Windows 11 Insider Preview build 26220.7271 for the Dev and Beta Channels is a relatively small but dense update. It tightens the link between Windows and Xbox, adds a new safety net for system recovery, pushes more AI on-device, and continues the slow cleanup of long-standing UX rough edges like File Explorer menus and Store app management.
Where build 26220.7271 fits in the Windows 11 roadmap
This build sits on top of Windows 11, version 25H2 and is delivered as an enablement-style update. Dev and Beta Channels are currently aligned on the same 25H2-based builds, which opens a temporary window if you want to move a device from Dev down to Beta using the standard channel switch in Windows Update settings.
Once Dev jumps ahead to a higher build number, that path closes and Dev will again become the riskier channel. If you care more about stability than being first, now is the moment to reconsider which ring your daily machine lives in.
Xbox full screen experience turns your PC into a console-style dashboard
The most visible change is a new Xbox full screen experience (often shortened to FSE) that runs on regular Windows 11 PCs, not just handhelds. It’s a controller-first, full-screen UI that feels closer to an Xbox console dashboard than a traditional Windows app launcher, with a simplified layout and minimal chrome so games stay front and center.
| Xbox full screen experience on PC | Details |
|---|---|
| What it is | Console-style, distraction-free UI for gaming on Windows 11 PCs |
| How to toggle it | Use Task View, Xbox Game Bar settings, or press Win + F11 |
| Who gets it first | Windows Insiders in Dev/Beta who are also Xbox Insiders |
| Rollout | Gradual; expected to reach all Dev/Beta Insiders later without Xbox program registration |
| Known limits | No virtual keyboard for controllers on non-touch devices; some apps misbehave in FSE |
You can launch FSE either from Task View, from the Game Bar’s settings, or with the Win + F11 shortcut. Once enabled, you can move through your library and switch tasks using a controller, which matters a lot more on living room setups or big-screen projectors where a keyboard and mouse are tucked away.
For now, FSE is gated: you need to be both a Windows Insider in Dev or Beta and enrolled in the Xbox Insider Program. Enrollment runs through the Xbox Insider Hub app, where you opt into the PC gaming preview track. The feature is planned to fan out to all Dev and Beta Insiders over time without that extra registration step.
There are some early friction points. On non-touch devices, the on-screen keyboard does not appear when you’re using a controller, so you need a physical keyboard for text input. And because FSE drives apps into a tighter full-screen environment, apps that assume a fixed window size or pop-out windows can behave strangely.
Point-in-time restore gives Windows a new safety net
Build 26220.7271 also introduces “point-in-time restore for Windows,” which is a new system recovery mechanism aimed at making rollbacks faster and less technical. The idea is straightforward: Windows can capture snapshots that include the OS, installed apps, settings, and user files, then roll the device back to one of those snapshots when something goes wrong.
| Point-in-time restore | How it works now |
|---|---|
| What it restores | Windows system, apps, configuration, and user files |
| Use cases | Recovery from outages, misconfigurations, or a bad change on a single device |
| Configuration | Settings app under System → Recovery → Point-in-time restore |
| How to trigger | In Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) under Troubleshoot → Point-in-time restore |
The feature is designed to cut out much of the manual troubleshooting that usually follows a bad driver, faulty update, or misbehaving app. Instead of walking through bare-metal reinstall steps, you pick an earlier point and let Windows handle the rollback.
Today, restoring requires booting into the Windows Recovery Environment and choosing point-in-time restore from the Troubleshoot menu. Configuration lives inside the main OS under System → Recovery, where you can control how it’s set up and, depending on policy, which devices can use it.
Fluid Dictation brings on-device AI to voice typing
Windows already offered Fluid dictation for voice access. This build extends the same approach to voice typing on devices with a neural processing unit (NPU). Once enabled, voice typing does more than transcribe: it actively cleans up what you say as you say it.
| Fluid Dictation in voice typing | Details |
|---|---|
| Supported devices | Windows 11 devices with an NPU |
| How it helps | Fixes grammar, punctuation, and filler words in real time |
| Processing | Runs on-device using small language models (SLMs) |
| How to start | Place cursor in a text field and press Win + H |
| Control | Toggle “Fluid Dictation” in the voice typing settings flyout |
Practically, that means fewer “uh” and “you know” fragments left in your email, and fewer passes through the text to add missing commas or adjust capitalization. Because the models run locally, response time is quick and audio doesn’t need to be sent off the device for processing.
First-time users still go through a brief setup when launching voice typing. After that, Fluid Dictation is switched on by default, but you can turn it off from the small settings flyout above the dictation UI if you’d rather get raw transcriptions.
Phone-to-PC handoff now extends beyond Spotify
Windows has been slowly building out a “continue on PC” model for activities started on Android phones. Earlier work focused on moving a Spotify track from phone to PC. Build 26220.7271 expands that same idea to browsing and Microsoft 365 content.
| Phone continuation feature | Supported phones and apps |
|---|---|
| Continue browsing | vivo Android phones using vivo Browser, resuming in the PC’s default browser |
| Continue M365 Copilot files | Honor, Huawei, Oppo, Samsung, and vivo Android phones running M365 Copilot app |
| File behavior on PC | Word, Excel, PowerPoint files open in native apps if installed, otherwise in the default browser |
| Important limitation | Only online files are supported; offline files stored locally on the phone are excluded |
The goal is to make hopping from phone to PC feel less like switching devices and more like switching windows. For a link in vivo Browser, the PC picks it up in your default browser. For documents opened in the M365 Copilot app on supported phones, the PC routes them to the full desktop versions of Office apps when they’re installed, or to web experiences otherwise.
Offline files are currently out of scope, so anything stored purely on the phone won’t jump over yet.
Click to Do gets quieter design tuning
Click to Do, a context-sensitive command surface that sits near content, continues to evolve. In this build, Microsoft is experimenting with a refined top bar layout to see which variants work best on different devices and in different markets.
Functionality can differ depending on where you are and what hardware you’re using, and the changes are intentionally incremental: the work is less about adding marquee features and more about making common actions show up where they feel natural.
File Explorer: less cluttered menus and faster launch
File Explorer once again gets attention, this time focused on small efficiency wins rather than sweeping redesigns.
| File Explorer change | What’s different in build 26220.7271 |
|---|---|
| Context menu layout | Less-used actions moved into grouped flyouts; related actions sit closer together |
| “Manage file” flyout | Hosts options like Compress to ZIP file, Copy as Path, Set as Desktop Background, Rotate Right/Left |
| Cloud options | Entries like Always Keep on this Device and Free Up Space now live under each cloud provider’s own flyout |
| Send to My Phone | Moved next to cloud provider options to keep “off-device” actions together |
| Open Folder Location | Relocated to sit beside Open and Open with |
| Preloading | Explorer can now preload in the background to reduce first-open delay |
The context menu changes are about rebalancing density. Rather than scatter one-off commands throughout the root menu, build 26220.7271 collects file management options into a “Manage file” flyout (the label may change in future flights), consolidates cloud sync states under each provider, and anchors “Open Folder Location” next to the rest of the open-related actions.
In parallel, File Explorer can now preload quietly in the background so that the first time you open a window, it appears more quickly. The behavior is meant to be invisible, but you can turn it off if you prefer fewer background processes running.
To toggle it, open File Explorer, go to Folder Options → View, and clear the “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” checkbox.
Microsoft Store finally lets you uninstall from your library
On the Microsoft Store side, a small but overdue change arrives: you can uninstall Store-managed apps directly from the Library page, without hunting through Start or Settings.
| Microsoft Store change | Details |
|---|---|
| New capability | Uninstall apps from the Library list using the three-dot menu |
| Scope | Store-managed apps only |
| Availability | All Insider channels with Microsoft Store version 22510.1401.x.x or newer |
The flow is simple: open the Store, head to Library, locate an installed app, click the three-dot overflow menu, and choose Uninstall. It’s a minor UX optimization, but one that matches how people already think about apps in app stores: a single catalog for installation, updates, and removal.
Fixes for taskbar hangs, network loss, and finicky games
Beyond new features, build 26220.7271 carries a collection of targeted fixes aimed at everyday annoyances:
| Area | Issue addressed |
|---|---|
| Taskbar & system tray | Taskbar could hang after some notifications; battery icon hover sometimes showed its own background instead of the combined system tray panel |
| Network | Devices could lose internet connectivity after resuming from disconnected standby; low-level networking behavior has been adjusted to reduce this |
| File Explorer | “Empty recycle bin” command stayed visible in the command bar after leaving the Recycle Bin view |
| Settings | Settings could crash when opening Privacy & Security pages for Camera, Location, or Microphone |
| Display & graphics | Some games incorrectly warned, “Unsupported graphics card detected” despite using supported hardware |
| Task Manager | Memory form factor field was blank when using Die or CAMM modules; now correctly shows the form factor |
| .NET and Visual Studio on ARM64 | Crashes affecting Visual Studio and other .NET Framework apps on some ARM64 PCs are resolved by installing the latest .NET Framework update |
Most of these tweaks are invisible when they work, but together they reduce friction around common operations like waking a laptop, opening Settings privacy controls, or playing games with aggressive compatibility checks.
Known issues to watch for in build 26220.7271
As with any Insider build, a handful of problems are acknowledged and still under investigation.
| Component | Known issues in this build |
|---|---|
| Xbox full screen experience | On non-touch devices with controllers, the virtual keyboard does not appear; some apps misbehave when forced into FSE, especially those with fixed size windows or extra pop-out windows |
| Taskbar & system tray | Start menu may not open on click for some users, though the Windows key still works; the same underlying issue can also block Notification Center when clicking, though Win + N continues to open it |
| System tray apps | Some apps may not show up in the tray even when they are running |
| File Explorer dialogs | In dark mode file operation dialogs with scaled text, the scrollbar and footer can disappear, leaving a white block; File Explorer may also briefly flash white when navigating between pages compared with the previous flight |
| Bluetooth | Battery level reporting may be missing for certain Bluetooth devices |
These issues are the trade-off for sitting on the development edge. If any of them would disrupt how you use your PC every day—especially Start menu and tray reliability—it may be better to test this build on secondary hardware while keeping your main machine on a more stable channel.
Build 26220.7271 is not a headline release, but it steadily pushes Windows 11 toward a more console-friendly living room setup, bakes in a more modern recovery story, and keeps trimming decades of UI cruft. For Insiders, it’s another snapshot of where Microsoft wants Windows to land by the time the 25H2 wave ships broadly: less friction, more on-device intelligence, and a PC that plays nicer with everything else in your life, from phones to gamepads.
