Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.746 and 22623.746 (Beta Channel)

Good morning friends! Microsoft has released new preview builds of Windows 11 (version 22H2) numbered 22621.746and 22623.746(KB5018490) for members of the Windows Insider Beta Program.

• Assembly 22623.746 – testing of new functions is available.
• Assembly 22621.746 – new features are disabled by default.

Reminder. Insiders who were previously on Build 22622 will be automatically upgraded to Build 22623 via the Service Pack. This package artificially increments the build number to make it easier for Microsoft engineers to distinguish between enabled and disabled devices by default.

If you are in a group with features disabled by default (build 22621.xxx), then check for updates and agree to install an optional update that will make these features available (build 22623.xxx).

Full build numbers:

• 10.0.22621.746.ni_release_svc_prod2.221004-1223
• 10.0.22623.746.ni_release_svc_prod2.221004-1223

Changes and improvements in build 22623.746

• System tray:
  • This build has an experimental implementation of a feature that allows you to change the order in which icons are displayed in the system tray on the taskbar. For now, the feature will only be available to Insiders who have access to other system tray changes introduced in Build 22623.730. Over time, the function will be improved.
    We remind you that the updated system tray is not yet available to all participants of the Windows Insider program on the Beta channel. If your computer does not have a new system tray, then everything will remain as it was before.

Fixes in build 22623.746

• Taskbar optimized for tablets:
  Note. These fixes will only appear if your device has a tablet-optimized taskbar enabled. This feature is currently not available to all Insiders in the Dev channel.
  • We fixed an issue where the Start menu would not follow your finger when using a swipe from the bottom of the screen to open it.
• System tray updates:
  Note. These fixes will only appear if your device has a tablet-optimized taskbar enabled. This feature is currently not available to all Insiders in the Dev channel.
  • We fixed an issue for users with the “Automatically hide the taskbar” option enabled, where right-clicking application icons in the system tray would cause the taskbar to unexpectedly collapse.

Fixes in both builds

• Enabled Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) ms-appinstaller to work with DesktopAppInstaller.
• We fixed an issue affecting the Windows Search service. This issue caused indexing to be slower than usual.

Known Issues

• General:
  • We are investigating reports of some Insiders having audio playback stop working after updating to the latest builds on the Beta channel.
• Taskbar optimized for tablets:
  • The taskbar may flicker when switching between desktop mode and tablet mode.
  • Switching the taskbar to the touch version is taking longer than expected. This will be noticeable when switching between desktop mode and tablet mode.
  • When opening the Quick Actions menu with a gesture in the lower right corner of the screen, the taskbar may not collapse and remain in an expanded state.
• System tray updates:
  • [Fixed] For some insiders, dragging system tray icons can cause explorer.exe to crash.

I wish you a successful update!