- New preview for Windows 11 is almost entirely about bug fixes
- Bugs, especially weird glitches, seem to be more prevalent since 24H2
- Microsoft is trying hard to cure all these various issues
Microsoft is busy fixing a whole host of bugs with Windows 11, and that’s clearly illustrated with the work in the latest preview build for the OS, which is almost entirely focused on squashing glitches – of which we’ve seen plenty with the new 24H2 update, of course.
In fact, Windows 11 build 27749 for the Canary channel only has one change that isn’t a bug fix, with Narrator getting a new keyboard shortcut combo (‘Narrator key + control + X’) which copies what was last spoken by the screen-reading tool to the clipboard. Also, Narrator now works to auto-read emails in the new Outlook app, as it did with the classic app.
Let’s cover Microsoft’s raft of troubleshooting work in this build next, then, bearing in mind that the Narrator capabilities are just in testing, as are the bug fixes – albeit with a notable exception.
That’s the fix for a bug where Task Manager errantly tells the user that zero processes and apps are running – which is, of course, impossible, given that the OS itself is built on a load of background processes – as this is also resolved with the cumulative update for the full version of Windows 11 in November. That Patch Tuesday update fixes another weird bug where Alt-Tabbing to switch between apps causes a lengthy pause and a black screen before the app you’re changing to is presented on the desktop – and a problem where the internet connection was failing on some PCs.
Back to preview build 27749, which also shores up a bunch of glitches with the core parts of the Windows 11 interface. That includes File Explorer having the contents of its navigation pane spread out too much (with extra space between them), and also some fine-tuning for the taskbar. Microsoft notes it has: “Made a change so you will now see a search box if the taskbar auto-hides when the setting for search on the taskbar is set to ‘Search box; (rather than an icon).”
On top of that, there’s a cure for an odd issue where a blank entry is present in the Privacy panel in the Settings app, and if clicked, it causes Settings to crash. Microsoft has also fixed an issue where Windows 11 would crank the volume to maximum on “certain audio devices” which doubtless made for a rude awakening after your PC returned from sleep (or it could happen on the first boot-up, too).
Narrator got some fixes as well, including the resolution of an issue where it would slow down after 15 minutes of continuous use in a single app.
There’s a clutch of other miscellaneous fixes here which Microsoft lists in the usual blog post.
Analysis: The current prevalence of weird bugs
What’s clear is that there’s a growing theme with Windows 11 being hit by some very strange bugs since the 24H2 update hit the scene. The weird spacing in the interface seen in File Explorer, zero processes showing in Task Manager, that blank entry in Settings that causes a crash, your audio suddenly being ramped to full volume, and many more oddball glitches besides (that menu disappearing off the top of the desktop springs to mind, too).
Normally, these kinds of bizarre issues are relatively rare, but seem to have become more common since the release of Windows 11 24H2, both in the update itself, and as we see here, in preview builds. It’s our theory that the major change to a new underlying platform in Windows 11 – Germanium – might have some side effects that we’re seeing manifested in these stranger kinds of bugs.
Hopefully, this run of quality assurance turbulence will start to calm down soon enough, and as we can see with this long laundry list of fixes in the latest preview, Microsoft is busy doing a lot of firefighting to resolve these multiple issues. We’ve already seen other preview updates where a lot of the work is bug fixing in recent times, and indeed in fairness, this era of heightened bugginess does go back further than the new version 24H2. Overall, 2024 has been something of a rocky year for Windows 11.
All of this seems to broadly point to the need for Microsoft to get a better handle on QA and testing processes for Windows 11, something that some people have been banging on about for some time now (ourselves included). The good news with 24H2, at least, is that it’s a major piece of work – in terms of the mentioned new Germanium platform underpinning the OS – and we haven’t seen any huge showstopping bugs (yet – touch wood). Just a lot of weird little cockroaches scurrying about.