It’s been a busy week in the Windows Insider world. On October 6, Microsoft dropped new builds across the Canary, Dev, and Beta channels—and if you’re the kind of admin who likes to stay ahead of policy changes and UI quirks, this one’s worth a closer look.
Why I Dug Into These Builds
I’ve been tracking the 24H2 and 25H2 rollout closely, mostly because I manage a few hybrid-join environments where even small changes to OOBE or account setup can throw off our provisioning scripts. So when I saw that Microsoft was tightening the screws on local account workarounds, I spun up a few VMs to see what’s really changed.
Canary Build 27959: UI Tweaks and Tiny Wins
Let’s start with the Canary channel. I tested this on a Hyper-V VM running on my ThinkPad X1 (32GB RAM, Gen 12 i7). The new option to move hardware indicators—like volume and brightness—to the top-left or center? It’s subtle, but if you’re like me and have muscle memory for where those pop-ups land, it’s a welcome tweak.
Dialog boxes now follow the Windows 11 design language more consistently. Nothing earth-shattering, but it does clean up the visual clutter. Also, the new keyboard shortcuts for En and Em dashes? Finally. I’ve been copy-pasting those from Word for years.
One small but handy change: you can now pin favorite apps in the “Share using” window. I pinned Snipping Tool and OneNote right away—makes quick captures a bit smoother.
Dev and Beta Builds: Copilot+ and the Lockdown Era
Both Dev (26220.6772) and Beta (26120.6772) got the same cumulative update via KB5065797. I haven’t tested every AI feature yet, but “Click to Do” now supports reverse image search and text summarization. I tried the latter on a long README file—it was decent, though not quite ready to replace my own notes.
The new “Image Object Select” tool is interesting. It’s not Photoshop, but for quick edits like background blur or object removal, it’s surprisingly effective. I tested it on a few PNGs and it handled edges better than I expected.
Windows Hello ESS now supports external fingerprint readers. I didn’t have one handy to test, but this could be a big deal for folks using older hardware or docking stations.
OOBE Changes: No More Local Account Hacks
Here’s the big one: Microsoft has officially killed off the known tricks for bypassing Microsoft Account sign-in during setup. I tested the usual suspects—oobe\bypassnro, start ms-cxh:localonly, and even a few registry tweaks. All dead. The setup process now forces MSA sign-in unless you’re on a domain or using provisioning packages.
That said, there’s a new command-line option during OOBE (Shift + F10 → SetDefaultUserFolder.cmd) that lets you name your user folder. It’s a small win for those of us who hate the default User folder naming convention.
File Explorer: Dark Mode and AI Actions
Dialogs and progress bars now respect Dark Mode fully. About time. I’ve been running dark themes for years, and those bright white pop-ups always felt like a flashlight to the face.
The context menu for images now includes AI-powered actions like Visual Search, Blur Background, and Erase Object. I tried “Remove Background” on a JPEG logo—it worked, but left some artifacts. Still, for quick edits, it’s not bad.
Lessons Learned
- Don’t rely on old OOBE tricks anymore. If you’re building images or automating setup, start testing with MSA sign-in flows now.
- The AI features are promising, but still feel like a work in progress. Useful for light tasks, not production workflows.
- UI polish is ongoing—nothing revolutionary, but it’s clear Microsoft is tightening the design language across the board.
Final Thoughts
This round of Insider builds feels like Microsoft drawing a line in the sand: more AI, more cloud integration, and less tolerance for local-only setups. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your environment, but either way, it’s time to adapt.
Anyone else tried these builds in a lab or test bench? Curious if the AI tools are more useful in real-world creative workflows—or if they’re still just shiny toys for now.
