Windows 11 build 23516 outs in Dev Channel

Windows 11 build 23516 is now rolling out in the Dev Channel.
The update rolls out with changes for Cast, HDR desktop wallpapers, and Voice Access.
This release also addresses a bunch of issues with the operating system

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 build 23516 for computers in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program. In this release, the company is making available a slew of fixes and improvements for existing features.

Build 23516 for Windows 11, according to the official changes, introduces changes to the Cast feature with new discoverability tweaks and makes the experience easier to use. You can now set JXR images as desktop background. The Voice Access feature is now accessible from more places, and the Windows Narrator Natural Voices expands to French, Portuguese, English (India), German, and Korean languages.

In addition, Windows 11 build 23516 rolls out various improvements for Presence Sensing, and File Explorer shows more information about files in the Details pane.

Finally, build 23516 also ships with a bunch of fixes for File Explorer, Dynamic Lighting, Input, and Taskbar.

Windows 11 build 23516 new features

Here are all the new features and improvements for the latest release of Windows 11 in the Dev Channel:

Cast

Starting with build 23516, Windows 11 introduces various changes for Cart, which is the feature that allows you to wirelessly extend your display to another nearby computer, TV, or other external displays.

The company says that it’s improving discoverability and making it easier to use by adding a suggestion to use Cast with a toast notification when it detects that you’re doing multitasking activities, such as often switching between windows to complete a task or using Snap Assist.

In addition, the feature will provide inline guidance within the Cast flyout in Quick Settings to install the Wireless Display optional feature and offer better discoverability of the computer to other devices through the “Projecting to this PC” settings page.

HDR wallpapers

Windows 11 now has the ability to use JXR files as desktop backgrounds, and if you have an HDR display, they will render in full HDR.

If you have multiple displays attached to your device, the background will show as HDR or SDR, depending on each display’s capabilities. This makes it possible for your device to intelligently dim your screen when you look away and brighten it again when you look back.

Presence Sensing

On devices with presence sensors that support attention detection, Windows 11 build 23516 introduces Adaptive Dimming.

Furthermore, Wake-on Approach, Lock-on Leave, and Adaptive Dimming are part of Presence Sensing and can now be enabled through the out-of-box experience setup process when choosing your privacy settings for your device.

File Explorer

As part of the File Explorer changes, this flight adds more fields to show in the Details pane, including image dimensions for pictures, number of pages for .docx, space used and free information for drives, and many others.

Voice Access

On build 23516, it’s now possible to use Voice Access from the Lock screen using the Accessibility menu from the bottom-right corner.

In addition, you can follow the instructions on the voice access bar to get your focus on the password field and use your voice to dictate your password or PIN. Furthermore, it’s possible to say “show keyboard” to bring up the touch keyboard with number labels on it. You can say the numbers on the keys to enter the letters associated with it.

Finally, you can also use other commands, such as “show numbers” or “click [element name]” to access other elements on the Lock screen or UAC prompt.

Windows Narrator Voices

Microsoft is also introducing new natural voices in French, Portuguese, English (India), German, and Korean that allow Windows Narrator users to comfortably browse the web, read and write mail, and more.

The new French voices are Microsoft Denise (Female) and Microsoft Henri (Male), and the Portuguese voices are Microsoft Francisca (Female) and Microsoft Antonio (Male). The new English (India) voices are Microsoft Neerja (Female) and Microsoft Prabhat (Male). The new German voices are Microsoft Katja (Female) and Microsoft Conrad (Male), and the new Korean voices are Microsoft SunHi (Female) and Microsoft InJoon (Male).

Fixes and improvements

This flight also ships with a bunch of fixes and improvements for Taskbar, Input, Settings, File Explorer, and more.

File Explorer

Fixed an issue where the icons displayed in the tabs in File Explorer could become out of sync with the current folder after navigating.

Fixed a memory leak in File Explorer with the latest updates which could cause explorer.exe crashes and other issues over prolonged usage.

Fixed an underlying issue causing desktop icons to all go blank in the last few flights.

Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to show “Working on it” in an empty folder.

Fixed an issue where the text box for naming newly created files or folders on the desktop was showing in the wrong position (far away or way too close) relative to the thumbnail.

Fixed an issue where opening the context menu in the previous flight was crashing explorer.exe for some Insiders.

Fixed an issue where right clicking items in the navigation pane wouldn’t open a context menu after you changed folders.

Fixed an issue where ALT + P and Shift + Alt + P keyboard shortcuts weren’t working when focus was set to one of the images in Gallery.

Fixed an issue where Home and Gallery could get stuck in the wrong colors if they were open when changing between light and dark mode.

Fixed an issue where thumbnails in Gallery might not load after changing the view to a smaller icon size (for example, medium to small).

Fixed an issue where after refreshing Home, actions to pin and unpin favorite files might not work.

Fixed an issue where the design of the details pane was displaying from left to right instead of right to left when using Hebrew or Arabic display languages.

The ALT + D, CTRL + L, and F4 keyboard shortcuts should work now to set focus to the address bar.

Fixed an issue where typing drive letters, %localappdata%, and certain other things in the address bar wasn’t causing suggested paths to appear in a dropdown.

Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening Home.

Fixed an issue where the tooltip would get stuck on the screen when you scrolled Home with touch.

Fixed an issue where collapsing and expanding the sections of Home didn’t always work.

Made some small adjustments to the size of elements, including reducing the size of the text.

Fixed an issue where mouse wheel scrolling wasn’t working if your mouse was hovered over the recommended section of Home.

Taskbar

Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes impacting taskbar reliability.

Input

Fixed an issue which was causing certain mouse actions (including resizing windows with mouse) to not work over remote desktop.

Dynamic Lighting

Fixed an issue where switching user accounts could turn off device LEDs.

Install build 23516

If you want to download and install the Windows 11 build 23516, 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 23516 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.