Hidden features in Windows 11 Build 25324 and how to enable them

The newest Canary release, Windows 11 Build 25324, that Microsoft has released last night, includes several hidden features. While some of them were announced as a gradual roll-out, like animated widget icons, others are hidden deep in the OS. Here are the features and how to access them.

Enable Hidden features in Windows 11 Build 25324

1. Download ViVeTool from GitHub.
2. Place the files from the downloaded ZIP archive to the c:\vivetool folder. You will get the following executable file path: c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe.
3. Now press Win + X, and select Terminal(Admin) from the menu.
4. In the PowerShell (Ctrl + Shift + 1) or Command Prompt (Ctrl + Shift + 2) tab, type the commands provided below, and hit Enter. E.g. c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:42934589 for animated Widget icons.
5. Restart Windows 11.
6. To undo the change later, run the opposite command: c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:<ID value here>, and restart the OS.

Animated Widget icons

Microsoft is testing animated icons for the Widgets button in the taskbar. The animation plays when you hover over or click the Widgets, as well as when a new notification arrives. Currently, the only widgets that support animations are Weather and Finance.

Microsoft is rolling out this feature gradually, but you can activate it right now. Run the following command

c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:42934589

Restart Windows 11, and you will have the following animations.

Widgets on the taskbar next to the system tray

Microsoft is testing a new layouts for Widgets. When the taskbar is left-aligned, their button appears on the right, closer to the system tray.

The new behavior reminds of how the News and interests feature in Windows 10. You can activate it with the following ViVeTool command.

c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:43214488

Ability to create a virtual disk in Settings

This feature allows managing VHD and VHDX virtual disks. These file formats are recognized by Virtual Machines, in first place by Microsoft's Hyper-V. Other mainstream solutions allow using them as well.

The System > Storage > Disk & volumes page includes a new option to create a virtual drive. It opens a new dialog where you can specify the disk type, its size, and location. After that, you can specify the type of partition table (GPT or MBR) and format the disk. The following command enables it.

c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:42401084

Hotkey to Start Screen Video Recording

Build 23419 allows assigning a dedicated keyboard shortcut Win + Shift + R to the video recording feature of the Snipping tool. It will replace the default screenshot feature that opens when you press these keys.

The command to enable the new behavior is c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:42063280.

Don't forget to restart Windows 11.

Show websites from your browsing history

One more change related to the Start menu is the 'Show websites from your browsing history' option to include or exclude the recently visited web sites from the recommendations in the Start menu. They appear in the "Recommended" or "For you" section at the bottom.

You can show or hide it with the following command:

c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:42905461

ReFS 3.10

ReFS is the next-gen file system that has better performance, reliability, and less overhead. It also supports bigger drives and data blocks than NTFS.

Windows 11 Build 25324 introduces a new ReFS version 3.10. It quickly superseded version 3.9 which was available in builds 22598-25314.

ReFS dev drive creation in Settings

Besides the new ReFS version, you can now enable a user interface that will allow you to create a ReFS drive with a couple of clicks. The option appears under Privacy & security > For developers in the Settings app.

The same option also appears in System > Storage > Disk and volumes.

The new user interface can be enabled with these three commands that you have run one by one.

• c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:40347509
• c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:41878171
• c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:42866187

New ReFS Group Policy

In addition to the hidden ReFS Dev drive creation in Settings feature, Windows 11 Build 25324 also includes a related Group Policy

ReFS support in fsutil

Besides the GUI tools, the good old console tool fsutil now supports enabling/disabling developer volumes on your machine. The command for that is fsutil devdrv enable.

Also, the "fsutil volume devinfo/settrust" options are now part of "fsutil devdrv" arguments.

The new Desktop Spotlight UI

Perhaps you remember that Microsoft is working on a new Spotlight UI. It will soon get a richer user interface that allows you to display the title and description, as well as learn more about the image displayed on the desktop using Spotlight. In addition, new ways to switch to other images will be tested with the ability to preview, full screen and minimize.

The new implementation of the Spotlight UI may should become available to wider audience already in the next build. Here is how it looks in Build 25324:

If you want to give it a try, run these commands:

• c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe /enable /id:39710659
• c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe /enable /id:40268500
• c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe /enable /id:39880030

Bing Highlights button in the taskbar search box

Microsoft is gradually rolling out a clickable Bing AI search highlight button in the taskbar. The button opens Bing Chat in Edge. To access it right away, run the following two commands,

• c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:43349158
• c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:43572857

Note: By enabling the ID 43572857 only (without enabling the ID 43349158) you will get an 'orb' button on the right side of the taskbar search box. It will likely open a web page detailing the day's event in the future.

That's it.

All credits go to @PhantomOfEarth, @thebookisclosed, and  @XenoPanther. We say them many thanks for sharing their findings!