As the Windows Preview Experience program comes to its ninth year, Microsoft is now announcing a new “Canary” channel for Windows Insiders.
According to the introduction, the new Canary channel is similar to the Dev development channel and includes some major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, and more. Of course, the version numbers released to the Canary channel will be higher than the Dev, Beta, and Release Preview channels (Canary will start with Build 25000.x).
As with the Dev channel, some of the content in the Canary channel will never make it to the official release, while other changes may come in future versions of Windows.
Microsoft emphasized that they will move testers who have previously updated Bulid 25000.x in the Dev Channel to the Canary Channel, and those affected will receive notifications about this migration on their systems and in their emails.
From Microsoft’s words, we can feel that the new Canary Channel is more “fast” than the original Dev Channel, similar to the automatic builds that are commonly seen on Gtihub, which are automatically released after development is complete with no checks or very little validation, while the Dev version will at least be checked. So the Dev channel is more stable.
Microsoft also mentioned that Canary Channel does not always have new features in every update, so they will only release updated documentation when new features are available. In addition, Canary Channel is not “daily”, but may release new versions more frequently in the future.
Initial Build versions for each channel.
Canary Channel: 25000 series. Ideal for advanced technical users. Early preview in the development cycle of a new platform. This version may be unstable and released without documentation.
Dev Channel: 23000 series. Ideal for tastemakers. Brings you the latest new ideas and the latest feature ideas for Windows 11. This version can be a bit “rough” and less stable.
Beta Channel: 22000 Series. Ideal for early adopters. These versions of Windows 11 will be more reliable than the development channel versions, where the updates are verified by Microsoft. This is also where your submission of feedback will have the most impact.
Release Preview: Windows 10 & Windows 11. This is ideal if you want to get early access to fixes and certain key features and try out the next version of Windows before it’s officially released, and the channel is also recommended for business users.
It’s worth noting that for people who automatically moved to the Canary channel but want to get back into the Dev channel, they’ll need a fresh install of Windows 11 to make the switch.
If you are a member of the Beta channel’s internal preview experience and want to try out the new features and Windows experience, you can now switch to the Dev channel immediately.
Note that when switching channels, users cannot switch to a lower version number without a “clean install of Windows 11” due to technical setup requirements.
