Windows 11 26H1 Release Preview Build Adds Movable Taskbar, Start Menu Customizations, File Explorer Improvements & More

Windows 11 Build 28000.3079 is now available in Release Preview, bringing major taskbar, Start menu, Search, security, and File Explorer changes to Windows 11 version 26H1.

Microsoft has released Beta Build 26220.9472 alongside Windows 11 Build 28000.3079, also known as KB5124006, to Windows Insiders in the Release Preview Channel.

Windows 11 finally gets a movable taskbar

One of the biggest changes is the ability to place the taskbar at the top, bottom, left, or right side of the display.

Microsoft says tooltips, flyouts, animations, and features such as never combining taskbar icons continue to work across the different positions.

There are still some limitations. The search box and smaller taskbar currently work only when the taskbar sits at the top or bottom of the screen.

Microsoft has also added a new Small taskbar option that reduces both the height of the taskbar and the size of its icons.

The company also improved system tray reliability on PCs without touchscreens.

Start menu gets new size and layout controls

The Start menu gains more customization options in this build.

Users can now choose between Small, Large, and Automatic Start menu sizes.

Microsoft has also renamed the Recommended section to Recent and added an option to hide the user’s name and profile picture from Start.

The redesigned Start settings now include separate controls for showing or hiding Pinned, Recent, and All content.

Windows Search becomes cleaner

Microsoft has simplified Search Home to reduce clutter and make recent searches easier to access.

Search results now identify whether an item comes from an app, setting, file, web result, or Microsoft Store suggestion.

Users can also decide whether web and Microsoft Store suggestions appear alongside local results.

Windows can now automatically discover and index frequently used folders to improve file search results. Users can manage this behavior through Search settings.

File Explorer and Windows animations get faster

File Explorer Home should now launch faster and respond more quickly.

The Recommended carousel on File Explorer Home also supports touch scrolling, while switching between virtual desktops should feel smoother.

Microsoft has redesigned progress indicators that appear during startup, sign-in, restart, shutdown, and update installation.

Administrator protection starts rolling out

Administrator protection is also beginning to roll out.

The feature provides just-in-time administrator privileges instead of leaving elevated rights continuously available.

Microsoft uses profile separation to reduce exposure to elevation-of-privilege attacks, although the company stresses that Administrator protection does not represent a formal security boundary.

The feature remains disabled by default. Organizations can enable it through Microsoft Intune using OMA-URI or through Group Policy.

Windows adds isolation for AI agents

Microsoft is introducing Process Isolation for Microsoft Execution Containers, or MXC.

MXC creates a lightweight isolation boundary for workloads such as coding agents and model-generated code.

Administrators can use policies to restrict access to files, networking, the Windows interface, and other system capabilities.

Windows is also gaining preview support for tagging agentic processes with an agent identifier.

Post-quantum cryptography expands

Windows now supports ML-KEM as a standalone algorithm for TLS key exchange.

The addition expands Microsoft’s post-quantum cryptography support beyond the hybrid groups it previously introduced.

Windows Update can coordinate app updates

Microsoft has also made several update-related changes.

If users manually put a PC to sleep before an update, Windows can return the device to sleep when the update finishes, even when automatic sleep is set to Never.

Participating applications can also coordinate their updates with Windows Update through the Windows Update Orchestration Platform.

This gives supported applications access to Windows Update scheduling and creates a more unified update process.

Autopilot and VPN reliability improve

Device association for Windows Autopilot device preparation is now generally available.

Organizations can identify trusted devices before enrollment and apply device-targeted policies, automatic corporate enrollment, and customized out-of-box experience settings.

Microsoft has also improved Windows’ ability to recover from background VPN problems that can cause processes to stop responding.

Microsoft removes WMIC

The build notes also reiterate that WMIC has been removed from Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2.

WMIC is no longer available as a Feature on Demand.

The removal only affects the WMIC command-line utility. Windows Management Instrumentation itself remains supported.

Other improvements cover display settings reliability, brightness restoration after Energy Saver is disabled, Task Manager app history, secondary keyboard setup, Japanese IME stability, voice typing preferences, Microsoft Store purchases in elevated WinUI 3 apps, and new pages in the Get Started app.

In addition to this build, Microsoft has also released several other Windows 11 Insider updates. These include Experimental 26H1 Build 28120.3002, which introduces an Easy Anti-Cheat issue, Experimental Build 26340.9482 with security and File Explorer improvements, and Beta 26H1 Build 28020.2991, which adds gamepad navigation to Bluetooth Quick Settings and improves sharing.