Windows 11 Build 22635.4870 (Beta) adds a new UI for setting Lock Screen widgets

A new Beta channel release, Windows 11 Build 22635.4870, introduces a greatly improved Settings page for adding widgets to the Lock Screen. Besides, the File Explorer's Home folder now shows people icons for shared files. Besides, there is a huge number of various fixes.

For Insiders with the "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" toggle enabled

Select widgets to display on the lock screen

Microsoft has started rolling out widget support on the lock screen for Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA). You can now add, remove, and rearrange widgets like Weather, Sports, Traffic, and more on the lock screen. You can also add any widget that supports the small sizing feature.

To customize widgets on your lock screen, go to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen .

This new feature is currently only available to insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA). Users in other regions will be able to evaluate it in the future.

There is now a a "Turn off widgets on the lock screen" group policy that allows IT administrators to disable widgets on the lock screen on managed computers. To use it, open the Group Policy Editor and go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets . The policy is only supported in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Changes and improvements

File Explorer

• • Insiders signed in with a work or school account (Entra ID) will see user avatars in the Activity column and Featured block on the home page in File Explorer. Hovering over or clicking on an avatar will display a card for that Microsoft 365 user.

Fixes

Start Menu

• • Fixed an issue resulting in Start crashing for some Insiders when interacting with letters in the all apps list.
  • Fixed an issue where the wrong colors were used when opening the Account Manager flyout if a mix of dark and light themes was selected in Settings > Personalization > Colors.

File Explorer

• • Fixed an issue where the File Explorer window might not display correctly when restored from a minimized state.
  • Fixed an issue that affected the stability of Explorer.
  • Fixed an issue where explorer.exe would occasionally crash when dragging and dropping files in File Explorer in the previous build.

Other

• • Fixed an issue resulting in the sihost.exe background process frequently crashing in recent builds.

Changes available to all users

Fixes

• • Fixed an issue where the device did not recognize a connected camera. The issue occurred after installing the January 2025 security update.
  • Fixed an issue where the error "This device cannot start. (Code 10) Not enough system resources exist to complete the API call" would occur when connected to some external audio control devices.

Known issues

File Explorer

• • Investigating an issue where File Explorer closes very slowly for some Insiders when they click the X button in the title bar. This issue may also affect other buttons in the title bar.

Settings

• • The Home page may cause the Settings app to crash. If you encounter this issue, you can still directly open individual system settings pages by searching for them in the taskbar.
  • There is a known issue where two new cards specific to enterprise devices—Device information and Ease of Access settings—appear on unmanaged PCs signed in with a Microsoft account.

Source