Windows 11 build 25211 brings back Task Manager option to Taskbar menu

Windows 11 build 25211 is now available in the Dev Channel.
The preview brings back the Task Manager option in the Taskbar menu.
Also, it adds new Widgets settings with the option to disable the board auto-open on hovering.

Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 build 25211 for computers enrolled in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program. As usual, the preview brings updates for existing features and several fixes and improvements.

Build 25211 for Windows 11, according to the official changes, brings back the Task Manager option in the right-click context menu from the Taskbar, adds support for rearranging icons in the System Tray, and introduces a new settings page for the Widgets experience.

Although the official ISO file isn’t available, you can still download the latest image for build 25211 using the UUP Dump tool.

Windows 11 build 25211

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

Taskbar

Starting with build 25211, the Taskbar context menu gets an update to bring back the option to open the Task Manager. In addition, you can now rearrange icons in the System Tray.

Widgets

As part of the Widgets experience, Microsoft has separated the widgets picker and settings. Starting with this flight, you need to click the plus (+) button to add more widgets. If you want to change the settings, you will now have to click the profile button. On the settings page, you can disable the Widgets dashboard opening automatically when hovering over the Widgets icon in the Taskbar. In addition, you can control notification badging and whether the Taskbar icon should show the weather information.

Fixes and improvements

In addition, this flight includes various fixes for File Explorer, Taskbar, Settings, Task Manager, and more.

File Explorer

Fixed an issue where the top part of File Explorer (with the search and address box) couldn’t be interacted with when File Explorer was in full-screen mode (F11).

Fixed the issue where the command bar items like a copy, paste, and empty recycle bin were unexpectedly not be enabled sometimes when they have been.

Fixed an issue causing unexpected black bars on the sides of horizontal scrollbars when using dark mode.

Start menu

When you have Start set to show more pinned items, the animation for opening folders lower on the page will now appear from the right place.

Taskbar

Fixed a high hitting Shell Experience Host crash in recent Dev Channel builds, impacting Quick Settings launch reliability.

Settings

Fixed a Settings crash that could happen when changing your mobile hotspot name.

Updated the examples used in the Short time selection under Time & Language > Language & Region > Regional Format to make the 12-hour options (vs 24 hours) a little more obvious by showing morning and afternoon times.

For the time being, you will no longer be able to uninstall apps with inter-dependencies (e.g., Steam and gaming apps running on Steam) or repair Win32 apps under Settings > Apps > Installed apps. You will still be able to modify and uninstall Win32 apps without interdependencies.

Task Manager

Tweaked the graphs in the Performance page to use more transparency, making it easier to see the grid lines underneath.

Made another fix to improve Task Manager reliability.

Fixed a black flash that might be seen when launching Task Manager in light mode.

Fixed a few issues where the font color of certain elements wasn’t correct/readable when using a contrasting theme.

Input

The gripper for moving the emoji panel and touch keyboard should now update color correctly when you switch between dark and light mode.

Fixed a memory leak when repeatedly invoking the input switcher.

Other changes

Fixed an issue where Narrator would read out the details of the calendar that opens from selecting the date and time from the taskbar when it was collapsed.

Fixed an issue where explorer.exe was crashing repeatedly in Windows Sandbox for Insiders with the tablet optimized taskbar and updated system tray.

Fixed an issue which could lead to hangs in certain apps when opening the Open File Dialog.

Fixed an issue which was making the screen go black for some Insiders when enabling HDR recently.

Fixed an issue where after using the Open With dialog, the process might stay running even if it wasn’t in use anymore.

Fixed an issue which was leading to increased CPU usage for WSL2 users on ARM64 PCs even when WSL was idle.

Fixed an issue where closing the print dialog could lead to an app crash in the last couple flights.

Roll out a server-side fix for the issue causing a “date, time and time zone settings are incorrect” message to be improperly displayed, which was also preventing the installation of the latest Insider Preview builds from proceeding.

In this release, there are also a bunch of known issues with File Explorer, Tablet-optimized Taskbar, Settings, Widgets, and more.

Install build 25211

If you want to download and install the Windows 11 build 25211, 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 25211 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.

Update October 3, 2022: Microsoft is now rolling out build 25211.1010 as update KB5019342. However, the update does not include anything new, this is only another test for the update mechanism service.