How to get the latest Windows 11 innovations

[Guest John Cable, Vice President, Program Management]

Today, Yusuf Mehdi announced the latest Windows 11 innovations that bring the power of AI to enhance what you can achieve using your PC, plus many new features and experiences ranging from accessibility to security. Windows is a tool that more than a billion people around the world use to connect, learn, play and work. In this blog I’ll share how to get the new Windows 11 features, details on our approach to availability and further Windows roadmap information.

[HEADING=1]How to get the latest innovations[/HEADING]

We are committed to delivering continuous innovation to Windows 11 to provide you with the best experiences, when new features are ready, via our familiar processes. Today, Copilot in Windows (in preview) and many of the newly announced features will start to become available, including Windows Backup to transfer your files and settings to your new Windows 11 device1, voice access for log in and text corrections, and Passkey to replace passwords for apps and websites. Windows 11 devices will get new functionality at different times, as we will be gradually rolling out some of these new features over the coming weeks initially via controlled feature rollout (CFR) to consumers. Consumers with eligible devices running Windows 11, version 22H2 who are interested in experiencing these new enhancements now, including Copilot in Windows, can choose to do so by going to Settings > Windows Update and turning on ”Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” and then select "Check for updates." We anticipate broad availability for most new features by the November 2023 security update release for all devices2.

[HEADING=1]New in the Microsoft Store on Windows[/HEADING]

Today, the following Windows apps and experiences are available for Windows 11 devices in the Microsoft Store3. To get these select “Get updates” in Microsoft Store > Library and search by title.

• Clipchamp with auto-compose
  
• The new Outlook for Windows (also available by toggling it on from Windows Mail and Calendar)
  
• Instant Games - a new experience allowing users to instantly play select casual games without the need to install and download
  
• AI-enhanced versions of the following apps start rolling out now to a small percentage of consumer users (with full availability targeted in the coming months)
  
  • Paint4
    
  • Photos
    
  • Snipping Tool
    

[HEADING=1]New experiences for developers[/HEADING]

For our developers, we are sharing new information on familiar dev tools and announcing the general availability today of developer experiences recently announced at Build ’23, including Dev Home, a productivity companion for developers on Windows, and Dev Drive, a new storage volume delivering performance and security for developer workloads.

[HEADING=1]Information for commercial and education customers[/HEADING]

Most new Windows 11 features will be enabled by default in the October 2023 optional non-security preview release for all editions of Windows 11, version 22H2, including the Windows 365 Boot and Windows 365 Switch capabilities2. IT admins who want to get the new Windows 11, version 22H2 features can use a newly announced policy to enable optional updates for their managed devices5. To give admins time to plan and prepare managed devices for deployment, Copilot in Windows with Bing Chat Enterprise6 is off by default behind a temporary enterprise feature control.

[HEADING=1]Windows 11 2023 Update[/HEADING]

As announced in July, the Windows 11 2023 Update (version 23H2) will be released in the fourth quarter of 2023. This new update will have the same servicing branch and code base as Windows 11, version 22H2 and will be cumulative with all the newly announced features. For devices on version 22H2, the 2023 Update will be delivered via a small enablement package (eKB)7. This continues the annual feature update cadence, with new feature updates released in the second half of the calendar year. This new version resets the 24 months of support for Home and Pro editions and 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions.

[HEADING=1]Experience the latest innovations in Windows 11[/HEADING]

As I have often previously noted, installing the latest updates is the best way you can keep your Windows device protected and productive with the latest features and innovations. If you have not yet moved to Windows 11, now is a great time to do so, and Windows Backup is available to help you get up and running quickly and easily. As is our normal practice, we will closely monitor the rollout of these new Windows 11 features and continue to share timely information on the status of the rollout and known issues (open and resolved) via the Windows release health dashboard and @WindowsUpdate. Please continue to tell us about your experience by providing comments or suggestions via Feedback Hub. 1 Windows Backup is available for Microsoft Accounts from any supported device running Windows 10 or higher. Restore is available on devices running Windows 11 22H2 or higher when connected to a network during new device setup. Windows Backup & Restore are available globally with the exception of mainland China. 2 Copilot in Windows will start to release in preview to select global markets as part of our latest update to Windows 11. The initial markets for the Copilot in Windows preview include North America and parts of Asia and South America. It is our intention to add additional markets over time. 3 Available at no cost to all Windows users 4 Paint Cocreator will initially be available in preview to Windows Insiders via a waitlist. 5 Devices managed by Windows Update for Business or WSUS must have installed the Windows 11, version 22H2 August 2023 version non-security preview release or later for end users to get the latest features as soon as they’re available. 6 Copilot in Windows with Bing Chat Enterprise requires Windows 11 and the user to be licensed for Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium, Enterprise E3 and E5. 7 Windows 11 eligible devices on Windows 11, version 21H1 require a full operating system (OS) swap to update to Windows 11, version 23H2.

 

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