Windows 11 build 23526 outs in Dev Channel

Windows 11 build 23526 is now rolling out in the Dev Channel.
The update rolls out with changes for the Start menu, Cast, and Windows Narrator.
This release also fixes a slew of problems and rolls out various improvements.

Microsoft is making available Windows 11 build 23526 for devices in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program. In this release, the company is rolling out a slew of fixes and improvements for existing features.

Build 23526 for Windows 11, according to the official changes, the Start menu will now show a different thumbnail preview instead of a blank page for files that the system can’t show a rich thumbnail preview.

Start new preview for non-content files / Image: Microsoft

As part of the Cast improvements, the Quick Settings flyout will now show an option support option in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

Cast find device option / Image: Microsoft

Finally, for the Windows Narrator, Windows 11 build 23526 introduces some changes. For example, in this release, the development team has changed the default verbosity level from 2 to 3, which will now announce “Immediate Context Name and Type.” The Control context type like “list” or “toolbar” will allow users to better understand the focused control. Also, users are now unblocked from typing Traditional Chinese characters in Windows by the addition of a Traditional Chinese dictionary for detailed reading.

In the Braille side, the company notes that when navigating to any attachment in Outlook with scan mode, the narrator announces the “&” of the attachment. The same is now reflected on the braille display. If you navigate to different headings in Scan Mode using the down arrow or “Space + 4” key in Braille device, now navigating to the heading is reflected in Braille. Finally, when navigating a list with items, whenever the Windows Narrator announces the index with the menu item name, Braille display also reflects the same index values as “1 of 4.”

Windows 11 build 23526 new fixes

This flight also ships with a bunch of fixes and improvements for the Start menu, Taskbar, File Explorer, Dev Drive, HDR backgrounds, and Narrator.

Start menu

Fixed an issue that was making the System label in Start’s all apps list the wrong color in high contrast themes.

Fixed an issue where if you attempt to uninstall certain apps, it would just open Settings and not navigate to the Installed Apps page.

Taskbar

Fixed an issue where the taskbar wasn’t loading for some Insiders when logging into their PC after installing the previous build.

Disabled the setting for uncombining taskbar buttons on other screens by default when no secondary monitors are connected.

Fixed an issue where if the taskbar was set to uncombined it would still show animations even if they’d been turned off.

Fixed an issue where app icons on the taskbar would become empty (with no icon) in recent Insider builds after switching between desktops.

Fixed an issue where the hidden icons flyout might close unexpectedly when using keyboard navigation to move focus between icons.

Fixed an issue where using drag to rearrange icons in the overflow area wasn’t working well when the taskbar was set to uncombined.

Fixed an issue where the new bell icon might be very difficult to see in some cases because it was using a dark outline when your taskbar was dark.

Fixed an issue where if you had enabled the End Task option in the taskbar, the setting wouldn’t persist across upgrades.

Fixed an issue where after upgrading the Bluetooth icon in the system tray might not display in the system tray after upgrade even though your PC supported Bluetooth and the Bluetooth options were shown in Settings.

File Explorer

Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash when launching or interacting with File Explorer in the last couple flights.

Fixed an issue where using the Reset Folders button in Folder Options could cause explorer.exe to crash.

Fixed an issue where the chevrons in the File Explorer address bar were pointing in the wrong direction if your display language was set to Arabic or Hebrew.

Fixed an issue where saving files to OneDrive locations in File Explorer could take a very long time, making it seem like the app you were saving from had become unresponsive, in the latest Insider builds.

Fixed an issue where the context menu and dropdown menus in File Explorer weren’t working with touch.

Made another fix for the issue causing the context menu and dropdown menu backgrounds to be transparent.

Fixed an issue where the menu shown when doing a right click drag on one of the newly supported archive formats didn’t have an extract option like it does for zip files.

Dev Drive

Fixed an issue where Dev Drives might not auto-mount after upgrading to a new build, causing apps that tried to access them to not work.

Improved error messages if Dev Drives fail to format.

Fixed an issue related to the use of Dev Drives which could cause a bugcheck with an INVALID DATA TRAP on upgrade (and then the upgrade would roll back).

HDR backgrounds

Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

Windows Narrator

Fixed an issue where Narrator was not reading various list items in a combo box on various web pages when navigating with up and down arrow.

Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly announcing combo boxes as read-only even when users could actually select different values from the combo box list items.

Addressed the issue where Narrator was not announcing the checked and unchecked status of radio buttons but was announcing selected for every item.

Fixed an issue where Narrator was announcing older information while navigating in date/time picker using arrow keys .

Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading contents of previous cell and the current cell when navigating in a table using right and left arrow keys.

Fixed an issue where Narrator is incorrectly reading older Window title even after navigating to inner control.

Fixed an issue where Narrator is reading entire paragraph when up arrow is invoked in online word document.

Fixed an issue where Narrator was incorrectly reading out last word of previous paragraph when a new paragraph started with a punctuation mark.

Fixed a bug where Narrator was not announcing the character being deleted when using backspace key in some text fields on the web.

Fixed an issue in narrator where while entering any number in CVV edit field, Narrator should only announce as “hidden”, instead of “CVV edit, hidden new line selected”.

Fixed an issue where Narrator is not able to detect different headings on some web pages in scan mode while using “h” key to navigate.

Fixed an issue where Narrator scan mode arrow navigation skipped first item in container.

Fixed an issue, where Narrator is skipping the first item after navigating via landmark using “d” key in scan mode.

Fixed an issue where Narrator focus did not move past the first check box if there was a list of check boxes when using up and down arrow key in scan mode.

Fixed an issue where Narrator was not activating combo box when navigating using up and down arrow and using enter/spacebar to activate it in scan mode.

Fixed an issue where Narrator would collapse the combo boxes in scan mode when navigating with up and down arrows.

Fixed an issue where navigation commands are not executed as expected in a dialog box when you enter the dialog the second time.

Fixed an issue where Narrator find was not working consistently on web pages when using Narrator key + Ctrl + F key combination.

Input

Fixed an issue where typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs may not have performed as expected in certain apps in the last few flights when you had selected the option to use the previous version of the IME.

Fixed an issue where when inking into a text field, if you were writing in Chinese, certain characters were being perceived as taps and not working.

Fixed an issue where inking into a text field while magnifier was running was not working well as the ink was offset.

Other changes

Fixed an issue where removing a monitor while connected to a Cloud PC could result in a black screen with only a mouse visible in recent builds.

Made some fixes to improve how the Share dialog worked with screen readers, as well as addressing some other accessibility issues.

Install build 23526

If you want to download and install the Windows 11 build 23526, enroll your device in the Dev Channel using the “Windows Insider Program” settings from the “Windows Update” section.

Once you enroll the computer in the program, you can download build 23526 from the “Windows Update” settings by clicking the “Check for Updates” button. However, you will need a device that meets the minimum system requirements to receive the update if you are new to the Windows Insider Program.