New Windows 11 Builds Land on the Beta and Release Preview Channels
- Laurent Giret
- Jul 13, 2023
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Microsoft has released new Windows 11 builds for Insiders on the Beta and Release Preview channels today. The group of Beta channel testers receiving the build 22631.2048 will notice that the OS is now being labeled as “version 23H2,” which is the next annual update for Windows 11.
On its Windows blog for IT Pro, Microsoft announced today that Windows 11 version 23H2 will share the same codebase as the version 22H2 of the OS, and that’s why it will be available to download as an enablement package. This is the same delivery process that Microsoft has been using for Windows 10 versions 21H2 and 22H2, which share the same codebase as version 20H2.
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Anyway, let’s get back to what this means for Windows Insiders. On the Beta Channel, testers in the group with new features turned on by default are now testing Windows 11 version 23H2, and this is now explicit in today’s build 22631.2048. This build introduces the new Gally view in File Explorer that was previously rolled out to the Dev Channel as well as the Canary channel.
Starting today, Microsoft is also rolling out an update to the Paint app to all Beta Channel testers. This update adds support for dark mode, and it also brings improvements to zoom controls and access key and keyboard shortcuts. This new Paint update was previously made available for Insiders on the Canary and Dev Channels.
For Windows 11 Insiders on the Release Preview channel, Microsoft is also releasing the 22H2 build 22621.2066 and the 21H2 build 22000.2243. These two builds bring various fixes and improvements but no new features.