File Explorer tabs are now available with Windows 11 Build 25136

Yes, it’s about that time again, and Microsoft has not delayed this release in any way. The tech giant has started the rollout for a new Windows 11 Insider build to the Dev Channel.

Build 25136 is the Sun Valley 3 development for Windows Insiders, which will eventually become the version that is released in 2023.

And you will be pleased to learn that the main highlight of this build is the new tabbed interface for File Explorer and the addition of the dynamic widget for the taskbar.

We’ve previously shown you how to activate these tabs in File Explorer, and also what to do if you are missing the feature altogether.

What’s new in Build 25316?

Describing the upgrades added to File Explorer, Microsoft also spoke about introducing a refreshed layout of the left navigation pane which makes it easy for you to switch between folders.

This update actually provides easy access to your pinned and frequently used folders (Quick access) and your OneDrive cloud profiles added to Windows.

Windows folders that are available by default in the navigation pane are no longer displayed under This PC to keep that view focused on your PC’s drives.

Apart from the tabs bring added to File Explorer, Microsoft is also trying to bring more dynamic Widgets content to the taskbar.

In addition to seeing live content from the weather widget, you’ll also start to see live updates from the sports and finance widgets, along with breaking news alerts.

Changes and Improvements

[Input]

• We are beginning to roll out the ability for Insiders to report animated gifs they feel are inappropriate from the emoji panel (WIN + .)

Fixes

[General]

• Addressed an issue which was leading to some PCs being erroneously detected as tablets. When this happened, compact mode and the option to hide checkboxes in File Explorer wouldn’t take effect.
• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION bugcheck in recent Dev Channel builds.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue that was sometimes causing taskbar apps to overflow with the system tray icons.
• When you hover on an app in the system tray, its notification will no longer flash.

[Start]

• Fixed an issue that could cause Start to only show one column of recommended items.
• If you’re pinning a large number of apps to Start, it should now refresh to show them more reliably.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue from the previous flight where Disks & Volumes section of System > Storage wasn’t displaying any disks or volumes.

[Windowing]

• We made a fix to help with a rare issue which was causing title bars to sometimes go transparent or missing sometimes in certain apps.

[Windows Update]    

• Fixed an issue where Windows Update might unexpectedly show error 0x00000000 when there wasn’t anything wrong.
• Fixed an issue which was leading to some devices bugchecking with HYPERVISOR_ERROR when trying to upgrade to a new build.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue which was causing Task Manager to crash on launch sometimes after switching between light and dark mode or changing accent color.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which could lead to increased latency or stutter in games when v-sync was used.
• Fixed an issue which could cause some PCs to freeze after running the wsl –shutdown command.

Known issues

[General]

• Windows Insiders on Surface Pro X devices will hit a black screen attempting to resume from hibernate on this build. You will need to power cycle (long power button shutdown) to get back into the device. It is recommended Insiders on these devices pause flighting until we release a build with this fix.
• [NEW] We are investigating reports that the Mica material and Acrylic blur effect is not rendering correct in OS surfaces like the Start menu, Notification Center and other areas.
• We’re investigating reports that shutting down via the Start menu isn’t working for some Insiders and is unexpectedly rebooting instead.
• Some games that use Easy Anti-Cheat may crash or cause your PC to bugcheck.

[File Explorer]

• [NEW] The up arrow is misaligned in File Explorer tabs. This will be fixed in a future update.

[Live captions]

• Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
• Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.

These are the latest updates for the Dev Channel of the Windows 11 Insider Program released today by the Redmond tech company.

Have you downloaded and installed build 25316? Any other bugs you might have found you can share with us in the comments section below.