Windows 11 Insider Preview build 28020.1362 (KB5073095) is a wide-ranging Canary update that touches almost every part of the OS, from handheld gaming and camera effects to File Explorer, settings, and recovery. Many of the biggest changes land first on Copilot+ PCs and other supported hardware, while quality-of-life fixes roll out more broadly.
Xbox Full screen experience reaches more Windows handhelds
The Xbox-driven Full screen experience (FSE) is now available on more Windows 11 handheld gaming devices beyond its original rollout on ASUS ROG Ally and ROG Ally X. FSE replaces the traditional desktop with a console-style interface built around the Xbox app, designed for controllers and thumbsticks rather than mouse and keyboard.
In this mode, games launch into a focused environment with fewer background tasks competing for CPU and memory. That reduces distractions, keeps navigation simple on small screens, and can help gameplay feel smoother on thermally constrained handheld hardware.
To turn on Full screen experience:
Step 1: Open Settings > Gaming > Full screen experience on your handheld.
Step 2: Choose the Xbox app as your home app. This makes Xbox the primary shell when you use FSE.
Step 3: Optionally enable the setting that launches directly into Full screen experience at startup so the device behaves more like a console.
Step 4: When Windows is running, enter FSE from Task View or the Game Bar. Exit through the same entry points when you need the regular desktop.
OEM firmware and drivers still matter here. Some devices may need vendor updates before the feature appears or works correctly with hardware buttons and performance profiles.
Click to Do and agent in Settings on Copilot+ PCs
On Copilot+ PCs, Windows leans harder into contextual actions and AI-guided settings changes.
Click to Do gains a redesigned context menu that emphasizes common tasks such as Copy, Save, Share, and Open. The layout is simpler, and those high-frequency actions are easier to pick out at a glance.
When a large image or table appears on screen, the Click to Do menu can pop up automatically. The goal is to reduce the time between seeing content and acting on it, whether you are saving a snapshot, sharing a chart, or opening a file in another app.
Alongside that, an agent in Settings now helps you adjust system options more directly:
- Recommended settings shows inline agent actions for recently changed options, so you can quickly nudge a setting up, down, or off without digging back through submenus.
- Search in Settings now surfaces more results in the flyout and lets you adjust many of them in place. When something can’t be changed further, Windows explains why and offers a clear path to modify it where possible.
This is a step toward turning Settings into a more conversational, action-first surface rather than a static list of pages.
Windows Studio Effects now work with more cameras
Windows Studio Effects are expanding beyond built-in laptop webcams on supported Copilot+ PCs. The AI-powered camera effects can now be applied to an additional camera, such as a USB webcam or a rear camera on a 2‑in‑1 device.
That matters if you rely on an external camera for better image quality but still want features like background blur or framing that tracks your face.
To enable Studio Effects on an additional camera:
Step 1: Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras.
Step 2: Select the camera you want to enhance from the list of connected cameras.
Step 3: Go into advanced camera options and switch on the Use Windows Studio Effects toggle.
Step 4: Adjust individual effects either on that camera’s settings page or through the camera controls in the taskbar quick settings panel.
Studio Effects still depend on appropriate NPU hardware and drivers. On laptops, heavier effects can draw more power, so it is worth paying attention to battery life when they are enabled.
Drag Tray evolves for sharing and file movement
The Drag Tray feature, which appears for some Insiders, becomes more capable in this build. It now supports sharing multiple files at once and surfaces apps that are likely to be relevant targets, such as messaging tools or creative apps. You can also drag files directly into a chosen folder through the same interface, combining sharing and organization in one place.
For those who find Drag Tray intrusive, there is now a direct control:
Step 1: Open Settings > System > Nearby sharing.
Step 2: Use the new toggle to turn Drag Tray on or off as needed.
That setting gives you a quick way to disable the feature in more traditional desktop workflows.
File Explorer dark mode and search polish
File Explorer’s dark mode has been uneven for a long time. Build 28020.1362 focuses on the dialogs and confirmation prompts that sit around day-to-day file operations and makes them visually consistent with the rest of the dark theme.
The updated dark experience now covers:
- Copy, move, and delete dialogs in both their default and expanded states.
- Progress bars and chart views used during long-running operations.
- Confirmation dialogs that ask you to skip, override, or choose files.
- Various error dialogs linked to file actions.
On Copilot+ PCs, the File Explorer search box placeholder text has been updated to highlight the improved Windows Search capabilities that can find documents and images more intelligently. Hovering over items in File Explorer Home now shows quick actions such as Open file location and Ask Copilot, and that hover behavior is extending to work and school (Entra ID) accounts. These Copilot-related options remain unavailable in the European Economic Area.
Beyond visuals, several long-standing Explorer issues are addressed. Video files with certain EXIF metadata now generate thumbnails correctly, an outdated white toolbar no longer appears at random, and the main window area should no longer stop responding to clicks after using the context menu. Very large archives over roughly 1.5GB that previously failed with a “Catastrophic Error” (0x8000FFFF) should now extract successfully, and opening Explorer Home should no longer cause Explorer to hang.
New Mobile Devices page in Settings
Windows adds a dedicated Mobile Devices page under Bluetooth & devices. Instead of scattering phone-related entry points across different apps and settings, this page gathers mobile device management into a single view.
From there you can:
- See the mobile devices currently linked to your PC.
- Add new mobile devices.
- Manage features such as using your phone as a connected camera or accessing phone files directly in File Explorer.
This layout simplifies the mental model of “PC plus phone” as a single setup, especially on systems where you frequently move images or video from your phone to your desktop workflows.
Desktop Spotlight shortcuts
For those using Windows Spotlight as their desktop background under Settings > Personalization > Background, the desktop now exposes more control through its context menu.
Right-clicking the desktop surfaces two new options:
- Learn more about this background, for more information on the current Spotlight image.
- Next desktop background, to quickly move on to another Spotlight wallpaper without opening Settings.
These shortcuts make Spotlight feel less like a passive slideshow and more like a user-driven feature.
Input, keyboard, and pen changes
Input gets a mix of modernization and localization improvements.
More keyboard options are moving out of Control Panel and into the modern Settings app. The character repeat delay and rate settings now live under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard, while the cursor blink rate is under Settings > Accessibility > Text cursor. This is part of a broader effort to retire legacy UI while keeping granular control.
Keyboard backlight handling is better for supported HID-compliant keyboards. On compatible hardware, keys should be easier to see in low light, and the backlight adjusts more intelligently to conserve power where possible.
Arabic keyboard layouts get meaningful updates. The Arabic 101 layout now supports an AltGr layer on the right Alt key, which acts as a modifier for extra symbols while the left Alt key continues to work as before. The first new symbol on this layer is the Saudi Riyal currency sign, available using AltGr + S. That symbol is also accessible from the touch keyboard symbol page and the currency tab of expressive input panels. Arabic 102 and Arabic 102 AZERTY receive similar treatment. Existing shortcuts such as language switching with left Alt + Shift and Windows logo key + Spacebar still behave as expected.
Digital pens that support haptics now provide tactile feedback in more parts of the Windows UI. You may feel a light vibration when hovering over the close button, or when snapping and resizing windows. The intention is to make pen interaction feel more physical and predictable, especially for users navigating complex window arrangements.
Game Pass, OneDrive, and subtle branding updates
In Settings, references to Game Pass plans have been updated to match new branding and benefit descriptions. The underlying subscription tiers and capabilities are not detailed in the build notes, but wording and layout now align with the latest naming.
The OneDrive icon shown on Accounts pages and various Settings home surfaces has been refreshed as well. While purely cosmetic, these small touches keep system UI visuals aligned with current Microsoft branding.
Quick Machine Recovery and Virtual Workspaces
Recovery is another area where this build quietly changes behavior. Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) now performs a one-time scan on PCs where both “quick machine recovery” and “automatically check for solutions” are enabled in the Recovery settings. If QMR cannot immediately resolve a detected issue, it points you to the most suitable recovery paths to get the system stable again.
This is more about guidance than automation: instead of failing silently or surfacing generic errors, QMR routes you toward the right tools when automated fixes are not available.
A new Virtual Workspaces option appears under Advanced settings. You can now toggle support for virtualization environments such as Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox from Settings > System > Advanced, instead of hunting through deeper system dialog trees. That toggle centralizes control for users who frequently switch between running and disabling virtualized environments on a single machine.
System-wide fixes: Settings, taskbar, Start, and graphics
Beyond visible features, build 28020.1362 addresses a range of everyday frustrations.
In Settings, navigation to the Network & Internet section should no longer cause the app to freeze. The search bar no longer overlaps with the minimize and maximize buttons in the title bar, and processor names under System > About are no longer cut off.
The taskbar gets multiple reliability fixes. The auto-hide setting should stop turning itself off after messages about hidden toolbars. Voice access once again works correctly when selecting items on the taskbar, taskbar icons no longer shrink themselves when there is still space available, and clicking a window preview from a taskbar hover now reliably brings the window to the foreground instead of dismissing the preview with no action.
For Insiders using the new Start menu, the Windows Search panel has been resized to match it, making the transition between Start and search feel less jarring.
On the networking side, there are under-the-hood changes aimed at preventing situations where PCs wake from a disconnected standby state with no working internet connection. Users still seeing networking issues are encouraged to report them through Feedback Hub under Network and Internet.
Display and graphics handling see several corrections as well. When apps ask monitors for their complete list of supported modes, that query no longer causes brief stutters on high-resolution monitors. All-in-one PCs should stop seeing brightness sliders snap back to earlier levels while being adjusted. Some games that recently displayed “Unsupported graphics card detected” despite running on supported GPUs should now behave correctly. Apps and browsers that previously showed partially frozen content while other full-screen apps updated in the background should scroll and redraw normally, and multi-line text boxes in certain apps should render text consistently when you edit long entries.
Lock screen, Narrator, Windows Update, and Task Manager fixes
Sign-in and lock-screen reliability is a recurring focus in newer builds, and this one continues that work. The taskbar should load more quickly after you unlock the PC from sleep, and cases where the password field or other sign-in components failed to appear when transitioning from lock screen to sign-in should be reduced.
The first sign-in on a new account should no longer feel excessively slow. A memory leak affecting lock screens set to slide show has been fixed, which should help avoid gradual performance degradation or instability on systems that remain on for long periods.
For assistive technology, Narrator should now read through Word documents without sudden, unexplained pauses during continuous reading sessions.
Windows Update behavior is also more predictable. “Update and shutdown” now does what it promises, completing updates and then powering off instead of staying on unexpectedly. A separate issue that produced error 0x8007042B when some users tried to move to the Canary channel from certain Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2 builds has been addressed as well.
Task Manager received a specific fix for a case where it appeared to open and close normally but continued running in the background each time. That bug caused process counts to grow and could even make Task Manager pop up on boot. Closing Task Manager should now actually terminate its process.
Finally, apps that use standard Open or Save dialogs should no longer freeze when those dialogs appear, and generic interactions with the desktop should stop triggering Task View unexpectedly.
Paint app toolbar collapse in Canary and Dev
Alongside the OS changes, the built-in Paint app is gaining a new immersive option in version 11.2511.281.0, rolling out to Canary and Dev channels.
To use Paint’s collapsible toolbar:
Step 1: Open Paint and look for the small chevron icon at the bottom-right of the ribbon interface.
Step 2: Select the chevron and choose Automatically hide toolbar. The toolbar collapses, giving more space to the canvas.
Step 3: When you need tools, press the Show toolbar button to bring the ribbon back temporarily and switch brushes, colors, or modes.
Step 4: Click Hide toolbar or click away from the ribbon area to collapse it again. To restore the classic, always-on ribbon, use the same chevron and select Always show toolbar.
This mode suits devices with smaller displays and artists who want to prioritize their canvas over UI chrome.
What Canary testers should keep in mind
The Canary channel remains the earliest and least stable branch of Windows 11 development. These builds carry experimental features that may change, disappear, or never reach general release, and documentation can lag behind behavior on specific hardware.
Features often roll out gradually through server-side controls and are gated by hardware capabilities, so two PCs on the same build number can look and behave differently. Copilot+ features in particular depend on NPUs and OEM drivers, while things like Full screen experience may require updates from device makers.
Leaving the Canary channel for a lower channel still requires a clean installation of Windows 11, because you cannot move directly to builds with lower version numbers in-place. For any system you rely on daily, it is wise to keep backups and a clear recovery plan before installing Canary updates.
For testers comfortable with that risk, build 28020.1362 offers a dense snapshot of where Windows 11 is heading: more console-like behavior on handhelds, tighter integration between on-device AI and system surfaces, cleaner visuals in core apps, and a steady stream of small but noticeable fixes that make Windows feel more predictable and coherent.
