Making Sense of Windows 11 in 2025 (Premium)

Windows 12? Windows 11 version 25H2? Something is changing, and in this epic piece, I try to make sense of the unknowable.

? First, a bit of background

In late 2024, I did the unthinkable: I enrolled my beloved Surface Laptop 7 in the Dev channel of the Windows Insider Program so that I could test Recall, Click to Do, and the other Copilot+ PCs that Microsoft is testing.

For anyone interested in what’s coming next, this is the ideal configuration. Sure, anyone can test future Windows 11 features in the Insider Program, but the Copilot+ PC-specific features always come to Snapdragon X-based PCs like Surface Laptop 7 first. And yet, I did this unwillingly, not wanting to screw up what had been, to that date, a drama-free experience with what is still my favorite laptop.

But I did it.

Helping matters, I knew–or believed–that I could always recover Surface Laptop 7 back to a factory fresh configuration by using the belatedly released Windows 11 on Arm ISO–which not coincidentally arrived just ahead of Recall being tested in the Dev channel–or, better yet, the Surface Laptop 7 recovery image that Microsoft provides. That latter tool isn’t as seamless as I’d like: I had to try three times before I created a recovery USB drive that would actually boot and start working on my laptop. But with that done, I felt that I could safely submit to the stupidity of the Insider Program. Damn the torpedoes and whatnot.

At that time, the Dev channel was testing updates to Windows 11 version 24H2. So whatever new features I tested would likely appear in that version of the product at some point. And that’s what happened over the past four months or so. Nothing ever truly makes sense or happens logically in the Insider Program, for the most part. But many of the smaller and app-related features I’d see early on this laptop started making their way to stable, or what Microsoft officially calls the General Availability channel. But the bigger features, the Copilot+ PC features, haven’t. Not yet.

?️ Ch-ch-changes

Time stands still for no one, and as 2024 turned into 2025, I knew we would eventually get some form of clarity on what Microsoft was planning for Windows this year. We’ve been talking about, but not getting, a Windows 12 release for years now, the assumption being that once Microsoft’s quickly evolving AI functionality crossed some threshold, it would make the shift. But 2023’s release of Windows 11 version 23H2, and Microsoft’s spastic early release of Copilot in Windows 11, came and went without a branding change.

And then 2024 happened. For the first time, Microsoft split a major release of Windows, called Windows 11 version 24H2, in two. The initial release appeared with the first Copilot+ PCs in June, but it was available to anyone who wanted it a month earlier. And then Windows 11 version 24H2 arrived on Intel and AMD-based x64 in late 2024. This version brought deep–but rarely discussed, and never in any detail–architectural changes, and it is a bigger change to the OS than was the original version of Windows 11, when compared to its predecessor.

Microsoft has been consistently silent on 24H2, but the unusual number of compatibility problems–many of them upgrade blockers–and inexplicable bugs spoke volumes. 24H2 is the buggiest version of Windows in the modern era. And confusing matters further, all of its user-facing features have been made available to the other supported versions of Windows 11 (now just 23H2), too. This is a first.

And now it’s 2025. And the first step toward clarity for Windows this year finally arrived, if quietly, in late January. It released a new 24H2 preview build to the Dev channel, which wouldn’t normally trigger much discussion. But it also made that build available, optionally, to those in the Beta channel. That is, if you had a PC enrolled in the Beta channel, which has previously focused on updates to Windows 11 version 23H2, you could optionally move forward to testing the same 24H2 updates that we were seeing in the Dev channel.

This was a first.

For the next two months, one could get 23H2 or 24H2 preview builds from the Beta channel. And one could move a PC enrolled in the Dev channel into the Beta channel, a lateral change Microsoft doesn’t normally allow. It even used the term “window” to describe the temporary period during which this would be allowed, an implicit reference to the “magic window” term I invented and used in the past. Hilarious.

But this window spoke to a coming change. At some point, the Beta channel would shift to 24H2. And then the Dev channel would shift to … what? The next version. Windows 11 version 25H2, most likely. Or maybe even Windows 12, finally. It was only a matter of time before we found out.

That’s not what happened.

? Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stupider

I’ve wasted a lot of brain cells and time fretting over the Windows organization’s inability to communicate, and its shift from terms like RC , RTM, and GA that meant something specific (release candidate, release to manufacturing, and general availability) to vaguer, idiotic language that means nothing. (Or, worse, complete radio silence.) There are parts of the company that still communicate accurately and with precision. But at the other end of the spectrum, we have the Windows Insider Program, which appears to be run by unqualified people who are desperate to prove that the axiom about some number of monkeys given some amount of time could somehow reproduce the works of Shakespeare is somehow true.

That axiom is not true, but the Insider team’s inability to communicate well continues unabated in this otherwise changing world. Today they dropped a bomb, unceremoniously closing the (magic) window on the Dev channel, and moving it forward to the next major release of Windows.

Which is called Windows 11 version 24H2.

I will pause while you digest this news. If it helps, it took me several minutes to understand this in any meaningful way. It’s OK. This stuff is difficult when your brain is working properly, and you insist logic exists.

I noted above that the Dev channel had been testing updates to Windows 11 version 24H2. What I didn’t mention, because this is a minor detail, is that the OG release of Windows 11 version 24H2 was build 26100.3476. According to Microsoft Learn, this build arrived on October 1, 2024, and it is still the most recent stable release of the OS. What I also didn’t mention, and for the same reason, is that the Dev channel builds for 24H2 have been in the 26120 build range. The latest, and now last, of these builds is 26120.3576. By comparison, the latest 24H2 build in stable (the General Availability channel) at the time of this writing is 26100.3476, though the build number will continue incrementing as Microsoft releases new stable and preview cumulative updates each month going forward.

With today’s new Dev channel build, Microsoft is moving forward to the 26200 series of build numbers and that window between the Dev and Beta channels is closed: Once you install this new build, 26200.5510, that PC is stuck in Dev. And stuck in whatever the heck it is that we’re now testing.

There are now three versions of Windows 11 version 24H2, which I will remind you is itself a version of Windows 11–or, perhaps as accurately, a version of Windows–being actively developed by Microsoft. Meaning, each is receiving regular updates to the core OS, its user-facing features, and to apps.

They are:

26100 series builds. These are stable builds in the General Availability channel, though the availability of Week D preview updates means that users can still experience–one might say, be confronted with–pre-release code and features that may or may not be stable or otherwise ready for mainstream consumption.

26120 series builds. These are pre-release builds in the Beta channel. Confusingly, Microsoft is still delivering 23H2 and 24H2 builds in the Beta channel, and it’s up to users to decide which build series to test, at least for now.

26200 series builds. These are pre-release builds in the Dev channel, starting today.

This is how Microsoft explains the current Dev/Beta channel divide.

“These 26200 series builds are based on Windows 11 version 24H2 and will contain many of the same features and improvements as the 26120 series builds that will continue to be released in the Beta Channel. Over time, we will be making behind-the-scenes platform changes in these builds, and these builds may have different known issues because of those changes than what we’re flighting to the Beta Channel.”

Clear as mud. For example, it’s not clear whether “these builds” refers to these 26120 builds, these 26200 builds, or both. But anyone who has stuck it out with the Insider program will appreciate in a dark humor kind of way that this major, ill-explained shift was accompanied by this little detail: “Build 26200.5510 [the build released to the Dev channel today] contains the same features and improvements as Build 26120.3576 released previously.” That build was released on March 17, one week ago. Why are there no new features to accompany this major shift? I can’t even.

What I can even, so to speak, is quickly mention that the bugs that seem to hang on 24H2 like fleas have continued forward. Check out these bits of the release notes.

“When you update from Build 26120.3576 to Build 26200.5510 on your Copilot+ PC, you will see your snapshots in Recall and Recall settings get deleted and reset … [And] your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26200.”

I get it. We’re testing things here, that’s the point. But every time I read one of these Windows Insider Program blog posts, I can hear the music from Benny Hill emerge from the back of my brain as it conjures up clown car imagery.

Moving on.

Well, not entirely. I used the term “clarity” twice, above. I’m always looking for clarity. And so, when I read, and then re-read, a blog post like this, I try to get past the terrible writing and see if there is some kernel of explanation lurking inside. And in this case, there is one minor point.

“The Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers,” it reads (literally at the very end), [so] there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first.”

Here’s my takeaway.

I also mentioned above that one of the oddities of Windows 11 version 24H2 was that Microsoft immediately started making what in the past would have been unique new features and other changes in that release available to other supported Windows 11 versions. At the time, that was versions 22H2 and 23H2, but when 22H2 went out of support in October 2024, that left only 23H2. Since then, these two Windows 11 versions have proceeded in lockstep from a functional perspective. Meaning, new features, for the most part–excluding Copilot+ PC features, and of course anything related to the low-level architectural differences–have arrived on both 24H2 and 23H2. (There are some minor exceptions, like the icon labels in the Explorer context menus, but those will be resolved in time.)

I suppose we could look at the “parallel development paths” of 24H2 26120.x and 24H2 26200.x builds in a similar way. They are happening in tandem, together but also separate. They will–for now, forever, it’s unclear–get the same features, though the availability of those features, on one or the other builds path, may be staggered for whatever reasons. And you can perhaps find some logic to this. Or even some peace.

But I cannot.

Windows 11 version 24H2 is a thing, it is a version of Windows. Microsoft is now testing new features for this version of Windows separately, on two paths, for some reason. Those features will be, based on its description, the same. And if that is true, then there is absolutely no reason to have two paths for testing those features.

So I can only draw one conclusion. That is not true. There are two separate paths because there will be two separate versions of Windows. And for now, Microsoft isn’t ready to reveal what the next of those versions is. As noted before, it will almost certainly be Windows 11 version 25H2 or Windows 12.

Why the secrecy? It’s almost not even worth wondering about. But my mind, inevitably, goes to it being called Windows 12. The timing makes sense: Windows 10 will exit support this October, after all. But I can counter that logic with years of experience with an organization that ceased making sense years ago. Something making sense in no way indicates that thing happening when it comes to Windows. There is just no way to know. Until and unless Microsoft finally tells us what’s happening. Or some wonderful leak betrays the truth, the more likely outcome here.

? Thinking about the future by looking at the recent past

Testing future Windows 11 and Copilot+ PC features on my Surface Laptop 7 over the past four months has been eye-opening. I keep vacillating between believing that this will be a big year for Windows–meaning lots of new features–and this just being a normal year for Windows. Part of that is my fault: It’s difficult keeping up with this stuff, between four channels in the Insider Program, the preview and stable updates each month, all the app updates, and so on.

But that’s Microsoft’s fault, too. We’ve settled into a pretty horrible schedule in which Microsoft can and does ship new features to Windows 11 almost every single month, and so the notion of a single annual release that delivers a big bucket of new functionality in a single dump is out of date. You can’t look at the October release of 2024 to understand Windows 11 version 24H2. You have to add in all the preview and stable cumulative updates Microsoft has shipped since then to get a more complete picture.

Similarly, we can look at all the features Microsoft has shipped in pre-release Windows 11 version 24H2 builds through the Windows Insider Program, compare them to the subset that have since (or will soon) ship in stable (the General Availability channel), and see what’s left. That list of features is a partial look at things that will arrive late in 2025, and perhaps be part of whatever that next Windows version is called. Assuming there is one. (Sorry to put that horrible idea in your mind, but this is another possibility we should consider. Again, nothing with Windows can be stupid enough now.)

So what are those features? When were they offered for testing, and when, if ever, did they appear in stable? Looking at just the Dev channel–there’s only so much time in the world–here’s what I came up with. This is not at all complete, and doesn’t include many app updates that went out across the Insider channels.

Build 26120.1843 (late September 2024)

This was a big release, and it’s reasonable to view this list as those features Microsoft intended to ship in 24H2 but ran out of time.

Shared content in File Explorer. For those who sign in to Windows 11 with a Microsoft account (MSA), this new section in File Explorer home displays documents and other files that have been shared with you. This feature is still not available in stable.

Windows Sandbox 2. This arrived as a preview. Released in stable in KB5046617 on November 12, 2024 (still as a preview).

Microsoft 365 app pinned to the Taskbar. Released to stable, timeframe unknown/unnecessary.

Media controls on the Lock screen. Released to stable in KB5044284 on October 8, 2024.

Jump lists for document-based apps in Start. Released in stable in KB5048667 on December 10, 2024.

Sign out button in the “account manager” in Start. This was hidden inside an account manager sub-menu in the initial release of 24H2 and everyone complained. Released to stable.

Simplified/shortened date/time display in the Taskbar. Released in stable in KB5048667 on December 10, 2024.

Share local files from Search. Released to stable in KB5044284 on October 8, 2024.

Touch screen edge gestures in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touch. Released in stable in KB5048667 on December 10, 2024.

Detach VHD/VHDX button in Settings > System > Storage > Disks & volumes. Released in stable in KB5046617 on November 12, 2024.

Snipping Tool. Now with the ability to configure where screen grabs and recordings are stored. Released to stable.

Build 26120.1930, October 4, 2024

Copilot key. You can now configure what happens when you press this key in a limited way, in Settings > Settings > Personalization > Text input. Released in stable in KB5046617 on November 12, 2024.

Clock (app). Two new widgets, for countdown and timer. Released to stable.

Build 26120.2122, October 11, 2024

Taskbar thumbnail previews. Improved in ways that were never explained, and with new animations. Released in stable in KB5051987 on February 11, 2025.

Task Manager. The Disconnect and Logoff dialogs now support dark mode and text scaling. Not clear when/if this was released to stable.

Snipping Tool. New “Copy as table” feature. Released to stable.

Build 26120.2130, October 18, 2024

On-screen keyboard. New Gamepad keyboard layout. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Narrator. New Narrator key + Control + X keyboard shortcut to copy the last Narrator utterance to the Clipboard. Released in stable in KB5046617 on November 12, 2024.

Build 26120.2200, October 25, 2025

Windows Studio Effects in the Taskbar system tray. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Dynamic lighting with placeholder images, and improvements to the Wave and Gradient effects. Released in stable in KB5048667 on December 10, 2024.

Build 26120.2213, November 4, 2024

Fixes.

Build 26120.2222, November 8, 2024

App launch as admin with a new keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + Shift when clicking app in Start. Released in stable in KB5048667 on December 10, 2024.

Fix for the See more menu in File Explorer. This menu opened in the wrong direction, and often off-screen, with the initial release of 24H2. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Build 26120.2415, November 22, 2024

Recall (Preview) with Click to Do (Preview). For Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs only. At this time, Click to Do was only available in Recall. This feature is still not available in stable.

Windows Hello with a modernized user experience that matches Windows 11 look and feel. This feature is still not available in stable.

Narrator. New features/keyboard shortcuts: N (Skip past links) and L (Jump to lists) when Scan mode is on. Released in stable in KB5053598 on March 11, 2025

Build 26120.2510, December 6, 2024

Recall (Preview) with Click to Do (Preview). Now available for AMD/Intel x64 Copilot+ PCs. This feature is still not available in stable.

Cocreator in Paint. Now for AMD/Intel x64 Copilot+ PCs. This feature is still not available in stable (on x64).

Photos. Restyle image and Image creator features now for AMD/Intel x64 Copilot+ PCs. This feature is still not available in stable (on x64).

Click to Do. Copilot+ PCs only, now available everywhere in Windows 11. This feature is still not available in stable.

Windows Hello. More updates to the modernization of this experience. This feature is still not available in stable.

Build 26120.2702, December 13, 2024

Windows Camera. New advanced options (multiple camera support, basic camera) in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras > [Camera name]. Released to stable.

Passkeys. API support for third-party passkeys. Not clear if this was released to stable.

Game Bar. Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview). Released to stable.

Build 26120.2705, December 18, 2024

Live Captions. Real-time translation now on AMD/Intel x64 Copilot+ PCs, and with more languages on Snapdragon X. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Build 26120.2992, January 17, 2025

Search. Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs only, improved with semantic indexing, only for local files and for indexed file system locations only. This feature is still not available in stable.

Click to Do. New “Refine” text action. This feature is still not available in stable.

File Explorer. “New Folder” item in context menu when you right-click navigation pane. Released in stable in KB5051987 on February 11, 2025.

Magnifier. New keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl + Alt + Minus and Ctrl + Alt + Plus to toggle between current zoom and 1X zoom. Released to stable.

Build 26120.3000, January 24, 2025

Improved battery display in the system tray with yellow and green colors and option to toggle battery percentage. This feature is still not available in stable.

Build 26120.3073, January 31

This was the first Dev build offered on Beta channel too.

Search. Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs only, can now find photos and images saved in the cloud (OneDrive) too, but only from File Explorer search. This feature is still not available in stable.

Settings. Home page card updates for users who sign in to Windows 11 with a managed Entra ID account. Originally expected release to stable in a new cumulative update on April 8, 2025, but delayed to a future update.

Paint. Copilot button with a menu to consolidate most AI-based features (Cocreator, Image Creator, Generative erase, and Remove background). Released to stable.

Build 26120.3281, February 14, 2025

OneDrive. New Resume feature that lets you resume working on files you were previously using on an iPhone or Android smartphone. This feature is still not available in stable.

Recall. Underlying infrastructure change, filtering options in the Recall flyout. This feature is still not available in stable.

Taskbar. Share documents from the Taskbar-based jump list flyout for pinned document-based apps. Released in stable in KB5053598 on March 11, 2025.

Snap. Inline messaging in the Snap suggestions flyout that explains the feature. This feature is still not available in stable.

Search. The Search box in the Taskbar gets an “AI sparkle” and animation. This feature is still not available in stable.

Build 26120.3291, February 23, 2025

Search. Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs only, sematic search is updated to support cloud-based documents and other files (OneDrive only). This feature is still not available in stable.

Recall. Underlying infrastructure change is completed, previous snapshots deleted. This feature is still not available in stable.

Snipping Tool. New Trim feature for video recordings. Released to stable.

Build 26120.3360, February 28, 2025

Lock screen. You can now configure which (if any) widgets appear on the Lock screen, in Settings > Personalization > Lock screen (EEA only), plus admins can disable widgets. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025 (still EEA only).

Task Manager. Change to how the app calculates CPU utilization on the Processes, Performance, and Users pages. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Share. You can now share files directly to supported apps directly from File Explorer’s context menu. This feature is still not available in stable.

Build 26120.3380, March 10, 2025

File Explorer. A Recommended files section in File Explorer home replaces the Quick access section. This feature is still not available in stable.

Live captions. Real-time translation supports more languages on AMD/Intel-powered x64 Copilot+ PCs. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Start. Snap group recommendations in the Recommended section. This feature is still not available in stable.

Microsoft account. Banner notification when your MSA lacks a secondary email or recovery phone number. This feature is still not available in stable.

Widgets. Third-party widget support. Originally expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025, but delayed to a future update.

Emoji and more. This panel gets a new system tray icon in the Taskbar. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025. This feature is still not available in stable.

About. New “Top cards” in Settings > System > About. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025.

Build 26120.3576, March 17, 2025

Voice commands. Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs only, Voice commands now supports more flexible commands and a new real-time command suggestions feature. Expected release to stable in new cumulative update on April 8, 2025 (and still only for Snapdragon X).

App Actions. Copilot+ PCs only, a new UI in Settings > Apps > Actions to manage which apps Windows can recommend for Click to Do actions for text or images. This feature is still not available in stable.

Build 26200.5510, today, March 25, 2025

No new features, fixes only.

So there you go. Most of the time, but not always, when features are added to the Dev channel, they appear in stable relatively quickly. And since this is all anyone really cares about, here’s what we tested in Dev that has yet to appear in Windows 11.

• Shared content in File Explorer
• Recall (Preview), Copilot+ PC only
• Click to Do (Preview), Copilot+ PC only
• App Actions settings for Click to Do, Copilot+ PC only
• Windows Hello modern user experience
• Paint – Cocreator on x64 Copilot+ PCs
• Photos – Restyle image and Image creator on Copilot+ PCs
• Search with semantic indexing across local and cloud (OneDrive) files and UI sparkles, Copilot+ PC only
• Improved battery display in the system tray
• OneDrive Resume from phone
• Snap suggestions inline messaging
• Share files directly to supported apps from File Explorer context menu
• File Explorer – Recommended files section
• Start – Snap group recommendations
• Microsoft account – notification to add a secondary email or recovery phone number
• Emoji and more icon in the system tray

That’s a pretty long list, and the oldest I documented here dates back to last September. Many are Copilot+ PC-specific, which I find interesting.

And not to beat this to death, but it’s important. This is a partial list only. There were numerous other updates to Windows 11 in this time frame, including new features that were not tested in Dev (or were tested before September 2024) and many, many app updates. The Copilot app is a prime example.

Yep, this is how I spend my time.

?️ 2025 … A big year for Windows?

That list above suggests a really big year for Windows 11 from a new feature perspective, but that’s only true in a meaningful way if you include the Copilot+ PC-specific features. Remove those, and it’s still a pretty long list, but of mostly minor new features.

And that, to me, is the crux of this problem, meaning what we believe could happen with Windows 11 this year and beyond. It’s bad enough that we have different Windows 11 versions, with new features being tested across multiple Insider channels and via an uncountable number of app updates. And it’s bad enough that we have Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 for consumers, each with their own feature sets. But now we also have Copilot+ PCs to deal with, all with their own additional features, and there are differences (for now?) between those based on Snapdragon X and x64.

Some of this is political. It’s reasonable to assume, for example, that Microsoft is seeding new Copilot+ PC features to Snapdragon X first because of some facet of its Qualcomm partnership.

Some of this is timing-based. While the initial round of AI-based Copilot+ PC differentiators were not at all compelling, that’s going to change: The new features, especially Click to Do, are pretty incredible. But they’re also specific to a tiny segment of the market. And that begs the related question: When will these features, at least some of them, come to GPU-powered PCs too? It has to happen, sometime.

Some of this is unknown. I’ve listed a subset of what we know is happening (or has happened) to Windows 11 version 24H2 since its initial release, but there’s much more. And not just the things I didn’t list, but the things that are yet to come. Each month brings some surprises.

I have no insight or inside information about what Microsoft is planning. There’s some kind of Microsoft AI event happening next month during the company’s 50th anniversary event in Redmond; I was invited to attend, but have since declined and will cover this remotely. Then there is Microsoft Build, which seems like an ideal time to announce Windows 11 news, but we’ll see; my plan right now is to attend that event. And then there’s June. June is the 4th anniversary of the original Windows 11 reveal, and that might be an interesting time for a Windows-specific event/announcement, with an expected late 2025 reveal. Of … something. Again, most likely Windows 11 version 25H2. But maybe Windows 12. Yeah, we’re still lighting a candle for that.

Whatever it’s called, I do think that this will be a big year for Windows 11, given all the evidence. There are questions, as noted. And I’m sure Microsoft will miscommunicate whatever it’s doing and continue making mistakes. But I keep going back to that list. It’s a good list, but it’s a great list for those smart enough to buy into Copilot+ PC. Which is, after all, the future of Windows. So I guess it makes sense. As much as this mess can make sense, given the chaos and lack of clarity.