Microsoft has released the year’s first Windows 11 Insider Preview to the Developer and Canary channels. Some interesting changes are coming to Windows. The company is working on Windows Refresh, which focuses primarily on adding new AI features, software, and services. Let’s take a closer look at how this works.
- 22635.2921 (Beta Channel): 26020.1000 (ni_release)
- 23612 (Dev Channel): 23612.1000 (ni_prerelease)
- 26020 (Canary Channel): 26020.1000 (rs_prerelease)
New COPILOT KEY
Microsoft is focusing on AI for PC 2024. The company is now making a big change with the keyboard on laptops and PCs. Users will be able to launch the CoPilot directly by pressing the Windows CoPilot key. For nearly 30 years, the keyboard has not been changed. The new key will replace the menu key (application key). But you can also launch CoPilot using the shortcut key combination Windows + C.
We can expect the new CoPilot to be added to the keyboard with the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop 6 models, along with six years of firmware updates. Not only this but also when navigating sites or changing tabs.
New Weather Experience on the Lock Screen
The lock screen now has a better and richer weather experience. By hovering over the Weather Experience on the Lock Screen and clicking on the Weather card, you can sign in and access in-depth weather forecasts in MSN Weather.
To access this feature,
- Open the device settings.
- Go to Personalisation.
- Navigate to the Lock Screen and select Lock Screen Status.
If you don’t want it to appear, you can set the lock screen status to none. This feature is currently rolling out to limited users and will soon be available to everyone in the Insider Dev or Canary channels.
Expanding the Language, Multi-Display Support, and Custom Commands for Voice Access
- Expanding Voice Access to support new languages including French (France), French (Canada), German, Spanish (Spain), and Spanish (Mexico).
- After you enable voice access, it will ask you to download the language. It enables on-device recognition. To change the language, head over to Settings and use Language on Voice Access to switch languages quickly.
- Multi-display support uses the Voice Access feature, which includes a number and grid, to quickly switch and drag and drop files, apps, and documents from one display to another.
- Voice Shortcut: It brings the Voice Shortcut or Custom Commands to enable personalised commands, which are currently accessible in English.
Natural Voice Preview in the Narrator
The new 10 local natural voice sounds include Chinese, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), Japanese, English (UK), French, Portuguese, English (India), German, and Korean. You can use it to download the Voice Model, and once the Voice Model is downloaded, you can use it on-device without needing an internet connection.
If you encounter any issues, please submit feedback to Microsoft through the Feedback app (press Win + F). Other changes are more about improvements and optimisations, but there are still known issues.
Download Windows 11 Insider Preview 26020.1000 (rs_prerelease) amd64
If you prefer clean installation or manual upgrading, then you can download the ISO Package, and installation guide mentioned down below.
Windows 11 Build 23612 (23H2)
— Canary Channel
26020.1000.231214-1452.RS_PRERELEASE_CLIENTMULTI_X64FRE_EN-US
This is an AMD64 based on the x64 architecture, which is the most-preferred architecture for Windows 11 PCs.
Download ISO from Microsoft Insider Preview Download Page
Here is the guide if you prefer to download the ISO file from the official Microsoft Site.
- Open the Microsoft Insider Preview page, and scroll down to Select Edition.
- Choose Build from the drop-down menu.
- Then select the language and then click on continue.
- After that, click on 64-bit; that’s it.
How to install Windows 11?
Here are some pre-requirements to check before installing Windows 11 on your PC.
- Registered for Windows 11 Dev.
- Download and install WinRAR.
- Please check Windows 11 requirements here; if this error cannot be fixed, please refer to the troubleshooting guide here.
- Keep a backup of all critical documents, data, and apps.
- One compact flash drive (USB).
How to Create a Bootable Windows Insider Preview-Windows 11 Drive
- After downloading the Windows 11 ISO, navigate to the download folder.
- Once connected to a PC, conduct a FAT32 format on your Pendrive (DOS 11 Bootable Pendrive)
- Pick Extract from the right-click menu on the Windows 11 ISO file, and then select the USB Flash Drive.
- Once the extraction process is complete, you may perform a Windows upgrade.
- It’s completed!
How to Install Windows 11 on your Computer
- After shutting down your computer, perform a boot-up.
- After turning on the computer, press the Boot key (HP laptop: Esc, Asus: F12; check the internet for the boot key as it appears at the beginning of the PC boot up) to start it (HP laptop: Esc, Asus: F12; check the internet for the boot key as it appears at the beginning of the PC boot up).
- After selecting your USB Flash Drive, follow the on-screen instructions.
- Please click Next if you do not have the product key.
- Select Custom, select Drive 0 (Or the C drive partition) as the partition type and then click Format/Next to install Windows 11 according to your choices.
- It eventually restarted. Now you can remove the USB drive.
- Following that, Windows 11 will begin to boot on your computer. Now all that remains is for you to create an account.
- That is all!
