Windows 11 Insider Build 25179 (Dev): All you need to know

The new Windows 11 Beta channel Insider builds (KB5016694) aren’t the only software that Microsoft released today.

Yes, we are actually talking about the fact that Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider build 25179 to the Dev Channel.

Just so you know, this is still version 22H2, because as you know the Sun Valley 3 development, which was known as Windows 11 23H2, has been canceled in favor of releasing a major new Windows version every three years.

As Insiders know, the Dev channel is sticking with version 22H2, which will eventually release sometime in 2023, and most likely under the Windows 11 23H2 version naming.

What does build 25179 bring to Insiders on the Dev channel?

We’re about to take a closer look at these release notes and see what is new, what changes and improvements we got, fixes, and known issues.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• The spelling dictionary will now use a language-neutral word list and we are trying out syncing this across all devices that use the same Windows account. Users can toggle this feature via Settings > Accounts > Windows backup > Remember my preferences > Language preferences. This currently only works with Microsoft accounts today with AAD support coming later.

[File Explorer]

• File Explorer tabs and navigation updates (which began rolling out to the Dev Channel with Build 25136) are now rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel. If you don’t see these features right away, please try rebooting. If that doesn’t work, please file feedback in Feedback Hub.
• Trying out different experiences in File Explorer to show search results.

[Input]

• Adding the Tamil Anjal keyboard for the Tamil language. It’s a popular keyboard for inputting Tamil characters, so if you speak this language, please try it out! This keyboard is currently rolling out to a subset of Insiders while we evaluate the quality. To add it (once it’s available to you), make sure Tamil (India) is listed under Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region, and then click the “…” next to the language, select Language Options, and add it to the list of keyboards.
• Rolling out a small tweak to improve the key repeat rate for the traditional touch keyboard layout, as well as the default touch keyboard layout, so it feels more responsive. Now it has the rate of 20 keys per second (for example, when holding down the delete key).

[Other]

• Updated the default duration captured by powercfg -sleepstudy from 3 to 7 days.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue causing hangs and crashes in apps (like Excel) when attempting to print in the last couple flights.
• Fixed a few issues impacting explorer.exe reliability.

[File Explorer]

• The Mount option when right clicking things like ISO files should now show an icon in the context menu.
• Fixed an issue where the min / max / close button might not be visible in File Explorer when using a contrast theme.

[Widgets]

• Fixed the issue causing Widgets preferences (temperature units and pinned widgets) to unexpectedly get reset to default.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue which could lead to the taskbar overflow flyout unexpectedly appearing on the opposite side of the screen.

[Input]

• Fixed a sporadic crash impacting reliability of the input switcher.
• Fixed an issue where when Suggested Actions was enabled, if you copied multiple items in a row to your clipboard history, some of the items might not display after you pressed WIN + V.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue which was causing Settings to crash on launch sometimes.
• Improved alignment of the “Scan for phone” button displayed on Accounts > Sign-In Options under Dynamic Lock when your phone failed to connect.
• Your preferred state for the Suggested Actions setting under System > Clipboard should persist upgrade going forward from this build.

[Windowing]

• Fixed an issue where when resizing certain app windows near the edge of the screen when using mixed DPI monitors might unexpectedly cause the window to jump and shrink.

[Other]

• Made a change so that the media controls in Quick Settings will more reliably not load old media you’re no longer using.
• Fixed an issue causing one of the characters in the bugcheck text to not display correctly (as a box) when the display language was set to Chinese.
• Fixed an issue causing app install failures with error 0x80080204 in the last few flights.
• Improved date / time recognition for existing supported locales when using Suggested Actions.

Known issues

[General]

• Devices with low disk space may be unable to update to this build and see download error 0x80070001 in Windows Update. A fix should go out with the next flight. Freeing up disk space 24GB or higher could allow the build to download and install.
• Some games that use Easy Anti-Cheat may crash or cause your PC to bugcheck.
• Looking into reports that audio stopped working for some Insiders after upgrading to the last flight.
• Working on a fix for an issue leading to some Insiders experiencing a decrease in FPS when playing certain games in recent flights due to the wrong graphics card being used.
• Investigating reports of a few different apps having started crashing in recent builds.

[File Explorer]

• The left-half of the File Explorer title bar may not be draggable via mouse or touch.
• The up arrow is misaligned in File Explorer tabs. This will be fixed in a future update.
• Working on the fix for an issue causing Home, Documents, Pictures and potentially other folders to become unexpectedly duplicated in File Explorer’s navigation pane or appear on the desktop.
• Working on the fix for an issue where the search box background in File Explorer might be the opposite color of your current mode.
• Working on the fix for an issue causing the delete key to unexpectedly not work on files in File Explorer. If you encounter this, you should still be able to use the context menu to delete.
• Working on the fix for an issue where the taskbar isn’t able to display if File Explorer is maximized and you have the taskbar set to auto-hide.

[Widgets]

• Notification badge number may appear misaligned on the taskbar.
• In some cases, the notification banner for some badging will not appear in the widgets board.

[Printing]

• We’re working on the fix for an issue in recent Dev Channel flights causing lines to not be included when printing tables from certain apps.

There you have it! Everything you can expect if you are a Dev channel Insider. Leave a comment below if you found any issues since installing this build.