk mode is a feature that allows IT administrators to define which apps are allowed to run and block all other features. Thus, it is possible to create several different applications and access configurations for different types of users on the same device.

Some of the available settings:

• Restrict access to “Settings”, except for selected pages (for example, Wi-Fi and screen brightness).
• Restrict the start menu to only show allowed apps.
• Block pop-up notifications and windows that cause unwanted user interface.

The multi-app kiosk mode is ideal for scenarios where multiple people need to use the same device. This may include HR and retail scenarios, training and testing.

Currently, multi-app kiosk mode can be enabled using PowerShell and WMI Bridge, with support for Intune/MDM and provisioning package configuration coming soon.

To configure using WMI, follow the instructions on the Microsoft site . Using the Windows 10 sample XML will enable the feature, but will result in a blank start menu. To populate the Start Menu with your apps, follow these instructions to create a list of pinned apps, and then add it to the XML file after closing the StartLayout section, as shown below:

<win11:StartPins><![CDATA[ <em>Your JSON here </em>]]></win11:StartPins>

Don’t forget to update the namespace by replacing the AssignedAccessConfiguration tag with the following:

<AssignedAccessConfiguration xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/AssignedAccess/2017/config” xmlns:win11=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/AssignedAccess/2022/config”>

Changes and improvements

• General:
  • Users will now see a button to quickly copy two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in pop-up notifications from apps installed on a PC or smartphone connected to the PC via the Link to Phone app. If the system was unable to detect the code in the toast notification, then submit the appropriate feedback to the Feedback Hub. The feature is currently not available to all Insiders in the Dev channel.
    
• Taskbar and system tray:
  • Added the ability to monitor the VPN status in the system tray when connecting to a recognized VPN profile. A small shield will be superimposed over the network connection icon. The shield currently does not use the system accent color, but this will change in the next build.
    
• Search on the taskbar:
  • The search field on the taskbar will become lighter if Windows has a custom color scheme. For example, when dark theme is selected for Windows 11 and light theme for apps (under Settings -> Personalization -> Colors), the taskbar search box will be light.
    
• Input:
  • Updated the Simplified Chinese handwriting recognition engine to be faster and more accurate. Also added support for characters defined in GB18030-2022. Currently, you can write GB18030-2022 level 2 characters and some GB18030-2022 level 1 characters in the handwriting panel or directly in the text box if supported.
    
• Options:
  • If you right-click on a Win32 application in the Start menu or in Search and select Uninstall, you will be taken to the Settings application, from where you can initiate the uninstallation of the program.

Fixes

• Search on the taskbar:
  • Fixed rendering issues that occurred when using the touch keyboard in the search box on the taskbar.
  • We fixed an issue where double-clicking on a selection glyph would cause it to disappear.
  • We fixed an issue that could cause the search box to disappear unexpectedly.
  • We fixed an issue that caused the search icon to flip incorrectly in right-to-left languages.
  • We fixed an issue where text in the search field could flicker when clicked.
  • We fixed an issue where the search field could disappear from one of the monitors if you are using a multi-monitor configuration.
  • We’ve made some changes to accessibility settings for the search feature in Settings -> Personalization -> Taskbar.
• Conductor:
  • We fixed an issue that is believed to be the cause of the File Explorer window sometimes unexpectedly appearing in the foreground.

Note. Some of the fixes listed above may be included in cumulative updates for release versions of Windows 11.

Known Issues

• Conductor:
  • Keyboard shortcut hints may not appear if no keys are pressed. Pressing the key will make them appear.
  • Problems with commands for recommended files:
    • When you click on the “Share” button, a system window will open, not a window from OneDrive.
    • When you click on the “File Location” button, an error window will appear, which can be easily closed.
    • Clicking on the “Remove from list” button will not lead to any action.
• Live captions:
  • On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support set on the Language and Region page will require restarting live captioning after changing the language in the subtitle menu.
  • “Live subtitles” for Traditional Chinese do not work on ARM64 devices.
  • Some languages ​​displayed on the Language and Region page support speech recognition (such as Korean), but do not yet support live captioning.
  • When adding a language using the Language and Region page, the installation progress of language features may be hidden, and you will not see when the installation of Enhanced Speech Recognition (required for Live Captions) is completed. You can use “Language Options” to track progress. If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the Live Captions setup system detects the new language and allows you to continue.
  • Subtitle display speed may be slower when using languages ​​other than English. There is also no detection of languages ​​other than English (United States), which means that incorrect subtitles may be displayed for speech other than the subtitle language.
• Voice control:
  • Please note that the updated help page in the voice control application may not contain all commands, and additional information may not be accurate. It will be updated in future builds. If you want a comprehensive list of voice access commands and more information about them, check out the information on the Microsoft website .

We wish you a successful update!