Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25290 Announcement (Dev Channel)

Good evening friends! Microsoft has released a new preview build of Windows 11 25290 for Windows Insider program members using the Dev channel.

Complete build number: 10.0.25290.1000.rs_prerelease.230128-1120.

Innovations

New Widgets: Spotify and Phone Link

Last week, Microsoft announced the release of a preview version of the widget for the app. Messenger by Meta*. Now new widgets are available for applications Spotify and “Communication with phone“. To try them out, update the respective apps to the latest version, open the widget panel, click on the “+” button in the upper right corner and add new widgets. The widget collection can also be found in the Microsoft Store at this link:

ms-windows-store://collection/?collectionid=MerchandiserContent/Apps/WidgetCollection/Widgetsforeverything

Recall that developers got the opportunity to create their own widgets with the release of Windows App SDK 1.2. This means that there will be more apps with native widgets in the store for the foreseeable future. If you are interested in developing a widget, then check out this tutorial video:

*Meta is recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia.

Changes and improvements

• Start menu:
  • In October, in build 25227, Microsoft began testing a small change to the Start menu that added a new icon next to the profile picture that signals the need to take certain actions. This study was completed in November. Now, Microsoft is offering Insiders two new options to display icons and take action notifications.

Corrections

• Are common:
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some ARM64 devices being unable to resume from sleep or hibernation after installing build 25281, resulting in a system hang at the Windows logo.
  • We fixed an issue that could cause some Insiders to experience issues accessing websites and other resources through VPN connections. If you have used a workaround, described on the forum at this linkthen revert your changes after updating to this build.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing browser and some other app freezes in previous Dev Channel builds.
• Taskbar and system tray:
  • Fixed a crash in explorer.exe that prevented some Insiders from loading the taskbar.
• Search on the taskbar (if new field display options are available):
  • We fixed an issue where the search field would sometimes unexpectedly disappear when you clicked on it, leaving a blank space on the taskbar.
  • We fixed an issue that caused the search field to move slightly to the side when clicking on it.
• Task Manager:
  • We fixed an issue where the content area on the Processes page could flash once when changing the theme in the Task Manager settings.
  • We fixed an issue that caused some dialog boxes to use the wrong theme if it was changed from the Task Manager settings page.
  • We fixed an issue where the properties in the Memory section of the Performance page were cut off even though there was enough space to display them.
  • Reduced the transparency of the colored graphs on the Performance page and adjusted their borders to make them more visible.
  • Fixed several issues that caused Task Manager to crash.
  • You can now enter the letter F again in the search field.
  • Now you don’t need to make the Task Manager window too wide for the navigation bar to appear.
  • If text is scaled up, the search box will no longer overlap text in the title bar.
  • Made some fixes to fix issues where text in dialog boxes was cut off when text was zoomed in.
  • We fixed an issue where some portions of the title bar could not be used to drag a window.
• Windows Spotlight (if versions introduced in build 25281 are available):
  • We fixed an issue resulting in daily desktop wallpaper updates not happening in some cases.
• Options:
  • We fixed an issue resulting in broken glyphs in the Sans Serif font collection preview under Personalization -> Fonts.
• Other:
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Narrator not reading drop-down lists in Excel.
  • We fixed a major issue where screenshots taken with the Snipping Tool could be stretched or distorted in the last few flights if you’re using a multi-monitor configuration.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in a GSOD with a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION error.
  • We fixed an issue that could cause the Open With dialog to crash.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the “Open File” dialog getting stuck when using an IME if you started using it after clicking the “Select an application on your PC” link in the “Open With” dialog.
  • We fixed an issue where the Group Policy Editor could unexpectedly display the message “There was an error in the script on this page” referring to an invalid character when editing a policy.
  • If you have configured OpenSSH Server to start when the operating system boots (instead of manually starting), then this setting will be saved when updating the OS. Note that the change will take effect when you upgrade to the next build.

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

Known Issues

• Are common:
  • [New] The Update History page under Settings -> Windows Update will be blank for some users after installing build 25290. This issue will be fixed with the Update Stack Package, which will be available soon in Windows Update.
  • [New] We are investigating reports of some Insiders experiencing persistent GSOD after updating to Build 25284.
  • [New] When launching the Group Policy Editor, you may encounter an error stating that the displayName attribute was not found.
  • Some devices will not work with Windows Hello for face authentication. Users are encouraged to use a PIN to log in.
  • Some users are taking longer than expected to install the latest Insider builds. The engineers are investigating the problem.
• Widgets:
• Task bar:
  • [New] For some Insiders, application icons on the taskbar may appear on the wrong monitor when using a multi-monitor configuration.
  • Sometimes the taskbar is cut in half when using the tablet-optimized version. This issue can also be seen on secondary monitors.
• Search on the taskbar (if new field display options are available):
  • There is an issue where it sometimes fails to display the search icon instead of the search field on the taskbar. As a workaround, it is proposed to select any other option, and then enable the display of the search icon.
• Windows Spotlight (if versions introduced in build 25281 are available):
  • When you click the mouse on the secondary monitor, full screen mode is disabled.
  • The system uses the wrong resolution Spotlight wallpaper when multiple monitors with different resolutions are installed.

Iwish you a successful update!