Build 23506 delivers improved battery life for all Insiders

Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23506 to the Dev Channel. The Build comes a week after the July Patch Tuesday, which brought a lot of new features, changes, and improvements to Windows 11. You can even download the Build 23506 if you don’t want to install it right away.

The Build 23506 comes with a lot of new features, and some important improvements that Windows 11 devices will greatly benefit from. You’ll be able to have a passwordless experience with Windows Hello for Business. If you remember, Microsoft announced this feature a while ago, but now you can experience it on the Dev Channel.

Windows 11 will also warn you about unsafe passwords in a new feature on this build. Just in the July Patch Tuesday, Microsoft addressed addresses 132 CVEs, so you should know that Windows devices are very susceptible to malware and phishing attacks.

Other new features that are coming with this build are Local File Sharing Improvements, Post-OOBE Experiences, and Auto Color Management (ACM) Expansion. And starting this build the New Outlook for Windows is now an inbox app.

However, among the most important features coming with the build is actually an improvement of an existent feature that will greatly improve the battery life of your Windows 11 devices.

Improving battery life in Build 23506

Microsoft added 2 additional energy recommendations under Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations for turning on dark mode and adjusting the refresh rate to conserve energy.

Turning on Dark Edge and adjusting the refresh rate will help keep your battery alive much longer and it will not stress the device, from an energy perspective.

You need to enable them, and then you are all set.

Below is the complete list of the changes and improvements coming with this build.

Changes and Improvements

[Windows Copilot]

• The Windows Copilot Preview, which began rolling out with Build 23493, is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Insiders may need to reboot to have it show up.

[Emoji]

• With the update of our color font format to COLRv1, Windows is now able to display richer emoji with a 3D like appearance with support coming soon to some apps and browsers. These emoji use gradients to bring the design style that our customers have been asking for. The new emoji will bring more expression to your communications.

[Voice Access]

• Voice access is now available via the accessibility flyout on the Lock screen.

[Backup and Restore]

• In addition to the new Windows Backup app, now you can configure your backup preferences in second-chance out of box experience (SCOOBE), so your apps, settings, creds, and files are backed up in the cloud just the way you want them. You’ll have peace of mind knowing the data you care about is protected and ready for you to restore from any PC.

[Settings]

• We have temporarily disabled the new Settings homepage that began rolling out with Build 23493 due to a bug that could cause some instability on Insider’s PCs. We plan to re-enable and roll this back out once that bug is fixed in a future flight.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where explorer.exe might crash when dragging tabs.
• Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening Gallery.

We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer address bar that began rolling out with Build 23475:

• Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to crash when trying to access an FTP address.
• Fixed an issue where selecting the dropdown arrows in the address bar was opening a blank menu in the last flight.

We fixed the following issues for Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer Home that began rolling out with Build 23475:

• Fixed an issue where File Type icons are displayed in place of file thumbnails for ‘Recommended’ section (applicable to Enterprise users).
• Fixed an issue where Insiders signed in with an AAD account who tried to navigate the Recommended section on File Explorer Home with the tab key on the keyboard may have experienced an explorer.exe crash.
• Fixed an issue where if you navigated from another group to the Recommended section using a keyboard, focus will not appear on the group header or files appropriately.
• Fixed an issue where opening Home was crashing for some Insiders.

We fixed the following issue with commands on recommended files in File Explorer that began rolling out with Build 23403:

• Fixed an issue where if you clicked on the Share command, it would bring up the Windows share sheet instead of the OneDrive share experience.
• Fixed an underlying issue believed to be the cause of certain apps hanging when trying to use the open file dialog.

[Notifications]

• Fixed an issue where the copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts was not working as expected.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where the notification badge on the widgets icon in the taskbar could get out of place.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• We fixed the issue causing text scaling to not work in the search flyout.

[Dynamic Lighting]

• Fixed an underlying ctfmon.exe crash (which could impact the ability to type) related to the Dynamic Lighting work.
• Fixed an issue where all-device settings changes were not propagating to per-device settings.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[Windows Copilot]

• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using Voice Access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

[Dev Drive]

• There might be variable performance on different hardware. If you notice slower performance on your machine, please file feedback!

[File Explorer]

• In some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer may appear transparent.
• Insiders may experience a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.
• Copying files out of large archives or using “Extract All” might be slower than expected for “solid” .7Z or .rar archives.
• Thumbnail loading performance in Gallery for dehydrated cloud files and memory usage in large collections are known issues we are focused on improving. Please capture Performance traces in Feedback Hub for any performance-related issues. Rebuilding your Indexer can help if thumbnails are missing for cloud files; Search for “Indexing Options” and look in Advanced settings to find the rebuild tool.
• [UPDATE] ALT + D, CTRL + L, and F4 do not consistently set focus to the address bar. We’re investigating.

Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer address bar that began rolling out with Build 23475:

• Windows Insiders may notice missing craftmanship polish with the modernized address bar and search box. The team greatly appreciates the use of Feedback Hub to help call out important details to address.

[Dynamic Lighting]

• Switching user accounts can turn off device LEDs.

[Windows Ink]

• The address box in Microsoft Edge might not work correctly.
• Windows Ink does not convert handwriting to text into the main content (e.g., Word documents and Excel spreadsheets) in Microsoft 365 applications.
• Search boxes in Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Microsoft Word) might not work correctly.
• Comment fields in Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Microsoft Word) might not work correctly.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk.

SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

• .NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at ms/windowsinsidersdk
• C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
• BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe