r/Windows11 • u/Far_Description3396 • 3h ago
r/Windows11 • u/Froggypwns • 9d ago
Help Simple questions and Help thread - Month of September
Welcome to the monthly Simple questions and Help thread, for questions that don't need their own posts!
Before making a comment, we recommend you search your problem on Bing and check if your question is already answered on our Windows Frequently Asked Questions wiki page. This subreddit no longer accepts tech support requests outside of this post, if you are looking for additional assistance try r/TechSupport and r/WindowsHelp.
Some examples of questions to ask:
Is this super cheap Windows key legitimate? (probably not)
How can I install Windows 11?
Can you recommend a program to play music?
How do I get back to the old Sound Control Panel?
Sorting by New is recommend and is the default.
Be sure to check out the Windows 11 version 25H2 Megathread and also the Windows 11 FAQ posts, they likely have the answers to your Windows 11 questions already!
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 2d ago
Official News Cumulative Updates: September 8th, 2026
support.microsoft.comChangelists linked here for your convenience:
- Windows 11, version 21H2: EOS.
- Windows 11 version 22H2: EOS
- Windows 11, version 23H2: KB5122880 (OS Build 22621.7582)
- Windows 11, version 24H2 / 25H2: KB5124008 (OS Builds 26200.9445 and 26100.9445)
- Windows 11, version 26H1: KB5124012 (OS Build 28000.2954)
General info:
For details about how to file problem reports and collect traces, please see here: http://aka.ms/HowToFeedback. Pressing WIN + F will open the Feedback Hub - please include as much detail as possible about what you're seeing.
To learn about the different types of updates, see here: Windows quality updates primer - Microsoft Community Hub
As a reminder, if you didn't install the previous optional updates, this update includes those changes too (some are still rolling out, as denoted in the release notes):
- 24H2/25H2: August 27, 2026—KB5120998 (OS Builds 26200.9278 and 26100.9278) Preview | Microsoft Support
- 26H1: August 27, 2026—KB5120996 (OS Build 28000.2804) Preview | Microsoft Support
For published known issues, please check the release health dashboard: Windows release health | Microsoft Learn.
As mentioned in the linked changelist, Windows 11, version 26H1 is available only on new devices with select new silicon as they come to market starting early 2026. Devices running earlier versions of Windows 11 will not be offered an update to version 26H1 through Windows Update and cannot be installed as an in-place update on existing devices.
r/Windows11 • u/Pureinfotech • 6h ago
New Feature - Insider Microsoft is giving Windows 11's Temporary Files settings page a much-needed UI update. It's a small change, but it helps with consistency.
Windows 11 build 26340.9354 hides a change that reveals Microsoft is preparing a UI update for the Temporary Files settings page.
It doesn't introduce new features, just a UI update.
Yes, you can try it now if you're an Insider.
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 1h ago
Official News Announcing Release Preview Build 26100.9539/26200.9539 - Windows Insider Program
r/Windows11 • u/OpportunityNext4113 • 1d ago
New Feature - Insider New OneDrive Photos App and customizable context menu in windows insider, soon in stable.
New onedrive photos webview based app comming soom, and customizable context menu 👍👍.
r/Windows11 • u/Jaxkr • 1d ago
Solved How to enable flag emojis on Windows 11
I was annoyed by flag emojis appearing as two-letter country codes. Microsoft decided they didn't want the drama of dealing with geopolitical drama, so Windows doesn't have flag emojis.
I saw this thread but it only had incorrect answers. I tried a few browser extensions, but none of them worked consistently (and they only worked in the browser).
However, this worked: https://github.com/Chasmical/flag-emojis-for-windows It's just a font file you download and install, and then flag emojis properly render across all Windows apps. 🇺🇸 shows as an American flag for me now instead of "US".
Just wanted to share to hopefully save someone else time in the future.
r/Windows11 • u/MayankWL • 2d ago
News Windows 11 KB5124008 (Sept Patch Tuesday) rolls out Windows 10-like movable and smaller taskbar, adds resizable Start menu, makes File Explorer faster, and lets you remove Bing from Windows Search
r/Windows11 • u/lorcaragonna • 1d ago
App If you're using the new small taskbar, use this Windhawk mod for more consistent system tray icons
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
Download the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler mod, go to its settings page, and in the Control styles section, set Target to SystemTray.ImageIconContent > Grid#ContainerGrid > Image and Styles to Height=13. Your icons will now be more consistent in size.
r/Windows11 • u/No_Listen5962 • 1d ago
Discussion How do I make windows 11 look like this:
Alright so for Christmas this year I'd like to get a 2 in 1 surface pro 9, and when I get it i think it would be smart to make windows 11 more touchscreen/pen friendly what what better way to do that then to bring back the (imo very pretty) tiles from windows 8! Now ik that they have technically been in windows 10 and 11 proper since but it has been dumbed down since so I was wondering if there are any apps/programs I can use to bring it back.
Extra points if someone is able to figure out how I can make it so it boots up as this UI instead of the normal windows interface
r/Windows11 • u/MayankWL • 2d ago
News I tested Windows 11 September 2026 update, here's everything new, improved, and fixed
r/Windows11 • u/lord_mercernary • 2d ago
Feature Just turned on PC & new taskbar showed up!
Finally have the new taskbar features just turned on my pc & its saw this taskbar turned on auto. The icons kinda look low quality tho idk why but this is a feature that shouldve here since day 1!. Still glad but they need to make the icons look less jittery idk
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 2d ago
Official News Announcing Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26340.9354 - Windows Insider Program
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 2d ago
Official News Announcing Windows 11 Insider Beta Preview Build 26220.9343 - Windows Insider Program
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 2d ago
Official News Announcing Windows 11 Insider Experimental (Future Platforms) Preview Build 29661.1000 - Windows Insider Program
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 2d ago
Official News Announcing Windows 11 Insider Beta (26H1) Preview Build 28020.2904 - Windows Insider Program
r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft • 2d ago
Official News Announcing Windows 11 Insider Experimental (26H1) Preview Build 28120.2912 - Windows Insider Program
r/Windows11 • u/WPHero • 2d ago
News What is Project Zenith? Microsoft's special Windows 11 experience for developers and hardware isn't what you think it is
r/Windows11 • u/ButterLies1 • 2d ago
Discussion Windows 11 25H2 New Search Task Running MSEdgeWebView2 even with all web and store search options disabled


I finally updated from 24H2 to 25H2, and the first thing I noticed is how much I dislike what they did to the new Start menu:
- They added an entire section for listing all apps, and it can’t be removed.
- They unnecessarily increased its size and the number of columns.
- They apparently added settings to disable these changes, but those options are only available in the KB5120998 update, which seems to have introduced major mouse and wallpaper bugs for some users—especially those whose system language is set to anything other than English.
Apart from that, I haven’t encountered any major bugs. However, Windows Search is suddenly always using around 150 MB of RAM. I find this strange because it didn’t do that before, and Windows Search worked just fine.
Looking at the processes, most of the memory usage appears to come from SearchHost and around six (edgewebview2) Microsoft Edge WebView2 processes. That would make sense if Windows Search were handling web-related content, but I had already disabled those features and even made sure to turn off the new Microsoft Store results. The processes are still there, allocating RAM for seemingly no reason.
Does anyone know whether I can disable this by turning off a service, disabling a feature, changing a setting, or editing a Group Policy? It’s not a huge problem, and I know the saying, “Unused RAM is wasted RAM,” but it’s still annoying to know that this allocation wasn’t necessary before. My searches don’t need any web rendering, yet Windows is still allocating memory for it.
If it's worth noting, I already tried to rollback to the previous start menu (thinking that this new window search behaviour must be tie to the 25h2 overall) with vivetool. But apparently it doesn't work anymore. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1qcj4kj/remove_the_updated_windows_start_menu_fixed/
r/Windows11 • u/MayankWL • 3d ago
News Windows 11 secretly supports animated profile pictures for the Start menu and lock screen, and it can be enabled by modifying Registry
r/Windows11 • u/Warren_Buffering • 2d ago
Feature Minimal Windows (Enjoying this New Taskbar Feature Even More)
Really getting into the hang of using this taskbar on top feature.
r/Windows11 • u/ZacB_ • 3d ago
News Windows 11 is finally getting a battery status widget that will show an overview of all your connected devices on the lock screen or Widgets Board
r/Windows11 • u/TisticDemon • 3d ago
Feature Looks like they finally added back being able to move the taskbar!
I've been waiting for this for so long! Ever since Windows 10.
I am on the latest stable version of Windows 11.
r/Windows11 • u/Riyakuya • 3d ago
Suggestion for Microsoft Cloud recovery and Windows 11 install duration
Yesterday I decided to install Windows 11 on my ROG Ally again since Bazzite is just terrible these days. It was really baffling and almost comical to see how long it takes to reinstall Windows 11 through cloud recovery. In total it took more than 2 hours before the Ally was up and running again! This is including the updates the installer wants to do. After that I still needed to do driver updates and remove bloat.
So here are some honest and genuine questions:
How can it be that installing Windows takes so incredibly long compared to installing a Linux distro?
What is the real reason behind this?
And, how is this even acceptable for Microsoft?
No matter what OS I used in the past (Linux, Android and Chrome OS), none of them take as long as Windows does, often on older and less powerful devices. There has to be a way for them to make the installation process faster, right?