Windows 11 beta build (KB5025303) fixes LAPS, ReFS issue, gets new firewall and widgets.

Today, Microsoft released 22624.1680 and 22621.1680 (KB5025303) to the beta channel for Windows 11 Insiders. The company writes in its blog post:

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1680 and Build 22624.1680 (KB5025303) to the beta channel.

• Build 22624.1616 = New features are being developed.
• Build 22621.1616 = New features off by default.

The latest build brings a revamped widgets board, new firewall settings, fixes for LAPS issue and ReFS issue, and more. The full changelog is given below:

What’s new in build 22621.1680 and build 22624.1680

Built-in widgets board

To provide users with quick access to widgets visible from their apps and services, as well as enabling users to create widgets boards with a larger canvas (3 columns if supported by device) and new zones. Starting to review the optimization of the experience. High value break with their personal feed.

[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Beta Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

Feedback: Please submit feedback in the Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and improvements in build 22621.1680 and build 22624.1680

[General]

• New Features for App Defaults in Windows 11 As mentioned. Here in this blog post This construction includes App pinning features are coming in future flight.

[Widgets]

• We’re starting to roll out animated icons for widgets on the taskbar. The animation is triggered when you hover over or click a widgets taskbar entry point or when a new widget announcement appears on your taskbar. Currently, only a few weather and financial icons are supported.

Fixes in build 22624.1680

[File Explorer]

We fixed the following issues for Insiders with access keys in File Explorer:

• Shift + Right clicking on a file or folder should open “Show more options” again.
• Adjusted how Narrator was reading access keys after pressing the menu key, to make it clearer.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where touch keyboard and PIN entry was not showing up on the login screen for touch-enabled PCs on a previous flight due to an underlying crash.

[Live captions]

• Fixed an issue that was causing truncation in live caption text for non-English languages.
• Fixed an issue in language and region settings that caused language feature installation progress to be hidden.
• Adding better language detection support to language and region settings will now install the correct files on ARM64 devices. You won’t need to restart Live Captions after switching between subtitle languages ​​installed from the language and region settings. However, you’ll need to uninstall any “Speech Pack” entries in Settings > Apps > Installed Apps before you can fix the language and region settings and reinstall from the language and region settings. were done

[Notifications]

• Fixed an issue where 2FA codes were not being recognized if they were in parentheses.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where if you searched for ServiceHost in the Processes section it was not returning any results.
• Improved the performance of the Expand / Remove All View All options on the Processes page.
• Fixed an issue where the search icon could overlap the task manager icon in the title bar.
• The search box should not be clipped to the top when the window is maximized.
• Fixed an issue affecting the reliability of Task Manager.
• Double-clicking the Task Manager title bar to maximize the window should now work again.

Fixes for both build 22621.1680 and build 22624.1680

• New! This update changes the firewall settings. You can now configure application group roles.
• This update fixes an issue that affects the legacy Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) and the new Windows LAPS feature. They fail to manage the configured local account password. This occurs when you install the legacy LAPS .msi file after installing the April 11, 2023 Windows Update on machines that have a legacy LAPS policy.
• This update affects the Islamic Republic of Iran. The update supports the government’s Daylight Savings Time change order from 2022.
• This update fixes an issue that affects apps that use DirectX on older Intel graphics drivers. You may receive an error from apphelp.dll.
• This update fixes an issue that affects the Resilient File System (ReFS). A stop error occurs that prevents the OS from starting properly.
• This update fixes an issue that affects protected content. When you minimize a window that contains content, content appears when it shouldn’t. This happens when you are using Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview.
• This update fixes an issue that affects the Unified Write Filter (UWF). When you turn it off using a call to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), your device may stop responding.
• This update fixes an issue affecting the Chinese input method. You may not see all of the previously suggested items.
• This update fixes an issue that affects SMB Direct. Endpoints may not be available on systems using multibyte character sets.
• This update fixes an issue that affects Mobile Device Management (MDM) users. The problem prevents you from printing. This is caused by an exception.
• This update fixes an issue that affects the execution of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). It may stop responding. This causes the machine to restart. The error is 0xc0000005 (STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION).
• This update fixes an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. The tab window manager stops responding.
• This update fixes an issue that affects signed Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policies. They do not apply to secure kernels. This happens when you enable Secure Boot.
• This update changes app icons for certain mobile providers.
• This update fixes an issue that affects MySQL commands. Commands fail on Windows Xenon containers.
• This update fixes an issue that causes the task view to display in the wrong area. This happens when you close a full screen game by pressing Win + Tab.
• This update fixes an issue that occurs when you use a PIN to sign in to Windows Hello for Business. Signing into Remote Desktop Services may fail. The error message is, “The request is not supported”.
• This update fixes an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. Pop-up windows open in the background instead of the foreground.
• This update fixes an issue that affects administrator account lockout policies. The resulting set of GPArsult and Policy did not report them.

Known issues

[Search on the Taskbar]

• If you have the Bing button in the search box on the taskbar and you restart your computer, you may see the daily rotating search light for a while before you get the Bing button back.

[Widgets]

• [NEW] When you first launch the widgets board, you may momentarily see placeholders for the old 2 column layout widgets/feed cards even if your device supports 3 columns.

You can find the official blog post. Here.