Microsoft releases Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621 to the Beta Channel

By Sean Endicott
published

Microsoft's latest Insider build for the Beta Channel doesn't include any new features.

Windows 11 Update Checkforupdate Dark
Windows 11 Update Checkforupdate Dark (Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft just released Windows 11 Build 22621 to Insiders in the Beta Channel.
  • The build doesn't include any new features, but it has several improvements and fixes.
  • Microsoft also released Windows 11 Build 25115, which includes a new feature, to Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Microsoft's Insider team is pulling double duty. The tech giant released two new Insider builds of Windows 11 today. Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621. The update doesn't include any new features, but it does have several fixes.

"This build includes a small set of fixes that will improve the overall experience for Windows Insiders on their devices," reads the summary of the build in its changelog.

Here are all of the changes, improvements, and fixes in the build:

Changes and Improvements

General

  • [REMINDER] The build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop is no longer present in this build. This doesn't mean we're done, and the watermark will return to Insiders in a future build.

Fixes

[General]

  • Updated the underlying speech platform to improve voice activity detection for voice access, live captions, and voice typing, as well as address some issues with how punctuation is recognized.

[File Explorer]

  • Fixed an issue leading to Insiders seeing error 0x800703E6 when copying files from Google Drive.
  • Fixed an issue where if you had ever opened the context menu, doing CTRL + ALT + DEL and cancelling would lead to explorer.exe crashing.

[Taskbar]

  • Fixed an issue related to loading the system tray icons in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar which could cause Settings to crash when opening that page recently. This issue may have also led to some explorer.exe crashes for impacted Insiders.

[Windows Security]

  • Fixed an issue which could result in Smart App Control unexpectedly blocking correctly signed applications.

Microsoft's build for Dev Channel Insiders has a new feature to try out. We covered that build in more depth in a separate piece.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

3 Comments
  • I wanted to post this on another insider article where touch input was improved but don't have the rep so will throw it here to see if anyone has any guidance around Windows and Tablet/Touch. -- I bought a 2 in 1 laptop this week (ASUS ZenBook Flip 13) and was so excited about using it mainly as a Windows Tablet. The conclusion I have come to really is that MS can make Windows more touch friendly but Apps and Websites need to come along with for the ride. I struggled to use Edge to browse the web, and any "Apps" from the Store that I thought might be good to use in touch mode were just rubbish. Really disappointed with the whole experience. I love Windows, using it both in Work and at Home, but I want it on the move in my pocket as a phone and also a small tablet for laying on the sofa or traveling. But it seems the later experiences will always have to come from Google or Apple. Not sure how MS will ever catch up and be a competitor in this space. I'm interested to hear others thoughts about this.
  • They need to add universal back gestures or buttons, just like Android does. Also, better scaling is necessary. Some new features have been added to the preview version before, but they are removed for now. I think MS needs to add more customization options in the future, for example, PCs over 13" should also have the option to automatically go full screen when launching apps in touch mode.
  • Windows 8 was very good as a touch oriented OS, but MS basically broke the UI for anyone using the OS on a PC with a mouse. User and market reaction was so bad, in typical MS fashion, they overreacted and made Windows 10 touch unfriendly. With Windows 11, MS seems to be taking steps to bring some of this back. Features in prior 11 Insider builds extended touch support. The problem is that they have largely shuttered UWP as their recommended app development platform, which was the way for app devs to make touch friendly, scalable apps. This seems similar to the Windows 8 to 10 overcorrection: most Windows developers had ignored UWP and stuck with traditional Windows dev tools, so instead of fixing problems, reverse direction and abandon. At the same time, UWP didn't cause all the Apple and Android developers to release Widows versions of their apps, so you can at least partially understand their reasoning. It's less clear how they solve this part of the problem you identified. Reasons for hope: much of what MS is doing with its own apps is getting more touch friendly, where appropriate. Look at all the Settings changes over the years. Gesture support in Windows 11 is moving in the right direction. They're releasing hardware with smaller screens, where touch and a touch-friendly UI is more important, so they must at least be thinking about this stuff.