After announcing Windows 11 last week, Microsoft released the first preview today, and as usual, there are some known issues. It also comes with a ton of new features. Obviously, there's the new Start Menu and general new design language, which includes rounded corners. But there's a whole lot more.
There are new multitasking features like Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, and the new Microsoft Store is included. Unfortunately, there are no Android apps yet, nor is there the embedded Amazon Appstore that's on the way. You'll also find new customization settings for the Touch Keyboard, an all-new Settings app, a new setup experience, and much more.
But it's a Windows Insider Preview build in the Dev channel, which means that there are lots of known issues with this build of Windows 11. Here's the list:
- When upgrading to Windows 11 from Windows 10 or when installing an update to Windows 11, some features may be deprecated or removed. See details here.
- Taskbar:
- Taskbar will not be shown across multiple monitors but will return in an upcoming build.
- The preview window may not display the entire window when hovering over Task Viewon the taskbar.
- Settings:
- When upgrading a device with multiple user accounts to Windows 11, Settings will failto launch.
- A small set of Settings legacy pages as well as fit and finish bugs will be addressed infuture releases.
- The ‘Power mode’ setting does not show up on the Power & battery page.
- When launching the Settings app, a brief green flash may appear.
- When using Quick Settings to modify Accessibility settings, the settings UI may not save the selected state.
- Start:
- In some cases, you might be unable to enter text when using Search from Start or thetaskbar. If you experience the issue, press Win + R on the keyboard to launch the Rundialog box, then close it.
- We're working on fixing an issue that's preventing unpinning apps from Start, makingthe command bar in File Explorer disappear, or hiding snap. To work around these,restart your PC.
- Search:
- App icons in the Search panel may do not load, and instead appear as gray squares.
- When hovering your mouse over the Search icon on the taskbar, the third recent searchdoes not load and remains blank.
- After clicking the Search icon taskbar, the Search panel may not open. If this occurs,restart the “Windows Explorer” process, and open the search panel again.
- When you hover your mouse over the Search icon on the taskbar, recent searches maynot be displayed. To work around the issue, restart your device. o Search panel might appear as black and not display any content below the search box.
- Widgets:
- System text scaling will scale all widgets proportionally and may result in croppedwidgets.
- Launching links from the widgets board may not invoke apps to the foreground.
- When using screen reader/Narrator in widgets may not properly announce content
- Widgets board may appear empty. To work around the issue, you can sign out and thensign back in again.
- When using the Outlook client with a Microsoft account, Calendar, and To Do changesmay not sync to the widgets in real time.
- Widgets may be displayed in the wrong size on external monitors. If you encounter this, you can launch the widgets via touch or WIN + W shortcut on your actual device monitor first and then launch on your secondary monitors.
- After adding multiple widgets quickly from the widgets settings, some of the widgetsmay not be visible on the board.
- Store:
- The install button might not be functional yet in some limited scenarios.
- Rating and reviews are not available for some apps.
This is an important list, and it's important to remember that these are only the known issues for Windows 11. There could be, and likely are others that haven't been discovered yet.
It's also worth remembering that there will be more known issues between now and when Windows 11 is released this holiday season. It's not like one of Apple's iOS betas, where there's a big released, and then it's refined over time. With Windows Insider Previews in the Dev channel, there are going to be ups and downs.
If you want to install the first Windows 11 beta, you can check out our guide here.