Windows 11 Insider Beta Preview Build 26220.9202

Release date: 17 August 2026

Changes and improvements

Launching File Explorer Home is now faster and more responsive.
The Recommended section on Home now supports touch scrolling, making it easier to browse files in the carousel.
Fixed an issue from the previous flight where previews in File Explorer showed an unexpected thick band across the middle.

New enhancements to networking in WinRE
- We're adding a new WinRE networking capability that allows the Windows Recovery Environment to automatically reuse eligible Wi-Fi profiles already saved in the main Windows OS, including supported certificate-based Wi-Fi networks. Previously, WinRE could automatically connect only to wired unauthenticated Ethernet or Wi-Fi networks that were separately preconfigured for WinRE, while users had to manually connect to other WPA2/3 networks by entering a password. With this update, WinRE can use saved Wi-Fi profile information when a recovery workflow requires connectivity, helping devices get online automatically during scenarios such as quick machine recovery or cloud rebuild without requiring users or IT admins to separately preconfigure Wi-Fi credentials in WinRE. By default, this capability is enabled. However, IT admins can disable this functionality if desired.
- To test this feature in your environment, see Test networking in WinRE.

Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) has been removed in this release. This change is part of the ongoing deprecation and removal of WMIC from Windows.
For more information about this change, see Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) removal from Windows.

Thank you to Insiders who have provided feedback about the Drag Tray experience. Based on feedback, we're removing the experience in this build. We're continuing to explore improvements in this area and look forward to sharing more about a future replacement experience in a later update.

Fixed an issue causing Settings to crash in the previous flight when interacting with items on the Date & Time page.

Improved reliability of loading the system tray area of the taskbar for non-touch PCs.

Improved reliability of typing with the Japanese IME by reducing potential hangs and deadlocks.

Fixed an xtajit64.dll crash, which was leading to issues with certain apps for Insiders on Arm64 PCs in the latest flights.

Updates are based on Windows 11, version 25H2 via an enablement package (Build 26220.9202).
The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for Windows Insider pre-release builds.
Features and experiences included in these builds might never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features might change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they're ready.
Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders might not be fully localized, and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.