Windows 11 Insider Experimental (Future Platforms) Preview Build 29695.1001

Release date: 23 October 2026

Changes and improvements gradually being rolled out*

This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

A new contrast theme toggle for a lower-glare screen. If bright screens are uncomfortable, many people use color inversion to reduce glare. However, inversion changes everything on screen, including photos, charts, and videos. With this update, we're introducing a new contrast theme toggle in Magnifier.
Reduce glare with a single toggle. Turn on a contrast theme directly from the Magnifier toolbar for a more comfortable viewing experience.
Choose the contrast theme that works best for you. The dark theme is applied by default, and you can choose which contrast theme the toggle uses under Settings > Accessibility > Magnifier.
Photos, videos, and charts keep their original colors. Unlike color inversion, the contrast theme recolors the interface without touching your photos, charts, or videos, so they keep their real colors.
Color inversion is still here. This isn't a replacement. If you use inversion today, it works exactly as it always has. The contrast theme is a separate, purpose-built option to reduce glare when you want a darker interface without inverting colors.

UI showing the new contrast theme toggle in Magnifier. Zoom per display isn't yet available in the Beta channel.

UI showing contrast theme settings for Magnifier.

Improved family safety messaging when applications are blocked because of age-restricted parental controls.

The digital safety of users and supporting families is central to how we think about the Windows experience. We're improving information on parental controls and their availability during Windows setup, so families can more easily understand available protections and make informed choices from the very beginning.

Fixed an issue causing internet access to stop working for some Insiders after the last two flights.

Fixed an issue where some applications that used HCS-managed virtual machines experienced issues when sharing host folders with Linux VMs using Plan9. Folders shared from the Windows host using Plan9 didn't appear or couldn't be accessed in the guest environment.

Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see an unexpectedly high volume of ESENT events after the latest flights.
Fixed an underlying issue in the latest flights causing Insiders using VMware to experience frequent green screen bugchecks with error PFN_SHARE_COUNT.

We are aware that Recall may be missing or unable to launch on some Copilot+ PCs if performing a clean install on this build. We are working to resolve soon and will provide an update.

These builds can be unstable and might be released with limited documentation.
The builds released to these channels represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and shouldn't be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows. 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.
Many features are rolled out using Controlled Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time. We monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for Windows Insider pre-release builds.
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.