Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25309 Announcement (Dev Channel)

Good evening friends! Microsoft has released a new preview build of Windows 11 25309   to Windows Insider program members using the Dev channel.

Full build number: 10.0.25309.1000.rs_prerelease.230224-1334 .

Innovations

New Volume Mixer in Quick Actions

Microsoft has introduced an improved volume mixer in the Quick Actions menu that allows you to quickly adjust the volume for each application. Also added a new keyboard shortcut WIN + CTRL + V to quickly open the volume mixer.

In addition, it is easier to enable Windows Sonic using the list of installed spatial audio technologies from the Quick Actions menu. You can visit the Microsoft Store to find more spatial audio technologies, including Dolby and DTS.

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 becomes available to all Insiders.

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.

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 becomes available to all Insiders.

Auto Color Management (ACM)

In October, Microsoft introduced Auto Color Management (ACM) technology for hardware-accelerated system-level color management. At that time, it was only available on certain eligible SDR displays. Insiders in the Dev channel can now enable ACM for any supported SDR display so that all colors in all Windows applications are rendered accurately and consistently.

To enable the feature, go to Options -> Display -> Advanced Display Options , select the desired display, and activate Auto Color Management for Apps .

Note. ACM requires:

• WDDM driver version 3.0 or higher.
• Supported GPU:
  • AMD:
    • AMD RX 400 Series or later
    • AMD Ryzen Processors with Radeon Graphics
  • Intel:
    • Integrated: Intel 12th generation (Alder Lake) or higher
    • Discrete: Intel DG1 or later
  • NVIDIA:
    • NVIDIA GTX 10xx or higher (Pascal+)
• There are no strict requirements for displays and connections. The technology can enhance the image even on 8-bit sRGB panels. However, it is recommended to use ACM on displays with a color gamut greater than sRGB and optionally 10 bits per color channel (or more).

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 becomes 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 English dialects, 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:

Changes and improvements

• Are common:
  • With build 25290 , Microsoft began testing new options for displaying notifications to take action in the Start menu. Starting today, this area will display different text options for the same action. The company offers to choose the best option.
    
  • For a small number of Insiders, a more personalized Initial System Setup Retry (SCOOBE) mode is available.
    
• 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.
    
• Conductor:
  • On the toolbar in File Explorer, some Insiders will notice a button with a pizza icon. It means that the system uses a version of Explorer based on the Windows App SDK. At the same time, the capabilities of Explorer have not changed, so for now we are only talking about switching from WinUI 2 to WinUI 3.
    
• Anchor layouts:
  • Microsoft has resumed testing new options for displaying the anchor layout menu with Insiders in the Dev channel. In particular, the possibility of improving the accessibility and use of anchor layouts is being investigated, for example, by reducing the time required to invoke a pop-up menu when hovering the mouse cursor over the Maximize or Restore button in the application’s title bar. In addition, some menu options will display the icon of the window you are working in, as well as a title with a description of the function.
    
• Windows Spotlight:
  • Microsoft has disabled various Windows Spotlight appearance options that were introduced in build 25281 as Insiders complain about issues while using the Spotlight UI. In the future, the company intends to return the feature when the necessary changes are made based on insider feedback. Due to the feature being disabled, users will need to re-enable Windows Spotlight in Settings -> Personalization.
• 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.
    
• Widgets:
  • Microsoft has begun introducing theme-specific icons for the widget block on the taskbar. The new icons have a higher contrast ratio, which will make the information on the taskbar clearer and more understandable, including for visually impaired users.
    
• Options:
  • Updated Settings -> Power & Battery page. Now you can find options there to configure the actions that will be applied when interacting with the computer’s physical power controls.

Fixes

• Are common:
  • We fixed an issue resulting in USB devices (including keyboard and mouse) not working for some Insiders after updating to Build 25295+.
  • We fixed an issue reported by some Insiders where deleting a previous build could cause the Start menu and taskbar to crash in a loop.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in facial recognition using Windows Hello not working on devices with ARM64 processors.
  • We fixed an issue where the Windows Insider page reported that a new build was available on Update even if the device had the latest Dev channel build available.
• Taskbar and system tray:
  • Fixed several issues with explorer.exe that affected the stability of the taskbar and system tray.
  • We fixed an issue that could cause the taskbar to duplicate when the screen resolution was changed.
  • We fixed an issue that could cause some Insiders to display application icons in the taskbar on the wrong monitor when using a multi-monitor configuration.
• Widgets:
  • We fixed an issue where 3rd party widgets would not load correctly in some cases.
• 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 caused the location and size of desktop icons to reset to their defaults in a previous build.
  • We fixed an issue that is attributed to the fact that the File Explorer window sometimes unexpectedly appears in the foreground.
  • Now the context menu option “Open in new tab” and clicking the middle mouse button on folders will open the tab in the background without switching focus.
  • We fixed an issue where the Close button could remain highlighted when you moved your mouse over it.
• Input:
  • We fixed an issue where, when using the French Canadian touch keyboard layout, the letters displayed when typing did not always match those displayed on the keys.
  • When using the Korean IME, pressing CTRL+F10 should no longer open the IME context menu.
• Options:
  • We fixed an issue that is believed to be the root cause of some Insiders having their app startup settings reset in the previous flight.
  • Navigating to Privacy & Security -> Phone Calls no longer causes the Settings app to crash.
• Window:
  • Fixed DWM.exe crashing frequently seen in previous builds.
• Other:
  • Fixed several issues that prevented some of the new live subtitle language models from loading correctly.
  • We fixed an issue preventing Insiders with ARM64 devices from activating Microsoft 365 due to an alleged network connectivity issue.
  • Improved search indexing.
  • We fixed an issue that could cause UWP apps to display in English after an update, even though it was not the Windows interface language.
  • We fixed an issue where .appinstaller packages would not install due to an “Invalid Parameter” error.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some cameras not working in the previous build.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge crashing for some Insiders in previous builds.

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

Known Issues

• Are common:
  • We are investigating an issue that is taking longer than expected for some users to upgrade to new Insider Builds. If you encounter this issue, please submit a new feedback to the Feedback Hub.
  • Some AAD users (Azure Active Directory joined) will now see a “Getting Started” screen when they sign in to Windows after updating to the latest Insider Builds. Microsoft is investigating the issue.
  • When launching the Group Policy Editor, you may encounter an error stating that the displayName attribute was not found.
• Scissors:
  • Engineers are working on a fix for an issue where the Create button in the Snipping Tool is not working for some Insiders after updating to Build 25295. If you’re experiencing this issue, go to Options -> Applications -> ” Default Applications” and set “Scissors” as the default for ms-screenclip links.
• Live captions:
  • On Arm64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support set on the Language and Region page will require restarting live subtitles after changing the language in the subtitle menu.
  • 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 the language features may be hidden and you will not see the completion of the installation of Enhanced Speech Recognition (required for Live Captions). 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.
  • The Language and Region page may not offer the required speech recognition package for up to an hour after the first login.
  • 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 .

I wish you a successful update!