Windows 11 Build 26120.6682 (Beta) improves Start Menu, Emoji, Click to Do, and Narrator

Microsoft has released a new preview of Windows 11 (version 24H2) build 26120.6682 (KB5065782) for Windows Insider program participants in the Beta channel.

New Features

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

Changes and improvements

Click to Do

• The Copilot prompt box in Click to Do is designed to make it easier to interact with Microsoft Copilot. This new feature helps save time by allowing users to type a hint of their choice into a text field, which is then sent to Copilot along with the selected content on the screen. The hints appear below the text field and are generated locally using Phi-Silica (supported only for selected text in English, Spanish, and French). The change is not yet available to Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA) and China.

  

• New visual animations New visual animations have been added to the Click to Do gesture from the right edge of the screen. They provide clear visual feedback as they follow the user's finger, making the interaction more intuitive and understandable.
• New and popular action tags New and popular action tags have been added to the Click to Do context menu to help users discover and use the latest AI-powered features faster.

  

• The Quick Summary action for text snippets in Click to Do should become even more concise and succinct as we further optimize the feature.

Start Menu

• Microsoft is testing a small change to the "Recommended" section of the Start menu. This area can now show sample requests for Copilot, such as creating images.

Emoji

• Added support for Emoji 16.0, which includes a small but carefully curated set of new emoji. They'll be available in the Emoji Panel in this build.
  • A face with bags under the eyes. Conveys fatigue or the need to rest.
  • Fingerprint. Symbolizes identification or security.
  • Root vegetable. Represents healthy eating and gardening.
  • A tree without leaves.  Symbol of winter, emptiness or peace.
  • Harp. An eternal musical symbol with ancient roots.
  • Shovel Useful for gardening or metaphorically "digging" out of trouble.
  • Blot. An expressive and funny symbol.

Games

• Improvements have been made to the way Xbox game controllers work when used on Windows 11. A short press of the Xbox button now opens Game Bar, while a long press opens Task View. Pressing and holding the Xbox button still turns off the controller.

Narrator

• Improvements have been made to make Narrator work more smoothly and reliably with Word documents.
  • More natural voiceover Narrator no longer raises its pitch when speaking headings or grammar/spelling errors when using Natural Voice, making the experience less distracting.
  • Improved footnote navigation. You can now navigate through your document by footnote, clearly hearing the number of each footnote.
  • Reliable continuous reading Narrator no longer stops unexpectedly while reading long passages of text.
  • Improved comment reading Narrator now correctly tracks focus when moving from a document to the comment panel.
• Creating and using lists
  • Consistent reading Narrator now reads lists consistently, regardless of how you navigate.
  • Full reading of list items Narrator no longer interrupts reading if a list item wraps to the next line.
  • Navigate through list items. You can now navigate between list items using the Ctrl+ keys <arrow up/down>.
• Creating and using tables
  • Simplified navigation commands. Added support for quick navigation to the first or last cell of a row/column in scan mode.
    • Start of line -  Ctrl+ Alt+<,>
    • End of line -  Ctrl+ Alt+<.>
    • Column start -  Ctrl+ Alt+ Shift+<,>
    • End of column -  Ctrl+ Alt+ Shift+<.>
  • Clear notifications at table boundaries When you reach the last cell in an editable table using the TabNarrator key, the corresponding notification is now read out.
  • Improved entry announcements Narrator no longer announces "entering table" twice when moving between cells.
  • Improved selection feedback Narrator now clearly announces when one or more cells are selected.
  • Awareness of inconsistent tables Narrator now warns you if a table has an inconsistent structure (e.g. missing cells).

Settings

• Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels now have the Advanced options page instead of the Developer options page. However, the options for long paths and virtual workspaces have been temporarily removed to address some issues.

Other

• Added a simple reminder in the form of the SCOOBE (Second Chance Out of Box Experience) screen, which informs you to pay attention to your Microsoft subscription (for example, if a renewal payment has not gone through).

  

Microsoft Store Update

Windows 11 Insiders are getting a new version of Microsoft Store, version 22508.1401.xx or higher, which includes the following changes:

• • Microsoft 365 Copilot agents are now available in the AI ​​Hub in the Microsoft Store. Clicking on an agent card directly launches Microsoft 365 Copilot, where you can explore the advanced capabilities of each agent. These include Prompt, Writing, Idea, Career, and Learning agents, as well as Analyst and Researcher. The cards will appear for users with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app installed, and their availability depends on the subscription level.

    

  • Launching apps from publishers. Previously, Microsoft added the ability to update apps that are provided and updated directly by their publishers. Now, you can launch such apps directly from the app's store page or from the downloads page if the app supports this feature.

    

Fixes

General

• Fixed an issue where some PCs would experience a bugcheck when hibernating in recent builds. Visually, this would appear as if the PC had shut down. It is believed that this issue could result in the PC getting stuck on a black screen with fans making noise when shutting down.

Taskbar and system tray

• Changes have been made to improve the stability of hiding and showing the taskbar when the "Auto-hide the taskbar" option is enabled. The animation may now appear smoother.
• Fixed several issues that could prevent you from interacting with apps or the desktop in the area just above the taskbar.

File Explorer

• Fixed an issue where the General section on the File Explorer home page might appear even if there was no content in it.
• Fixed an issue where File Explorer would not display thumbnails for video files with certain EXIF ​​metadata.
• Fixed an issue where interacting with the context menu in File Explorer could cause the main area of ​​the window to become unresponsive.
• Fixed an issue that could cause some applications to freeze when opening Open or Save dialog boxes.

Lock and login screen

• Fixed an issue that could result in the lock screen crashing when interacting with the power button in recent flights.

Start Menu

• Fixed an issue where the Start menu would close when trying to take a screenshot of it using the WIN+ Shift+ S.
• Fixed an issue impacting Start menu stability in previous builds.
• Fixed an issue where the Start menu would sometimes scroll up unintentionally.

Windows Sandbox

• Fixed an issue where the vmmemCmFirstBoot process could create excessive CPU usage after login, causing the PC to hang.

Search

• Made changes to reduce the number of instances where the Search window would get stuck loading.

Settings

• Fixed an issue that could cause the Settings app to crash when interacting with Settings > System > Additional components.

Voice access

• Fixed an issue where Voice Access might not work, displaying error 9001.

Windows Hello

• • Fixed an issue where Safe Mode login would not work. Some users would see the message "Something went wrong and your PIN is unavailable."

• Fixed an issue where setting up a Windows Hello PIN could fail with error 0x80090010 on Entra ID domain-joined devices after installing previous updates.

Other

• In the previous build, the ability to change the location of hardware indicators on the screen may have disappeared. This feature should now return.

For all users

Fixes

General

• Fixed an issue that affected audio in applications using Network Device Interface (NDI). Audio would cut out when Display Capture was enabled in OBS Studio. This issue may have occurred after installing previous updates.

Known issues

Click to Do

• [New] Launching Click to Do on the primary display using a swipe from the right edge causes visual effects to appear on the other display. The issue is being investigated.

Lock and login screen

• [New] Investigating an issue where media controls may not appear on the lock screen.

Windows Studio Effects

• [New] For some types of external webcams, enabling the "Use Windows Studio Effects" option in the camera's advanced settings may cause the preview to fail. This is due to a compatibility issue with the camera's firmware and will be fixed in a future update. If you encounter this issue, disable Windows Studio Effects in the camera settings.

For developers

• The PIX on Windows utility cannot play GPU recordings on this version of the OS. The issue will be fixed in the next PIX release, which is expected by the end of September. If necessary, you can contact the developers on the DirectX Discord server to get private builds of the utility.

Settings

• [New] Placeholder text in the Settings app search box may appear vertically offset.

Audio

• Some Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels are experiencing an issue where the system loses audio and one or more devices (including the ACPI Audio Compositor) are marked with a yellow exclamation point in Device Manager. The properties of these devices display the message "Windows could not load the driver software for this device. The driver may be corrupted or missing." If you are experiencing this issue, follow these steps:
  • Right-click on the device with the yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager and select Update Driver.
  • Select Browse my computer for driver software, and then select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
  • Select the driver with the most recent date from the list and click Next. If you are offered a list of hardware types instead of one or more specific drivers, this means that this device is not related to the problem.
  • The device should be back to working order and the yellow exclamation mark should be gone. If the exclamation mark remains, it is not related to this issue.
  • Repeat these steps for each device with a yellow exclamation mark.

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.

Source

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