Hello Windows Insiders, today marks the release of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27898 to the Canary Channel. Notably, we will not be providing SDKs for the 27xxx series builds at this time.
What’s new in Build 27898
Taskbar Icon Scaling
We are excited to introduce taskbar icon scaling, a thoughtful enhancement designed to optimize your experience on the Windows taskbar. This feature ensures that even when your taskbar is brimming with pinned or open applications, you can maintain quick access to your favorites. As your taskbar fills up, the icons will automatically resize to a smaller format, allowing you to keep more apps visible without navigating through secondary menus. This innovation aims to streamline your workflow and enhance efficiency.
Understanding that preferences vary, we have included customizable settings for this feature:
- When taskbar is full: Icons will automatically shrink when the taskbar reaches capacity, facilitating easier access to more applications.
- Never: For those who prefer consistency, there’s an option to keep icons at their original size, regardless of how many apps are open.
- Always: If you favor the aesthetic of smaller icons, you can set them to remain small at all times.
To adjust your taskbar icon scaling settings, right-click an empty area of your taskbar, select “Taskbar settings,” expand the “Taskbar behaviors” section, and choose your preferred setting under “Show smaller taskbar buttons.” We welcome your feedback on this feature!
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Taskbar.
Introducing Quick Machine Recovery
As part of the Windows Resiliency Initiative unveiled at Ignite 2024, we are pleased to announce the availability of quick machine recovery for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel. This feature automatically identifies and resolves common issues on Windows 11 devices via the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), significantly reducing downtime and eliminating the need for manual interventions. When a widespread boot issue occurs, the device will enter WinRE, connect to the internet, and Microsoft can deliver a targeted fix through Windows Update. IT administrators can customize this experience for their organizations through the Intune Settings Catalog UI using the RemoteRemediationCSP. For home users, this feature is enabled by default.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Recovery and Uninstall > Quick Machine Recovery.
Add Custom Words to the Dictionary in Voice Access
We are enhancing voice access by allowing users to add custom words to the dictionary. This feature aims to improve dictation accuracy, particularly for challenging words, by creating a context-aware bias that enhances recognition. It will be available in all currently supported voice access languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, and Chinese.
You can add words to the voice access dictionary in several ways:
- After spelling a word using the “Spell that” command or correcting it with “Correct that”.
- Anywhere by manually adding a word using “Add to Vocabulary”.
- Directly through the settings menu in voice access.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice access.
Screen Curtain in Narrator
The Screen Curtain feature in Narrator enhances privacy and focus for users who rely on screen reading. When activated, it completely blacks out the display, ensuring that only the user hears the screen content through Narrator, while the visual information remains concealed. This feature proves especially beneficial in public or shared spaces, allowing users to engage with sensitive information discreetly.
How to enable/disable Screen Curtain:
- Activate Narrator using Ctrl + Win + Enter.
- Press Caps + Ctrl + C to enable Screen Curtain.
- Utilize Narrator while the Screen Curtain is active.
- Press Caps + Ctrl + C again to disable Screen Curtain.
FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
- We are updating the design of privacy dialogs for app permissions. Now, when an app requests access to location, camera, microphone, etc., a system modal dialog will appear, slightly darkening the screen and centering the privacy dialog for better focus.
[Taskbar & System Tray]
- We are enhancing the Accessibility flyout in quick settings by adding text descriptions for assistive technologies such as Narrator and Voice access, making them easier to identify and learn about.
- Admins can now allow users to unpin specific pinned apps, ensuring they are not repinned during the next policy refresh cycle. This can be enabled using the new PinGeneration option.
[File Explorer]
- Dividers have been added to the top-level icons in the File Explorer context menu for improved organization.
[Energy Saver]
- We are previewing the adaptive energy saver, an opt-in feature that automatically manages energy saver settings based on the device’s power state and current system load, without altering screen brightness. This feature will be available on battery-powered devices, and users can manage their energy saver settings under Settings > System > Power & battery.
[Windows Share]
- When sharing links or web content, users will now see a visual preview within the Windows share window.
- The UI for sharing images has been adjusted, allowing users to select compression quality from High, Medium, or Low instead of a numerical scale.
[Voice Access]
- Support for voice access has been expanded to include Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Japanese, enabling users to navigate and interact with Windows using voice commands in these languages. Note that Japanese support is still being refined.
[Narrator]
- Narrator will now guide users through its capabilities with a series of modal windows, helping both new and experienced users discover its features more easily.
[Settings]
- The country or region selected during device setup is now displayed under Settings > Time & language > Language & region.
- We have made adjustments to the browser default settings, allowing for more types to be set as defaults and introducing a one-click option for making the default browser also the default app for PDF files.
Fixes
[File Explorer]
- Performance improvements have been made for extracting archive files, particularly beneficial for large 7z or .rar files.
[Input]
- Resolved an issue where typing Japanese with the touch keyboard would cease functioning after switching back from an English keyboard.
[Settings]
- Fixed a crash issue that could occur when changing the mouse cursor in Settings.
- Addressed an underlying issue that could cause the Settings window to hang and become unresponsive.
[Other]
- Corrected an issue that could lead to incorrect results from Math.Pow(), affecting app and game behavior.
- Clarified error messages related to Windows Update failures due to insufficient space in the system reserved partition.
Known Issues
[General]
- [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] Users joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from other channels may experience loss of Windows Hello PIN and biometrics, resulting in error 0xd0000225. Users can recreate their PIN by selecting “Set up my PIN.”
[File Explorer]
- A known issue in this build may prevent File Explorer from saving view changes, impacting desktop icons which may revert to default settings.
[Settings]
- We are investigating a potential crash issue when interacting with options under Settings > System > Power & Battery.
[Remote Desktop]
- Users may encounter significant graphical distortion and rendering issues when using Remote Desktop on Arm64 PCs in this build.
Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel
- The builds released to the Canary Channel represent early-stage platform changes and should not be viewed as tied to any specific Windows release. Features may evolve, be removed, or replaced based on feedback.
- Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and gradually expanding based on feedback.
- Some features may debut in the Dev and Beta Channels before appearing in the Canary Channel.
- Localization for features in active development will occur over time, and we encourage reporting any localization issues via Feedback Hub.
- To exit the Canary Channel, a clean installation of Windows 11 is required. Insiders cannot switch to a channel with lower build numbers without a clean install.
- The desktop watermark in the lower right corner of the desktop is standard for these pre-release builds.
- For a comprehensive overview of build statuses across Insider channels, please visit Flight Hub.
Thanks,
Amanda & Brandon
