KB5120998: Windows 11 25H2, 24H2 release preview build lands with long feature list

Microsoft has launched in the present day new Launch Preview channel builds for Home windows 11 Insiders. The brand new builds, 26100.9267 and 26200.9267, are for Home windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 flighters, respectively, beneath KB5120998. The discharge brings a protracted listing of options and enhancements together with within the Taskbar, Begin menu, Home windows Search, File Explorer, and different core UI components. Talking of UI, the overall design can be seeing adjustments.

The total changelog is given beneath beginning with the options rolling out step by step:

Gradual rollout

• [Taskbar] This replace offers you extra methods to customise the taskbar to match how you’re employed and make higher use of display house.

  • New! Now you can select whether or not the taskbar seems on the backside, high, left, or proper facet of your display. In these different positions, tooltips, flyouts, and animations nonetheless come from the taskbar, and most customization settings, equivalent to by no means combining taskbar icons, work with all places. The search field and smaller taskbar are presently supported just for high and backside positions. To alter the place of the taskbar, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors > Taskbar place.
  • New! A smaller taskbar choice is now obtainable to assist maximize display house on smaller units. This expertise reduces the scale of taskbar icons and the taskbar top whereas sustaining entry to key options equivalent to Begin, Search, and the system tray. To alter your taskbar measurement, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors > Taskbar measurement. When set to Small, each the icons and the taskbar top change into smaller.
  • New! The Taskbar behaviors part of the Taskbar settings web page is now expanded by default for improved discoverability.
  • This replace improves reliability when loading the system tray space of the taskbar on non-touch PCs.

• [Start menu] This replace makes the Begin menu extra private with a number of customizations.

  • New! You may select between a small or giant Begin menu, along with the Computerized (default) choice that is obtainable in the present day. To customise this setting, go to Settings > Personalization > Begin > Begin menu measurement.
  • New! The Beneficial part is renamed Latest within the Begin menu and on the Begin settings web page (Settings > Personalization > Begin).
  • New! Now you can conceal your identify and profile image in Begin by going to Settings > Personalization > Begin > Cover your identify and profile image on Begin.
  • New! The Begin menu settings web page is now redesigned with section-level toggles to independently present or conceal Pinned, Latest, and All.

• [Windows Search] This replace consists of enhancements that make Home windows Search extra reliable, simpler to scan, and clearer earlier than you choose a outcome.

  • New! Search house is simplified to cut back visible litter and make it simpler to get again to latest searches shortly.
  • New! Search does a greater job of exhibiting the place a outcome comes from, equivalent to an app, setting, file, net outcome, or Microsoft Retailer suggestion. It is simpler to inform what you are and the place you may go earlier than you choose a outcome.
  • New! A brand new setting in Settings > Privateness & safety > Search permits you to select whether or not net and Microsoft Retailer ideas seem alongside native outcomes.
  • New! Home windows now robotically indexes your most used folders in order that recordsdata in these folders seem in subsequent search outcomes. You may management the setting in Settings > Privateness & safety > Search > Routinely discover extra related places.

• [File Explorer]

  • New! File Explorer Dwelling now launches sooner and is extra responsive.
  • New! The Beneficial part on Dwelling now helps contact scrolling, making it simpler to browse recordsdata within the carousel.

• [General design] New! This replace introduces up to date progress indicators throughout Home windows, offering a extra constant and fashionable expertise throughout startup, sign-in, restart, shutdown, and replace set up.

• [Windows Share] New! This replace provides the power for customers signed in with a piece or college account to find and set up related apps straight from the share window. To handle this expertise, go to Settings > System > Share and choose Present advised apps in share surfaces.

• [Administrator protection] New! Administrator safety goals to guard free-floating admin rights for directors. It permits customers to carry out administrative duties utilizing just-in-time privileges. Administrator safety is not categorised as a proper safety boundary. It hardens safety in opposition to elevation-of-privilege assaults by introducing profile separation. This characteristic is turned off by default and could be enabled utilizing OMA-URI in Microsoft Intune or by means of Group Coverage. This characteristic was beforehand disclosed in October 2025 (KB5067036) and is now starting to roll out.

• [Multiple desktops] Switching between digital desktops is now smoother and extra responsive.

• [Display and graphics]

  • This replace improves reliability when navigating to and interacting with Settings > System > Show.
  • This replace improves the persistence of your earlier brightness setting after power saver turns off.

• [Task Manager] This replace improves reliability when displaying app historical past info in Activity Supervisor.

• [Windows Setup]

  • This replace streamlines the expertise for choosing a secondary keyboard throughout Home windows setup, making it simpler to skip when it is not wanted.
  • This replace improves the Get Began app with new App set up, Web site pinning, and Theme pages that will help you personalize your system and uncover new options.

• [Windows Update] This replace improves restart habits so PCs that have been manually put to sleep return to sleep after finishing an replace, even when computerized sleep is ready to By no means.

• [Network]

  • This replace improves resiliency and restoration from potential VPN-related background points that may trigger processes to cease responding.
  • This replace improves the output of the netsh wlan present wlanreport command for Japanese customers.

• [Input]

  • This replace improves the reliability of typing with the Japanese IME by decreasing potential hangs.
  • This replace improves the persistence of voice typing settings for computerized punctuation and the launcher.

• [Cryptography] The post-quantum cryptography algorithm ML-KEM can now be used as a standalone algorithm for TLS key change, along with the hybrid teams added beforehand.

• [Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC)] Beginning in August 2026, Home windows 11, variations 24H2 and 25H2 not embody the Home windows Administration Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) utility. WMIC is already eliminated by default in new installations of Home windows 11, variations 24H2 and 25H2, and is not obtainable as a Characteristic on Demand (FoD). This alteration impacts solely the WMIC utility. Home windows Administration Instrumentation (WMI) stays supported.

Regular rollout

This non-security replace consists of high quality enhancements. The next abstract outlines key points addressed by the KB replace after you put in it. The daring textual content throughout the brackets signifies the merchandise or space of the change.

• Extra high quality enhancements are included with this replace.

You’ll find the official help article here on Microsoft’s Study web site.