Hello Windows Insiders,

Today we are beginning to roll out an update for the Paint app to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels (version 11.2309.20.0 or higher). With this update, we are excited to introduce Paint Cocreator, a new AI-powered experience powered by DALL-E that helps you create amazing artwork in Paint by describing in a few words what you’d like to create. You can optionally select an art style, and when you click Create, Paint Cocreator will generate three variations of artwork for you to choose from. Select any of them to add to the canvas to start creating!

We will be rolling out access slowly at first, so when you get the update, you must first join the waitlist by signing in with your Microsoft account and clicking on the new Cocreator button in the toolbar. You will get an email notification when you are in the preview, and we will give you 50 credits to get started. Each credit lets you generate a new set of images.

Microsoft is committed to responsible AI practices. When you use Paint Cocreator, we apply content filtering and have other safeguards in place to prevent the generation of images that may be harmful, offensive, or inappropriate, and we are continuing to optimize how Paint Cocreator works based on real-world usage and feedback. Paint Cocreator is available in preview to users in English in the following regions: United States, France, UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany. You can learn more about Paint Cocreator here.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Paint.

[PLEASE NOTE: We are beginning to roll these experiences out, so they may not be available to all Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

We love getting feedback from the community and are looking forward to your feedback on these updates!

Thanks,
Dave Grochocki, Principal Product Manager Lead – Windows Inbox Apps

Source: Windows Blog
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Hello Windows Insiders!

Today we are making Windows 11, version 23H2 Build 22631 (Windows 11 2023 Update) available in the Release Preview Channel for Windows Insider Program for Business participants to validate on devices in their organizations. This update is delivered as an enablement package as we shared back in July and will be released in the fourth quarter of 2023. This new update will have the same servicing branch and code base as Windows 11, version 22H2 and will be cumulative with all the newly announced features including Copilot in Windows (in preview)** plus additional changes such as:

• Chat is now Microsoft Teams (free). Microsoft Teams (free) is pinned by default to the taskbar and can be unpinned like other apps on the taskbar. Windows Insiders who click to launch Microsoft Teams (free) will discover a mini communications experience making it possible to chat, call, and meet with their people within just a click or two. Not only does its compact size make it easy to place the window anywhere on desktop, but you can passively keep tabs on your conversations with the ability to have it visible as you browse the web or connect with your communities. With Microsoft Teams (free) we’re also introducing these new experiences:
  • Users will also be able to access the new Phone Link integration with Microsoft Teams (free). They can link their Android phone to send, receive SMS messages and share meeting links using their regular phone number.
  • A new People experience finds you relevant people easily on Teams and makes it possible to access and connect with contacts synced by users.
  • And a new Play Together widget in Windows 11 Game Bar powered by Microsoft Teams (free) lets you see your friends’ videos overlaid directly on top of your game. Friends can join from any device for free to connect, chat, and more while playing Starfield along with many of your favorite games on this new widget. Hit WIN + G to start playing.

Commercial* customers can get the Windows 11, version 23H2 feature update through Windows Update for Business (WUfB), Windows Server Update Service (WSUS), and/or via Azure Marketplace. You can learn more about deploying pre-release feature updates using these deployment methods here. Should any issues arise, IT admins in organizations deploying Release Preview payloads can request free Microsoft Support. This support offer is intended to help resolve issues with commercial-specific scenarios and is limited to commercial customers. UPDATE: ISOs are now available for Windows 11, version 23H2 Build 22631 via the Windows Insider ISO download page.

We are also making Windows 11, version 23H2 available to any Windows Insider in the Release Preview Channel via our “seeker” experience in Windows Update. This means Insiders currently in the Release Preview Channel that meet the Windows 11 hardware requirements can go to Settings and Windows Update and choose to download and install Windows 11, version 23H2 Build 22631 if they want. Once an Insider updates their PC to Windows 11, version 23H2, they will continue to automatically receive new servicing updates through Windows Update (the typical monthly update process). For instructions on how to join the Windows Insider Program and join your PC to the Release Preview Channel, click here.

Thanks,
Windows Insider Program Team

*We consider a device a commercial device if it is not running the Windows 11 Home edition AND is being managed by an IT administrator (whether via Microsoft Endpoint Manager or other management solution) or has a volume license key or commercial ID or is joined to a domain.

** Copilot in Windows will start to release in preview to select global markets as part of our latest update to Windows 11. The initial markets for the Copilot in Windows preview include North America and parts of Asia and South America. It is our intention to add additional markets over time.

Source: Windows Blog
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Today, Yusuf Mehdi announced the latest Windows 11 innovations that bring the power of AI to enhance what you can achieve using your PC, plus many new features and experiences ranging from accessibility to security.  Windows is a tool that more than a billion people around the world use to connect, learn, play and work. In this blog I’ll share how to get the new Windows 11 features, details on our approach to availability and further Windows roadmap information.

How to get the latest innovations

We are committed to delivering continuous innovation to Windows 11 to provide you with the best experiences, when new features are ready, via our familiar processes. Today, Copilot in Windows (in preview) and many of the newly announced features will start to become available, including Windows Backup to transfer your files and settings to your new Windows 11 device¹, voice access for log in and text corrections, and Passkey to replace passwords for apps and websites. Windows 11 devices will get new functionality at different times, as we will be gradually rolling out some of these new features over the coming weeks initially via controlled feature rollout (CFR) to consumers. Consumers with eligible devices running Windows 11, version 22H2 who are interested in experiencing these new enhancements now, including Copilot in Windows, can choose to do so by going to Settings > Windows Update and turning on ”Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” and then select “Check for updates.” We anticipate broad availability for most new features by the November 2023 security update release for all devices².

New in the Microsoft Store on Windows

Today, the following Windows apps and experiences are available for Windows 11 devices in the Microsoft Store³. To get these select “Get updates” in Microsoft Store > Library and search by title.

• Clipchamp with auto-compose
• The new Outlook for Windows (also available by toggling it on from Windows Mail and Calendar)
• Instant Games – a new experience allowing users to instantly play select casual games without the need to install and download
• AI-enhanced versions of the following apps start rolling out now to a small percentage of consumer users (with full availability targeted in the coming months)
  • Paint⁴
  • Photos
  • Snipping Tool

New experiences for developers

For our developers, we are sharing new information on familiar dev tools and announcing the general availability today of developer experiences recently announced at Build ’23, including Dev Home, a productivity companion for developers on Windows, and Dev Drive, a new storage volume delivering performance and security for developer workloads.

Information for commercial and education customers

Most new Windows 11 features will be enabled by default in the October 2023 optional non-security preview release for all editions of Windows 11, version 22H2, including the Windows 365 Boot and Windows 365 Switch capabilities². IT admins who want to get the new Windows 11, version 22H2 features can use a newly announced policy to enable optional updates for their managed devices⁵. To give admins time to plan and prepare managed devices for deployment, Copilot in Windows with Bing Chat Enterprise⁶ is off by default behind a temporary enterprise feature control.

Windows 11 2023 Update

As announced in July, the Windows 11 2023 Update (version 23H2) will be released in the fourth quarter of 2023. This new update will have the same servicing branch and code base as Windows 11, version 22H2 and will be cumulative with all the newly announced features. For devices on version 22H2, the 2023 Update will be delivered via a small enablement package (eKB)⁷. This continues the annual feature update cadence, with new feature updates released in the second half of the calendar year. This new version resets the 24 months of support for Home and Pro editions and 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions.

Experience the latest innovations in Windows 11

As I have often previously noted, installing the latest updates is the best way you can keep your Windows device protected and productive with the latest features and innovations. If you have not yet moved to Windows 11, now is a great time to do so, and Windows Backup is available to help you get up and running quickly and easily. As is our normal practice, we will closely monitor the rollout of these new Windows 11 features and continue to share timely information on the status of the rollout and known issues (open and resolved) via the Windows release health dashboard and @WindowsUpdate. Please continue to tell us about your experience by providing comments or suggestions via Feedback Hub. 

¹ Windows Backup is available for Microsoft Accounts from any supported device running Windows 10 or higher.  Restore is available on devices running Windows 11 22H2 or higher when connected to a network during new device setup.  Windows Backup & Restore are available globally with the exception of mainland China.

² Copilot in Windows will start to release in preview to select global markets as part of our latest update to Windows 11. The initial markets for the Copilot in Windows preview include North America and parts of Asia and South America.  It is our intention to add additional markets over time.

³ Available at no cost to all Windows users

⁴ Paint Cocreator will initially be available in preview to Windows Insiders via a waitlist.

⁵ Devices managed by Windows Update for Business or WSUS must have installed the Windows 11, version 22H2 August 2023 version non-security preview release or later for end users to get the latest features as soon as they’re available.

⁶ Copilot in Windows with Bing Chat Enterprise requires Windows 11 and the user to be licensed for Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium, Enterprise E3 and E5.

⁷ Windows 11 eligible devices on Windows 11, version 21H1 require a full operating system (OS) swap to update to Windows 11, version 23H2.

Source: Windows Blog
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Back at Build ‘23 in May, we announced a host of new experiences with a renewed focus on developer productivity and performance. We are now pleased to share with you that features like Dev Home, Dev Drive, WinGet and improvements to Taskbar, File Explorer and many more will start to become generally available with the latest Windows 11 update. We also have exciting news to share about the developer tools you already know and love: Windows Subsystem for Linux and Windows Terminal.

At Build in May ’23, we announced a new home for developers on Windows – Dev Home. With the latest Windows 11 update, Dev Home is now available as part of the OS, making developer features a key component of Windows 11. Today we are excited to announce a new PC setup experience for developers.

A new PC setup experience for developers on Windows 11

For the first time in Windows, you will be able to identify as a developer during your initial PC setup and Windows will customize your install experience catering to your workloads. To do this, select the “Development” intent on the “Let’s customize your experience” page during setup. Once you set up your PC with “Development” intent it is easier to get all the benefits of Dev Home.

Dev Home: Your productivity companion

Dev Home is a new experience for developers in Windows 11 that helps you get back in the zone and streamlines your workflows, boosting your productivity. Dev Home assists you in setting up your dev environment by downloading apps, packages, or repositories, and lets you connect to your developer accounts and tools (such as GitHub). It also helps you create a Dev Drive for performant storage – all in one place. Dev Home also provides a customizable dashboard to help you monitor both your system and dev projects. We are releasing Dev Home v0.5 alongside the latest Windows 11 update to provide even more functionality like managing your extensions. We are adding a new extensions page on Dev Home, available now, that helps you discover and manage your Dev Home extensions, giving you the control to enhance and personalize your experience. With this addition, the Dev Home GitHub Extension will no longer be automatically installed. For more information see Dev Home for Windows Developers | Microsoft Learn.

Unattended and reliable dev machine setup: Reducing set up time from days to hours

At Build we introduced WinGet Configuration, a fast and reliable mechanism to help developers get ready to code in just a few clicks. WinGet Configuration is now stable and no longer requires enabling experimental features. To help you get started we have several samples that you can try, and several GitHub repos now include configuration files to help you quickly install the tools to build the source code.  For example:

vscode/.configurations/configuration.dsc.yaml at main · microsoft/vscode (github.com)

PowerToys/.configurations/configuration.dsc.yaml at main · microsoft/PowerToys (github.com)

WinGet 1.6 makes its debut with several exciting new capabilities. Support for dependencies is now available. Packages that were previously blocked from submission can now be added to our catalog.

WinGet 1.6 introduces the new `winget download` command which allows you to download installers. This feature enables IT professionals to access packages from the community repository and make them available to their enterprise customers.

Support for free Apps rated “e” for everyone from the Microsoft Store with licenses is coming in a future release.

A new Group Policy enables IT professionals to determine if their users can make use of the Windows Package Manager through either the CLI or PowerShell cmdlets. The latest release of the WinGetCLI contains the updated ADMX files. For more information on using winget, see Use the winget tool to install and manage applications | Microsoft Learn.

Dev Drive: A new storage volume tailor-made for developers: supercharged for performance and security

At Build we introduced Dev Drive – a new type of storage volume, tailor-made for developers, with a file system that delivers both performance and security. Starting today, Dev Drive will be available for all developers on Windows with the latest Windows 11 update.

Dev Drive is based on the Resilient File System (ReFS), which, combined with a new performance mode capability in Microsoft Defender for Antivirus, offers up to 30% file system improvement in build times for file I/O scenarios. To reap the benefits of Dev Drive, we recommend moving your package caches and repositories to Dev Drive(s). Learn more.

In addition, to quickly view the status of your Dev Drive volumes, the ‘For Developers settings page’ now has a new Dev Drive section. The section also provides deep links to Disk & Volume settings to create a Dev Drive and launch the Windows Security app to control antivirus behavior.

Performance mode for Microsoft Defender

Microsoft Defender Antivirus has released performance mode that provides asynchronous scanning on Dev Drive volumes. Behavior can be controlled via the new improved UI for Dev Drive    in the Microsoft Security app under “Virus & threat protection”. If you have multiple Dev Drives, you can now quickly identify which one is in “Performance mode”.

Upon clicking on “See volumes”, you can view all your Dev Drives. In this example below, we have two Dev Drives; (D:) and (F:) are both formatted in ReFS but Defender Performance Mode has been enabled only on (F:).

Reducing toil and unlocking the fun and joy of developing on Windows with new improvements

The team has listened closely to what is top of mind for you, including improvements to the Taskbar that we announced at Build back in May. Starting today, all these improvements will become available in the stable version with the latest Windows 11 update.

1. You can now quickly identify and access any instance of each app housed in the taskbar with just one click. All instances of the app are ungrouped with labels on the taskbar.
2. You can now hide your Time and Date with a setting on the taskbar.
3. You can quickly and easily shut down applications with a simple right-click on the app directly from the taskbar without opening the Task Manager. This setting can be enabled within the Developer settings page to then have “End task” appear within the context menu when you right-click on the icon within taskbar.
4. For Developers settings page has moved from “Privacy & Security” to System. This provides a quick and easily discoverable entry point to developer settings.
5. You can now get improved performance of archive functionality during compression on Windows. We have added native support for additional archive formats, including tar, 7-zip, rar, gz and many others using the libarchive open-source project.

File Explorer is getting even better

We have introduced new functionality and collection control in WinUI3. ItemsView collection control offers LinedFlowLayout and Island functionality provides an easy way to adopt WinUI3 look and feel in any part of your app without having to change your entire application. File Explorer now runs on WinUI3 and has introduced several new features like Gallery powered by ItemsView and Island functionality, making it easy to access your photo collection. You can also now bring these new WinUI3 capabilities to your apps and offer a rich user experience to your customers.

In addition, we have also added multi-threading capabilities to File Explorer to greatly improve the performance of copy, move, recycle, and delete actions. Large operations should see significant improvements in the calculating phase as well as the actual file operation. As noted in our May 2023 blog, these changes show over 40% improvements in bulk delete operations, giving time back to developers.

Tools you know and love are getting even better and smarter

New and exciting – Suggestions UI, Broadcast Input and Web Search features are coming to Windows Terminal 1.19 Preview

With the Windows Terminal 1.19 Preview we are introducing several new features such as the Suggestions UI, Broadcast Input, and Web Search. The Suggestions UI is a new UI element in Windows Terminal that provides text suggestions to the user. These suggestions can come from recently run commands, saved commands, and more.

Broadcast Input allows users to broadcast their input from one Terminal pane to another Terminal pane in real time. Broadcast Input was a popular feature request from our community members, and we are thrilled to delight our developers with this exciting feature.

Web Search was a community contribution. When the right-click context menu is enabled, users will have a new option to do a web search on highlighted text. Web Search will default to Bing, and we are providing control to developers to change the default to the search engine of their choice.

Introducing experimental features in Windows Terminal Canary

Windows Terminal is distributed in a variety of formats. We are thrilled to announce that we are adding Windows Terminal Canary to the Windows Terminal family. Windows Terminal Canary is a new canary build of Windows Terminal that includes “hot off the presses” experimental features (including our AI chat feature).

New builds of Windows Terminal Canary are available nightly. This is the least stable channel of Windows Terminal, so you may be the first to discover bugs that no one else has before. If you are eager for the latest bits, then this is the build for you!

New experimental features in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) – Auto Memory reclaim, new networking mode and more

The latest release of WSL brings access to new experimental features and some important quality and bug fixes! We’ve added new experimental features that you can opt-in to using, so you can get early access to WSL improvements that we are investigating making default in the future. This includes having the WSL VM automatically shrink in memory size when you’re not using it, setting your WSL virtual hard disks to be sparse so they will automatically shrink in disk size and conserve your disk space, as well as Hyper-V firewall which allows your Windows firewall rules to affect your WSL distros, and an entirely new networking mode that improves network compatibility, adds IPv6 support and more! Additionally, there are other bug fixes such as you can now run WSL in session 0, WSL GUI apps have Windows snapping support with the keyboard, and more! To see a full list of WSL changes please see this blog post.

We continue to invest in driving developer productivity, convenience and performance with every update, and we are excited to share these features and experiences with you. To learn more and keep up to date with the latest news please visit Windows Dev Center. We also love hearing from you, and we want to continue to work with our developer community to build the experiences and features you want. Share your feedback with us by reaching out on our social channels @WindowsDev on LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.

Source: Windows Blog
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Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 22621.2361 (KB5030310) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11, version 22H2. We’re also beginning to roll out some of the new features announced yesterday by Yusuf, including Copilot in Windows (in preview)*, Modernized File Explorer, new text authoring experiences to voice access and new natural voices in Narrator, and Windows Backup. A more complete list of features will be shared next week on Sept. 26^th.

If you have the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available turned ON via Settings > Windows Update BEFORE installing Build 22621.2361, you will also get Windows Configuration Update (KB5030509) installed at the same time you install Build 22621.2361 in a single reboot. Note only the update for Build 22621.2361 will show during install on the Windows Update settings page. But after reboot, the Windows Configuration Update will be shown in your Update History. This Windows Configuration Update is how we’re enabling new features via Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) technology.

Should you install Build 22621.2361 without turning on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available before, you can simply turn it on, and Windows Configuration Update (KB5030509) will be downloaded on your PC where you will be asked to reboot. Should you install build 22621.2361 and keep the toggle off, the new features will be gradually rolled out to your device over time.

Thanks,
Windows Insider Program Team

*Copilot in Windows (in preview) will start to release to a select set of global markets. It is our intention to continue to broaden availability over time.

Source: Windows Blog
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There are more than 100 PC games available through PC Game Pass, but where to start? To help players find the right game for them, Xbox tapped streamer Bruce Greene to pick some of his favorites from the PC Game Pass library.

“I’ve been playing PC games for 25 years and I’m super impressed by what’s on PC Game Pass,” he says. “I picked like 40 or 50 cause like there were so many good games on there and I had to pare them down which is hilarious. Being a curator, it’s perfect for me.”

Head over to Xbox Wire to see what he picked and why.

Source: Windows Blog
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Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23550 to the Dev Channel.

What’s new in Build 23550

Voice Access in OOBE  

As part of the work mentioned in Build 23516 for making voice access available to use on more areas in Windows, voice access can be used for setting up your new Windows devices and navigate through OOBE (“out of box experience”). You can launch the accessibility flyout on the bottom right corner of their screens and click on voice access to enable it.

NOTE: You will need to make sure you set up an internet connection while setting up a new device to enable the language model download and set up voice access to use it.  

You can navigate OOBE, insert passwords using the on-screen keyboard, type text using dictation and control your mouse and focus using number and grid overlays once voice access has been enabled.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice Access.

Changes and Improvements

[Windows Subsystem for Linux]

• The September 2023 update for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is rolling out and includes networking improvements in the latest Insider Preview builds. See this blog post for more details.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an underlying issue which was causing sporadic explorer.exe and Start menu crashes for Insiders in recent builds.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which was causing thumbnails in Gallery to flash sometimes when scrolling.

[Start]

• Fixed an issue that was causing some icons in Start’s recommended section not to show correctly.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue where the magnifying glass wasn’t displaying correctly when search was set to “Search icon and label”.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where the dialog when collecting a process memory dump erroneously said it was collecting a kernel memory dump.
• Fixed an issue causing Task Manager to not launch for some Insiders.

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

[Start menu]

• Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

• We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk.

SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include:

• .NET TFM packages for use in .NET apps as described at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk
• C++ packages for Win32 headers and libs per architecture
• BuildTools package when you just need tools like MakeAppx.exe, MakePri.exe, and SignTool.exe

These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integration in CI/CD pipelines.

SDK flights are now published for both the Canary and Dev Channels, so be sure to choose the right version for your Insider Channel.

Remember to use adaptive code when targeting new APIs to make sure your app runs on all customer machines, particularly when building against the Dev Channel SDK. Feature detection is recommended over OS version checks, as OS version checks are unreliable and will not work as expected in all cases.

About the Dev Channel

REMINDER: The Dev Channel has been rebooted. Windows Insiders who were in the Dev Channel on 25000 series builds have been moved to the new Canary Channel. Going forward, the Dev Channel will receive 23000 series builds. Insiders who were moved to the Canary Channel and want to move back to the Dev Channel can follow these instructions to do a clean installation of Windows 11 and then re-join the Dev Channel to receive 23000 series builds.

The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to remember that the builds we release to the Dev Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers. For more information, please read this blog post about how we plan to use the Dev Channel to incubate new ideas, work on long lead items, and control the states of individual features.

In some cases, features and experiences may go out to the Canary Channel first before going out to the Dev Channel however the Dev Channel will provide better platform stability. As we get closer to shipping, some features and experiences will also make their way to the Beta Channel when they are ready.

The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

• You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here.
• Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.

Thanks,
Amanda & Brandon

Source: Windows Blog
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