Microsoft today released Win11 Build 25324 preview update for Windows Insider project members of the Canary channel, which is the second preview update received by the channel. Microsoft has also provided an official ISO image to make it easier for users to reinstall the system.
Win11 Build 25324 ISO image download address: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewiso
Win11 Build 25324 has the following new content:
Enhancements to the widget panel
With device support, the widget panel is further expanded from 2 columns to 3 columns, and widgets such as weather and calendar are clearly differentiated from other widgets.
USB4 settings page
Microsoft is adding a USB4 Hub and Device Settings page for users under Settings > Bluetooth and Devices > USB > USB4 Hub and Devices. USB4 provides new productivity scenarios for docking stations, high-performance peripherals, displays, and charging. the USB4 Settings page provides information about the USB4 capabilities of the system and the peripherals connected to the system that support USB4. These are designed to help with troubleshooting if the user needs support from the device manufacturer (OEM) or system administrator. This page provides features such as
- View the connected USB4 Hub and device tree.
- View the properties and features associated with the USB4 domain.
- Copy details to the clipboard to share with customer support or system administrators for troubleshooting purposes.
USB4 setup page showing details
This page will not be displayed if the system does not support USB4 for Microsoft USB4 Connection Manager.
To confirm that your system supports USB4, check “USB4 Host Router” in Device Manager.
USB4 Host Router, as shown in Device Manager
Insecure password copy and paste warning
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen has been further enhanced with phishing protection starting with the Win11 22H2 feature update.
Microsoft announced that starting with this release, users can enable the Windows Security Warning option under Application and Browser Control > Reputation-based Protection > Phishing Protection, which will pop up a warning if a copy and paste of an insecure password is detected.
Introducing support for SHA-3
Microsoft has announced the addition of support for the SHA-3 family of hash functions and SHA-3 derived functions (SHAKE, cSHAKE, KMAC) starting with this release.The SHA-3 family of algorithms is the latest standardized hash function developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
- SHA-3 hash functions supported: SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512 (SHA3-224 is not supported)
- SHA-3 HMAC algorithms supported: HMAC-SHA3-256, HMAC-SHA3-384, HMAC-SHA3-512
- Supported SHA-3 derived algorithms: Scalable Output Function (XOF) (SHAKE128, SHAKE256), customizable XOF (cSHAKE128, cSHAKE256) and KMAC (KMAC128, KMAC256, KMACXOF128, KMACXOF256)
Changes and Improvements
[Widgets]
Started rolling out animated icons for widgets on the taskbar. Animations are triggered when the user hovers or clicks the widget taskbar entry point, or when a new widget announcement is displayed on your taskbar. Currently, only a few weather and financial icons are supported.
[Search on Taskbar]
Once you have access to the new Bing, the search box on the taskbar will contain buttons to open the Bing chat experience in Edge. If you do not have access to the new Bing, the search box on the taskbar will be a button with dynamic search highlighting. Microsoft is starting to roll out this feature to Insiders, but not everyone will see it right away.
[Enter]
Microsoft has updated several Simplified Chinese fonts to allow Microsoft Pinyin input method to support GB18030-2022.
After users upgrade to this preview version, Microsoft Yahei, Simsun and Dengxian fonts support displaying consistency level 1 or 2 characters.
Simsun Ext-B fonts now support Unicode extensions E and F to meet the requirements of level 3.
[Settings]
- Microsoft is moving forward with deprecating the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) and the MSDT Troubleshooter, which will begin to be found in Settings > System > Troubleshooting “and other areas of the operating system to the new “Get Help” troubleshooting platform.
- If you have multiple cameras that support Windows Hello, you can now select your preferred camera under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options.
[File Manager]
These changes should significantly help improve the performance of the “Compute” phase when sending a large number of files to the Recycle Bin at once in File Explorer.
Microsoft officially re-emphasized in a blog post that it will not actively provide update logs, the relevant introduction as follows:
"The Canary Channel's Win11 version is updated very frequently and is usually pushed out immediately after compilation is complete. This means that there is not much time to complete the verification and write the update log before sending it to Insider. Canary Channel versions can have major issues that can prevent devices from working properly, or in rare cases require a system reinstall. We provide limited logging for Canary Channel and do not publish detailed blog posts for each release, only highlighting new features as they become available."
