Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22593 brings Start Page for File Explorer

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22593 is now available to users on the Dev Channel. It brings back some features that were announced at the recent Windows 11 event, along with various bug fixes.

What’s new in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22593

Home page in File exploration

The File Explorer home page is the new home screen of the built-in file manager. It consists of three sections: Quick Access, Favorites, and Recents. Quick Access is more or less similar to the legacy version. The Favorites section contains your pinned files, you can drag and drop files to pin them, it supports files stored on your computer and those available in the cloud in your OneDrive account. Recent Files, as the name suggests, lists files that you recently opened. Recent and Pinned Files content can be searched from the File Explorer search tool.

Tabs in File Explorer were announced at the recent event, but they’re not here yet in this build.

Microsoft Journal in the Pen menu

A new icon is available in the Pen menu for the Microsoft Journal app. Clicking the icon will download the app from the Microsoft Store if you don’t have it installed on your computer.

Hotkeys for Snap Layouts

Pressing the WIN + Z hotkey to access the Instant Layouts panel now displays a number above each layout. Press the number key to apply the corresponding design quickly.

focus timer

The Focus timer allows you to set the length of sessions in 5-minute increments, for sessions lasting less than 30 minutes. So you can set up mini-sessions ranging from 5 to 25 minutes, right from the Focus control buttons in Notification Center.

windows security

Windows 11 will start alerting users when the Memory Integrity option found on the Device Security > Core Isolation page of Windows Security is turned off. You can enable the option to strengthen the protection of your device against malicious attacks. It is worth mentioning that many Internet users have experienced lag, performance issues, when the setting is enabled. So, use it at your discretion.

Bugs fixed in Windows 11 Build 22593

Microsoft says it fixed some issues that affected the reliability of Explorer.exe, getting stuck in a loop for some users and not loading. Moving icons on the taskbar is a smoother process than before, it seems responsive and animation is faster, and icons should no longer duplicate or get stuck when opening or closing an app. Icons will not overlay the date and time on multi-monitor setups. The taskbar auto-hide setting will work more consistently. The tablet-optimized taskbar will be visible when full-screen apps are open and will be hidden when you collapse it. Fixed a bug that caused the taskbar to crash in tablet-optimized view. Notification Center should launch more reliably and display contents correctly.

The folders in the Start Menu are slightly larger to make it easier to see the icons within them, without opening the folder. Pressing Escape while renaming a folder will dismiss the action. The Win + X menu has been optimized to work more reliably. Improved search indexer memory usage and fixed a couple of bugs that were affecting the search window not opening or getting stuck.

The changelog reveals that an issue causing a longer launch time for certain file types has been mitigated; It’s unclear if Microsoft is referring to the video files opening slowly on the previous flight. The latest version fixes a black screen issue in certain full screen games with Auto HDR enabled.

There are various optimizations for voice input, voice access, narrator, input methods, etc.

Known issues in Windows 11 Build 22593

Right-clicking a file to rename it can cause Explorer.exe to crash; users can use the rename button on the command bar as a workaround. We are investigating an issue that is causing internet connectivity issues for apps when connected to some VPNs. Microsoft says that devices using Windows Information Protection (formerly EDP) policies will not be able to access controlled data through protected apps like Outlook, Word, Microsoft Edge, etc. in this version. Users are advised to temporarily pause updates to avoid upgrading to build 22593. Users who have installed the new build should revert to the previous build to restore data access.

please refer to the Release Notes for the full list of fixes and known issues in Windows 11 Build 22593.

My VM wallpaper was replaced with a black background (Personalization > Solid Color) after installing the update, I was using Windows Spotlight previously and had to enable it again from Settings. I mentioned that tabs in File Explorer are not included in this build, you cannot enable them using the Vivetool hack. Microsoft recently removed the ability to rearrange icons in the system tray, this was not fixed in build 22593. The Start menu animation appears to have improved in the current build and opens instantly.

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