Microsoft releases Windows 11 Build 25267 -- the last test release of 2022

Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel have a new Windows 11 Build to play with today, and it’s the last one of the year. The next new builds will begin to arrive in January 2023.

Build 25267 comes with a good selection of improvements and fixes, as well as an improvement to how search looks on the taskbar.

Changes and improvements in this build include:

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Microsoft is continuing to try out different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began with Build 25252. Insiders in the Dev Channel will begin seeing an updated treatment with more rounded corners starting with this build. If you see the new treatment, you can right-click on the taskbar to open taskbar settings and adjust the experience. 

Fixes in this build include:

[General]

• Fixed an issue which caused some Insiders to have issues casting (with WIN + K) in the previous flight.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue causing the Bluetooth section of Quick Settings to crash for some people.
• Updated the Quick Settings icons in the taskbar when using a screen reader so if you set focus to each of the icons it no longer includes the words system state and instead just says what the icon is (for example instead of "system volume state" it just says "volume").
• If focus is set to an app icon on the taskbar and you use ALT + Shift + Left/Right to move it, Narrator will now say that it has been moved.
• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash which was impacting some Insiders in the last two flights.

[Search on the Taskbar]

The fixes only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar that began rolling out to Insiders with Build 25252:

• Fixed the issue causing a search box which appeared to be floating on the desktop when you changed your primary monitor or plugged in an external display.
• Text in the search box should no longer be clipped on the bottom when using increased text scaling.

[Input]

• Clicking the notification received the first time you press ALT + Shift should open the customize option now, rather than unexpectedly opening a Command Prompt window.
• Fixed an issue which was causing the first candidate item to be invisible or clipped sometimes in the Simplified Chinese IME candidate window.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where using "Browse for Folder" from an app was only showing Desktop (and no other folders) for some people.

[Settings]

• If a Windows Update failed to install, the error code in Windows Update history can now be selected if you want to copy it out.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where restartable copies of a file (for example using robocopy) with alternate data streams were hanging frequently in the latest Dev Channel builds.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues in this flight include:

[General]

• [NEW] Some Arm64 devices will experience a black screen while resuming from sleep or hibernate. A workaround is to press the power button a few times to wake the device up and get to the Lock screen to login.
• [NEW] Using Windows Hello to sign in with facial recognition may not work on certain devices. A workaround for this is to use the Hello PIN path.
• Microsoft is working on the fix for an issue causing various UI elements in apps appear to disappear and reappear sometimes in recent builds.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar. You may also see this issue on secondary monitors.

[Search on the Taskbar]

The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar as mentioned above in this blog post:

• You may see issues with the search box on taskbar not rendering correctly and displaying visual artifacts.
• In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, there are layout issues with the text in the search box on taskbar.
• Some Japanese IME candidate items are clipped inside the search box on taskbar.

[Task Manager]

• Filtering by publisher name does not match correctly on the Processes page.
• Some services may not show in the Services page after filtering is applied.
• If a new process is starting while a filter is set, then that process may appear for a split second in the filtered list.
• Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
• The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
• There’s an issue Microsoft is investigating where Task Manager isn’t displaying light and dark content correctly, leading to unreadable text. This happens when you have your mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors set to Custom – as a workaround for the time being, please switch it to Light or Dark.
• The Startup apps page in Task manager does not list any apps for some Insiders. If you are impacted, please use Settings > Apps > Startup for the time being.

[Widgets]

• Microsoft is investigating an issue where the widgets board will get stuck open in an invisible state for Insiders in China (and potentially others), causing clicks on the left side of the screen to not work. If you encounter this, pressing WIN + D may resolve the issue.
• In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, content animates out of view before the widgets board resizes when clicking to expanded view of the widgets board.

[Live Captions]

• [NEW] Live Captions is not working in this build. Microsoft's goal is to quickly flight a new build after the holidays with a fix.

Image credit: rawf8 / Shutterstock