📢 Windows 11 Build 25211 adds new improvements to Widgets, Snipping Tool, Task Manager, and more

What's new and improved in Windows 11 Build 25211

Updated widgets experience

With the latest Windows 11 Build 25211 for the Windows Insiders, Microsoft has separated the widget picker and Widgets settings. The company said that it was done to make it easier for you to find and interact with each view. The widget picker can be opened by pressing the “+” button and the Widget settings can be opened by pressing the “Me” button.

With this build, Microsoft added the following three taskbar behaviors in the Widget settings page that you can toggle on or off:

• Open Widgets board on hover: Controls whether the Widgets board opens when you hover over the taskbar icon.
• Show notification badges: Controls whether Widgets will show notification badging on the taskbar.
• Show announcements: Controls whether the live Widget content on the taskbar shows more than the weather.

Updated Taskbar experiences

With the latest Windows 11 Dev Build, Microsoft brings back the Task Manager option to the right-click context menu of the Windows 11 Taskbar. By using this option, you can now easily launch the Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar.

With this build, Microsoft adds a drag-and-drop feature for reorganizing the systray icons, which was missing since the introduction of the tablet-optimized taskbar in Windows 11 Build 25197, which has been re-introduced. As this feature is gradually rolling out to Windows Insiders, you may not see it right now. However, the feature can be toggled on manually by enabling the 38764045 velocity ID.

Other improvements and fixes

• Fixed an issue where the top part of File Explorer (with the search and address box) couldn’t be interacted with when File Explorer was in full screen mode (F11).
• Fixed the issue where the command bar items like copy, paste, and empty Recycle Bin were unexpectedly not be enabled sometimes when they have been.
• Fixed an issue which was causing unexpected black bars on the sides of horizontal scroll bars when using dark mode.
• Fixed a high hitting Shell Experience Host crash in recent Dev Channel builds, impacting Quick Settings launch reliability.
• Fixed a memory leak when repeatedly invoking the input switcher.
• Fixed a Settings crash which could happen when changing your mobile hotspot name.
• Updated the examples used in the Short time selection under Time & Language > Language & Region > Regional Format, to make the 12 hour options (vs 24 hour) a little more obvious by showing morning and afternoon times.

• Tweaked the graphs in the Performance page to use a bit more transparency so it’s easier to see the grid lines underneath.
• Made another fix to improve Task Manager reliability.
• Fixed a black flash while might be seen when launching Task Manager in light mode.
• Fixed a few issues where the font color of certain elements wasn’t correct / readable when using a contrast theme.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator would read out the details of the calendar that opens from selecting the date and time from the taskbar when it was collapsed.
• Fixed an issue where explorer.exe was crashing repeatedly in Windows Sandbox for Insiders with the tablet optimized taskbar and updated system tray.

• Fixed an issue which could lead to hangs in certain apps when opening the Open File Dialog.
• Fixed an issue which was making the screen go black for some Insiders when enabling HDR recently.
• Fixed an issue where after using the Open With dialog, the process might stay running even if it wasn’t in use anymore.
• Fixed an issue which was leading to increased CPU usage for WSL2 users on ARM64 PCs even when WSL was idle.
• Fixed an issue where closing the print dialog could lead to an app crash in the last couple flights.