Windows 11 Build 25201 allows making widgets pane full-screen

A new Dev channel build is out today to Insiders. Besides traditional portion of fixes, including a memory leak fix, Windows 11 Build 25201 allows expanding the Widgets pane full-screen. So it reminds of the Start screen of Windows 8. There are also improvements made to the Game Pass widget.

For users who want to clean-install this build, Microsoft has made ISO images available for download. They will find the files here.

Here are the changes in this release.

What's new in Windows 11 Build 25201 (Dev channel)

Expanded View in Widgets

With a single click you can make the widget board go full-screen.

There is a new button for that next to you user account icon. By clicking it you will expand or collapse the size of your widgets board.

Microsoft is rolling out this change gradually, so only select Insiders will see it after upgrading to build 25201.

Game Pass Widget Improvements

The widget now allows signing in with your Xbox profile. It can also re-use credentials available in the Xbox app on Windows.

Once signed-in, the widget will  show the full range of Game Pass games available to you. It also lists your recently played games, so you can quickly return to any of them. This change is also available to a group of select users.

Other changes

• Microsoft terminates their experiment with taskbar search. For those who have seen the change, the stock search experience will be restored after the reboot.
• File Explorer search will now show results as you type. The full search results page will update live without needing to press enter.
• Microsoft considers adding more cloud files to search results in the Home folder of File Explorer.
•  If the default folders pinned to File Explorer’s navigation pane had been unpinned, they will be re-pinned after upgrading.
• Fixed a memory leak which was happening when closing File Explorer windows.

There are more fixes and general improvements, and several known issues in this build. You'll find them in the official announcement linked here.

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