Microsoft Issues New Windows 11 Insider Preview Build to the Canary Channel

Windows 11 Insider Preview build 27686 is now available in the Canary channel, and it delivers our first look at the new version of Windows Sandbox.

Here’s what’s new.

Windows Sandbox client preview. The next version of Sandbox will be updated through the Microsoft Store, and this first preview offers a peek at some new features, like runtime Clipboard redirection, audio/video output control, and runtime folder sharing with the host OS, that are accessible via a new “…” menu in the app’s title bar. It also includes “super early” (sigh) access to its new command line support. (Type wsb.exe –help in Terminal to learn more.)

Battery life optimizations. There is zero explanation for this, just a note that Microsoft has “made optimizations to improve battery life.”

Detach virtual hard disk (VHD/VHDx) from Settings. There’s a new “Detach” button in Settings > Storage > Disks & volumes > [Drive name] so you can easily detach a virtual drive.

FAT32 disk formatting. You can now format a disk as big as 2 TB from the command line using the FAT32 file system. (Apparently, the previous limit was 32 GB, which seems off to me.)

Fixes. This build also fixes previous issues with Dev Drive, the Lock screen, Windows Security, Settings, and the Registry Editor.

Note that this build also has known issues, as you should expect of any prerelease Windows 11 build. The biggest is that many new features are rolled out as Controlled Feature Releases (CFRs), meaning they will appear randomly over time.