Microsoft today released the Windows 11 preview version 25145 system update to the Dev development channel. This release introduces several new features, including Narrator Braille driver support updates, OneDrive storage alerts, and subscription management in Settings, and a built-in native local admin password solution.
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As always, this release includes a nice set of fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders on their PCs. Microsoft also fixed an issue that caused Surface Pro X devices to display a black screen when trying to resume hibernation.
New features:
Narrator Braille Driver Solutions
Braille devices will continue to work when switching between Narrator and third-party screen readers because Narrator will automatically change braille driver support.
Prerequisites:
If Narrator’s current braille support is already installed, you must remove it by following these steps:
- Open Settings.
- Go to Applications > Optional Features > Installed Features.
- Search Accessibility – Braille support.
- Extended Accessibility – Braille support and uninstall the feature.
Install the new Narrator Braille support:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Narrator > Braille.
- Select the More button.
- Download Braille from this new window by selecting the “Download and Install Braille” button.
- Once Braille is installed, go back to Settings > Accessibility > Narrator > Braille.
- Select the braille display driver used by third-party screen readers from the Braille Display Driver option. This only needs to be done once.
Introduce OneDrive storage alerts and subscription management in settings
In March, Microsoft enhanced the Microsoft 365 subscription management experience in Windows 11 Settings and added the ability to view Microsoft 365 subscription payment methods in Accounts in Settings.
Starting with today’s release, Microsoft is enabling the OneDrive standalone 100GB subscription in the Accounts page of Settings, similar to a Microsoft 365 subscription. This will allow users to view recurring billing, payment methods, and OneDrive storage usage in Windows 11. Additionally, users will also receive alert notifications on the same page if they are approaching or exceeding their OneDrive storage limit.
Local administrator password solution
The traditional local administrator password solution product (aka “LAPS”) is now a native part of Windows and includes many new features:
Feature documentation is not yet available, but users who have used older LAPS products will be familiar with many of the features in the new version. Here’s a short how-to to help users get started with basic Active Directory domain join client scenarios:
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Extend the Active Directory schema by running the Update-LapsADSchema cmdlet in the new LAPS PowerShell module.
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Add the necessary permissions on the computer’s OU by running the Set-LapsADComputerSelfPermission cmdlet.
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Add a new LAPS Group Policy Object and enable the Configure Password Backup Directory setting and configure it to back up passwords to Active Directory.
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Domain-joined clients will process the policy at the next GPO refresh interval. Run “gpupdate /target:computer /force” to avoid waiting. (The Invoke-LapsPolicyProcessing cmdlet can be used for the same purpose.)
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Once the domain-joined client has backed up the new password (look for the 10018 events in the event log – see screenshot below), run the Get-LapsADPassword cmdlet to retrieve the newly stored password (by default, the user must be a domain administrator account).
To access this new group policy, open the Group Policy Editor and navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > LAPS.
Changes and Improvements
[General]
Users can make privacy decisions more easily. The new app usage history feature is rolling out to Insiders starting with Build 25140, giving users a 7-day experience with settings for location, camera, microphone, phone calls, messages, contacts, pictures, videos, music library, screenshots and apps . Users can find this new information under Settings > Privacy & Security > App Permissions (just click one of the app permission categories, such as Microphone, and look at Recent Activity).
[Suggested action]
Recommended Actions are rolling out starting with Build 25115 and are now available to all Windows Insiders in the US, Canada, and Mexico regions.
[File Manager]
Now, clicking on a folder in the body of File Explorer will open it in a new tab.
Repair
[General]
Fixed an issue that caused Surface Pro X devices to display a black screen when trying to resume from hibernation.
Fixed a bugcheck that some beta testers encountered when using the USB-related SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED.
Fixed a bugcheck with error 0x1CA SYNTHETIC_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT that could occasionally occur after some PCs have been idle for a while. This can happen when the laptop lid is closed, causing the laptop to restart during sleep.
Fixed an issue in the last two releases that caused InventorySvc to consume unexpectedly large amounts of memory the longer it ran.
[File Manager]
The row label should now be included in the keyboard focus loop when Tab or F6 is pressed. Once the focus is in the row of tabs, the user can use the left or right arrow keys to navigate between them.
Fixed an issue where tabs were in the wrong order when using CTRL+Tab when rearranging tabs in File Explorer.
[start]
A narrator will now correctly read the dialogs and options that open when uninstalling an application from the context menu of the Start menu.
The animation when selecting the More button in the Recommendations to Start section in Right-to-Left (RTL) languages is now displayed correctly.
[mission Board]
When using the keyboard to close the notification center, the closing animation will now be displayed correctly.
[set up]
Typing a number in the Settings search box when using the Arabic display language no longer displays the box.
Fixed an issue that caused Settings to crash when going to Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners in recent versions.
Fixed several crashes that some beta testers experienced in the last few builds after opening the quick settings Wi-Fi section or after connecting or disconnecting from the network in the quick settings Wi-Fi section.
Fixed an issue that caused the Wi-Fi option in Quick Settings and the Wi-Fi section in Settings to sometimes take several seconds to appear.
Using touch to rearrange items in Quick Sets in Edit Mode no longer causes Quick Sets to sometimes close unexpectedly.
[enter]
Added SOM currency symbol (U+20C0) to Courier New font family.
[task manager]
Pressing CTRL + Page Up and CTRL + Page Down should now be able to navigate pages in the task manager again.
[other]
Fixed a rare issue that could cause some applications to occasionally crash on startup.
Known Issues
[General]
Microsoft is investigating reports of mica materials and acrylic blur effects rendering incorrectly on operating system surfaces such as the Start menu, Notification Center, and other areas.
Microsoft is investigating reports of turning off via the Start menu not working for some Insiders and restarting unexpectedly.
Some games using Easy Anti-Cheat may crash or cause a bugcheck on the PC.
[File Manager]
The up arrow in the File Explorer tabs is misaligned. This will be fixed in a future update.
Microsoft is investigating the unexpected display of the File Explorer body in light mode when launching File Explorer in certain ways using dark mode (for example, from the command line).
[Widget]
Microsoft is fixing an issue that caused widget preferences (temperature units and pinned widgets) to unexpectedly reset to default.
[Live subtitles]
Some full-screen apps, such as video players, prevent live captions from appearing.
Some applications that are located near the top of the screen and are closed before Live Captions are running will be restarted behind the Live Captions window at the top. Use the system menu (ALT + SPACEBAR) while the application has focus to move the application’s window further down.
