Microsoft has released Windows 11 Build 26120.3872 (version 24H2) with KB5055640 to Insiders in the Beta channel. Similarly to its Dev channel counterpart, it updates Voice Access, Click to Do, and brings with it a huge number of various improvements.
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New for PC Copilot+
New Text Actions in Click to Do
Practice in Reading Coach. This feature helps you improve your reading and pronunciation. Simply select the text recognized by Click to Do on your screen, select the Practice in Reading Coach action, and read the text out loud. The feature will provide feedback and suggest areas for improvement. To use this feature, install the free Microsoft Reading Coach app from the Microsoft Store.
Read with Immersive Reader. This feature displays recognized text in a distraction-free interface, allowing you to focus on reading. Originally designed to meet the needs of readers with dyslexia and dysgraphia, it also enables users of all ages to improve their reading and writing skills using proven techniques. The feature allows you to customize the text size, spacing, font, and background color. You can also turn on text reading, word syllabification, and highlighting of nouns, verbs, and adjectives to study grammar. The graphical dictionary option provides visual representations of unfamiliar words for instant comprehension. To use this feature, install the free Microsoft Reading Coach app from the Microsoft Store.
The new text actions are available to a limited number of Insiders using Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PC devices. Support for AMD and Intel-powered devices will be coming in future updates.
Improved cloud photo search for EEA Insiders
Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA) can now search for photos in the cloud in the taskbar search box using improved Windows Search. Use natural language queries in the taskbar search box to find photos in the cloud by describing what they contain, such as "European castles" or "summer picnics."
In addition, photos from the cloud will now be displayed in search results along with images saved on your local computer. You will also find exact matches for your keywords in the text of your cloud files in the results.
Improved search features are gradually rolling out to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, so they may not be available on your device yet. Support for AMD and Intel-powered devices will be coming in future updates.
For Insiders with the "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" toggle turned on
New features
Voice Access Improvements
You can now add your own words to the Voice Access dictionary. Adding words to the dictionary, including difficult-to-pronounce words, can help improve dictation accuracy. This increases the likelihood that these words will be recognized more accurately, creating a bias that helps Voice Access better understand context and proactively understand your specific vocabulary. This feature will be available in all languages currently supported by Voice Access, which include English, French, German, Spanish, and Chinese.
You can add your words to the Voice Access dictionary in several ways:
- After spelling a word using the "Spell that" command or making a correction using " Correct that".
- Anywhere you want to manually add a word using the "Add to Vocabulary" command.
- Directly from the Voice Access settings menu.
Notify you of new Voice Access features. This feature now includes an interface to inform users of new features and improvements. This will help you quickly discover and try out new features. You can launch or close the interface from the settings menu.
Finally, the Voice Access feature has been added to the Accessibility pop-up window, which can be opened from the quick actions menu in the system tray area of the taskbar.
Changes and improvements
Improved Windows Search:
Improved Windows Search is available as a preview to Windows 11 version 24H2 Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels on Copilot+ PC devices.
- You can now disable cloud content search on your Copilot+ PC devices under Settings > Privacy & Security > Search permissions . Note that this setting currently only applies to the taskbar search box. In the future, it will apply to File Explorer searches.
File Explorer
- Microsoft has begun rolling out a change so that when you open folders from outside File Explorer (such as from an app or the desktop), they will open in a new tab by default if you already have a File Explorer window open. If you want folders to still open in a new window, you can change the behavior in Folder Options > Browse for folders.
Widgets
- Microsoft is testing an improved notification settings page for the widget panel in Windows 11, giving you the ability to manage notifications for both the feed and the dashboard. The change is currently rolling out to a limited number of Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Windows Security
- Changes to the Windows Security app have begun rolling out. It will now display additional information, such as the manufacturer and version of the Pluton TPM chip, if your PC has one. You can find this information under Device security > Security processor details.
Settings
- Updated the Rename Printer dialog box in Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners to better match the Windows 11 look.
Other
- When the command is run
pnputil /enum-drivers, a new field will be displayed listing the attributes of the driver package directory, indicating the driver type and whether it has a certificate.
Fixes
Start Menu
- Fixed an issue that caused the Start menu to crash for some Insiders when creating folders.
- Fixed an issue where pressing the WIN key to open the Start menu and then typing would not move the keyboard focus to the search field and search would not work.
Windowing
- Fixed an issue where the colors used for the anchor layouts at the top of the screen were not displaying correctly, causing some text to be unreadable.
Search on the taskbar
- Fixed an issue where for some users the Search window would load very slowly, displaying a blank window for 15-20 seconds.
Input
- Fixed an issue where voice typing would not launch from the touch keyboard when using the narrow Chinese (Simplified) layout.
Task Manager
- Fixed an issue where search and other options like filtering weren't working in Task Manager in the previous flight.
Voice access
- Fixed an issue where Voice Access could get stuck saying "working on it" when dictating text.
Other
- Fixed a major issue where third-party screen readers would not work in certain scenarios (such as browser navigation) for some users.
- Made some changes to improve the speed of displaying the early boot UI, including the BitLocker PIN entry screens, BitLocker recovery key, and boot menu.
For all users
Fixes
General
- Fixed an issue where some apps, such as Spotify, would fail to install from the Microsoft Store, resulting in error 0x80070032.
Known issues
General
- [Reminder] When you join the Dev and Beta channels, you will be offered Windows 11 24H2 Build 26120.3360. Once you install it, you will be on the latest build. The two-step update to get the latest build is a temporary mechanism.
- After resetting the system settings in Settings > System > Recovery, the build number may change to 26100 instead of 26120. This will not affect receiving future updates on the Dev channel, which will fix the issue.
- The Quick Support app does not work for non-administrator users.
- After installing this update, Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) may not work. You may also not be able to use the Troubleshoot with Windows Update option in Settings > System > Recovery. This issue will be fixed in a future build.
- After installing this update, some applications may launch with a blank window. Closing and relaunching the application may fix the issue.
- [New] In this build, Windows Sandbox fails to start, returning error code 0×800705b4. You can try reinstalling Windows Sandbox. To do this, uncheck Windows Sandbox in the "Turn Windows features on or off" window, apply the changes, reboot your computer, reopen the "Turn Windows features on or off" window, check the box next to Windows Sandbox, apply the changes, and reboot your computer.
Login and blocking
- [New] Working on a fix for an issue where Windows Hello facial recognition isn't working for some Insiders.
Recall
- [Reminder] Be sure to update your Microsoft 365 apps to the latest version so you can get back to certain documents.
- Some Insiders may be experiencing an issue where Recall is unable to automatically save photos, and the feature cannot be enabled in Settings. Working to fix the issue.
- Recall can be enabled or disabled in the "Turn Windows features on or off" section. At the moment, Recall files remain on the disk even after the feature is disabled. In future updates, these files will be completely removed from the system.
Click to Do
- [Reminder] Intelligent text actions now use local suggestion and response moderation instead of a cloud-based solution. Since intelligent text actions are now fully local, they are now available in Click to Do in Recall.
- [Reminder] If some actions with objects in images are not displayed, check for updates to the Photos and Paint apps in the Microsoft Store.
- In some cases, the Click to Do feature may not launch. Trying to launch it again should resolve the issue.
- There is an issue where images used in related Click to Do smart actions remain in the temp folder on your computer. This issue will be fixed in a future build. You can manually clear the temp folder
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp. - Investigating reports that the Click to Do icon is not displaying correctly on non-Copilot+ PCs.
Improved search
- [Reminder] To improve the Windows Search experience on Copilot+ PC devices, it is recommended that you connect your computer to a power source to complete the initial indexing. You can check the search indexing status in Settings > Privacy & Security > Windows Search.
Start Menu
- [New] Investigating reports that clicking your profile picture in the Start menu does not open the Account Manager.
Task Manager
- After adding the new "CPU Load" column, you may notice that the load for the "System Idle" process is always 0.
- The CPU graphs on the Performance page still use the old CPU usage calculations.
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