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GenAI — friend or foe?

Generative AI (genAI) could help people live longer and healthier lives, transform education, solve climate change, help protect endangered animals, speed up disaster response, and make work more creative, all while making daily life safer and more humane for billions worldwide. Or the technology could lead to massive job losses, boost cybercrime, empower rogue states, arm terrorists, enable scams, spread deepfakes and election manipulation, end democracy, and possibly lead to human extinction. Well, humanity? What’s it going to be? California’s dreamin’ Last year, the California State Legislature passed a bill that would have required companies based in the state to perform expensive safety tests for large genAI models and also build in “kill switches” that could stop the technology from going rogue. If this kind of thing doesn’t sound like a job for state government, consider that California’s genAI companies include OpenAI, Google, Meta, Apple, Nvidia, Salesforce, Oracle, Anthropic, Anduril, Tesla, and Intel. The biggest genAI company outside California is Amazon; it’s based in Washington state, but has its AI division in California. Anyway, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill. Instead, he asked AI experts, including Fei-Fei Li of Stanford, to recommend a policy less onerous to the industry. The resulting Joint California Policy Working Group on AI Frontier Models released a 52-page report this past week. The report focused on transparency, rather than testing mandates, as the solution to preventing genAI harms. The recommendation also included third-party risk assessments, whistleblower protections, and flexible rules based on real-world risk, much of which was also in the original bill. It’s unclear whether the legislature will incorporate the recommendations into a new bill. In general, the legislators have reacted favorably to the report, but AI companies have expressed concern about the transparency part, fearing they’ll have to reveal their secrets to competitors. Two kinds of risk There are three fundamental ways that emerging AI systems could create problems and even catastrophes to people: 1. Misalignment. Some experts fear that misaligned AI, acting creatively and automatically, will operate in its own self-interest and against the interests of people. Research and media reports show that advanced AI systems can lie, cheat, and engage in deceptive behavior. GenAI models have been caught faking compliance, hiding their true intentions, and even strategically misleading their human overseers when it serves their goals; that was seen in experiments with models like Anthropic’s Claude and Meta’s CICERO, which lied and betrayed allies in the game Diplomacy despite being trained for honesty. 2. Misuse. Malicious people, organizations, and governments could use genAI tools to launch highly effective cyberattacks, create convincing deepfakes, manipulate public opinion, automate large-scale surveillance, and control autonomous weapons or vehicles for destructive purposes. These capabilities could enable mass disruption, undermine trust, destabilize societies, and threaten lives on an unprecedented scale. 3. The collective acting on bad incentives. AI risk isn’t a simple story of rogue algorithms or evil hackers. Harms could result from collective self-interest combined with incompetence or regulatory failure. For example, when genAI-driven machines replace human workers, it’s not just the tech companies chasing efficiency. It’s also the policymakers who didn’t adopt labor laws, the business leaders who made the call, and consumers demanding ever-cheaper products. What’s interesting about this list of ways AI could cause harm is that all are nearly certain to happen. We know that because it’s already happening at scale, and the only certain change coming in the future is the rapidly growing power of AI. So, how shall we proceed? We can all agree that genAI is a powerful tool that is becoming more capable all the time. We want to maximize its benefit to people and minimize its threat. So, here’s what I believe is the question of the decade: What do we do to promote this outcome? By “we,” I mean the technology professionals, buyers, leaders, and thought leaders reading this column. What should we be doing, advocating, supporting, or opposing? I asked Andrew Rogoyski, director of Innovation and Partnerships at the UK’s Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence, that question. Rogoyski works full-time to maximize AI’s benefits and minimize its harms. One concern with genAI systems, according to Rogoyski, is that we’re entering a realm where nobody knows how they work — even when they benefit people. As AI gets more capable, “new products appear, new materials, new medicines, we cure cancer. But actually, we won’t have any idea how it’s done,” he said. “One of the challenges is these decisions are being made by a few companies and a few individuals within those companies,” he said. Decisions made by a few people “will have enormous impact on…global society as a whole. And that doesn’t feel right.” He pointed out that companies like Amazon, OpenAI, and Google have far more money to devote to AI than entire governments. Rogoyski pointed out the conundrum exposed by solutions like the one California is trying to arrive at. At the core of the California Policy Working Group’s proposal is transparency, treating AI functionality as a kind of open-source project. On the one hand, outside experts can help flag dangers. On the other, transparency opens the technology to malicious actors. He gave the example of AI designed for biotech, something designed to engineer life-saving drugs. In the wrong hands, that same tool might be used to engineer a catastrophic bio-weapon. According to Rogoyski, the solution won’t be found solely in some grand legislation or the spontaneous emergence of ethics in the hearts of Silicon Valley billionaires. The solution will involve broad-scale collective action by just about everyone. It’s up to us At the grass-roots level, we need to advocate the practice of basing our purchasing, use, and investment in AI systems that are serious about and capable with ethical practices, strong safety policies, and deep concern about alignment. We all need to favor companies that “do the right thing in the sense of sharing information about how they trained [their AI], what measures they put in place to stop it misbehaving and so on,” said Rogoyski. Beyond that, we need stronger regulation based more on expert input and less on Silicon Valley businesses’ trillion-dollar aspirations. We need broad cooperation between companies and universities. We also need to support, in any way we can, the application of AI to our most pressing problems, including medicine, energy, climate change, income inequality, and others. Rogoyski offers general advice for anyone worried about losing their job to AI: Look to the young. While older professionals might look at AI and feel threatened by it, younger people often see opportunity. “If you talk to some young creative who’s just gone to college [and] come out with a [degree in] photography, graphics, whatever it is,” he said, “They’re tremendously excited about these tools because they’re now able to do things that might have taken a $10 million budget.” In other words, look for opportunities in AI to accelerate, enhance, and empower your own work. And that’s generally the mindset we should all embrace: We are not powerless. We are powerful. AI is here to stay, and it’s up to all of us to make it work better for ourselves, our communities, our nations, and our world.
Apple Pay is going to get faster and more reliable

Contactless payments such as Apple Pay and sustainability in inventory control are going to get much easier with an upcoming update to the Near Field Communications (NFC) standard that will make devices connect more swiftly and support the Digital Product Passport (NDPP) specification. The first problems the new standard solves are range and reliability. At present, standard NFC supports a range of up to 0.2 inches and the connections aren’t always robust. What that means to most of us is the need to wriggle your iPhone or Apple Watch around a little to gain connection to the payment terminal. The improved NFC increases that range to to about 3/4 of an inch for all devices and makes the connection a little more resilient; the standard is also a little faster, which means once you authorize a payment it will take place faster than it already does. Faster connections, easier payments, and more That range and reliability improvements aren’t just for mobile payments, of course. If you use your iPhone as a car key or have mobile transit cards in your Apple Wallet, you should get a much better experience when opening doors or catching public transit. The NFC update also comes as Apple prepares to introduce expanded support for digital IDs and in-store payments with iOS 16. The latter is interesting because while the NFC Forum didn’t say anything about it, the update does support more complex transactions over NFC — that should make it easier to use supermarket loyalty cards at the same time as Apple Pay in a single tap. The Forum calls these, “multi-purpose tap use cases where a single tap unlocks multiple functions.” NFC Release 15 is also expected to advance new and exciting use cases, such as using your mobile phone as a payment terminal, championing sustainability and optimizing NFC use across a variety of sectors, including automotive, transit and access control. There is also support for a new feature that has been designed to meet emerging sustainability regulations: NFC Digital Product Passport (NDPP) What is NDPP and is it safe? Aimed at manufacturers, NDPP is a framework to allow a single NFC tag embedded in a product to store and transmit both standard and extended Digital Product Passport (DPP) data using NFC. That data includes information such as a product’s composition, origin, environmental, lifestyle, and recycling details. Most hardware manufacturers will need to begin capturing this kind of information under an incoming EU law known as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The information is meant to be made available to customers, business users and recyclers and designed to boost transparency and sustainability. It will be interesting, for example, to use DPP inside future iPhones to determine where the device and its components originate – and it might be fun to explore refurbished devices to see whether components installed to return them to use have been used in different devices previously. That said, this kind of unique device information does sound like the kind of data that could be abused for device fingerprinting and user tracking; is there a risk of this? Age of consent I contacted Mike McCamon, the organization’s executive director, for more background on NDPP. I was particularly curious about the NDPP specification — could it be abused for digital device fingerprinting? That’s unlikely, said McCarmon, in part because of the nature of NFC design, which has been developed from day one to require active consent from the user. “Security and privacy are foundational aspects of our work at the NFC Forum,” he said. “The NFC Digital Product Passport (NDPP) Specification can be thought more of a container of content than being fully descriptive of what content is included.” The support should extend use of NFC in different ways, such as in supply chain management, inventory control, or effective recycling strategies, all of which may benefit from the kind of information NDPP provides. “And of course, even with our new extended range…, NFC Forum-capable products must be in the closest of proximity to be read. This is in addition to most NFC functionality today on mobile devices and wearables, which is only accessible following a direct user action – like a double-tap for instance. For these and the reasons above, we believe NFC Forum standards will provide the most capable, intuitive, and secure data carrier of DPP data for the market.” For the rest of us Millions of people use NFC every day for payments, car and hotel rooms, or even travel. That means the new NFC standard will deliver measurable benefits to consumers because it should work better than it does now. And for enterprises, the extended support for Multi-Purpose Taps should make for a variety of product and service development possibilities, particularly as Apple opens up access to NFC on its devices. The NFC Release 15 is currently available to high-level NFC Forum member companies, including Apple, Google, Sony, and Huawei, who can now implement the improvements in their own products in advance of a public release as new iPhones appear in fall. You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky, LinkedIn, and Mastodon.
Disney and Universal vs. Midjourney: A landmark copyright fight over genAI

In a move that could redefine the boundaries between generative AI (genAI) and intellectual property, Disney and Universal have joined forces to file a lawsuit against Midjourney, one of the world’s most popular AI image generators. You may think you’ve heard this story before — The New York Times‘ 2023 lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft and News Corp. vs. Perplexity — but this case is different. For one thing, this is the first time major Hollywood studios with far more cash to prosecute the case have directly targeted a genAI company for copyright infringement. For another, Disney and Universal are both big AI users. Disney and Universal allege that Midjourney’s platform is a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” With Midjourney, all a subscriber need do to create unauthorized images of iconic characters such as Darth Vader, Elsa, the Minions, Shrek, and many others is to type in a prompt. Original ‘Iron Man’ image is on the left; genAI-created image is on the right. Disney/Universal lawsuit Original image is on the left; genAI image is on the right. Disney/Univeral lawsuit There’s no question anyone can do it. If you don’t feel like trying it yourself, just look at some of the images in the Disney/Universal lawsuit complaint (shown above). Can you tell which ones are the original from Avengers: Infinity War and which were generated by Midjourney? I can’t, and I have a good eye for this kind of thing. GenAI image creation has come a long way since all you had to do was count the number of fingers. (The originals are on the left.) This didn’t require some kind of fancy prompt. As researchers have found, all you had to do to generate them was name the character and use the keyword “screencap,” and you quickly received your fake image. Or you could simply ask for “master super villain” or “armored superhero.” “This is not a ‘close call’ under well-settled copyright law,” the lawsuit claims. Correct. It’s not close at all. In the company’s defense — if you can call it that — Midjourney CEO David Holz is on record as saying his AI has been trained on “just a big scrape of the Internet.” What about copyrights on these images? “There isn’t really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they’re coming from. It would be cool if images had metadata embedded in them about the copyright owner or something. But that’s not a thing; there’s not a registry. There’s no way to find a picture on the Internet, and then automatically trace it to an owner and then have any way of doing anything to authenticate it.” I think when it comes to Disney, it’s pretty darn obvious who owns the images. I mean, this is Disney, the big bad wolf of copyright. After Walt Disney lost the copyright to his earlier character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, he made darn sure that, starting with Mickey Mouse in 1928, he’d lock down its intellectual property for as close to forever as he could. Indeed, over the decades, Disney has been behind laws to increase copyright coverage from a maximum of 56 years in 1928 to 75 years with the Copyright Act of 1976, and then 95 years with the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998, better known as the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” Disney has also never been shy about suing anyone who’d dare come close to their copyrighted images. For example, in 1989, Disney threatened legal action against three daycare centers in Hallandale, FL., for painting murals of Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy on their walls. Why? Because it’s all about the Benjamins. Disney, and to a lesser extent Universal, live and die from monetizing their intellectual property (IP). Mind you, much of that IP is generated from the public domain. As the Center for the Study of the Public Domain noted: “The public domain is Disney’s bread and butter. Frozen was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. … Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio came from stories by Lewis Carroll, The Brothers Grimm, Victor Hugo, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Anderson, and Carlo Collodi.” What Disney did with the public domain, MidJourney, and the rest of the AI companies want to do with pretty much everything on the Internet. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for instance, has consistently argued that training genAI on copyrighted data should be considered “fair use.” He’s not alone. On the other side of the fence, Disney and Universal’s lawsuit is not just about damages, which the pair puts at $150,000 per infringed work, but about setting a precedent. They want to stop Midjourney’s image and soon-to-be-launched video generation services in their tracks. At the same time, the film studios freely admit they’re already using genAI themselves. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said the technology is already making Disney’s operations more efficient and enhancing creativity. “AI might indeed be the most potent technology our company has ever encountered, particularly in its capacity to enhance and allow consumers to access, experience, and appreciate our entertainment.” He also, of course, stressed that, “Given the speed that it is developing, we’re taking precautions to make sure of three things: One, that our IP is being protected. That’s incredibly important.” This lawsuit is more than a Hollywood squabble; it’s a watershed moment in the ongoing debate over genAI, copyright, and the future of creative work. Previous cases have challenged the boundaries of fair use and data scraping, but none have involved the entertainment industry’s biggest players. It might seem like a slam dunk for the Hollywood powerhouses. The images speak for themselves. But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in covering IP cases, it’s that you never know what a court will decide. Besides, there’s a real wild card. Donald Trump’s AI Action Plan is still a work in progress. The AI companies are arguing that it should give them permission to use pretty much anything as grist for their large language models (LLMs), while the media companies want all the copyright protection they can get. Which way will Trump’s officials jump? We don’t know. But I have a bad feeling about where they’ll go. You see, what we do know is that after the Copyright Office released a pre-publication version of its 108-page copyright and AI report, which strived to strike a middle ground “by supporting both of these world-class industries that contribute so much to our economic and cultural advancement.” However, it added that while some generative AI probably constitutes a “transformative” use, the mass scraping of all data did not qualify as fair use. The result? The Trump administration, while not commenting on the report, fired Shira Perlmutter, the head of the Copyright Office, the next day. She’s been replaced by an attorney with no IP experience. Oh, also, hidden away in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is a statement that imposes a 10-year ban on the enforcement of any state or local laws or regulations that “limit, restrict, or otherwise regulate” AI models, AI systems, or automated decision systems. If that becomes law, whatever is in Trump’s AI Action Plan is what we’ll have to live with for the next few years. As an author, I can’t tell you how unhappy that prospect makes me. I expect Trump to side with the AI companies, which means I can look forward to competing with my own repurposed work from here on out. Further reading: AI vs. copyright Court tosses hallucinated citation from Anthropic’s defense in copyright infringement case Eleuther AI releases 8TB collection of licensed and open training data >
Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build?

Windows 11 24H2 has been released, but behind the scenes, Microsoft is constantly working to improve the newest version of Windows. The company frequently rolls out public preview builds to members of its Windows Insider Program, allowing them to test out — and even help shape — upcoming features. Skip to the latest builds The Windows Insider program is divided into four channels: The Canary Channel is where platform changes (such as major updates to the Windows kernel and new APIs) are previewed. These changes are not tied to a particular Windows release and may never ship at all. Little documentation is provided, and builds are likely to be very unstable. This channel is best for highly technical users. The Dev Channel is where new features are introduced for initial testing, regardless of which Windows release they’ll eventually end up in. This channel is best for technical users and developers and builds in it may be unstable and buggy. In the Beta Channel, you’ll get more polished features that will be deployed in the next major Windows release. This channel is best for early adopters, and Microsoft says your feedback in this channel will have the most impact. The Release Preview Channel typically doesn’t see action until shortly before a new feature update is rolled out. It’s meant for final testing of an upcoming release and is best for those who want the most stable builds. The Beta and Release Preview Channels also receive bug-fix builds for the currently shipping version of Windows 11. See “How to preview and deploy Windows 10 and 11 updates” for more details about the four channels and how to switch to a different channel. Not everyone can participate in the Windows 11 Insider program, because the new operating system has more stringent system requirements than Windows 10. If your PC fails to meet the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11, you cannot join the Windows 11 Insider Program. (See “How to check if your PC can run Windows 11.”) Below you’ll find information about the Windows 11 preview builds that have been announced by Microsoft in the past six months. (For the Release Preview Channel, we cover builds released for the current version of Windows 11, not for earlier versions.) For each build, we’ve included the date of its release, which Insider channel it was released to, a summary of what’s in the build, and a link to Microsoft’s announcement about it. Note: If you’re looking for information about updates being rolled out to all Windows 11 users, not previews for Windows Insiders, see “Windows 11: A guide to the updates.” The latest Windows 11 Insider preview builds Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27881 Release date: June 19, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This build introduces speech recapto Narrator. It lets you keep track of what Narrator has said and offers access to it for quick reference. With it, you can quickly access spoken content, follow along with live transcription, and copy what Narrator last said, using keyboard shortcuts. A number of bugs have also been fixed, including one in which File Explorer crashed when the user tapped the View button using touch. There are four known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27881.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.4482 (KB5060829) Release date: June 19, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out a number of new features, including automatic icon resizing in the taskbar to fit more apps, and a new Screen Curtain feature that blacks out the screen while Narrator reads content aloud. Also new is the ability add custom words to the dictionary in voice access. In addition, several bug fixes are being immediately rolled out, including one that improves the Copilot key’s reliability and resolves an issue that prevented users from restarting Copilot after using the key. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.4482.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4441 Release date: June 13, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those with Copilot+ PCs in the European Economic area get the option to export their Recall snapshots to be shared with third-party apps and websites. When they open Recall for the first time and opt into saving snapshots, they will be shown their unique Recall export code. The Recall export code will be needed if they ever choose to export their Recall snapshots to share with a trusted app or website in the future. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get a variety of new features being gradually rolled out, including a bigger clock with seconds in the notification center. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes rolled out gradually, including one for an issue in which folders opened outside of File Explorer would open it in a new File Explorer tab, but the tab wasn’t put in focus. There are nine known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4441.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5651 Release date: June 13, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel In this build, Copilot+ PCs get agents that can help make it easier to find and change settings on PCs. Rather than dig through settings, you’ll be able to simply describe what you need help with like, “how to control my PC by voice” or “my mouse pointer is too small” and an agent will recommend the right steps you can take to address the issue. In addition, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get a variety of new features being gradually rolled out, including a bigger clock with seconds in the notification center. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes rolled out gradually, including one for an issue in which folders opened outside of File Explorer would open it in a new File Explorer tab, but the tab wasn’t put in focus. There are 13 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26200. This will not prevent you from getting future Dev Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5651.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4250 Release date: June 9, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get a variety of new features being gradually rolled out, including a larger scrollable Start menu. The menu automatically resizes itself according to the size of your screen, and offers two views, category and grid. In addition, the “Search permissions” and “Searching Windows” settings pages have been combined so you can access all the Windows Search settings under a single page via Settings > Privacy & security > Search. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes rolled out gradually, including one for a bug in which input did not work for some Insiders, including when typing into Search, and with the Chinese pinyin IME candidate window, clipboard history, and the emoji panel. For everyone in the Beta Channel, the build fixes a bug in which some people might have seen severe discoloration when connecting their PC to some older Dolby Vision displays. There are nine known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4250.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5641 Release date: June 9, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get a variety of new features being gradually rolled out, including a larger scrollable Start menu. The menu automatically resizes itself according to the size of your screen, and offers two views, category and grid. In addition, the “Search permissions” and “Searching Windows” settings pages have been combined so you can access all the Windows Search settings under a single page via Settings > Privacy & security > Search. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes rolled out gradually, including one for a bug in which input did not work for some Insiders, including when typing into Search, and with the Chinese pinyin IME candidate window, clipboard history, and the emoji panel. For everyone in the Dev Channel, the build fixes a bug in which some people might have seen severe discoloration when connecting their PC to some older Dolby Vision displays. There are 12 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26200. This will not prevent you from getting future Dev Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5641.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27871 Release date: June 4, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel In this build, IT administrators can use Microsoft Intune to control the energy saver settings on Windows 11 PCs through group policies and MDM configurations. A number of bugs have also been fixed, including one in which when Virtualization Based Security was enabled, applications dependent on virtualization, such as VMware Workstation, lost the ability to run unless the “Windows Hypervisor Platform” Windows optional component was installed on the system. There are two known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27871.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4230 Release date: June 2, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get a new dedicated settings page for quick machine recovery, which can be found under System > Recovery > Quick machine recovery. This makes it easier to manage recovery options directly from Settings. This is being gradually rolled out. A variety of bug fixes are being rolled out gradually to the same group, including one addressing a bug that caused File Explorer to crash performing various actions, such as when deleting files. For everyone in the Beta Channel, a bug is fixed in which when Virtualization Based Security was enabled, applications dependent on virtualization, such as VMware Workstation, would lose the ability to run unless the “Windows Hypervisor Platform” Windows optional component is installed on the system. There are nine known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4230.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5622 Release date: June 2, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel In this build, those with Copilot+ PCs get a new action in Click to Do, Draft with Copilot in Word. Select text, press the Windows key and click simultaneously, and choose Draft with Copilot in Word. Copilot will create an initial draft based on the text. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including quick machine recovery, designed to help Windows 11 devices recover from widespread boot issues by applying remediations through the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). The same group also gets several bug fixes, including for an issue in which File Explorer crashed when performing various actions, such as deleting files. There are eight known issues in this build, including one in which taskbar icons may appear small even though the setting to show smaller taskbar buttons is configured as “never.” (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5622.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27868 Release date: May 29, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel In this build, voice access has been redesigned to help you more easily discover and learn about new features. You can launch or dismiss this new experience from the settings menu. Several bugs have been fixed, including one that was causing pen input to be non-responsive on some PCs. There are six known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27868.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4161 Release date: May 23, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel This build begins the rollout of a new Click-to-Do action that uses Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant to rewrite or elaborate on selected text. To get started, select text, then press the Windows key and click, then choose the Draft with Copilot in Word action. (This feature requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.) In addition, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features, including the ability to add, remove, and rearrange lock screen widgets such as Weather, Watchlist, Sports, Traffic, and more. Any widget that supports the small sizing option can be added here. To customize your lock screen widgets, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Note that these features are being rolled out gradually. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates also get a variety of bug fixes rolled out gradually, including one for a bug in which the Describe image feature of narrator wasn’t working. There are nine known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4161.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27863 Release date: May 23, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This build adds support for post-quantum signature algorithm ML-DSA in NCrypt and BCrypt cryptography API surfaces, as well as Crypt32 certificate APIs. Three variants are supported, ML-DSA 44, 65, and 87. Several bugs have been fixed, including one in which Windows Sandbox was not working and showed error 0xc0370106 on launch. There are six known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27863.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4151 Release date: May 19, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features, including AI actions in File Explorer, which offers a set of AI-related tools when you right-click a file. For now, the only AI tools available are for image files, including Bing Visual Search for searching the web using an image instead of text, as well as several AI-related image-editing capabilities. Eventually, other features will be added, such as summarizing documents using Copilot. These features, including the ones related to images, are being rolled out gradually. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes being rolled out gradually, including one that addresses a bug in which if File Explorer was maximized and you clicked the new tab button, it would unmaximize the window. There are 12 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4151.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5603 Release date: May 19, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features, including AI actions in File Explorer, which offers a set of AI-related tools when you right-click a file. For now, the only AI tools available are for image files, including Bing Visual Search for searching the web using an image instead of text, as well as several AI-related image-editing capabilities. Eventually, other features will be added, such as summarizing documents using Copilot. These features, including the ones related to images, are being rolled out gradually. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes being rolled out gradually, including one that addresses a bug in which if File Explorer was maximized and you clicked the new tab button, it would unmaximize the window. There are 13 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26200. This will not prevent you from getting future Dev Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5603.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.4188 (KB5058499) Release date: May 19, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out a wide variety of new features, including a new Copilot action in Click to Do. When you highlight text or an image, Click to Do offers an Ask Copilot option. Selecting it opens Microsoft Copilot with your content in the prompt box. You can send the selected text or image directly to the Copilot app to complete your prompt. In addition, IT admins can manage energy saver settings on Windows 11 PCs through group policies and MDM configurations using Microsoft Intune. This feature helps extend battery life by limiting background activity, dimming the screen, and contributing to environmental sustainability. To configure the policy, go to the Local Group Policy under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Energy Saver Settingsand select Enable Energy Saver to Always Be On. A number of bug fixes are also being gradually rolled out, including one for a bug in which Settings crashed at times when loading information about Bluetooth devices. Several bugs are being fixed immediately, including one in which some devices with BitLocker on removable drives encountered a blue screen error after resuming from sleep or hybrid-booting. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.4188.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27858 Release date: May 16, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This build includes a new system tray icon on the taskbar that makes it easier to find and use emojis, GIFs, Kaomoji, etc. It also fixes a variety of bugs, including an explorer.exe crash related to snap layouts, which happened when dragging a window or hovering over the maximize button in a window. There are four known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27858.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3964 Release date: May 12, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel This build introduces a new agent in Settings on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCS. Using it, you can describe what you need help with, such as “how to control my PC by voice” or “my mouse pointer is too small,” and the agent will recommend steps you can take to address the issue. Support for AMD- and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs is coming soon. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including a new FAQs section on the Settings > System > Aboutpage to provide help with using your PC. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes being rolled out gradually, including for an issue that caused live captions to crash and another that could make some apps like Word hang when trying to print. There are 12 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3964.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5600 Release date: May 12, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel This build introduces a new set of intelligent text actions using Click to Do on AMD- and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs. You can Use Win key + mouse-click or Win key + Q to select a text block and drag to select the text that you want. You’ll see options to summarize, create a bulleted list, or to help you rewrite your text so it sounds more causal, more formal, or more polished. A wide variety of bug fixes are being rolled out gradually to those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates, including for an issue that caused File Explorer Home to hang when loading and another that caused live captions to crash. There are 10 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26200. This will not prevent you from getting future Dev Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5600.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3950 Release date: May 5, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including one that gives IT administrators the ability to use Microsoft Intune to control energy savings on Windows 11 PCs through group policies and MDM configurations. The same group also gets a variety of bug fixes, including for a bug in which Windows’ startup sound would not play, even though it was enabled. There are nine known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3950.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5581 Release date: May 5, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including one that gives IT administrators the ability to use Microsoft Intune to control energy savings on Windows 11 PCs through group policies and MDM configurations. The same group gets several new bug fixes, including for a bug in which Windows’ startup sound would not play, even though it was enabled. There are seven known issues in this build, including one in which live captions have been crashing. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5570.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3941 Release date: April 25, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features and minor improvements, including a new profanity filter setting for voice typing. This group will also have several bugs fixed, including one that caused apps to appear blank, and another in which Windows Hello facial recognition would not work for login for some Insiders. The new feature and bug fixes are gradually rolling out. Everyone in the Beta Channel gets a fix for a bug that caused Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to not work and the option “Fix problems using Windows Update” option under Settings > Recovery to also not work. There are 13 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3941.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5570 Release date: April 25, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features and minor improvements, including a new profanity filter setting for voice typing. This group will also have several bugs fixed, including one that caused apps to appear blank, and another in which Windows Hello facial recognition would not work for login for some Insiders. Everyone in the Dev Channel gets a fix for a bug that caused Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to not work and the option “Fix problems using Windows Update” option under Settings > Recovery to also not work. There are six known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Sandbox may fail to launch with a 0x800705b4 error. If this occurs, try reinstalling Sandbox by unchecking Sandbox under “Turn Windows features on or off” to uninstall it, then reboot, go back to “Turn Windows features on or off” and check Sandbox to reinstall it and reboot again. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5570.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27842 Release date: April 23, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This build previews a new UI that is used when a PC unexpectedly restarts. It also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which the Smart App Control icon wasn’t displaying correctly in the Windows Security app. There are four known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27842.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5562 Release date: April 21, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel In this build, those with Copilot+ PCs get two new text actions in Click to Do, including the “Practice in Reading Coach” Click to Do action that can increase fluency and pronunciation. In addition, those in the Dev Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including several improvements in voice access and to the notification widgets settings page, so that they can control the number of notifications per feed or dashboard. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bugs fixed, including one that was causing Start menu to crash when creating folders. Everyone in the Dev Channel gets additional bug fixes, including for a bug that didn’t allow some apps like Spotify to install from the Microsoft Store. There are 14 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5562.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3872 Release date: April 21, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those with Copilot+ PCs get two new text actions in Click to Do, including the “Practice in Reading Coach” Click to Do action that can increase fluency and pronunciation. In addition, those in the Beta Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including several improvements in voice access. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including one that was causing Start menu to crash when creating folders. Everyone in the Beta Channel gets one bug fix, for a bug that didn’t allow some apps like Spotify to install from the Microsoft Store There are 13 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3872.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5551 Release date: April 11, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel This build begins the rollout of natural language search for settings in the Windows search box on the taskbar for users with Copilot+ PCs. For example, you can use your own words to find settings like “change my theme” or “about my PC.” You no longer need to remember the exact setting name you are looking for. In addition, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including one in which you can read content such as full articles, slideshows, and videos directly within your MSN feed in the widgets board. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug that caused File Explorer Home to crash for some Insiders. Everyone in the Dev Channel gets a fix for Windows Sandbox, which was not working. There are 12 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5551.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3863 Release date: April 11, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel This build begins the rollout of natural language search for settings in the Windows search box on the taskbar for users with Copilot+ PCs. For example, you can use your own words to find settings like “change my theme” or “about my PC.” You no longer need to remember the exact setting name you are looking for. In addition, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new features being rolled out gradually, including one in which you can read content such as full articles, slideshows, and videos directly within your MSN feed in the widgets board. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug that caused File Explorer Home to crash for some Insiders. Everyone in the Beta Channel gets a fix for Windows Sandbox, which was not working. There are 14 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3863.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3902 (KB5055627) Release date: April 10, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out several new features for Copilot+ PCs, including Windows Recall (preview) in which you can quickly find and get back to any app, website, image, or document by describing its content. To use Recall, you need to opt in to saving snapshots, which are images of your activity, and enroll in Windows Hello to confirm your presence so only you can access them. Those with Copilot+ PCs can also search by describing what they’re looking for, without having to remember file names, exact words in file content, or settings names. A number of new features are being rolled out immediately for all PCs, not just Copilot+ PCs, including one in which you get an estimated time for how long your PC will be offline to install updates from Windows Update. Several bugs are also being fixed, including one in which some content pages with JPEG images were not displaying. There is one known issue in this build, in which Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) may not work, and you may not be able to use the “Fix problems using Windows Update” option under Settings > Recovery. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3902.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5518 Release date: April 3, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel Those in the Dev Channel who have opted to receive the latest updates get several new features that are being rolled out gradually, including taskbar icon scaling — when your taskbar starts to get crowded with pinned or open apps, the icons automatically scale down to a smaller size. This lets you keep more apps visible and accessible without having to use a secondary menu. Dev Channel users who have opted to receive the latest updates get three bug fixes, one in which external graphics cards connected over Thunderbolt were unexpectedly not discoverable in some cases; another in which Hyper-V Manager erroneously reported 0% CPU usage for VMs in some scenarios; and another for those with Copilot+ PCs who saw semantic search stop working until their PCs were rebooted. There are 11 known issues in this build, including one in which Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5518.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3671 Release date: April 3, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel Those in the Beta Channel who agreed to receive the latest updates get several new features being rolled out gradually, including taskbar icon scaling — when your taskbar starts to get crowded with pinned or open apps, the icons automatically scale down to a smaller size. This lets you keep more apps visible and accessible without having to use a secondary menu. Those in the Beta Channel who get the latest updates get two bug fixes, one in which external graphics cards connected over Thunderbolt were unexpectedly not discoverable in some cases, and another in which Hyper-V Manager erroneously reported 0% CPU usage for VMs in some scenarios. There are 12 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3671.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5516 Release date: March 28, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel This build includes improved search tools for AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs. When searching in File Explorer, the Windows search box on the taskbar, or in Settings, you can type plain-English searches without having to remember file names, exact words in file content, or settings names. In addition, those with AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs can find photos in the cloud by using plain-English searches. Those who have turned on the toggle to receive changes as soon as they come out get a speech recap in Narrator which keeps track of what Narrator has spoken and access it for quick reference. They also get a variety of changes and improvements, including one in which on Copilot+ PCs, they can now access Click to Do from the Start menu and can pin it to Start and the taskbar. They also receive a variety of bug fixes, including one in which File Explorer was very slow to close for some Insiders when closing it using the X button. Everyone in the Dev Channel gets a bug fixed in which the toggle to get the latest updates as soon they are available via Settings > Windows Update didn’t render correctly and turned itself off. There are 13 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5516.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3653 Release date: March 28, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel Those in the Beta Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features being rolled out gradually, including a speech recap feature in Narrator that keeps track of what Narrator has spoken and lets you access it for quick reference. There are also a variety of changes and improvements, including one in which on Copilot+ PCs, users can now access Click to Do from the Start menu and can pin it to Start and the taskbar. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned a toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which the taskbar icons weren’t increasing in size as they should when using your PC in a tablet posture. Two bugs are fixed for everyone in the Beta Channel, including one in which the toggle to get the latest updates as soon they are available via Settings > Windows Update did not render correctly and automatically turned itself off. There are 13 known issues in this build, including one in which after you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates that will resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3653.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27823 Release date: March 26, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This update, in the words of Microsoft, “includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience” of using Windows. It also includes new “top cards” under Settings > System > About. Top cards provide an easy way to view your PC’s key specifications—processor, RAM, storage, and GPU. The build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which Settings could crash when interacting with Bluetooth & Devices > Cameras. There are three known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27823.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3585 Release date: March 24, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel This build includes improved search tools for AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs. When searching in File Explorer, the Windows search box on the taskbar, or in Settings, you can type plain-English searches without having to remember file names, exact words in file content, or settings names. In addition, those with AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs can find photos in the cloud by using plain-English searches. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which File Explorer was very slow to close via the X button. Two bugs are fixed for everyone in the Beta Channel, including one in which the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update did not render correctly and automatically turned itself off. There are 16 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3585.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5510 Release date: March 24, 2025 Released to: Dev Channel In this build the Dev Channel is jumping ahead to receive 26200 series builds. This means that once you install it, you cannot switch to the Beta Channel. If you are in the Dev Channel and want to switch to the Beta Channel, don’t install this build. Instead, pause updates in Windows Update, switch your channel to the Beta Channel and then un-pause updates. There are 11 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5510.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3624 (KB5053656) Release date: March 24, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out several new features for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, including natural-language search in Windows Search. Just describe what you’re looking for without having to remember specific file names, exact words in file content, or settings names. In addition, the build includes the same set of improvements and bug fixes as a previous build, Build 26100.3613, such as Natural Language Commanding in voice access, available initially on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3624.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27818 Release date: March 19, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This update, in the words of Microsoft, “includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience” of using Windows. The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which Remote Desktop sometimes froze when connecting. There are two known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27818.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3613 (KB5053656) Release date: March 18, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out a number of new features, including Natural Language Commanding in voice access, which lets users speak commands naturally, using filler words and synonyms, rather than rigid, predefined commands. It is available initially on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. Several bug fixes are also being rolled out gradually, including one in which the “see more” (…) menu in the File Explorer command bar opened in the wrong direction in some cases. A variety of new bug fixes are being rolled out immediately, including one for a bug in which critical PowerShell modules required for device configuration were not executed under Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policies. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3613.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3576 Release date: March 17, 2025 Released to: Dev and Beta Channels In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features, including one in which on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, you can use natural language commands during voice access, rather than having to remember specific voice commands. The same group gets several bug fixes, including one addressing a bug for users in managed environments, in which your Windows Recall snapshots would get deleted after installing Build 26120.3380 and after each reboot on that build. There are 16 known issues in this build, including one in which Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings, and another in which Recall is no longer able to save new snapshots or modify settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3576.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27813 Release date: March 12, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This update, in the words of Microsoft, “includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience” of using Windows. The build also fixes two bugs, one which the WDMAud system driver was causing some app crashes, and the other in which Settings > System > Display > Color Management did not always display the expected color profile list for the selected monitor. There are two known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27813.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3380 Release date: March 10, 2025 Released to: Dev and Beta Channels In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several new features, including one in which File Explorer displays a new Recommended section that is displayed as a carousel with thumbnail previews. This includes content such as files you frequently use, have recently downloaded, or added to your File Explorer Gallery. Users with a work/school account (Entra ID) will have additional types of recommendations available with this update. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which windows.storage.dll led caused some apps to crash when files were opened in them. There are 10 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3380.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27808 Release date: March 7, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel In this update, a change is being rolled out in the way Task Manager calculates CPU utilization for the Processes, Performance, and Users pages. Task Manager will now use the standard metrics to display CPU workload consistently across all pages and aligning with industry standards and third-party tools. For backward compatibility, a new optional column called CPU Utility is available (hidden by default) on the Details tab showing the previous CPU value used on the Processes page. The build also fixes a number of bugs, including one that caused the search window to go blank for some Insiders when searching from the taskbar, due to a background crash. There are two known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. In the other, a d3d9.dll crash is causing multiple apps to fail to launch starting with Build 27802 for some Insiders. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27808.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.5015 Release date: February 28, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates will see a new system tray icon on the taskbar, which lets you use emojis, GIFs, Kaomoji, etc. across all apps and surfaces in Windows in addition to using the Win + . keyboard shortcut. This new system tray icon can be changed by right-clicking on the icon to go to taskbar settings page. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get a number of new bug fixes, including for a bug in which File Explorer Home crashed for some Insiders. There are four known issues in this build, including one in which File Explorer is very slow to close for some Insiders when closing using the X button. This may also affect the other title bar buttons. Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.5015.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3360 Release date: February 28, 2025 Released to: Dev and Beta Channels In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get two new features being gradually rolled out, including one in which Task Manager changes the way it calculates CPU utilization for the Processes, Performance, and Users pages. Task Manager will now use the standard metrics to display CPU workload consistently across all pages and aligning with industry standards and third-party tools. Also being added is the ability to share directly to apps that support sharing in Windows when right-clicking on local files in File Explorer or the desktop. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug which some people experienced Remote Desktop freezes on login, or frequent disconnect. There are 11 known issues in this build, including one in which Windows Recall is unable to automatically save snapshots, and the setting can’t be turned on in Settings. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3360.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27802 Release date: February 28, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel In this update, new battery icons in Windows 11 communicate the battery status of your PC with a quick glance. Key changes include colored icons to indicate charging states, simplified overlays that don’t block the progress bar, and an option to turn on battery percentage. The build also fixes several bugs, including one that was causing the login screen to crash when clicking the “sign-in options” link for some Insiders. There are six known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27802.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3291 Release date: February 21, 2025 Released to: Dev and Beta Channels In this build, those with Copilot+ PCs can search photos saved in the cloud by using your own words to describe what you’re looking for in the Windows search box on the taskbar. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bugs fixed, including one in which switching languages crashed live captions if audio was playing or the microphone was enabled. There are 11 known issues in this build, including one in the Recall feature in which some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots,” while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3291.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3321 (KB5052093) Release date: February 18, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out a number of new features, including one in which you can share files directly from a jump list on the taskbar, and another in which you can find out more information about a background image by hovering over the image or clicking the “Learn about this picture” icon. A variety of bug fixes are also being gradually rolled out, including one in which when you enter a URL in the File Explorer address bar, it might not go to the location. The build also immediately fixes a number of bugs, including one in which Remote Desktop stopped working. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3321.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3281 Release date: February 14, 2025 Released to: Dev and Beta Channels In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates have the ability to resume working on OneDrive files from your phone (iOS and Android) on your Windows 11 PC with a single click. In addition, when “Restore previous folder windows at logon” is enabled in File Explorer, you can now restore all the extra tabs that you previously had open in each File Explorer window. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which if you tried to reset your password from the login screen, it wouldn’t work due to an underlying crash. Another fix addresses a bug for users who have a Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PC, in which File Explorer search was unresponsive and required a reboot to start working. There are 12 known issues in this build, including one in the Recall feature in which some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots,” while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3281.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27788 Release date: February 5, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This update includes the first in-box public preview of Windows MIDI Services, a complete rewrite of MIDI on Windows for musicians. Windows MIDI Services handles MIDI 2.0 and improves MIDI 1.0 implementation, with automatic translation between the two. It works on 64-bit operating systems on all supported processors, including Arm64. The build also gradually rolls out the ability to resume working on OneDrive files from your phone (iOS or Android) on your Windows 11 PC with a single click. The build also fixes several bugs, including one that prevented scanning apps from detecting a connected scanner. There are six known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27788.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4870 Release date: February 3, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, IT administrators in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates as soon as they are available get a new group policy called “Disable Widgets On Lock Screen,” which allows them to disable lock screen widgets without disabling widgets elsewhere on PCs they manage. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which the Start menu crashed for some Insiders when they interacted with the letters in the apps list. Several bugs have been fixed for everyone in the Beta Channel, including one in which PCs did not recognize that USB cameras were on after installing the January 2025 security update. There are three known issues in this build, including one in which the home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar. Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4870.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3073 Release date: January 31, 2025 Released to: Dev and Beta Channels In this build, those who have Copilot+ PCs get a new feature in Windows Search, in which you can use your own words to find photos stored and saved in the cloud by describing what they are, such as “European castles” or “summer picnics.” In addition to photos stored locally on your Copilot+ PC, photos from the cloud will now show up in the search results as well. Exact matches for your keywords within the text of your cloud files will show in the search results. The build also includes changes being gradually rolled out for all Windows 11 PCs. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates will see a Settings home page for commercial customers on PCs managed by an IT administrator. The feature will show some existing cards relevant to enterprise-managed PCs like “Recommended settings” and “Bluetooth devices,” as well as two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards. For commercial customers who also use their Microsoft account on their managed PC, there will also be a new accounts card indicating the presence of both work/school and Microsoft account types. Those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates also get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which minimized File Explorer windows might not have rendered correctly when restored. Everyone in the Dev Channel gets several bug fixes, including for one in which the display of some games appeared oversaturated when you used Auto HDR. There are 18 known issues in this build, including one in the Recall feature in which some users may see a “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots” message while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3073.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27783 Release date: January 29, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel In this update, users signed into Windows with a Microsoft account will be able to view files that have been shared with the account, such as email, Teams chat, etc., in File Explorer. Commercial customers signed in with a Microsoft Entra ID account will also be able to view files that they have shared with others. You can access this feature by launching File Explorer Home and clicking on the ‘Shared’ tab item. The build also fixes several bugs, including one in which taskbar preview windows sometimes didn’t display when hovering over open apps in the taskbar. There are four known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27783.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4805 Release date: January 24, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates as soon as they are available get a change to Snap in Windows 11 in which inline messaging will now appear when you accidentally invoke the Snap Bar when dragging an app to the top middle of your desktop or Snap Flyout when hovering over the Minimize or Maximize button of an app. This is designed to provide guidance on snapping app windows and educating users on the keyboard shortcuts for quickly snapping app windows in the future. This group also gets new keyboard shortcuts in Narrator scan mode for quickly jumping to list items and to the beginning or end of large elements such as tables or lists. These changes are gradually rolling out. There are five known issues in this build, including one in which the Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar. Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4805.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3000 Release date: January 24, 2024 Released to: Dev Channel In this build, those in the Dev Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get new battery icons, including colored icons to indicate charging states, simplified overlays that don’t block the progress bar, and an option to turn on battery percentage. The same group also gets several bug fixes, including for a bug in File Explorer in which you sometimes would be unable to navigate by entering a path in the address bar. These changes are gradually rolling out. There are 18 known issues in this build, including one in the Recall feature in which some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots” while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3000.) Windows 11 Build 26100.3025 (KB5050094) Release date: January 21, 2025 Released to: Release Preview Channel This build gradually rolls out a number of new features, including one in which an icon will appear in the system tray when you use an app that supports Windows Studio Effects. This only occurs on a device that has a neural processing unit (NPU). Select the icon to open the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings. The update also improves the previews that show when your cursor hovers over apps on the taskbar. In addition, the Windows Mobile Hotspot now supports 6 GHz connections. This new band requires chips that support the feature and updated drivers. A variety of bug fixes are also being rolled out, including for a bug in which the Snipping Tool screenshots were distorted when you used two or more monitors that have different display scaling. The build also immediately rolls out a change in which you will now have a standard Windows 11 taskbar after restoring from a backup via the Windows Setup experience (OOBE) on a new Windows PC. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26100.3025.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4800 Release date: January 17, 2025 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates as soon as they are available get a standard Windows 11 taskbar after restoring from a backup via the Windows Setup experience (OOBE) on a new Windows PC. You can still find your apps in the Start menu and Search, and you can pin apps to your taskbar. In addition, the build starts the rollout of the Settings home page for commercial customers on PCs managed by an IT administrator. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates get one bug fix, which includes increased support for text scaling in File Explorer, File Open/Save dialogs, and copy dialogs. There are three known issues in this build, including one in which the Home page of Settings may crash. If you are impacted by this, you should still be able to open specific Settings pages directly by searching for them from the taskbar. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4800.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27774 Release date: January 16, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This update includes a small set of tweaks that Microsoft says improves the overall experience of Windows 11. In addition, the Administrator protection can now be enabled from Windows Security settings under the Account Protection tab, which allows users to enable the feature without requiring help from IT admins. The build also fixes several bugs, including one in which accent colored window borders were not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows were not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations were not showing. There are three known issues in this build, including one in which Insiders joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into the PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27774.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27768 Release date: January 9, 2025 Released to: Canary Channel This update includes a small set of general changes that Microsoft says improve the overall experience of Windows 11. It also fixes several bugs, including one in which File Explorer sometimes lost focus on the search box while typing. There are three known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN.” (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27768.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4660 Release date: January 3, 2024 Released to: Beta Channel In this build, those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates as soon as they are available get labels added to previously unlabeled actions on File Explorer’s context menu such as cut, copy, paste, rename, share, and delete. Those in the Beta Channel who have turned the toggle on to receive the latest updates also get several bug fixes for issues that impacted File Explorer’s performance and reliability. Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4660.) Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27766 Release date: January 3, 2024 Released to: Canary Channel This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that Microsoft says improve the overall experience of Windows 11. It also fixes several bugs, including one in which some Insiders experienced frequent explorer.exe crashes after they clean-installed or reset their PC. There are two known issues in this build, including one in which if you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel, or retail, you will lose Windows Hello PIN and biometrics to sign into your PC. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking Set up my PIN. (Get more info about Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27766.)

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