Windows 11 Build 22631.2191 (Beta) brings with it HDR wallpapers, Windows 365 Switch, and more

Two new Windows 11 Insider Preview releases are now available in the Beta Channel, Build 22621.2191 and Build 22631.2191 (KB5029336). The builds have the same features, but in Build 22631.2191 they are turned on by default, while in Build 22621.2191 they are turned off by default. Windows 365 Switch, HDR wallpapers, Narrator Natural Voices in more languages are among them.

What's new in Windows 11 Build 22631.2191 (Beta)

HDR wallpapers

You can now set JXR files as desktop backgrounds. If you are using an HDR-enabled display, then the image will be displayed using this technology.

First, make sure your device has an HDR display or is connected to an external HDR-enabled display. To check, go to Settings -> System -> Display -> HDR. If the technology is available, then enable it on this page.

After that, download these HDR images in .JXR format. Right-click on the desktop, select "Personalization" -> "Background" -> "Personalize background" and select the file in .JXR format.

Windows 365 Switch

Windows 365 Switch is a feature that lets you switch between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and your local desktop with keyboard shortcuts, mouse-click or swipe gesture.

Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels can now try out Windows 365 Switch, which enables easy switching between a Windows 365 Cloud PC and a local desktop using familiar keyboard commands, mouse-clicks, or swipe gestures via Task View on the Windows 11 taskbar.

Narrator Natural Voices in French, Portuguese, English (India), German and Korean

New natural voices in French, Portuguese, English (India) ,German and Korean allow Narrator users to comfortably browse the web, read, and write mail, and do more. Natural Narrator voices use modern, on-device text to speech and once downloaded are supported without an internet connection.

• The new French voices are Microsoft Denise (Female) and Microsoft Henri (Male)
• The new 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)
• The new Korean voices are Microsoft SunHi (Female) and Microsoft InJoon (Male)

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2191

Taskbar & System Tray

There is an issue with the settings for never combined mode for the taskbar. They were not working even though they appeared under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors. So Microsoft has removed the settings for now to fix the problem. The feature will be available in a Beta Channel flight soon.

File Explorer

• Added “Share” to the context menu in File Explorer in addition to having the share icon at the top of the context menu.
• Added 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.

Windows Spotlight

After performing an OS update, Windows Spotlight may be enabled in certain cases, such as when using the default Windows 11 background or a solid color. If users do not want Windows Spotlight enabled, they can turn it off, and future OS updates should not enable it again unless the user chooses to re-enable the experience.

Fixes in Build 22631.2191

File Explorer

• Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when navigating to Home, as well as some other issues causing crashes.
• 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 issue where after refreshing Home, actions to pin and unpin favorite files might not work.
• 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.
• 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).
• Made some small adjustments to the size of elements, including reducing the size of the text.
• 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 where the icons displayed in the tabs in File Explorer could become out of sync with the current folder after navigating.
• Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to show “Working on it” in an empty folder.
• Fixed an issue where the image in the Details pane might get blurry after resizing the File Explorer window.
• 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.
• 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 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 right clicking items in the navigation pane wouldn’t open a context menu after you changed folders.
• Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to crash when trying to access an FTP address.
• Fixed an issue where selecting the dropdown arrows in the address bar was opening a blank menu.

Dynamic Lighting

Fixed an issue where devices might show as empty squares in Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.

Known issues

General

Working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

File Explorer

• In some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer may appear transparent.
• In some cases, the icons on your desktop may all go blank. If this happens, using the refresh option in the desktop context menu should resolve it.

Taskbar

Working on the fix for an issue causing typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs to not work correctly after the latest flights for some Insiders.

Narrator

You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

Source

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