What’s new in Build 23511

More improvements for Windows Spotlight

After trying out different treatments for how Windows Spotlight looks, we’re now rolling out a single Windows Spotlight experience for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel that includes previewing images at full screen, multiple opportunities to learn more about each image and a minimized experience. To open the Windows Spotlight experience, right-click on the Spotlight icon on the desktop. You can also double click on the icon to directly launch a Bing landing page for more info on each image.

One of the multiple treatments for Windows Spotlight with richer UI showing in the full-screen experience. Clicking anyway on the desktop dismisses the full-screen experience.

To enable Windows Spotlight on your PC today, right-click on your desktop and choose “Personalize” and then choose the new Spotlight theme. Alternatively, you can directly enable Windows Spotlight by going to Settings > Personalization > Background and choosing the option under the “Personalize your background” dropdown.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Windows Spotlight.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• If a camera streaming issue is detected such as a camera failing to start or a closed camera shutter, a pop-up dialog will appear with the recommendation to launch the automated Get Help troubleshooter to resolve the issue.

Pop-up dialog with the recommendation to launch the automated Get Help troubleshooter to resolve camera issues.

[Windows Copilot]

• Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who login and are managed by AAD (soon to be Microsoft Entra ID) will notice that the Windows Copilot Preview is no longer available in this build. This is just a temporary issue. You may enable it temporarily via this policy located here in Group Policy Editor: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot. Please note that this policy name will change in an upcoming flight. The Windows Copilot Preview will be defaulted on in a future flight including support for Bing Chat for Enterprise.

[Start menu]

• For people logged into an Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise editions with an AAD account (soon to be Microsoft Entra ID), we are providing a richer preview when hovering over files such as Word documents under Recommended on the Start menu. For this initial release, thumbnails will not be available for all files and a later update will enable the experience for more files and for MSA users. Additionally, when right-clicking on cloud file recommendations, there is now an option to quickly share these files.

Example of richer preview when hovering over files such as Word documents under Recommended on the Start menu.

• Under All apps in the Start menu, Windows 11 system components will now show a “system” label. This change is beginning to roll out and so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel will see it right away.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Notifications will now show as a bell in the system tray and when new notifications come through, the bell will colourize based on your system accent colour. When there are no notifications and the clock is visible, the bell will be empty. Notification counts are no longer shown.

Notification bell in the system tray for new notifications and no notifications.

[File Explorer]

• Made some changes which should noticeably help improve the performance of the “calculating” phase when sending a large number of files at once in File Explorer to the recycle bin.

[Snap Layouts]

• We have fixed the bugs that were causing some crashes that resulted in us turning off suggestions in Snap Layouts and are beginning to roll this out again to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Suggestions in Snap Layoutsthat help you instantly snap multiple app windows together. When hovering over the Minimize or Maximize button on an app (or WIN + Z) to launch the layout box, you will see app icons displayed in various layout options to help recommend the best layout option that works best. This experience is beginning to roll out (again) so not all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel will see it right away.

Suggestions in Snap Layouts.

[Settings]

• We have fixed the bug that could cause some instability which resulted in us disabling the new Settings homepage with Build 23506 last week. We have begun rolling the new Settings homepage out again to Insiders in the Dev Channel.
• We are beginning to roll out a new option under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Phone Link to disable Phone Link all together in Windows 11. This setting will prevent Phone Link from communicating with your mobile devices.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where copying files out of large archives or using “Extract All” might have been slower than expected for “solid” .7Z or .rar archives.
• Fixed an issue where when decompressing some of the newly supported archive format types, the folder names might become gibberish.
• Fixed an underlying issue where in some cases the context menu background in File Explorer was appearing transparent.

[Notifications]

• Fixed an issue that was preventing apps from opening when you selected inside a notification popup for that app.
• Fixed an issue causing Insiders to unexpectedly see a notification suggesting you turn off notifications for an app named NotifyiconGeneratedAumid_*.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes that were impacting taskbar reliability.
• Fixed an issue that was causing quick settings not to open when selecting the network, volume, and battery icons in the system tray.

[Task View & Desktops]

• Adjusted the desktops switching animation to ease into the animation a little more.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue where search was not actually hiding when set to hide in taskbar settings.

[Windows Ink]

• Fixed an issue where writing in the address box in Microsoft Edge might not work correctly. Make sure Microsoft Edge is up to date with the latest version.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[General]

• [NEW] We’re investigating reports that explorer.exe is crashing on the login screen (with an error pop up) when attempting to enter safe mode.

[Start menu]

• [NEW] Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using Voice Access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

[File Explorer]

• Insiders may experience a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.
• [NEW] In some cases, the icons on your desktop may all go blank. If this happens, using the refresh option in the desktop context menu should resolve it.

[Dynamic Lighting]

• Switching user accounts can turn off device LEDs.

[Windows Ink]

• Windows Ink does not convert handwriting to text into the main content (e.g., Word documents and Excel spreadsheets) in Microsoft 365 applications.
• Search boxes in Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Microsoft Word) might not work correctly.
• Comment fields in Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Microsoft Word) might not work correctly.

You can find the official blog post here.

Source

The changelog is below:

What’s new in Build 25915

New features from the Dev Channel

This build includes new features from the Dev Channel, such as modernized File Explorer Home, Address Bar, and Details Pane, passwordless improvements (passkey), never combined mode on the taskbar, and more.

The New Outlook for Windows is now an inbox app

Starting with this build, the new Outlook for Windows Preview is now an inbox app. With the new Outlook for Windows, you can connect work and personal emails, calendars, and contacts in one secure place. Learn about the new Outlook for Windows here and the most recent set of updates for Insiders here. You can click here to learn more about the future of Mail and Calendar in Windows.

Changes and Improvements

[Graphics]

• We have improved refresh rate logic to allow different refresh rates on different monitors, depending on the refresh rate for each monitor and content shown on the screen. This will help most with refresh rate-dependent multitasking, like playing a game and watching a video at the same time.
• While a Dynamic Refresh Rate (DRR) is selected and Battery saver is also enabled, Windows will remain at the lower refresh rate and not switch to the higher rate until after Battery saver is disabled.

Fixes for known issues

• The issue that resulted in some Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel on ASUS devices or PCs with ASUS motherboards has been resolved and these Insiders should receive this flight.
• Ethernet-connected devices will no longer lose network connectivity after updating to this build.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

What you need to know

• Many Microsoft Edge users have run into issues when trying to use the browser with touch rather than a mouse and keyboard.
• Issues range from menus not opening on websites to navigation not working when people attempt to swipe between pages.
• We have experienced some of these problems ourselves, but some of them appear to be isolated to specific users.

Microsoft Edge swapped over to a Chromium browser a few years ago. The move improved the browser in many ways, including adding support for Chrome extensions and ensuring site compatibility with more of the web. But some features were lost when the switch occurred, and other aspects of the browser got worse.

Edge getting worse in a select area is the focus of a Reddit post that's gained a bit of traction. Reddit user NIVEA_GeForce shared a lengthy list of bugs, issues, and missing features related to touch on Edge.

The list includes a wide range of problems, such as swipe navigation not working correctly to bugs preventing menus from being opened on certain websites. It also lists several missing features, including the inability to select multiple tabs with touch and there not being an option to reorder toolbar and extension icons with touch.

Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden has been able to replicate some of these issues, but other items on the list work fine in his testing. The main takeaway is that there appears to be a lot of work to do when it comes to delivering a solid touch experience within Edge on Windows.

Here's the complete list from NIVEA_GeForce on Reddit:

• Touch is broken on many websites now in every Edge channel. Dropdown and hamburger menus don't respond with touch on many websites. Even on the Bing and Google homepage, top buttons, hamburger menu and dropdowns don't respond with touch. Also on Wikipedia, hamburger menus, language and profile dropdown don't respond with touch. This bug has been in Edge Canary and Dev channel since a few months ago, and has now been pushed to Beta and Stable.
• Swiping to navigate forward and back will occasionally just stop working completely, especially in PWAs.
• The context menu doesn't appear in Bing search results when you select text with touch. You can highlight text but that's it, no way to interact with it. Long pressing after selection just selects whatever word you long pressed on.
• Back/Forward (swipe left/right) touch gestures don't work on the right side of the new Split screen view.
• Workspaces can't be reordered with touch.
• When creating or renaming a tab group close to the bottom when using vertical tabs, its input box gets obscured by the touch keyboard.
• Long press with touch on horizontal tabs to bring up the context menu often doesn't work, but shows a stuck long press square.
• Long press with touch on vertical tabs doesn't work at all unless they are pinned, and also shows a stuck long press square.
• Long press with touch anywhere on the toolbar shows a stuck long press square.
• Title bar buttons (Minimize/Maximize/Restore/Close) stop working with touch when you use "Open all in new Window" on a Favorites folder with many tabs, or when certain extensions create a new window with many tabs, such as tabXpert. This was also an issue with the old Edge Workspaces feature.
• We can't drag tabs from single tabbed windows out of the window (It just fails to move) to another window with touch.
• Grabbing the window divider of the new split-screen feature to resize the splits, almost never works with touch.
• The 3 dots "..." in the toolbar at the top-right sometimes stops responding to touch, until I restart Edge.
• Scrolling favorites/collections pages with touch, often inadvertently moves the items around, since it doesn't adhere to Windows conventions.
• Often, when immediately typing on the touch keyboard after it shows up, it will inadvertently retract while you're typing.
• Tapping the address bar of a maximized Edge window with touch, often inadvertently restores the size of the window.
• Sometimes tapping the toolbar of a maximized Edge window inadvertently restores the size of the window.
• Sometimes in a maximized Edge window, when a context menu extends towards the top of the screen, tapping a context menu item with touch near the top, inadvertently restores the size of the window.
• Sometimes restoring the Edge window with touch, doesn't allow you to maximize it again, until you restart Edge.
• Edge windows don't properly retain their snaps when rotating the device from landscape to portrait orientation and back again, like in this video. https://youtu.be/S8vO1inHBb8?t=63
• The Downloads dialog (CTRL+J) is not touch friendly. The actions such as Pause/Cancel/Delete Files/etc don't show up until you tap it, making it easy to inadvertently do the wrong action.
• Text selection is unreliable and doesn't adhere to Windows conventions.
• In PWAs, the zoom buttons in "... -> More Tools -> Zoom -> +/-" don't work with touch.
• Swiping down from the top during full-screen is unreliable and inadvertently scrolls the page.
• CTRL+C/X/V/A etc, in the address bar inadvertently writes out the C/X/V/A characters.
• Vertical tabs bar often inadvertently expands when it shouldn't, if you're using touch.
• The Bing sidebar bar often inadvertently expands when it shouldn't, if you're using touch.
• Snapping Edge windows with touch sometimes doesn't properly line up, until you restart Edge.
• We can't rename "New Tab Page" items with touch, the touch keyboard dismisses before you can type.
• Find on Page, up and down buttons are too small and too close to the close button for touch.
• Touch keyboard obscures the input field while renaming vertical tab groups near the bottom.
• Touch keyboard obscures the input field while adding or editing favorite folders near the bottom, in the add favorites dialog.
• We can't easily copy the title of a selected link/url with touch, unlike Legacy Edge. There is Web Select now, but it's not as easy.
• We can't reorder toolbar/extension icons with touch.
• We can't select multiple tabs with touch.
• The "Details" and "Remove" links on the edge://extensions/ page don't respond to touch, as does the "View in Microsoft Edge Add-ons Store" on the details page of a particular extension.
• The "Details", "Pin to taskbar", "Pin to Start" links on the edge://apps/ page don't respond to touch.
• The 3 dots "..." on the edge://apps/ don't respond to single tap.
• When opening certain PDFs, the "This file has limited permissions. You may not have access to some features." bar can't be interacted with touch. You can't tap "View permissions" nor the X button to close the bar.
• Consider the option to hide the close buttons for non-active tabs, like it used to be in Legacy Edge. This prevents accidental closing of tabs with touchscreens, especially on small tablets.
• Consider adding touch gestures to switch between tabs, like on iPadOS. I'm currently using GestureSign as a workaround to switch between tabs and close and reopen closed tabs.
• Consider adding a site preview when long pressing a link, like Safari on iOS and iPadOS.
• Inking latency is way higher than it was in Legacy Edge.

Windows Central take

Microsoft has done some work in recent years to improve the touch experience on Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge, but I still think browsing on Windows is geared toward a mouse and keyboard. Issues like those shared by NIVEA_GeForce and bugs affect how well devices like the Surface Pro 9 can compete with the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9.

The browser is arguably the most important application on any device. While hundreds of millions of people will likely never touch the screen of their PC, those who use 2-in-1s and other computers with a touchscreen will run get frustrated by the touch experience in Edge.

Source

The Firefox 115.0.3 update for the stable channel should not be confused with the Firefox 115.0.3 update for the browser's ESR channel, which Mozilla released last week.

Mozilla revealed plans to migrate Firefox installations on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 devices to Firefox ESR recently. Microsoft stopped supporting the operating systems at the beginning of the year and many companies, including those that use Chromium as the source, have already stopped supporting the operating systems.

Mozilla has pledged continuous support for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 systems. First, by continuing to release stable Firefox updates for these operating systems, and then, after the release of Firefox 115, by migrating these installations to the Extended Support Release. Doing so allows Mozilla to continue supporting the operating systems until late 2024.

Firefox ESR is widely used by organizations, as the releases focus on stability and security, and not the integration of the latest features or user interface modifications.

The official Firefox 115.0.3 changelog lists just a single entry:  "Improved migration experience for users switching to the ESR release".

The linked bug report reveals details on the issue that Mozilla addressed in the release. According to the description, migration of Firefox Stable installations to Firefox ESR caused the creation of  anew client_id.

Mozilla notes here that the client ID is a randomly generated UUID that is used by the Firefox Health Report service. It is unclear if the issue would affect the migration itself, or if it would cause reporting problems only.

Firefox users who don't run the browser on Windows 8.1 or older systems do not require the update, as it does not affect them.

The update will start rolling out to the stable Firefox population later today, if you are reading this on July 27th, 2023. The next major Firefox release will be released on August 1, 2023.

Now You: do you run Firefox? If so, which channel?

Source

However, the company wanted to make a new OS that combined the graphical interface of Windows but could do more than what the 16-bit MS-DOS was capable of doing. The final result was Microsoft Windows NT 3.1, which 'went gold' (released to manufacturing) 30 years ago today, on July 27, 1993.

In addition to Windows NT 3.1, which was made for the enterprise and workstation market, Microsoft also launched a Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server, which was created for server computers, as the name indicates.

Yes, that does mean that today is also the 30th birthday of Windows Server. Microsoft even celebrates that milestone today with a blog post. The post stated:

This remarkable release, equipped with 32-bit architecture and boasting processor independence, ushered in a new era of computing capabilities. Among its prominent features were preemptive multitasking, multiprocessing, and multiuser support, which collectively elevated the standard of operating systems. Windows NT Server 3.1 laid the cornerstone for a multitude of subsequent Windows and Windows Server iterations.

According to the 1998 book Microsoft Secrets by authors Michael A. Cusumano and Richard W. Shelby, the genesis of Windows NT 3.1 started a few years earlier in 1988. At the time, Microsoft ruled the PC world with MS-DOS and the first early versions of Windows.

However, there were growing concerns from the company's co-founder Bill Gates and its chief technical officer Nathan Myhrvold that the combination of CPUs with RISC architectures and Unix operating systems could be a threat to Microsoft's hold on computing.

Gates hired Dave Cutler, who previously worked at DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) to lead the development of Windows NT 3.1. Originally, the plan was to work with IBM on a version of its OS/2 operating system. Also, the base CPU architecture for the new OS was the Intel i860, which was based on the RISC chip design.

However, Microsoft eventually decided to ditch its partnership with IBM and its OS/2 system, thanks in part to the success of Windows 3.0, which launched in 1990. A decision was also made to make the OS work with Intel chips that had its standard x86 architecture, which Intel has continued to support to this day.

The system requirements for Windows NT 3.1 for Intel x86 chips were pretty high for 1993. It needed a CPU with at least 25 MHz of clock speed, along with 12MB of RAM, 75MB of hard drive space, and a VGA graphics card.

The OS also could be used with PCs with processors that used the MIPS and DEC Alpha architectures.

Windows NT 3.1 could do a lot of things that the standard Windows operating systems of that era could not do. Today's blog post from Microsoft summarizes it best:

This remarkable release, equipped with 32-bit architecture and boasting processor independence, ushered in a new era of computing capabilities. Among its prominent features were preemptive multitasking, multiprocessing, and multiuser support, which collectively elevated the standard of operating systems. Windows NT Server 3.1 laid the cornerstone for a multitude of subsequent Windows and Windows Server iterations.

Sales of the OS were light to moderate. There was a lack of pure 32-bit applications that could run on Windows NT 3.1 at the time, and as we stated previously, the system requirements were on the high side at that time.

Despite this, the influence of this OS on future Microsoft Windows OS releases, including ones made for consumer PCs, continues to this day.

Source

The issue has been resolved with this latest update. The release notes mention the update was tested on Windows 11 build 22621.1992 which is the latest Patch Tuesday release:

Tested on OS build 22621.1992. Installer requires Internet connectivity.

Details

• Windows 10 Start menu: Fixed a bug that prevented the menu from working on OS builds 22621.1413 and newer (46c5041).

While the problem on Windows 10 is now fixed, Microsoft confirmed earlier that it's Windows 11 now which is having issues post the latest update, wherein the Start menu would fail to launch, with ExplorerPatcher installed. Other third-party apps may be affected as well.

The dev has detailed the issue separately too alongside their workarounds so if you are on the latest Windows 11 update and are having issues related to Pin to Start options, some of the solutions below may help:

Pin to Start from Start menu does not work

• Details: This problem seems to happen because the tile data store seems to have changed for the Windows 11 menu, while the Windows 10 Start menu still uses the old data store to display tiles. The Windows 10 Start menu has to be disassembled and studied in order to redirect operations on the old data store to the new data store.

• Workaround: Until this gets fixed properly, you can pin tiles to Start by dragging the application entry to the pinned tiles area.

Pinned tiles cannot be unpinned

• Details: This problem seems to happen because the tile data store seems to have changed for the Windows 11 menu, while the Windows 10 Start menu still uses the old data store to display tiles. The Windows 10 Start menu has to be disassembled and studied in order to redirect operations on the old data store to the new data store.

• Workaround: Until this gets fixed properly, you can unpin tiles by dragging the tile away and creating a new group with it. Then, right click the group heading and choose "Unpin group from Start".

Cannot pin programs that are not displayed in Start

• Details: This problem seems to happen because the tile data store seems to have changed for the Windows 11 menu, while the Windows 10 Start menu still uses the old data store to display tiles. The Windows 10 Start menu has to be disassembled and studied in order to redirect operations on the old data store to the new data store. Applications like File Explorer and the Start menu search panel 'talk' to the new data store, thus their "Pin to Start" options try to pin tiles to the Windows 11 Start menu, not the Windows 10 one.

• Workaround: Restart File Explorer using the relevant option in Properties. This ensures that no Control Panel windows are opened, which is relevant for this workaround. Then, click the "Pin tiles to Windows 10 Start menu from File Explorer" option in Properties - Start menu. A File Explorer window opens - use this window to browse to the item you want pinned to the Windows 10 Start menu. Once you identify the program, right click and choose "Pin to Start". The program will be pinned to Start. If it does not work, try again one more time. If you can find the program only using Search, right click on it there, choose "Open file location". In the window that opens, copy the address to the program and navigate to it using the special File Explorer window from which you can pin tiles.

You may find additional details about Start menu pinning on this GitHub page.

Source

Microsoft notes the issue on its Windows health dashboard stating:

After installing KB5028254 or later updates, the Start menu might not open on Windows devices with some third-party UI customization apps installed. The known affected third-party UI customization app is ExplorerPatcher but others might also be affected. These types of apps often use unsupported methods to achieve their customization and as a result can have unintended results on your Windows device.

Workaround: We recommend uninstalling any third-party UI customization app before installing KB5028254 to prevent this issue. If your Windows device is already experiencing this issue, you might need to contact customer support for the developer of the app you are using.

Next steps: If you are using any third-party UI customization app and encounter any issues, you will need to contact customer support for the developer of the app you are using.

Affected platforms:

Client: Windows 11, version 22H2
Server: None

As mentioned up top, this problem is not new and was affecting Windows 11 22H2 previously as well. Towards the end of February, earlier this year, when the Moment 2 update went live, the issue was first seen. This time though, it is Moment 3 which is affected. In related news, the tech giant was able to resolve another Start menu issue in late June, something it had been struggling with for a while.

Another issue affecting Windows 11, as well as Windows 10, at the moment, is a video codec problem, which you can find details about here.

Source

Here is the changelog:

Highlights

• This update makes brightness settings more accurate.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain display and audio devices. They are missing after your system resumes from sleep.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Widgets. They unpin from the taskbar when you do not expect it.
• This update addresses an issue that affects virtual private networks (VPN). There might be excessive Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests to the network gateway. This occurs when the VPN is on a wireless mesh network that uses an aggressive throttling algorithm. Because of this, network performance is poor.

Improvements

This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:

• New! This update affects the Handwriting Software Input Panel (SIP), the Handwriting Engine, and the Handwriting Embedded Inking Control. They now support GB18030-2022 conformance level 2. Because of this, they meet the level 3 requirements.
• This update addresses an issue in the Windows Notification Platform. The issue affects how much power your device uses.
• This update affects the Windows Push Notification Services (WNS). It makes the connection between the client and the WNS server more reliable.
• This update addresses an issue that affects hybrid joined devices. You cannot sign in to them if they are not connected to the internet. This occurs when you use a Windows Hello for Business PIN or biometric credentials. This issue applies to a cloud trust deployment.
• This update affects Windows Autopilot profiles. The process to download the Windows Autopilot policy is more resilient. This helps when a network connection might not be fully initialized. This update increases the retry attempts when you try to download the Windows Autopilot profile.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Event Forwarding Subscriptions. When you add an Event Channel to the subscription, it forwards events you do not need.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository. This causes an installation error. The issue occurs when a device does not shut down properly.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain CPUs. There is inconsistent reporting of the L2 cache.
• This update enhances hinting for some of the letters of the Verdana Pro font family.
• This update affects user mode printer drivers. They unload unexpectedly. This occurs when you print from multiple print queues to the same printer driver.
• This update affects text edit controls in XAML. You cannot edit the controls again after they become read only. This occurs when you use the new Microsoft Input Method Editor for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
• This update makes Narrator announce the “Change product key” label.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Defender Firewall Profile. It fails to automatically switch from a LAN that is trusted to a public network.
• This update makes Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a printing job. An unexpected Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) mode switch can cause the print job to abruptly stop. This occurs when there is an independent hardware vendor (IHV) driver.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain wireless wide area network (WWAN) devices. After every restart, a dialog reappears. It asks you to switch to embedded SIM (eSIM) even when you choose "No."
• This update addresses a deadlock in Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). When you configure servers with IPsec rules, they stop responding. This issue affects virtual and physical servers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the MPSSV service. The issues causes your system to restart repeatedly. The stop error code is 0xEF.
• This update affects the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). The issue copies unsigned WDAC policies to the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) disk partition. This partition is reserved for signed policies.
• This update addresses an issue that affects WDAC. The “Disabled: Script Enforcement” option might create audit events you do not need.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the fastfat file system driver. It stops responding because of a race condition.
• This update addresses an issue that affects I/O over Server Message Block (SMB). It might fail when you use the LZ77+Huffman compression algorithm.

If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22621.2061

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

Known issues - Applies to IT admins

Using provisioning packages on Windows 11, version 22H2 (also called Windows 11 2022 Update) might not work as expected. Windows might only be partially configured, and the Out Of Box Experience might not finish or might restart unexpectedly. Provisioning packages are .PPKG files which are used to help configure new devices for use on business or school networks. Provisioning packages which are applied during initial setup are most likely to be impacted by this issue. For more information on provisioning packages, please see Provisioning packages for Windows.

Note Provisioning Windows devices using Windows Autopilot is not affected by this issue.

Windows devices used by consumers in their home or small offices are not likely to be affected by this issue.

Workaround

If you can provision the Windows device before upgrading to Windows 11, version 22H2, this will prevent the issue.

We are presently investigating and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

How to get this update:

This is an optional update that only appears when you manually search for updates in the stable (production) version of Windows 11 22H2.

Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. After checking for updates, in the Optional updates available area, you’ll find the link to download and install the update.

You can check out the full support page here.

Source

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2115 and Build 22631.2115 (KB5028251) to the Beta Channel.

• Build 22631.2115 = New features rolling out.
• Build 22621.2115 = New features off by default.

The new build brings multiple fixes like one for the L2 cache on processors, I/O issue related to the SMB (server message block), resolves repeated restarts, and more. Microsoft says it is also looking into reports of File Explorer crashing. The full changelog is given below:

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2115

[Narrator]

• Narrator users who interact with Traditional Chinese characters are now able to do this with confidence while using Narrator and the IME candidate window in Windows. This was accomplished by creating a Traditional Chinese dictionary for detail reading. Narrator now consumes the dictionary to disambiguate each Traditional Chinese word. Users should be aware that Narrator detailed reading is only supported for the Taiwan language pack. The Hong-Kong language pack is not supported with Narrator.

Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.2115 & Build 22631.2115

• New! This update affects the Handwriting Software Input Panel (SIP), the Handwriting Engine, and the Handwriting Embedded Inking Control. They now support GB18030-2022 conformance level 2. Because of this, they meet the level 3 requirements.
• This update affects text edit controls in XAML. You cannot edit the controls again after they become read only. This occurs when you use the new Microsoft Input Method Editor for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
• This update affects the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain CPUs. There is inconsistent reporting of the L2 cache.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain wireless wide area network (WWAN) devices. After every restart, a dialog reappears. It asks you to switch to embedded SIM (eSIM) even when you choose “No.”
• This update affects user mode printer drivers. They unload unexpectedly. This occurs when you print from multiple print queues to the same printer driver.
• This update addresses an issue that affects hybrid joined devices. You cannot sign in to them if they are not connected to the internet. This occurs when you use a Windows Hello for Business PIN or biometric credentials. This issue applies to a cloud trust deployment.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). The issue copies unsigned WDAC policies to the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) disk partition. This partition is reserved for signed policies.
• This update addresses an issue that affects The “Disabled: Script Enforcement” option might create audit events you do not need.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a printing job. An unexpected Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) mode switch can cause the print job to abruptly stop. This occurs when there is an independent hardware vendor (IHV) driver.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain display and audio devices. They are missing after your system resumes from sleep.
• This update enhances hinting for some of the letters of the Verdana Pro font family.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the MPSSV service. The issues causes your system to restart repeatedly. The stop error code is 0xEF.
• This update makes brightness settings more accurate.
• This update affects Windows Autopilot profiles. The process to download the Windows Autopilot policy is more resilient. This helps when a network connection might not be fully initialized. This update increases the retry attempts when you try to download the Windows Autopilot profile.
• This update addresses an issue that affects I/O over Server Message Block (SMB). It might fail when you use the LZ77+Huffman compression algorithm.
• This update makes Narrator announce the “Change product key” label.
• This update affects the Windows Push Notification Services (WNS). It makes the connection between the client and the WNS server more reliable.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository. This causes an installation error. The issue occurs when a device does not shut down properly.
• This update addresses an issue in the Windows Notification Platform. The issue affects how much power your device uses.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Defender Firewall Profile. It fails to automatically switch from a LAN that is trusted to a public network.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Widgets. They unpin from the taskbar when you do not expect it.
• This update addresses an issue that affects virtual private networks (VPN). There might be excessive Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests to the network gateway. This occurs when the VPN is on a wireless mesh network. Because of this, network performance is poor.
• This update addresses a deadlock in Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). When you configure servers with IPsec rules, they stop responding. This issue affects virtual and physical servers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Event Forwarding Subscriptions. When you add an Event Channel to the subscription, it forwards events you do not need.
• This update makes Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the fastfat file system driver. It stops responding because of a race condition.

Known issues

[General]

• [NEW] We’re investigating reports that explorer.exe is crashing on the login screen (with an error pop up) when attempting to enter safe mode.

[File Explorer]

• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing File Explorer to crash when going to Home. If you encounter this when opening File Explorer, you may need to use Search or the Run dialog to open File Explorer directly to a specific folder (for example, C:).
• [NEW] In some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer may appear transparent.
• [NEW] In some cases, the icons on your desktop may all go blank. If this happens, using the refresh option in the desktop context menu should resolve it.

[Taskbar]

• We’re investigating reports that the safely remove hardware icon isn’t appearing when expected in the system tray.
• [NEW] As a reminder, while the settings for never combined mode for the taskbar are showing up under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors in this build, they currently do not enable the experience. This will be fixed in a future Beta Channel flight soon.

[Input]

• [NEW] We’re investigating reports that typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs is not working correctly after the last flight.

[Narrator]

• You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

You can find the official blog post here.

Source

Although Rufus 4.2 does not contain groundbreaking new features, it offers several notable changes, improvements, and fixes. For example, the app can warn users about revoked UEFI bootloaders.

This feature is related to changes in the Windows Boot Manager that will cause specific media to stop booting after Q1 2024 (find more information in the official documentation). Also, Rufus now supports ZIP64, allowing you to extract images larger than 4GB.

Finally, there is support for saving and restoring the current drive to or from compressed VHDX and FFU images, plus a bunch of bugfixes.

Here is the complete changelog published in the app's GitHub repository:

• Add detection and warning for UEFI revoked bootloaders (including ones revoked through SkuSiPolicy.p7b) (#2244)
• Add ZIP64 support, to extract .zip images that are larger than 4 GB (#2264)
• Add saving and restoring current drive to/from compressed VHDX image
• Add saving and restoring current drive to/from compressed FFU (Full Flash Update) image [EXPERIMENTAL]
• Fix a crash when trying to open Windows ISOs, with the MinGW compiled x86 32-bit version (#2272)
• Fix an issue where ISOs that contain a boot image with an EFI label are not detected as bootable (#2288)
• Increase the ISO → ESP limit for Debian 12 netinst images
• Ensure that the main partition size is aligned to the cluster size

You can download Rufus 4.2 from the official website or GitHub. Rufus is a great free utility every Windows user should have in their toolbox. If you are unfamiliar with the app, check out our guide describing how to create a bootable Windows media using Rufus.

Source

In an "X" post, Jordi Ribas, Microsoft's Head of Engineering and Product for Bing, revealed that the dark mode feature should be available for all Bing Chat and Search features "over the next few days".

In a follow-up post, Ribas stated that desktop Bing users can go to the hamburger menu at the top right on the Bing.com site. You can then go into the Appearance settings options, and then select the Dark option.

Microsoft has been working to add new features to Bing Chat over the past several months since the company first announced the generative AI feature. In recent "X" posts, Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, has offered some small updates on upcoming features.

One of them is the company's continuing testing to add Bing Chat in Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari, which we first reported was flighting to a small number of users back in June. This week, Parakhin gave us an update, stating, "Flighting to make sure we fixed the known issues, but plan an aggressive rollout."

He also mentioned that Microsoft is thinking about working on an "expert" for Bing Chat, His post stated, "Yes, we are contemplating a more sophisticated interface for the 'expert' users." Hopefully, we will learn when and if this mode might go live soon.

Source

The company already had confirmed it was a result of the recent security hardening for Office 2013 and Office 2016 under KB5002427 and KB5002432. On its health dashboard today, alongside highlighting a video codec issue on Windows, the company has published details about this problem too. It writes:

When clicking on links in emails in Microsoft Outlook, you might receive an error message with the text “Something unexpected went wrong with this URL”. Opening links in emails on Microsoft Outlook may also display an error stating "Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern. This location may be unsafe."

As a result of Microsoft Office security hardening changes, hyperlinks which contain fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address will display this message. This is due to protections released July 11, 2023.

Please note: This behavior is caused by a protection update in Outlook released July 11, 2023. It is not caused by Windows Updates.
Resolution: These messages are displayed as part of recent Office security changes. Details can be seen in KB article Outlook blocks opening FQDN and IP address hyperlinks after installing protections for Microsoft Outlook Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability released July 11, 2023.

In order to ensure continued access to files on FQDN or IP address paths, add those URLs to the Trusted Sites zone in accordance with Windows guidance. An Intranet site is identified as an Internet site when you use an FQDN or an IP address. This can be accomplished with the following steps:

1. Open the "Internet Properties" settings. This can be done in one of the following ways:

   1. Open "Control Panel" from the start menu and select "Internet Options" under "Network and Internet"

   2. On your keyboard, press and hold the Windows key, then press the letter S. In the search dialog that appears, type "Internet Properties" and select the first result.

2. Click the Security tab, then select Trusted Sites.

3. Under "Add this website to the zone", add the URL, UNC, FQDN path that you want to allow. For example, add: file://server.usa.corp.com

Note: If the entry you wish to add does not explicitly start with ‘https:’, you must first uncheck the ‘Require server verification (https) for all sites in this zone’ checkbox before it can be saved.

This workaround can also be deployed via group policy. See policy: \\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\Internet Control Panel\Security Page\Site to Zone Assignment List on the Group Policy Search site.

You can find more details about the security vulnerabilities the updates address on Microsoft's website.

Source

The group is called the Overture Maps Foundation, which was quietly formed in December 2022. Today's press release states that this public dataset release will be the first to help "enable current and next-generation interoperable open map products."

The press release states:

The collaboration is based on the premise that map data needs to be a shared asset to support future applications. As the requirements for accuracy, recency, and attribution in maps have grown to meet user needs, the costs and complexities of collecting and maintaining global map data have grown beyond the capability of any single organization.

This first dataset release has four layers of information. One is for places of interest, with the group stating it has "59 million POI records that have not previously been released as open data." The second layer contains "780 (million) unique buildings footprints worldwide". It includes information from Microsoft's own "AI-Generated building footprints".

The third layer includes a "worldwide road network derived from data in the OpenStreetMap project." Finally, the fourth data layer includes "national and regional administrative boundaries" that have been translated into over 40 languages.

Marc Prioleau, executive director of the Overture Maps Foundation, stated:

The Places dataset, in particular, represents a major, previously unavailable open dataset, with the potential to map everything from new businesses big and small to pop-up street markets located anywhere in the world.

The group says that future dataset releases will include more open data sources, including the "Global Entity Reference System, a system of stable IDs that allows data to be consistently added to features on the map." Anyone can send feedback on these releases on GitHub.

Source

On its health dashboard, Microsoft explains that the way to resolve this issue is to perform a Known Issue Rollback (KIR).

After installing KB5027303 or later updates, some apps might fail to playback, record, or capture video when using the WVC1 codec (VC-1). Certain cameras or webcams might also fail to work if they use the WVC1 codec by default.

Resolution: This issue is resolved using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices. Restarting your Windows device might help the resolution apply to your device faster. For enterprise-managed devices that have installed an affected update and encountered this issue, it can be resolved by installing and configuring a special Group Policy. The special Group Policy can be found in Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates ->

For information on deploying and configuring these special Group Policy, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback.

Group Policy downloads with Group Policy name:

• Download for Windows 11, version 22H2 - Windows 11 22H2 KB5027303 230528_03453 Known Issue Rollback

• Download for Windows 11, version 21H2 - Windows 11 (original release) KB5028245 230630_032045 Known Issue Rollback

• Download for Windows 10, version 22H2 - Windows 10 20H2, 21H1, 21H2 and 22H2 KB5028244 230627_173555 Known Issue Rollback

Important: You will need to install and configure the Group Policy for your version of Windows to resolve this issue. You will also need to restart your device(s) to apply the group policy setting.

Both Windows 10 (versions 21H2 and 22H2) and Windows 11 (versions 21H2 and 22H2) are affected by this bug.

Source

Sadly, the high idle power draw issue still remains even though the company had stated in the previous driver release notes that the issue was resolved. The full changelog for the new 23.7.2 driver is given below:

Fixed Issues

• Stuttering may be observed while playing Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II with Radeon™ Anti-Lag enabled.
• Intermittent corruption may be observed around some player models while playing Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 6900 XT.
• Higher than expected GPU Memory Utilization when using certain Record and Stream settings such as Instant Replay.
• Display signal may be lost after switching windows on certain Adaptive-Sync enable displays on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 7900 XTX.
• Audio may intermittently become out of sync with video when recording from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition with AVC and HEVC codecs.

Known Issues

• Performance Metrics Overlay may report N/A for FPS on various games.
• High idle power has situationally been observed when using select multi-display setups with mixed high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Intermittent corruption may be observed playing Rocket League™ with Bloom set to Off on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 6900 XT.
• Intermittent application hang for a few seconds may be observed while playing RuneScape™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 5700 XT.
• Application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Ratchet & Clank™: Rift Apart with Ray-Tracing and Dynamic Resolution Scaling enabled on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 7900 XTX.
• Audio may intermittently become out of sync with video when recording from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition with AV1 codec.

To download the 23.7.2 driver, head over to AMD's website to do so. You can also use the Radeon Adrenalin software to download it automatically. Go to the Settings menu and the option should be available right on the first page in the System section.

Source

If you haven’t updated to Windows 10/11 22H2, now is a good time because I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4.

This month’s updates have now settled down to the point that I don’t anticipate any issues for the vast majority of readers, nor have I seen any surprises in my testing on Windows 10 or Windows 11.

22H2 is now my recommended version of Windows for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 for all editions and all types of users — with the single exception of gamers.

Be aware that not a month goes by when I don’t see complaints of some kind in a Windows 11 forum from  a gamer (or others, for that matter). Remember that every time we install updates and reboot our systems, the reboot will often trigger the exposure of an underlying problem — it’s not necessarily the patch that caused the issue.

As always, don’t believe everything you may see on the Web regarding side effects.

Highlights

Consumer and home users

The .NET updates this month do not include any new security fixes, but they do include a fix for a side effect that mainly affects self-built applications. As a result of its impact on the business community, Microsoft is offering up these optional .NET updates. However, the reboot sequence isn’t quite right, and it triggers a reboot separately from the Windows updates. You may see two or three reboots this month. Nothing is wrong per se — it won’t hurt the operating system or your computer. Just be aware that you may see more reboots than normal this month.

On October 10, 2023, Windows 11 21H2 will stop being supported so will no longer receive security updates (see Microsoft’s Lifecycle announcement). Just as with prior versions of Windows, it’s time to utilize the various familiar tools to defer feature releases and to adjust them so that you will receive the 22H2 release. If you can’t remember whether you used a registry key or a group policy setting to keep your Windows 11 on 21H2, the simplest method is to use Steve Gibson’s excellent (and free) InControl tool to adjust the feature release to 22H2.

My one concern is for gamers running Windows 11. I’ve seen the security features in Windows 11 22H2 interact with some gaming software — in particular, some software used by gamers to cheat the game. My general recommendation for Windows 11 22H2 remains the same, but gamers may wish to defer 22H2 until the 21H2 drop-dead date in October is closer. Perhaps by then some of these issues will have been resolved.

Office issues

If you’ve been having issues with Outlook connecting to Yahoo mail, you may want to review a recent Microsoft 365 support post encouraging folks to install a preview to get an early fix for an issue where Yahoo mail and Outlook fight one another.

When adding a Yahoo IMAP account to Outlook Desktop, some users find that they are unable to generate an App Password. On the Yahoo Account Security page, the App Password Generator gives an error “Sorry, this feature is not available right now!”.

The fix for this issue, which includes OAuth support for Yahoo IMAP accounts, has been inserted into Outlook, starting with build 16308.10000 in the Office Beta Channel and Current Channel (Preview). So either opt into the beta channel, or just hang tight and use the Web version of Yahoo mail for a few weeks.

Anytime Outlook misbehaves, wait to see whether there is a fix from Microsoft. If you use add-ins with Outlook, look to see whether the add-in vendor has released an update. I use several add-ins at the office, monitoring my add-in vendors, such as Sperry Software, and checking for newer versions to install. With Office updates in particular, keep an eye on what version of Office you have.

KB915597 went crazy

For a day or two starting on July 16, users saw the Microsoft Defender update file installed over and over again. As noted in this Polish forum post, KB915597 went crazy, not you. Microsoft had to fix this issue. Sometimes you just need to wait for Microsoft to realize there is a problem that it alone can deal with.

Business users

I’m taking my own medicine this month by re-reading all Microsoft security patch release notes a few days after the updates are released. I’m recommending you make a point of doing the same.

Lately, Microsoft has been posting additional advice and clarifications that drastically change how we should evaluate an update. Case in point is CVE 2023 36884. In its original release, Microsoft indicated that we could add a rule only to block child processes or a registry key, and there was no update that would protect us from the zero-day attack. A day later, Will Dormann tweeted that he couldn’t reproduce the security vulnerability. Another day later, Microsoft acknowledged that Dormann was right and the newer versions of Office actually were not at risk for this attack. Although these older versions are the more stable and less disruptive versions, Will points out:

For those of you still on the (deprecated) Microsoft 365 Semi-Annual Channel, you do know that this makes you more vulnerable to exploitation, right? It happened with Follina CVE-2022–30190. It’s happening with CVE-2023-36884. It will happen again.

Thus you may want to weigh stable and boring against more at-risk, especially if you haven’t taken the mitigation techniques linked above.

Lesson for this month: Release notes can — and obviously will — change.

Resources

Source

Here is the changelog:

Highlights

This update addresses an issue that affects virtual private networks (VPN). There might be excessive Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests to the network gateway. This occurs when the VPN is on a wireless mesh network. Because of this, network performance is poor.

This update addresses an issue that affects certain display and audio devices. They are missing after your system resumes from sleep.

Improvements

This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:

• New! This update affects the Handwriting Software Input Panel (SIP), the Handwriting Engine, and the Handwriting Embedded Inking Control. They now support GB18030-2022 conformance level 2. Because of this, they meet the level 3 requirements.
• This update affects the Windows Push Notification Services (WNS). It makes the connection between the client and the WNS server more reliable.
• This update addresses an issue that affects UI Automation and caching mode.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Notification Platform. It fails to send notifications from applications to you.
• This update addresses an issue that affects hybrid joined devices. You cannot sign in to them if they are not connected to the internet. This occurs when you use a Windows Hello for Business PIN or biometric credentials. This issue applies to a cloud trust deployment.
• This update affects Windows Autopilot profiles. The process to download the Windows Autopilot policy is more resilient. This helps when a network connection might not be fully initialized. This update increases the retry attempts when you try to download the Windows Autopilot profile.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect Win32 and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. They might close when devices enter Modern Standby. Modern Standby is an expansion of the Connected Standby power model. This issue occurs if certain Bluetooth Phone Link features are turned on.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository. This causes an installation error. The issue occurs when a device does not shut down properly.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain CPUs. There is inconsistent reporting of the L2 cache.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Event Forwarding Subscriptions. When you add an Event Channel to the subscription, it forwards events you do not need.
• This update enhances hinting for some of the letters of the Verdana Pro font family.
• This update affects user mode printer drivers. They unload unexpectedly. This occurs when you print from multiple print queues to the same printer driver.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect your computer when you are playing a game. Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors might occur.
• This update affects text edit controls in XAML. You cannot edit the controls again after they become read only. This occurs when you use the new Microsoft Input Method Editor for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
• This update makes Narrator announce the “Change product key” label.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Defender Firewall Profile. It fails to automatically switch from a LAN that is trusted to a public network.
• This update makes Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date.
• This update addresses a deadlock in Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). When you configure servers with IPsec rules, they stop responding. This issue affects virtual and physical servers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the MPSSV service. The issues causes your system to restart repeatedly. The stop error code is 0xEF.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a Clustered Shared Volume (CSV). The CSV fails to come online. This occurs if you enable BitLocker and local CSV managed protectors, and the system recently rotated the BitLocker keys.
• This update addresses an issue that causes Windows to fail. This occurs when you use BitLocker on a storage medium that has a large sector size.
• This update affects the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the fastfat file system driver. It stops responding because of a race condition.
• This update addresses an issue that affects refsutil.exe. Options, like salvage and leak, do not work properly on Resilient File System (ReFS) volumes.
• This update addresses an issue that affects I/O over Server Message Block (SMB). It might fail when you use the LZ77+Huffman compression algorithm.

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22000.2237

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

There are no known issues with this new release. You can check out the entire support page here.

Source

Users discovered the first traces of virtual desktop improvements several months ago. They include an indicator with the current desktop name and "sliding animations" when switching between desktops. Those things are now official, as stated in the announcement blog post:

[ADDED 7/21] When navigating between desktops in Task View, labels will be shown. New sliding animations will also show when you change your desktops using trackpad gestures, touch gestures, hotkeys and by clicking on the Task View flyout. These changes are beginning to roll out, so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel will see them right away.

Microsoft is gradually rolling out new features for virtual desktops, so one may still need the ViVeTool app to force-enable them after installing build 23506. Check out this article to find the necessary IDs.

Here is a list of keyboard shortcuts to help you get started with the virtual desktop feature:

• Win + Tab - Open Task View and show virtual desktops.
• Win + Ctrl + D - Create a new virtual desktop.
• Win + Ctrl + Arrow Left/Right - Switch between desktops.
• Win + Ctrl + F4 - Close the current virtual desktops.
• You can also navigate between virtual desktops using a three-finger gesture on a trackpad or touchscreen.

In my recent article, you can find more useful productivity-boosting shortcuts, where I detail eleven shortcuts I cannot use my PC without.

Source

The full changelog for Build 19045.3271 (KB5028244) is given below:

Highlights

• This update addresses an issue that might affect your computer when you are playing a game. Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors might occur.

• This update addresses an issue that affects certain display and audio devices. They are missing after your system resumes from sleep.

• This update addresses an issue that might affect some VPN clients. They might not establish a connection.

• This update addresses an issue that affects the Search app. It opens in full screen, blocks additional Start menu actions, and you cannot close it.

   

Improvements

This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:

• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Notification Platform. It fails to send notifications from applications to you.

• This update addresses an issue that affects hybrid joined devices. You cannot sign in to them if they are not connected to the internet. This occurs when you use a Windows Hello for Business PIN or biometric credentials. This issue applies to a cloud trust deployment.

• This update affects Windows Autopilot profiles. The process to download the Windows Autopilot policy is more resilient. This helps when a network connection might not be fully initialized. This update increases the retry attempts when you try to download the Windows Autopilot profile.

• This update addresses an issue that might affect Win32 and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. They might close when devices enter Modern Standby. Modern Standby is an expansion of the Connected Standby power model. This issue occurs if certain Bluetooth Phone Link features are turned on.

• This update addresses an issue that affects Event Forwarding Subscriptions. When you add an Event Channel to the subscription, it forwards events you do not need.

• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository. This causes an installation error. The issue occurs when a device does not shut down properly.

• This update affects user mode printer drivers. They unload unexpectedly. This occurs when you print from multiple print queues to the same printer driver.

• This update enhances hinting for some of the letters of the Verdana Pro font family.

• This update affects text edit controls in XAML. You cannot edit the controls again after they become read only. This occurs when you use the new Microsoft Input Method Editor for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.

• This update addresses an issue that affects a printing job. An unexpected Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) mode switch can cause the print job to abruptly stop. This occurs when there is an independent hardware vendor (IHV) driver.

• This update makes Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date.

• This update addresses a deadlock in Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). When you configure servers with IPsec rules, they stop responding. This issue affects virtual and physical servers.

• This update affects the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.

• This update addresses an issue that causes Windows to fail. This occurs when you use BitLocker on a storage medium that has a large sector size.

• This update addresses an issue that affects I/O over Server Message Block (SMB). It might fail when you use the LZ77+Huffman compression algorithm.

   

You can find the official support article here.

Source

Source

• Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabled.
• Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 enabled with Ubuntu installed.
• Windows Terminal installed.
• Developer mode enabled (the recently announced Dev Home Preview app is not there yet).

Windows 11 development environment version 2307 is based on Windows 11 build 22621.1992, the latest stable Windows 11 release that includes Patch Tuesday updates for July 2023. Virtual machines are available in four formats: VMWare (supports Workstation Pro and Workstation Player), Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels. Downloading WDE in one of those formats lets you set up a Windows 11-based virtual machine with just a few clicks.

Still, several limitations are worth noting. Although Microsoft's virtual machines are free for download and use, they are only valid for 90 days. According to the official website, WDE version 2307 will expire on October 10, 2023 (expect a newer version with a new expiration date next month). Also, you cannot activate a WDE—Microsoft says these do not support activation with a product key. Finally, Windows 11 development environment is x86-only, and Microsoft does not plan to provide developers with an ARM version.

If you want to try Windows 11 development environment, head to the official website and click one of four available formats. Before installing, make sure you have a minimum of 8GB of RAM and 70GB of free disk space. Microsoft also provides "clean" Windows Enterprise evaluation images without extra software installed. You can download them here (Windows 11) and here (Windows 10).

Source

Microsoft also rolled out Office security updates alongside these. The ones for Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016, KB5002432 and KB5002427 respectively, broke a functionality where clicked URLs would not launch and display an error message or a security notice pop-up. In its support article. Microsoft explains:

When you click on links in emails in Outlook Desktop where the path is to a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address you may see the following:

• An Outlook warning dialog with the error “Something unexpected went wrong with this URL”

• Silent failure for the untrusted file.

Microsoft has also provided a way to resolve the issue which essentially involves adding those URLs to the Trusted sites zone in Windows Settings:

In order to ensure continued access to files on FQDN or IP address paths add those URLs to the Trusted Sites zone in accordance with Windows guidance, Intranet site is identified as an Internet site when you use an FQDN or an IP address.

1. Go to Windows Settings.

2. Search for and open Internet Options.

3. Click the Security tab, then select Trusted Sites.

4. Add the URL, UNC, FQDN path that you want to allow to "Add this website to the zone". For example, add file://server.usa.corp.com

There are a couple of things to note regarding this workaround:

Warning: This workaround may make a computer or a network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. Make sure the FQDN or IP address you add to Trusted Sites is a valid URL path for your company or network.

Note: If the entry you wish to add does not explicitly start with ‘https:’, you must first uncheck the ‘Require server verification (https) for all sites in this zone’ checkbox before it can be saved.

You can find the official support article here.

Source

However, it is not unfair to say that most of the enthusiast kind don't really find it too appealing. Searches about removing the Recommended content from the Start menu is generally a top result on Google, which shows that there are certainly quite a few out there that don't like it. Neowin has also published a guide on that if you want to check it out.

And if you are wondering, there is a good reason why some users are so annoyed by it. Microsoft added recommended websites under this section, something which it removed in a consequent build. However, the recommended websites was not dead yet as the tech giant brought it back again in May this year where webpages were suggested to users. And Microsoft has been experimenting with a Settings menu toggle that will shove even more recommendations for new apps, tips, shortcuts, and such.

Finally, though, it looks like Microsoft may have hit gold. Some of the most recent Dev Channel builds now show details about a file when you hover over it with the mouse. The change was spotted by Windows enthusiast and Twitter user PhantomOcean3.

As you can see in the image above, when hovering over a recently created text file named "ttt", the pop-up shows details about the file, like its location and its date of creation, a feature that certainly seems to be something that more users, especially enthusiasts, will find helpful and appreciate more.

Source: PhantomOcean3 (Twitter)

Source

Let's take a look at the update expected to arrive this fall.

What's new on Windows 11 23H2?

Windows 11 23H2 is the next major update for Windows 11, scheduled to be released in the fall of 2023. This update will include a number of new features and improvements, including:

• Windows Copilot
• Enhanced volume mixer
• New power consumption page
• New text selection and editing voice access commands
• New VPN status icon
• Ability to display seconds in the system tray clock
• Convenient copy button for two-factor authentication codes

Windows Copilot

Windows Copilot is one of the most notable new features in Windows 11 23H2. This AI assistant can help users with tasks like typing, editing, and navigating the operating system.

Windows Copilot can be used to:

Complete tasks: Windows Copilot can help you complete tasks by suggesting words and phrases as you type.

Navigate the operating system: Windows Copilot can help you navigate the operating system by suggesting app names and settings as you speak.

Edit text: Windows Copilot can help you edit text by suggesting corrections and suggestions as you type.

Enhanced volume mixer

The enhanced volume mixer in Windows 11 23H2 is a more powerful and versatile way to control your audio. This new volume mixer allows you to:

Customize audio on a per-app basis: You can now customize the volume for each app individually, so that you can have different levels of volume for different apps.

Switch devices on the go: You can now switch audio devices on the fly, so that you can easily switch between speakers, headphones, and other devices.

Get more detailed information about your audio: The enhanced volume mixer also provides more detailed information about your audio, such as the name of the app that is currently playing audio and the volume level of the app.

New power consumption page

The new power consumption page in Windows 11 23H2 provides you with more information about how your apps are using power. This page shows you how much power each app is using, so that you can identify apps that are using too much power and take steps to conserve power.

New text selection and editing voice access commands

The new text selection and editing voice access commands in Windows 11 23H2 make it easier for users to interact with their computers using their voice.

These new commands allow you to select text, edit text, and navigate the operating system using your voice.

Other new features

In addition to the features mentioned above, Windows 11 23H2 also includes a number of other new features, such as:

A new VPN status icon: A new VPN status icon in the system tray that makes it easy to see the status of your VPN connection.

The ability to display seconds in the system tray clock: The ability to display seconds in the system tray clock.

A convenient copy button for two-factor authentication codes: A convenient copy button for two-factor authentication codes that makes it easier to enter codes when you're logging in to websites and apps.

Windows 11 23H2 release date

The release date for Windows 11 version 23H2 has not been officially announced by Microsoft yet. However, it is expected to be in fall 2023, probably around September or October, close to the launch of new Surface devices.

Microsoft has been promising major updates for Windows 11 once a year, so this update is likely to follow a similar timeframe as the previous one, which rolled out in September 2022.

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Lots of people who work on PCs love using keyboard shortcuts on certain apps. Many use them for accessibility reasons, while others just prefer typing on the keyboard versus using a mouse or a touchscreen. Today, there are some new keyboard shortcuts to try out when you access Microsoft Word on the web.

In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, Microsoft stated:

Up until now, you could only select and navigate between graphics in Word for the web using your mouse or trackpad. However, keyboard shortcuts are key to ensuring that every customer can use the app and all of the features it offers.

If you use Word on the web, just open it up and open a document that has at least one image or graphic embedded in the body of the document. You can then type in Ctrl+Alt+G on a Windows PC or type Cmd+Alt+G on a Mac PC, and that image gets selected.

For documents with more than one image or graphic, you can now use the Tab key to navigate to the next image file. You can also press Shift+Tab to go back to the previous image you selected.

Microsoft also offers some nice tips and tricks to use with these features:

• Pressing Ctrl+Alt+G will always select the first graphic in the document no matter where your current selection is.
• The Ctrl+Alt+G shortcut works for all graphic types, including inline and floating.
• Image navigation does not cross regions. For example, if you are in the header or footer, image navigation will stay within those areas.

The best part is that you don't have to be a member of the Microsoft 365 Insider program to use this. The new keyboard shortcuts for selecting and navigating through embedded images and graphics are available right now for all Microsoft Word on the web users.

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