Windows 11 Gets Its First Major Feature Updates of 2026

It’s Patch Tuesday, so all supported versions of Windows 11 are getting feature and security updates today. And unlike the previous four months, this one includes a few major new features.

Cumulative update KB5089549 is now available for Windows 11 versions 25H2 and 24H2, which brings the build numbers up to 26200.8457 and 26100.8457, respectively. And Windows 11 version 26H1, which is only available on new Snapdragon X2-based laptops, is getting KB5089548, which brings that OS variant up to build 28000.2113.

KB5089549 (25H2, 24H2) includes the following key changes:

Xbox mode. Xbox mode is a replacement for Game mode an the Full Screen Experience that first debuted on Windows-based gaming handhelds. It provides a streamlined full-screen experience for gaming in which the Xbox essentially becomes the shell and there are fewer background processes and distractions.

Agents on the Taskbar. With this new feature, Windows 11 can monitor and interact with AI agents on the Taskbar as if they were apps. It supports first- and third-party AI agents and works with the Researcher agent that’s part of Microsoft 365 Copilot immediately.

File Explorer improvements. File Explorer now supports more archiving formats (uu, cpio, xar, and nupkg NuGet packages), the View and Sort preferences are preserved now for key folder locations, the white “flash bang” bug has been fixed, and the underlying explorer.exe processes are now more reliable.

Windows driver improvements. The Windows kernel no longer trusts cross-signed third‑party drivers by default. Instead, drivers in the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) and those found in an allow list of trusted legacy drivers are trusted by default. But Windows will now audit driver compatibility for at least 100 hours and three reboots before enabling enforcement. After enforcement, a few cross‑signed drivers might be blocked, Microsoft says. You can learn more about this change here.

Drag tray improvements. Drag tray has been renamed to Drop tray. Its management interface in Settings has moved to System > Multitasking (as opposed to Nearby sharing), and there’s a smaller peek view so users won’t trigger it inadvertently as often.

There’s more, of course, a lot more, but most of the other changes are minor.

KB5089548 (26H1) includes Narrator improvements, Smart App Control improvements, more Microsoft 365 advertising in Settings, Pen settings improvements, a new Settings About page, minor File Explorer improvements, and other changes we saw in 25H2/24H2 previously.