Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.59.0, completing native ARM64 support and improving many utilities

If you were thinking that it has been a while since Microsoft updated PowerToys, you'd be right -- it's over a month since the last update was released. But now the company has pushed out PowerToys v0.59.0, and it's a significant release.

There are many things worthy of mention in this latest version of the utility collection, not least of which is the completion of adding ARM64 support. This is far from being all that PowerToys v0.59.0 has to offer though, there are also important changes and improvements to many individual components including Keyboard Manager, Power Rename and the much-loved FancyZones.

See also:

• Microsoft releases KB5014023 update to fix crashing apps and slow copying in Windows
• Microsoft releases public preview of Windows Autopatch
• Another Windows protocol vulnerability emerges; this time it is a Windows Search zero-day

With the release, Microsoft say that with "the v0.59 release cycle we focused on wrapping up building for native ARM64 and releasing the first experimental build".

For Microsoft, the wrapping up of native ARM64 support is the main highlight, but there is more. Power Rename now runs on WinUI 3, and Keyboard Manager now allows up to four modifier keys for shortcuts.

There is one known issue with this release:There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications (RTSS RivaTuner Statistics Server and MSI AfterBurner are known examples of this). If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

The full list of changes and additions looks like this:

General

• Some typos were fixed. Thanks @eltociear, @rcmaehl and @ShyPixie!

ARM64

• ARM64 support now fully added!
• Fixed PowerRename to work on ARM64.
• Fixed File Explorer tools to work on ARM64.
• Made changes for the installer projects to build ARM64 installers.
• Configured the CI and Release pipelines to build for ARM64.
• Added ARM64 build status to the README.

Always on Top

• Fixed an issue where the borders where sticking around when a window was minimized with Win+D.

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug that was consuming CPU cycles when the default layout was set.
• Fixed a bug where apps were not opened in their last known zones due to Virtual Desktop ID changes.
• Fixed a bug that was snapping popup menus opened by applications.
• Fixed a bug causing windows not to be snapped under some configurations.

Image Resizer

• No longer tries to change metadata on files that were not actually resized. Thanks @adamchilders!

File explorer add-ons

• Fixed a bug where modules depending on WebView2 would be limited to opening files smaller than 2 MB. Now the resulting html is generated into a temporary file before presenting it.
• Add a viewBox attribute to svg files that don't have one so that the preview tries to show the whole image.
• Remove scrollbar that was showing when rendering svg thumbnails.

Keyboard Manager

• Now up to four modifier keys can be used in shortcuts. This will allow you to use the Office key (which sends Win+Ctrl+Shift+Alt), for example.
• Fixed a bug locking Keyboard Manager when two shortcut mapping were pressed at the same time.
• Removed event spam for certain telemetry events.

PowerRename

• Ported to use WinUI 3 instead of WinUI 2.

PowerToys Run

• The Services plugin is able to search for parts of the name, display name or the service type or state. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Services plugin now supports the startup type 'Automatic (Delayed Autostart)'. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Services plugin now has tooltips for large service names and other UI improvements. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The TimeDate plugin gave results for queries containing just numbers on global queries. This has been fixed. Thanks @htcfreek!
• We've introduced a throttle before a query is done to ensure typing is done to increase performance. Thanks @shandsj!
• Fixed a crash in WebSearch when there's an empty pattern setup for the system's default browser.
• Fixed a bug where VSCodeWorkspaces was not finding portable installations of VSCode. Thanks @harvastum!
• The Calculator plugin reacts better to invalid input and internal errors. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Calculator plugin can now be configured to use the US number format instead of the system one. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Folder plugin supports paths containing "/". Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Settings

• Now the UI for adding excluded apps for FindMyMouse is disabled when the module is disabled. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Text was improved in the Settings UI for File Explorer. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Settings won't try to launch if everything runs elevated in the machine, and a warning message is shown instead.
• Some minor UI fixes. Thanks @niels9001!
• The Settings screen should now open correctly if the OOBE screen was opened first.
• The rounded corner settings for FancyZones now only show on Windows 11. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed a UI freeze when entering the Keyboard Manager page with clean settings.
• Fixed a UI glitch where a message was being shown that all PowerToys Run plugins were disabled when using the search function. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.0, fixing an issue where Settings wouldn't start with UAC off and improving performance.

Runner

• Auto-update takes into account if it's running on x64 or arm64 to download the right installer.

Installer

• Updated the .NET dependency to 6.0.5.
• The installer is now built using a beta version of Wix 3.14 for arm64 support.
• Added the VC++ Redistributable binary as a requirement.
• The Windows App SDK runtime binaries are being shipped with PowerToys instead of running its installer. This should fix most of the install issues with 0.58.

Development

• New action added to GitHub to publish the winget package to PowerToys.
• New action added to GitHub to publish for the Microsoft Store. Thanks azchohfi!
• Documentation for installing the Windows App SDK dependencies and building the installer was updated.
• FxCop removed from the PowerToys Run TimeZone plugin and was replaced with NetAnalyzers. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

You can download PowerToys v0.59.0 here, or you can make use of the update option in the version you currently have installed.