Microsoft just announced a new Windows 11 preview build for the Dev channel, using the company focusing mostly on bug fixes and additional polishing.

Windows 11 build 25151 thus remains live right now for users in the Dev channel from the Windows Insider program, and in addition with a File Explorer fixes, including for any scaling issue that could make the tabs too big, there's also important fixes for the Start menu power controls along with other crashes.

"We believe an underlying fix in Build 25145 addressed the recent issue where closing via the Start menu wasn't working for some Insiders (unexpectedly rebooting instead), and as such are removing this in the known issues list. If you're continuing to come across this issue with the latest updates, please report it within the Feedback Hub," Microsoft explains within the official release notes of this new build.

"Fixed a high hitting Windows Security app crash. Updated the Exclusions page in the Windows Security app so that file paths now make smarter utilisation of the available space instead of truncating when space is still available," the company further notes.

Several known issues

Obviously, there are also several known issues, including one that might cause the operating system hitting a BSOD after updating to this build.

However, Microsoft says the glitch has been available since build 25145, but a fix is not yet been released.

"We are working on the fix to deal with reports that the Mica material and Acrylic blur effect is not rendering correct in OS surfaces such as the Start menu, Notification Center and other areas," Microsoft says. "We're investigating reports that some Insiders are experiencing bugchecks with error message KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED in NetAdapterCx.sys starting with Build 25145."

Microsoft's most recent Windows 11 cumulative update, which is available today for seekers, posseses an important fix that resolves the bug causing some devices to be unable to connect to the Internet having a Wi-Fi hotspot.

The organization originally acknowledged the issue earlier this month, explaining that it was caused by another cumulative update, this time around KB5014697.

"After installing KB5014697, Windows devices may be unable to use the Wi-Fi hotspot feature. When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might lose the connection to the internet after a client device connects," Microsoft said at that time.

It's understandable it was a significant glitch, but fortunately, Microsoft also provided a workaround to deal with the event until a complete fix was ready.

Microsoft said the only method to restore the web access to an impacted device ended up being to disable the Wi-Fi hotspot feature. It's understandable this wasn't necessarily probably the most convenient solution, so quite a few users available considered the ultimate workaround, which will come down to taking out the cumulative update resulting in the whole thing altogether.

Full fix now available

The good news is that Microsoft has resolved everything with the release of cumulative update KB5014668. This update is only on Windows 11 and offered as optional, and that means you must manually check out Windows Update and appearance for updates to upload it.

However, updates to solve exactly the same glitch should go live at some point for those Windows versions affected by the bug, including here Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and many Windows Server versions.

Most likely, the fix will become readily available for each one of these versions of Windows included in the next Patch Tuesday happening in July - at that time, all updates is going to be shipped as automatic releases to Windows users.

Say what you want about Windows on Arm, however the concept is yet to fully take off, despite Microsoft trying to convince partners to purchase new devices.

On paper, Windows on Arm seems to be a brilliant idea, but the insufficient devices to prove exactly what the platform is capable of has more or less limited its audience so far.

Xiaomi is the latest big name to become listed on the club of companies dedicated to Windows 11 on Arm, because the Chinese tech behemoth has recently announced the Book S.

The device is essentially a tablet, but it can become an authentic 2-in-1 with the help of a keyboard. The Xiaomi Smart Pen stylus can also be supported, though it's for sale separately.

Coming with a 12.4-inch display and Gorilla Glass 3 protection, the Xiaomi Book S is run by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 processor. In theory, this really is pretty much among the best choices in terms of Arm power right now, therefore if you're considering getting the best Windows on Arm experience, Xiaomi's new device is a significant solid option.

The processor is paired with 8GB of RAM, and also the device also includes 256GB of SSD storage.

When it comes to connectivity, you receive Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, one USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, along with a sd card reader.

As it's the situation with the other Windows on Arm devices, battery is playing an essential role, and also the Xiaomi Book S guarantees you wouldn't be disappointed. The unit should really provide a more 13.5 hours of video playback.

And if this isn't enough for you, the unit also ships having a 65W charger offering 38W charging.

Starting at 699 Euros in Europe, the device lacks LTE support, and combined with a previous-generation processor, it'll be interesting to see if it ends up selling enough units.

Microsoft has recently brought Windows 11 search highlights closer to the official launch, as the feature made its way to the discharge Preview channel within the Windows Insider program.

Search highlights is really a new feature that is supposed to enhance the search experience in Windows 11 with a lot more content highly relevant to each user, including such things as holidays and anniversaries.

"Search highlights will show notable and fascinating moments of what's special about each day-like holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments over time both globally and in your region. To determine search highlights, click or tap on the search icon in your taskbar. For enterprise customers, search highlights will also feature the most recent updates out of your organization and suggest people, files, and more," the organization explained.

Announced in Windows 11 preview builds for that Dev and Beta channels captured, the feature is now moving one step closer to the state launch by going live in the Release preview channel.

Rolling taking place in stages

However, the rollout will take place in stages, as Microsoft really wants to make sure everything is working exactly as expected. Quite simply, this method gives Microsoft more control over the rollout, so if the bug is discovered searching highlights, the company can suspend the procedure before more devices are impacted.

The organization says the rollout will start within the coming weeks, however, it will require up to many months before all devices running Windows 11 can get it.

"Search highlights will unveil to Windows 11 customers over the next weeks. We are going for a phased and measured approach. Broad availability will exist in the approaching months. For group configuration information, see Group configuration: search highlights in Windows," Microsoft explains without providing a more specific ETA as to when the first production products are designed to get search highlights.

Microsoft just released new Windows 11 ISO images, but necessary for know is they are only at insiders.

In other words, should you download the Windows 11 build 25140 ISO images, you will simply operate a preview version of the operating system that's currently available for the Dev channel in the Windows Insider program.

The new ISO images, however, prove useful to users who want to start from scratch in the Windows Insider program as a result of critical bug within the operating-system but additionally to those who want to see what's new within the latest release inside a virtual machine.

Windows 11 build 25140 includes several notable changes, and in relation to input.

Fixed an issue where selecting English (Nz) in OOBE was unexpectedly leading to the Arabic (101) keyboard getting selected.
Setting language bar hotkeys for switching input straight to specific non-IME input method should work now.
Some languages don't support the speech recognition FOD. When an admin user tried to install among those languages while using new Install-Language CopyToSettings command, some settings for example new user account locale, Input (Keyboard), and UPLL (User Preferred Language List) were not getting updated. This issue has been fixed.
Fixed a problem causing Batang, BatangChe, Gungsuh, and GungsuhChe fonts to not render Korean correctly when utilizing Office online apps when these fonts were not locally present on your computer.

All these improvements are exclusively targeted at the Dev channel, and whenever you're wondering when they are designed to go love production devices, there's no ETA on this front. Microsoft reminds users that the tests that it's running in the Windows Insider Dev channel don't have a specific release date in your mind, plus some of the features which go live for testing could end up being ditched entirely.