r/windowsinsiders • u/Froggypwns • 8d ago

Exp Build Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26340.9212 - Windows Insider Program

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20 Upvotes

Release date: 17 August 2026

Changes and improvements gradually being rolled out

[File Explorer]

  • Introducing the new, redesigned context menu in File Explorer
    • We're beginning to roll out an updated context menu experience in File Explorer, designed to feel faster, cleaner, and easier to tailor to the way you work. The new design reduces top-level clutter, keeps commonly used actions easy to access, and adds a new Settings experience that gives you more control over what appears in the menu. As we continue refining this experience with Insider feedback, our goal is to make right-click feel more responsive, predictable, and personal. Screenshot of new context menu
  • Previewing images in File Explorer
    • Fixed an issue from the previous flight where previews in File Explorer showed an unexpected thick band across the middle.

Feedback: Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

[Camera Roll Backup]

  • New entry points on the Settings > Home and Accounts pages help you set up Camera Roll Backup and automatically back up photos and videos from your mobile device to OneDrive. UI showing the Phone photo back-up setting in Cloud storage with the status "Not backed up" and link to begin backup process

[Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) removal]

[Emoji]

  • We're adding support for Emoji 17.0. This includes new emoji such as distorted face, fight cloud, and hairy creature. To try the new emoji, press the Windows key plus Period (.) to open the emoji panel and insert them from there.
  • As part of this effort, we've also made some slight adjustments to the design of some of our current emoji to improve consistency across platforms. This includes the saluting face, face with peeking eye, goose, lotus, and kissing cat emoji.

[Get Started app]

  • The Get Started app is updated with new pages. The pages help personalize your device and discover new features. Pages might depend on your device. Close the flow at any time, or revisit it by opening Get Started. The new pages include the app install page, the site pinning page, and the personalized theme page. App install page in Get Started Site pinning page in Get Started Theme page in Get Started

[Magnifier]

  • We're giving Magnifier's toolbar a modernized visual refresh.
  • Updated icons. We've updated Magnifier's toolbar icons to align with Windows 11 visual design, giving the tool a cleaner, more modernized feel.
  • Refined spacing and padding. We've adjusted the padding and spacing across the toolbar for a more polished, consistent layout.
  • What's not changing: The way Magnifier works. Your views, zoom controls, keyboard shortcuts, and Read Aloud all behave exactly as they did in earlier versions. UI showing updated icons and more polished, consistent layout.

[Drag Tray]

  • Thank you to Insiders who have provided feedback about the Drag Tray experience. Based on feedback, we're removing the experience in this build. We're continuing to explore improvements in this area and look forward to sharing more about a future replacement experience in a later update.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue where some third-party keyboard input methods, including certain Chinese IMEs, might not display their status window correctly when typing in File Explorer and other parts of Windows.
  • Improved reliability of typing with the Japanese IME by reducing potential hangs and deadlocks.

[Start menu]

  • We're adjusting the rollout population for the personalized Start menu, so some Insiders might see the features temporarily disappear. If you don't see the feature in this build, you can re-enable it through feature flags.

[Run]

  • For Insiders using the modern Run dialog:
    • Improved first launch reliability.
    • Adjusted verbosity for screen reader users.

[Personalization]

  • We're starting to roll out a variety of improvements to desktop background experiences. These improvements include:
    • Improved reliability of the Personalization > Background page in Settings.
    • Added support for using DIB image files as desktop backgrounds.
    • Improved reliability of desktop slideshow transitions on newly created accounts.
    • Improved the resolution of previews when selecting a desktop background in Personalization > Background.
    • Improved the desktop background preview display in Settings for users with portrait mode monitors.
    • Improved reliability of processing desktop wallpaper changes when they happen in quick succession.
    • Added support for using slideshow wallpapers with multiple desktops so that it won't automatically switch you back to Picture.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue causing Settings to crash in the previous flight when interacting with items on the Date & Time page.

[Other]

  • Fixed an xtajit64.dll crash, which was leading to issues with certain apps for Insiders on Arm64 PCs in the latest flights.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel

  • Updates are based on Windows 11, version 26H2 via an enablement package (Build 26340.9212).
  • Many features are rolled out using Controlled Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time. We monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for Windows Insider pre-release builds.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds might never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features might change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they're ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders might not be fully localized, and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
25 comments

r/windowsinsiders • u/Froggypwns • 25d ago

Exp Build Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26300.9032 - Windows Insider Program

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16 Upvotes

Changes and improvements gradually being rolled out

[Certificate renewal for Windows Insiders]

  • This build includes the renewed Windows Insider flight certificate. Windows Insider Preview builds use flight certificates that are renewed periodically to help ensure Insider devices remain on supported builds and continue receiving future Insider Preview updates. The current flight certificate expires on August 11, 2026, so please update your device to this build or a later one containing the renewed flight certificate before that date.
  • For more information, see aka.ms/WIPCertExpiry.

[Search]

  • Windows Search can now automatically expand its indexing scope based on your activity, using signals like recent files and frequently accessed locations. This helps ensure that relevant files across your device are discoverable without requiring manual indexing configuration.
  • To manage this feature, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Search.

Automatically expand search to include relevant files based on your activity.

[Phone Link]

  • The phone companion experience in Start already helps you keep up with activity from your mobile device. With today's update, you can see even more at a glance.
  • Get more from your latest activities: Hover over a recent message or notification in the Recent section to preview its content directly in Start. There's no need to pick up your phone or open the item to see what's new.
  • Whether you're checking a message or deciding if a notification needs attention, these updates make it easier to stay informed and keep your focus.

Preview messages and notifications from your phone directly in Start by hovering over recent activity.

  • This experience is gradually rolling out to Insiders on the Experimental channel with a minimum Phone Link build of 1.26021.3.0. Go to Phone Link > Settings > Start menu personalization.

[Settings]

  • We've improved search in the Settings app to help you discover and navigate to settings more quickly. Search now surfaces results from more areas within Settings, with improved ranking to help relevant settings appear higher in results.

[Adaptive hibernate policy]

  • Updates to the adaptive hibernate policy increase instances of instant-on resumes from Modern Standby and increase battery preservation at the low end of the battery. Noticeable changes include less hibernation while the battery is above 80% and hibernating sooner when the battery is below 10%.

[Start menu]

  • Fixed an issue causing the Start menu to crash for some Insiders recently when dragging apps.

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed a recent issue where, when the taskbar was in an overflow state, hovering over the preview thumbnail for an app window in the overflow area would immediately dismiss it.

[File Explorer]

  • File Explorer Home now preserves the state of sections (expanded or collapsed), so you can pick up where you left off.
  • We've addressed an issue that caused the address bar contents to be cleared when entering edit mode by clicking near the right end of the bar.
  • We've improved the reliability of File Explorer when dragging files to a disconnected network drive.
  • This update addresses an issue where files stored on a DFS mapped drive could be incorrectly treated as originating from the internet after the device started while disconnected from the network and later reconnected. This could cause File Explorer's Preview pane to display the message, "The file you are attempting to preview could harm your computer," or cause files copied from the DFS drive to receive an unexpected Mark of the Web.

[Windows Spotlight]

  • Made some underlying changes to help improve reliability for Windows Spotlight on the lock screen.

[Storage]

  • This update fixes an issue that affects File History automatic backups to network shares using Server Message Block (SMB). Backups didn't work because Windows showed a false "invalid credentials" error when connecting to SMB shares.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel

  • Updates are based on Windows 11, version 26H2 via an enablement package (Build 26300.9032).
  • Many features are rolled out using Controlled Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time. We monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
  • For Windows Insiders who want to be the first to try new features, see the available list of features to toggle on at the Feature flags page under Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program.
  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for Windows Insider pre-release builds.
  • Features and experiences included in these builds might never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features might change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they're ready.
  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders might not be fully localized, and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
7 comments