Microsoft rolls out AI actions in File Explorer to more Insiders on Windows 11 as Canary Channel continues to play catch up

Microsoft has announced a new Windows 11 Insider Preview build for testers in the Canary Channel that brings forward more features and changes that were previously only available in the Windows Insider Beta and Dev Channels. Today's build is 27938 and is available to download from Windows Update now!

Right out of the gate, today's build includes the new AI actions feature for File Explorer, which will let Windows 11 showcase actions within the File Explorer app that utilize Click To Do to jumpstart tasks.

Right now, there are only image actions available, but more file actions should be coming in the future. Here's what can be done with today's build:

• Bing Visual Search: Allows you to search the web using an image instead of text. Find similar images and products, get details about sites using the image, and identify landmarks, plants, and famous faces. From searching what you see on your screen, to shopping your preferred style, getting help with that homework problem, or translating text, getting answers is more intuitive than ever.
• Blur Background: Opens the Photos app which automatically finds the background in the photo, and with a single click, instantly highlights your subject and blurs out the background. You can also customize the effect by adjusting the Blur Intensity or use the Brush Tool to modify the areas being blurred.
• Erase Objects: With Photos by selecting or highlighting an unwanted element in your photo and Generative Erase makes it disappear.  It allows you to fix and remove distractions from your photos.
• Remove Background: With Paint allows you to alter any image automatically in just one click leaving a smooth cutout of the subject. Background removal can detect the subject from the entire canvas or using the selection tool.

In addition to AI actions in File Explorer, Microsoft is also bringing over an important Taskbar improvement: The ability to show a bigger clock with seconds within the Calendar flyout. This is a feature that was originally available on Windows 10, and it's now being brought back to Windows 11 and can be tried out in the Canary Channel now.

Elsewhere, Microsoft is adding a new text and image generation privacy settings area in the Windows Settings app, which will let you see which apps have recently requested access to utilize generative AI or actions across the system.

As per usual, there are also a number of fixes as part of today's build.

• [Reset & Recovery]
  • Fixed the issue causing the “Reset this PC” option under Settings > System > Recovery to not work on Build 27934.
• [File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue where In dark mode, the red color used for a low space drive in This PC might be unexpectedly light colored in the latest builds. Some of the other colors might also have been incorrect, including that black is used for space remaining instead of a more visible color.
  • Fixed an issue which was Fixed an issue where File Explorer was unexpectedly not showing thumbnails for video files containing certain EXIF metadata.
• [Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)]
  • Performance improvements related to WMI Registry scanning.
• [Login and Lock screen]
  • Fixed an issue which was causing some of the sign in options to have a blank icon.
• [Search]
  • Did some work to help reduce instances where search may get stuck in a loading state.
• [Input]
  • Fixed an issue where if you typed on the touch keyboard with the Changjie, Bopomoji, or Japanese IME, it wouldn’t work if you had switched to using the previous version of the IME.
• [Task Manager]
  • Fixed an issue which was causing Task Manager to freeze when going to the performance section recently for some Insiders.
• [Other]
  • Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to experience bugchecks (green screens) with error IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL citing an issue with ntoskrnl.exe in the latest Canary builds when attempting to enter safe mode.
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience bugchecks recently with error CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.

Microsoft recently began testing a new development branch with Insiders in the Canary Channel. The branch moved from rs_prerelease to br_release, which often happens just before the company forks a platform release. This is a sign that the next platform release is almost ready to be signed off, though that doesn't mean the company intends to ship it publically.

The upcoming Windows 11 version 25H2 release has been confirmed to be shipping on top of the already available version 24H2 platform release, also known as Germanium. That means both version 25H2 and 24H2 will share the same servicing pipeline and feature set, and is unaffected by the recent Canary Channel switch to br_release.