New Windows 11 Experimental Future Platforms Build Adds Big Start Menu Changes & Fixes Hyper-V Issue

Microsoft is wrapping up this week with bunch of new builds for Windows 11 Insiders. Among which Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 29671.1000 has been released in the Experimental (Future Platforms) channel. The build includes several Start menu changes alongside fixes for Hyper-V and a recent UAC-related freezing problem. However, there are bunch of known issues within this build.

Windows 11 Start menu gets a substantial redesign

The Experimental (Future Platforms) Build 29671.1000 is focused on making the Start menu more customizable. For example, Microsoft has renamed Recommended to Recent in both Start and its related Settings page.

In addition, insiders can now use separate section-level toggles to show or hide Pinned, Recent, and All independently. Microsoft has also adding three Start menu sizing options, allowing users to choose between small, large, and Automatic, with Automatic remaining the default.

The update also introduces an option to hide the user’s name and profile picture from Start. Alongside these changes, Microsoft has redesigned the Start menu settings page to bring the new customization options together. Do note that features are being gradually rolled out, meaning not every Insider will necessarily see them immediately after installing this build.

Hyper-V and UAC issues also get fixes

Besides Start Menu changes, Microsoft has addressed a Hyper-V problem affecting some applications that use HCS-managed virtual machines. Shared Windows host folders using Plan9 were previously failing to appear or could not be accessed from Linux virtual machines. The latest Experimental Future Platform Build 29671.1000 fixes that issue.

Microsoft has also fixed a problem that could cause some Insider PCs to freeze when a UAC prompt appeared in recent preview builds.

However, Microsoft has listed several known issues in this build. First, Microsoft is investigating noticeably reduced system performance that can develop the longer some Insiders use the latest builds. There is also an unresolved issue with VMware Workstation Pro 17.6.4, which may show a blank window when reopening a virtual machine after it has been created and closed. Microsoft is working on a fix.

Finally, the company is investigating reports of VMware devices experiencing green-screen crashes. Since, this is an Experimental channel build, you may encounter several other issues, so keep an eye on those.

Additionally, Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider 26H1 Experimental Build 28120.3032 and Windows 11 Insider Experimental Build 26340.9502, alongside Windows 11 Insider Beta Build 26220.9492, giving Insiders several fresh updates to test across different Windows 11 channels.