Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6682 (KB5065782) to the Dev Channel for Windows Insiders on Windows 11, version 25H2.
Changes in Dev Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.
Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*
[Click to Do (Preview)]
The following changes and improvements are rolling out for Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs:
- Copilot prompt box: The new Copilot prompt box in Click to Do is designed to streamline user interaction with Microsoft Copilot. This enhancement helps save time and allows users to type a custom prompt directly into a text box, which is then sent to Copilot along with your selected content on screen. Suggested prompts appear below the text box as well, powered locally by Phi-Silica (supported for text selections only and English, Spanish, and French). This change is not yet rolling out to Windows Insiders in the EEA (European Economic Area) or China.
- New visual animations for the right edge gesture in Click to Do: These new visual animations are designed to give you a clear visual cue as you swipe and follow your finger for a more delightful, intuitive experience. These animations help you better understand the gesture’s intent, making interactions feel more purposeful.
- New and popular action tags: New and popular action tags to the context menu in Click to Do are designed to help you discover our newest and most popular AI-powered actions available to use.
- The output from the Summarize action for text entities in Click to Do should start to feel even more brief and concise as we continue to tune for improvements.
[Start menu]
- We are trying out a small change in the Recommended section of the Start menu where we will show examples of prompts that you can try using in the Copilot app such as creating an image with Copilot.
[Emoji]
The Emoji 16.0 release introduces a small but thoughtfully curated set of new emojis—one from each major category—designed to resonate across cultures and contexts. Each emoji carries timeless symbolism and practical versatility. With this build, you will see these new emoji available in the emoji panel.
- Face with Bags Under Eyes: Captures exhaustion or the need to rest.
- Fingerprint: Identity or security.
- Root Vegetable: Represents healthy eating and gardening.
- Leafless Tree: Symbolizes winter, emptiness, or dormancy.
- Harp: A timeless musical icon with ancient roots.
- Shovel: Useful for gardening or metaphorically digging out of trouble.
- Splatter: Expressive and fun.
[Gaming]
- We have made some improvements for using Xbox game controllers for gaming on Windows 11. Short pressing the Xbox button opens Game Bar. A new change we’re introducing is when you long press the Xbox button, it will open Task View. Pressing and holding the Xbox button continues to turn off the game controller.
[Narrator]
We’ve made several improvements to ensure Narrator delivers smoother, more reliable experience when working with documents in Word. These updates focus on making reading, writing, and editing more natural and efficient.
- More natural voice feedback: Narrator no longer raises pitch dramatically when announcing headings or grammar/spelling errors, making the experience smoother and less distracting when using Natural Voices.
- Better footnote navigation: You can now navigate a document via footnotes and clearly hear the footnote number, helping you stay oriented while reading or editing documents with references.
- Reliable continuous reading: Narrator will no longer stop unexpectedly during long passages of text. Continuous reading now flows smoothly from start to finish.
- Improved comment reading: Narrator now correctly tracks focus when moving from the document canvas into the comments pane, so you can review and read comments without losing context
Creating & Consuming List
- Coherent and consistent announcements: Narrator now reads lists in a consistent manner across surfaces and navigation methods. List entities such as style and level will be announced as per the chosen verbosity to ensure users have context about the formatting and their position in the list.
- Complete list reading: Narrator will no longer cut off when a list item continues onto the next line — the entire content is announced properly.
- Navigation List Items: You can now navigate Up and down from one list item to another using Ctrl + Up/Down keys.
Creating & Consuming Tables
- Easier navigation commands: Narrator now supports quick navigation in Scan Mode to the first or last cell in a row or column, helping users move through tables more efficiently. You can navigate using the following commands:
- Beginning of Row – Ctrl + Alt + comma
- End of Row – Ctrl + Alt + period
- Beginning of Column – Ctrl + Alt + Shift + comma
- End of Column – Ctrl + Alt + Shift + period
- Clearer guidance at table boundaries: When navigating with the Tab key inside an editable table, Narrator now provides an announcement when reaching the last cell. This prevents confusion and accidental row additions.
- Less confusing entry announcements: Narrator no longer announces “entering table” twice when moving across cells. You’ll now hear this feedback only once, making it easier to track whether you’re still inside the same table.
- Better feedback during selection: Narrator now make clear announcements as you select one or more cells across row and columns or both. It also clearly announces when a text selection extends across multiple cells, so you know exactly how much content they’ve selected.
- Awareness of non-uniform tables: Narrator now alerts users if a table is non-uniform (for example, missing cells in certain rows or columns), giving important context about table structure.
[Settings]
- After being temporarily disabled, Advanced Settings is rolling out again to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels. However, we have temporarily removed the long path and virtual workspaces options to address some issues.
[Other]
- We’re introducing a simple reminder that appears as a SCOOBE screen (Second Chance Out of Box Experience) to let you know your Microsoft subscription needs attention (for example, if a renewal payment didn’t go through). In just a few clicks, you can review and update your payment method and keep your subscription benefits uninterrupted.
Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*
[General]
- Fixed an issue causing some PCs to bugcheck (green screen) while hibernating after the latest flights. This may have made it look like hibernation had shut down your PC. This issue is believed to also be the cause of some Insiders finding that shutdown had hung and would sit on a black screen with a fan noise.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
- Did some work to help improve reliability of taskbar hiding and unhiding when the setting “automatically hide the taskbar” is enabled. As part of this work, the animation may be smoother for you now. As a reminder – if an app has an alert (the orange highlight on the app icon) then the taskbar will show.
- Fixed a couple issues which could lead to you not being able to interact with apps or the desktop in the area directly above the taskbar.
[File Explorer]
- Fixed an issue for some users, where the Shared section in File Explorer Home might be visible even if there was no content to display.
- Fixed an issue which was Fixed an issue where File Explorer was unexpectedly not showing thumbnails for video files containing certain EXIF metadata.
- Fixed an issue where interacting with the context menu in File Explorer could lead to the body of File Explorer becoming unresponsive to clicks.
- Fixed an issue which could lead to certain apps hanging when launching the Open or Save Dialog.
[Lock and Login screens]
- Fixed an issue which could cause the lock screen to crash when interacting with the power button in the latest builds.
[Start menu]
- Fixed an underlying issue which was causing Start menu to dismiss if you tried to use WIN + Shift + S to take a screenshot of it.
- Fixed an issue impacting Start menu reliability in the latest builds.
- Fixed an issue which was causing Start menu to randomly scroll back up to the top sometimes.
[Windows Sandbox]
- Fixed an issue for Windows Sandbox users which could lead to the vmmemCmFirstBoot process consuming large amounts of CPU after login, causing your PC to potentially become unresponsive.
[Search]
- We did some work to help reduce instances where search may get stuck in a loading state.
[Settings]
- Fixed an issue which could lead to Settings crashing when interacting with Settings > System > Optional Features.
[Voice Access]
- Fixed an issue which could result in Voice Access not working, showing error 9001.
[Windows Hello]
- Fixed an issue where booting into safe mode wasn’t working, with a message saying “Something happened and your PIN isn’t available” for some people.
- Fixed an issue where Windows Hello Pin setup might fail with error 0x80090010 on Entra-domain joined devices that had installed the latest updates.
[Other]
- If the ability to move the hardware indicators disappeared for you after the last flight, it should be back now.
Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel
[General]
- This update addresses an issue that affects audio in apps using the Network Device Interface (NDI). Audio stutters when Display Capture is on in OBS Studio Application. This could occur after installing the latest updates.
Known issues
[Click to Do]
- [NEW] Launching Click to Do on your primary display via right-edge gesture will result in the swipe visuals appearing on the incorrect display. The issue is being investigated.
[Lock and login screens]
- [NEW] We’re investigating an issue in this build where the media controls may not display on the lock screen.
[Windows Studio Effects]
- [NEW] For some classes of external webcams, turning on “Use Windows Studio Effects” in the advanced camera setting may result in a camera preview failure. This is due to a compatibility issue with the camera firmware and is being addressed with a future update. In the meantime, if you are impacted by this issue, turn off Windows Studio Effects inside the camera settings.
[For developers]
- PIX on Windows is unable to play back GPU captures on this OS version. This will be addressed by a new PIX release, estimated to arrive by the end of September. In the meantime, if you are impacted, you can use the “Send Feedback” button in PIX or contact us on the DirectX Discord server and we can help provide private builds.
[Settings]
- [NEW] The placeholder text in the Settings search box may appear vertically misaligned.
[Audio]
- Some Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels are experiencing an issue where audio stops working and Device Manager shows one or more devices with a yellow exclamation mark, including “ACPI Audio Compositor” and others. Selecting Properties on these devices will show “Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing.” If you are impacted by this issue, you can follow these instructions to get back into a working state:
- Right-click on the device with a yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager and select “Update driver”.
- Choose “Browse my computer for drivers” and then “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer”.
- Select the driver from the list with the most recent date and click “Next”. If you are presented with a list of common hardware types instead of one or more specific drivers, this device is not related to this issue.
- This device should be repaired and no longer show a yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager. If it continues to show a yellow exclamation mark, the yellow exclamation mark is not related to this issue.
- Repeat these steps for each device with a yellow exclamation mark.
[Xbox Controllers]
- Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.
Microsoft Store Update
Windows Insiders running version 22508.1401.x.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvement rolling out:
Microsoft Store’s AI Hub is getting a new addition: Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents! Clicking on the agent cards will directly launch Microsoft 365 Copilot where you can explore the deeper capabilities of each agent. These include the Prompt, Writing, Idea, Career and Learning coaches as well as Analyst and Researcher. The cards will be shown to users with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app installed and are subject to availability based on subscription tier.
Launching apps provided and updated by publishers: In previous months, we rolled out the capability to update apps that are provided and updated by publishers. Starting with this Microsoft Store update, you’ll be able to launch these types of apps directly from the product page or from the downloads page if the app supports it.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.
Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel
- Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel receive updates based on Windows 11, version 25H2 via an enablement package (Build 26220.xxxx).
- Many features in the Dev Channel are rolled out using Controlled Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
- For Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready.
- Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
- Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
- Please note that some accessibility features may not work with features like Recall and Click to Do while in preview with Windows Insiders.
- Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
- Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
Thanks,
Amanda & Brandon
Source: https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/09/12/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-26220-6682-dev-channel/
