March's Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 are now available, and this month's release actually includes some nice upgrades you'll be glad to have. Starting with this update, Windows 11 now has better wake from sleep performance, a new built-in internet speed test shortcut, more Camera settings, improved emoji, and more!
Microsoft began testing the update with last month's non-security preview release, but it's now rolling out to everyone as of this month's Patch Tuesday updates which are available now. For Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2, this is update KB5079473.
There's also a new Widgets Panel that's rolling out alongside this update, which redesigns the interface and places your widgets into a separate view so that you can ignore the MSN feed if you don't want it.
The full changelog for today's update can be found below. Keep in mind that many features utilize Microsoft's "controlled feature rollout" system, which means even after installing the update, you might not see some of these features right away.
- [Emoji] New! The Emoji 16.0 release introduces a small thoughtfully curated set of new emojis, one from each major category. Each emoji carries timeless symbolism and practical versatility. These new emojis now appear in the emoji panel.
- [Backup & Restore] New! The first sign-in restore experience is now part of Windows Backup for Organizations, bringing this restore capability to more device types. This experience restores user settings and Microsoft Store apps automatically at first sign-in on Microsoft Entra hybrid joined devices, Cloud PCs, and multi‑user environments. This capability helps create a consistent setup process during device refreshes, upgrades, or migrations.
- [Quick Machine Recovery] New! Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) now turns on automatically for Windows Professional devices that are not domain‑joined and not enrolled in enterprise endpoint management. These devices receive the same recovery features available to Windows Home users. For domain‑joined or enterprise managed devices, QMR stays off unless it is enabled by the organization.
- [Taskbar & System Tray]
- New! A built‑in network speed test is now available from the taskbar. You can open it from the Wi‑Fi or Cellular Quick Settings, or by right-clicking the network icon in the system tray. The speed test opens in the default browser and measures Ethernet, Wi‑Fi, and cellular connections. This feature helps check network performance and troubleshoot issues.
- Improved: When the taskbar is set to uncombined and you have an app open with multiple windows, they no longer all move as a set to the overflow area when there is not enough space on the taskbar. Only the windows that don’t fit move to the overflow menu. This change prevents the overflow menu from appearing with large unused space.
- [Accounts] New! The account menu on the Start menu now includes a new option that directs you to the benefits page, making it easier to explore and manage your Microsoft account benefits.
- [Camera Settings] New! You can control pan and tilt for supported cameras in the Settings app. The controls appear under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras, in the “Basic settings” section for your selected camera.
- [Built-in Sysmon] New! Windows now brings System Monitor (Sysmon) functionality natively to Windows. Sysmon helps you capture system events for threat detection, and you can use custom configuration files to filter the events you want to monitor. Windows writes captured events to Windows Event Log, which allows security tools and other applications to use them.
- [Widgets] New! Widget Settings now open as a full‑page experience in the Widgets app instead of opening in a dialog.
- [Desktop Background] New! You can set WebP (.webp) images as your desktop background from Settings > Personalization > Background, or by right‑clicking the image in File Explorer.
- [Search on Taskbar]
- New! Group headers now show the number of results, so you can quickly see when more results are available. Select a group header to see all results for that group and hide results from other groups.
- New! You can preview search results by hovering over a result and selecting Preview to see the content without opening it.
- Improved: Updated the icon for the Search process in Task Manager so it now shows a magnifying glass
- [Storage Settings] Improvements for Storage Settings include:
- Some of the dialogs in Storage Settings have been updated with a more modern design.
- Improved scanning performance for temporary files.
- [Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)] New! This update adds support for Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 11 Arm64 devices. IT administrators can now install and use tools such as Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools, Active Directory Certificate Services Tools, Server Manager, Group Policy Management Tools, DNS Server Tools, and DHCP Server Tools. These tools are available as optional features and can be installed through Settings > System > Optional Features or from Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off.
- [Windows Update Settings] Improved: Responsiveness of the Windows Update settings page.
- [Login and lock screens] Improved: Sign‑in screen reliability.
- [Nearby Sharing] Improved: Reliability when sending larger files with Nearby Sharing.
- [Projecting] Improved: Reliability of displaying the project menu after pressing Windows logo key + P.
- [Printing] Improved: Performance of the Windows printing service (spoolsv.exe) to help printing run more smoothly and reduce slowdowns during high‑volume printing.
- [File Explorer]
- Improved: You can now open a new File Explorer window more reliably. Holding the Shift key and selecting the File Explorer icon on the taskbar, or using the middle mouse button, now opens a new instance of File Explorer instead of the current one.
- Improved: File Explorer now includes an Extract all option on the command bar when you browse non‑ZIP archive folders.
- Improved: Reliability of displaying devices on the Network page in File Explorer.
- [Display]
- Improved: This update improves reliability when your PC wakes from sleep.
- Improved: Display-related performance improvements to help reduce the time for a PC to resume from sleep, especially when the system is under heavy load and in other scenarios.
- [Other] Improved: This update improves visual consistency across Windows, including the taskbar when auto‑hide is on, credential fields in the Windows Security dialog, and the print dialog.
- [Secure Boot] With this update, Windows quality updates include additional high confidence device targeting data, increasing coverage of devices eligible to automatically receive new Secure Boot certificates. Devices receive the new certificates only after demonstrating sufficient successful update signals, maintaining a controlled and phased rollout.
- [File Explorer] Improved: This update improves File Explorer search reliability when searching across multiple drives or "This PC".
- [Windows Defender Application Control] Improved: This update improves how Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) handles COM objects allowlisting policies. COM objects were blocked when the endpoint security policy was set higher than the allowlisting policy. With this update, COM objects are allowed as expected.
- [Windows System Image Manager] Improved: This update improves the reliability of choosing trusted catalog files. It adds a warning dialog that helps you confirm that the file you select comes from a trusted source.
Check out our in-depth look at 9 of the new features and improvements that are now rolling out as part of this March Patch Tuesday update.
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