Windows 11 Build 26120.4151 (Beta) improves Widgets, File Explorer, Snipping Tool, and much more

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Build 26120.4151 (KB5058486, version 24H2) to Windows Insider program participants in the Beta channel. As a reminder, 22635.5305 was the last build of Windows 11 version 23H2 for the Beta channel. With today's build, all Insiders will be automatically updated to Windows 11 version 24H2.

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

New features

AI Actions in Explorer

AI actions in File Explorer let you interact more deeply with your files. Right-click to quickly perform actions like editing images or summarizing documents. Like Click to Do, AI actions in File Explorer let you stay in your workflow and use AI features to access in-app editing tools or Copilot features without opening the file itself.

To try out the new feature, right-click on a file in Explorer, and in the context menu you will find a new item "AI actions" that hides the available actions for your file.

At the moment, you can test four image actions. The following file types are supported:.jpg,.jpeg and.png.

• Bing Visual Search. Lets you search the web using images instead of text. You can find similar images and products, get information about sites using the image, and identify landmarks, plants, and famous people.
• Blur the background. Opens the Photos app, which automatically detects the background in your photo and, with one click, selects the subject and blurs the background. You can customize the effect by adjusting the blur intensity or using the Brush tool to change the areas that are blurred.
• Object erasure In the Photos app, select or mark an unwanted element in your photo and Generative Erase will remove it. This allows you to fix and remove distracting elements from your photos.
• Background Removal. The Paint application allows you to remove the background from any image with one click, leaving only a neatly cut out object. The function can detect an object both on the entire canvas and in a selected area.

New AI actions for Microsoft 365 files will begin rolling out in the coming weeks:

• Document summaries. With Copilot, you can generate summaries for different types of documents stored in OneDrive and SharePoint without having to open them individually. Supported file types:.docx,.doc,.pptx,.ppt,.xlsx,.xls,.pdf,.rtf,.txt,.loop.
• Create FAQs. Copilot helps you turn your OneDrive files into neatly formatted lists of questions and answers. Whether you're creating internal knowledge bases, preparing for meetings, or developing quick start guides, the Create FAQ feature transforms complex information into clear, shareable lists of frequently asked questions in seconds. Supported file types: xlsx,.ppt,.pptx,.doc,.docx,.pdf,.txt,.rtf,.aspx,.htm, and.html.

To use AI actions for Microsoft 365 files, you need to:

• To create document summaries, you must have a Microsoft 365 subscription with Copilot (personal Microsoft accounts and Microsoft Entra IDs are supported).
• The Create FAQ feature requires a Microsoft 365 enterprise subscription with Copilot (Microsoft Entra ID supported). Support for personal Microsoft accounts is coming soon.
• You must be a Microsoft 365 Insider and your PC must be running Beta Channel builds. Learn more on the official website.

The Advanced page in Settings

Microsoft has unveiled a revamped For Developers page in the Settings app, now called Advanced, which includes several new features. The change is intended to make the settings more accessible to a wider range of users. The page can be found under Settings > System > Advanced.

The developers have added several new options to the page: "Enable long paths", "Virtual workspaces" and "Explorer + version control".

• The Enable Long Paths feature allows you to remove the MAX_PATH limitation for standard Win32 functions when working with files and directories.
• "Virtual Workspaces" allows you to enable/disable virtual environments such as Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and others.
• Explorer + Version Control gives you the ability to display Git information directly in Explorer. Simply select your repository folder, and Explorer will display information such as the branch, diff count, last commit message, and more.

Changes and improvements

• Taskbar and system tray
  • In addition to grouping items under Accessibility, the Quick Actions window now includes text descriptions for assistive technologies like Narrator, Voice Access, and more to make them easier to find.

    

• Search on the taskbar
  • When you display search results, you'll see a notification that your search results may be incomplete if Windows hasn't finished indexing yet. The notification includes a link to check the indexing status. You can close this notification.
  • The status of files and folders is also now displayed so you can quickly see whether a file or folder is available on the network (cloud) or on your device.

    

• Voice access
  • We've temporarily disabled Chinese language support in Voice Access due to some issues. We'll continue to roll this out in a future build.
• Widgets
  • Microsoft is testing a new design for the Widgets panel, which will feature an organized, personalized, and engaging feed. The feed will also feature articles curated by Copilot. This will give you a multi-faceted view of a single topic, as Copilot combines summaries, videos, and images from trusted MSN premium publishers. Some features, such as pinning and hiding items, are in development.

    

  • You can revert to the previous Widgets panel interface by using the Copilot Discover (preview) toggle in the MSN Personalization settings dialog.

    

• Power and battery
  • Introduced User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management, which helps reduce power consumption and extend battery life. After a period of inactivity, Windows automatically applies efficient policies to manage power. This happens seamlessly and helps save energy. When you return to work, the system instantly restores full performance.
    Note that actual power savings vary by device, power mode, whether connected to a power source, or running on battery power, and according to manufacturer-defined processor power management (PPM) settings.
• Share function
  • The Share window UI has been changed to allow you to select the image compression level from High Quality, Medium Quality, or Low Quality. Previously, it offered a scale from 0 to 100.

    

• Windows Backup
  • Microsoft is testing different variations of the home page when launching the Windows Backup application.
• Snipping Tool
  • Last month, Microsoft added the Text Extraction button to the Snipping Tool selection bar. This change is intended to minimize the number of steps required to recognize and copy text from the screen to the clipboard. Taking a screenshot is no longer necessary.
    In this update, the developers have added a Win + Shift + T keyboard shortcut that you can use to quickly launch the Text Extraction feature in the Snipping Tool. For this change to work, you need to update the Snipping Tool to version 11.2503.29.0 or higher.
• Settings:
  Microsoft is making a small change for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) to set their default browser under Settings > Apps > Default apps:
  • The new browser will set additional file and link types by default if it registers them.
  • Browsers now have a dedicated button that allows you to set the browser as a PDF viewer if the browser registers the.pdf file type.

    

Fixes

• General
  • Fixed an issue where core Windows interface components (File Explorer, Start menu, etc.) would not load in Safe Mode.
• File Explorer
  • Fixed an issue where clicking the New Tab button in a File Explorer window that was maximized would cause the window to exit maximized mode.
• Settings
  • Fixed an issue with loading Bluetooth information that could cause Settings and Quick Settings to crash.
  • Fixed an issue where you couldn't switch the active hours from manual to automatic in Settings > Windows Update.
  • Fixed an issue resulting in Settings crashing for some Insiders when navigating to Personalization > Lock screen.

Known issues

• General
  • 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.
  • In this build, the system settings reset function from Settings > System > Recovery does not work.
• Xbox Controllers
  • Some Insiders have encountered an issue where using an Xbox controller via Bluetooth causes a GSOD. To resolve the issue, open Device Manager, select View > Devices by Driver. Find the driver named oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf) in the list, where XXX is the device number on your computer. Right-click it and select Uninstall.
• Click to Do
  • Insiders using Copilot+ PC devices with AMD and Intel processors may experience long wait times when attempting to perform intelligent text actions in Click to Do for the first time after installing a new build or model update.
• 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
  • Investigating reports that clicking your profile picture in the Start menu does not open the Account Manager.
• File Explorer
  • [New] Narrator scan mode may not work correctly in the Document Summary AI action results window for Microsoft 365 files when reading bulleted lists. As a workaround, you can use Caps Lock + <arrow right> keyboard shortcuts to navigate.
  • [New] When the Windows interface is displayed in a right-to-left language, the AI ​​Actions results canvas for Microsoft 365 files still displays text from left to right.
• 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.
• Narrator
  • Investigating an issue where Narrator's ability to generate more detailed image descriptions on Copilot+ PCs does not work.
• Voice access
  • Investigating an issue where support for more descriptive and flexible language on Copilot+ PCs in Voice Access does not work as expected.
• Widgets
  • Since widget pinning support is not implemented in the new panel interface, attempting to pin will return you to the previous implementation of the Widgets panel.

Source

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