How to Enable Windowed Alt+Tab Experience in Windows 11

Here is how you can enable the windowed Alt+Tab experience in Windows 11. On January 6, Microsoft released Windows 11 build 22526 with several fixes and minor feature improvements. One of the changes is a slightly redesigned Alt + Tab experience. The operating system no longer blurs the entire background when you press Alt + Tab to switch between apps or tabs in Microsoft Edge. The UI now resembles the one Microsoft uses in Windows 10.

Microsoft is currently testing the new experience on a limited set of computers enrolled in the Dev channel. If your device did not get a lucky ticket, here is how to force-enable the updated Alt + Tab UI using ViveTool or Registry Editor.

Important: The new Alt + Tab experience is available only in Windows 11 22526 and higher. It does not work in Windows 11 22000.

Enable Windowed Alt+Tab Experience in Windows 11

To enable Windowed Alt+Tab experience in Windows 11, do the following.

  1. Download ViveTool from its repository on GitHub.
  2. Extract ViveTool anywhere you like.
  3. Open the folder with the files you have previously extracted and right-click anywhere; select Open in Windows Terminal.
  4. If you use Windows Terminal with the PowerShell tab, execute the following command: .\vivetool.exe addconfig 36226836 2.
  5. If you open Windows Terminal to the Command Prompt profile, use the following command: vivetool addconfig 36226836 2.
  6. Restart your computer to apply the changes.
  7. After restarting the PC, open a few windows and press Alt + Tab to check out the new experience.

If you want to restore the original full-screen Alt + Tab appearance with the blurred background, repeat the steps above, only replace "addconfig" with "delconfig" in the commands. I.e. vivetool delconfig 36226836 2.

Another way to enable the new Alt + Tab experience in the preview versions of Windows 11 is a registry tweak. To make things easier, we have prepared ready-to-use files that allow turning on or off the new Alt + Tab UI with a couple of clicks.

Enable the new Alt + Tab experience in the Registry

  1. Download files in the following ZIP archive.
  2. Unpack the files anywhere on your computer.
  3. Open the "Enable the new Alt + Tab experience.reg" file and confirm the UAC prompt.
  4. Restart your computer.

Done!

You can undo the changes and revert to the original UI by using the "Restore the original Alt + Tab experience.reg" file. Again, restart your computer after applying the file.

How it works

The REG files modify the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\FeatureManagement\Overrides\4\702590604 branch. Specifally, the EnabledState and EnabledStateOptions are the key 32-bit DWORD values that should exist under that key to enable the new Alt+Tab UI. Check out the contents of the REG files for the full value reference.

That is it.

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Author: Taras Buria

Taras is here to cover stories about Microsoft and everything around, although sometimes he prefers Apple.

2 thoughts on “How to Enable Windowed Alt+Tab Experience in Windows 11”

  1. Not interested in “experiencing” the new ALT-Tab of Windows 11 any more than I already have. It’s hideous and we need a tweak to revert it to Windows 10’s.

    1. Just found the tweak! Go on and revert to Windows 10!
      I have too much fun with 11, it’s so great to see MS doing interesting stuff.

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