Microsoft releases PowerToys Experimental v0.48.1 with fixes and new features

It was entirely planned, but it does feel like a good while since there was an exciting PowerToys release with new things to play with. But now, with the release of PowerToys Experimental v0.48.1, this changes.

There are, of course, fixes and -- as this is an experimental release -- some known issues, but there is also the return of Video Conference Mute tool which has quickly turned into a fan-favorite.

See also:

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This release includes everything that was part of the v0.47. release, but adds an important update for a problem. Microsoft explains: "Fixed an issue with the first hotkey input in the settings being focused when the page loads. Prevents unintentional shortcut reassignment".

Writing on GitHub, the PowerToys team points out the following known issues and limitations:

• With some webcams, there is an incompatibility with Teams and the overlay image is not rendered, instead a corrupted frame is shown. If your camera has this quirk, please let us know the model in the [main tracking issue - #6246]
• The application preview (Teams, Meet, etc.) may show the overlay image flipped horizontally but that is expected, the image will show correctly to the other people on the call.
• In order to enable/disable the VCM, PowerToys should run as administrator
• Changes to some of the VCM settings require the application to restart to pick up the new values such as a new overlay image.
• In some cases, the overlay image can be shown flipped vertically (the workaround is to edit the image and flip it before selecting it).
  (#6246)

The team also says that this experimental release will not be available on WinGet (although this may change if there is sufficient interest), and also that only people with pre-release versions of PowerToys installed will be prompted to update to this version.

For anyone who runs into problems with Video Conference Mute, there is the following advice:

If the PowerToys Video Conference Mute webcam doesn't show up in the video conference app, try restarting the app and if still doesn't show up try restarting Windows.

You can grab PowerToys Experimental v0.48.1 here.