Microsoft Does Another Friday Drop for Canary, Dev, and Beta Insiders

Microsoft is once again doing a Friday build drop on the Canary, Dev, and Beta channels today. The Windows 11 Canary build 28020.1673 includes many of the new features that are available on the February optional patch for Windows 11 versions 25H2 and 24H2, while Dev and Beta testers are getting a similar set of improvements.

Let’s start with the main changes in the Canary build 28020.1673. Keep in mind that new features will be rolling out gradually to Insiders:

Network speed test tool in Taskbar: This new tool can be accessed from the Wi‑Fi or Cellular Quick Settings, or by right-clicking the network icon in the system tray. It opens in the default browser and measures Ethernet, Wi‑Fi, and cellular connections.

Camera Settings: The Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras page now offers new pan and tilt settings for supported cameras.

Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) improvements: This update adds support for Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 11 Arm64 devices.

Quick Machine Recovery: The new tool for recovering Windows 11 PCs when they encounter critical errors is now enabled automatically for Windows Professional devices that are not domain‑joined and not enrolled in enterprise endpoint management.

New Emoji: The Emoji 16.0 release introduces a couple of new emoji, including face with bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, and splatter.
BitLocker improvements: Your device no longer stops responding after you enter your recovery key.

Dark mode in File Explorer: Insiders will see a more consistent dark mode experience in the Folder Options dialog.

Insiders on the Dev and Beta Channels often get the same set of fixes and new features, and this week is no exception. Here are the main changes included in the Dev build 26300.7939 and Beta build 26220.7934, which will be rolling out first to Insiders who turned on the toggle to get the latest updates in Windows Update:

Shared audio improvements: This new preview feature, which allows 2 people to share audio between their two capable Bluetooth LE Audio accessories, now offers individual volume sliders for each listener. Shared audio on Windows 11 is also adding support for the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro, Sony WF‑1000XM6, and Xbox Wireless Headset.

Narrator improvements: Narrator users can now use a new Narrator key + \ command to read the content of the status bar in Apps such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.

Batch file processing: IT admins and policy authors can now enable a more secure mode for processing batch files when code integrity is enabled.

Lastly, Beta Channel Insiders can download a new Paint update that was previously rolled out to the Canary and Dev Channels a week ago. It introduces a new Freeform rotate feature in Paint that lets users rotate shapes, text, and any active selection to any angle.