Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4435 (KB5044377) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[General]

• If you hold Shift and CTRL when clicking on a jump list item in Start menu or taskbar, this will now launch that item as admin, just like if you were to do Shift + CTRL and click the app icon itself.  For example, if you right-click on Windows Terminal, and hold Shift and CTRL when you click PowerShell, it would open a PowerShell window as admin.

[Dynamic Lighting]

• When no compatible devices are attached, the Dynamic Lighting settings page will now show a placeholder message and Brightness and Effects controls are disabled.
• On the Dynamic Lighting settings page, we have added Forward, Backward, Outward and Inward direction options to the Wave effect, and added the Forward direction option to the Gradient effect.

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Taskbar]

• Made another fix for WIN + not working in some cases in the latest flights.
• Fixed an issue where the X button to close an app window from the taskbar wasn’t working for some Insiders.

[Input]

• Fixed an underlying issue which could cause the mouse to unlock from a game window on a system with multiple monitors after opening and closing Game Bar, so you couldn’t use it within the game.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to everyone in the Beta Channel

[Settings]

• After disabling the ability to configure the Copilot key with Build 22635.4291, we are enabling this functionality again with refinements. We have limited the apps that can be launched by the Copilot key to those apps that have opted into this experience. This is to ensure apps targeted by the key know they will be used in this way and meet security and privacy requirements to keep customers safe. We will be publishing how apps can opt-in to this experience here in on this Microsoft Learn page soon. As a reminder, this setting can be found via Settings > Personalization > Text input.

Fixes for everyone in the Beta Channel

[Other]

This update includes fixes for the following issues:

• [Bluetooth] Fixed: An app stops responding because of a memory leak in a device.
• [Product activation phone numbers] Fixed: This adds new phone numbers for several regions.
• [Collector sets] Fixed: They do not close properly when an exception occurs during startup or while the set is active. Because of this, the command to stop a collector set stops responding.
• [Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file (DriverSiPolicy.p7b)] This update adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• [Windows Hello for Business] Fixed: PIN reset does not work when you select the “I forgot my PIN’ link on the credentials screen.
• [Multi-Function Printer (MFP)] Fixed: When you use a USB cable to connect to it, it prints specific network command text when you do want it to.
• [Microsoft Teams] Fixed: The issue stops you from joining Teams meetings when you select an Outlook meeting reminder.
• [Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA)] Fixed: This update brings profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.
• [vmswitch] Fixed: A vmswitch triggers a stop error. This occurs when you use Load Balancing and Failover (LBFO) teaming with two virtual switches on a virtual machine (VM). In this case, one virtual switch uses single root Input/Output virtualization (SR-IOV).
• [WebView2 apps] Fixed: They do not detect input from Xbox 360 and Bluetooth controllers.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

• Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx).
• Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
• For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your device over time once they are ready.
• Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.
• Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
• Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.
• Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.

Thanks, Amanda & Brandon

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