- Windows 11 build 23440 is now rolling out in the Dev Channel.
- The update introduces an option to hide the date and time from Taskbar.
- The Search box now opens on hover, and the network context menu gets diagnose option.
- Microsoft is also releasing various fixes and improvements.
For devices that are part of the Windows Insider Program’s Dev Channel, Microsoft is now releasing Windows 11 build 23440. Despite being a modest update, it has several intriguing new features, repairs, and enhancements.
According to the published changes, Windows 11 build 23440 adds additional note ideas for Insiders to the Start menu. Now, you may access the network diagnostics from the Taskbar and conceal the time and date. Additionally, the Taskbar Search box now opens when hovered over. Lastly, a number of repairs and enhancements are included in this release.
Windows 11 build 23440 changes
The Dev Channel’s most recent version of Windows 11 has the following enhancements and new features:
New Start menu recommendations
Beginning with build 23440, there will be a choice in the Recommended part of the Start menu to see the release notes for Windows Insider Preview builds.
New Taskbar changes
By turning on or off the “Hide time and date in System tray” option from the Date & time settings page, you may now conceal the time and date from the Taskbar.
To troubleshoot and resolve networking issues more quickly, the Diagnose network problems option will now be available in the context menu for the network icon in the system tray.
Lastly, hovering over the Taskbar Search box will now cause it to open automatically. The Open search on hover (where available) toggle switch can be turned on or off from the Taskbar settings page to modify this behavior.
Fixes and improvements
Numerous updates and enhancements for the Taskbar, Input, Settings, File Explorer, and other areas are also included in this flight.
Taskbar
- Fixed a few explorer.exe crashes that were impacting taskbar reliability.
- Updated the Widgets invocation logic, so that if you brush your mouse quickly across the Widgets icon in the taskbar while travelling somewhere else, it should be less likely to accidentally open Widgets.
- Fixed an issue where the cursor wasn t displaying correctly in the search box when using an Arabic display language.
File Explorer
- Fixed an issue where the context menu was opening far away from where your mouse had right-clicked sometimes.
- Fixed an issue which was causing some of the icons in File Explorer and the context menu to be blurry after DPI changes.
- Fixed an issue where the New button in the command bar might not show anything in the dropdown.
- Shift + Right click on a file or folder should open Show more options again now.
- Adjusted how Narrator was reading out the access keys after pressing the menu key, to make it clearer.
- CTRL + Mouse wheel scrolling should now resize the thumbnails in Gallery.
- Made some improvements to how Narrator reads out the recommended files.
Windowing
- Fixed a shellexperiencehost.exe crash when disconnecting from another monitor using WIN + P.
Input
- Fixed an issue where the touch keyboard didn t correctly recognize a hardware keyboard was available in some cases.
Notifications
- Fixed an issue where 2FA codes weren t being recognized if they were in parentheses.
Live Captions
- Fixed an issue that was causing live captions to crash on first launch due to an issue impacting registry data retrieval.
- Adding enhanced language recognition support in Language & region settings will now install the right files on ARM64 devices.
- Fixed an issue in Language & region settings that caused language feature installation progress to be hidden.
- Fixed an issue causing live captions Add a language menu icon and label to overlap.
Task Manager
- Double clicking Task Manager s title bar to maximize the window should work again now.
- Fixed a Task Manager crash which was impacting Insiders in the last couple flights.
Accessibility
- Fixed an issue that was leaving voice access s window empty after opening.
- Fixed an issue where voice access was crashing when using the command to go to the start of a document.
- Fixed an issue where Narrator s CTRL + Narrator + Home and Ctrl + Narrator + End commands to move to the beginning and end of text weren t working correctly in Edge.
There are also documented problems with the Taskbar, Live Captions, and File Explorer with this edition.
Install build 23440
To download and install Windows 11 build 23440, use the Windows Insider Program settings from the Windows Update section to enroll your device in the Dev Channel.
You can get build 23440 from the Windows Update settings by clicking the Check for Updates button after enrolling the computer in the program. If you are new to the Windows Insider Program, however, you will need a device that satisfies the minimal system requirements in order to receive the update.