- Windows 11 build 28000.2173 arrives as the first preview of the cumulative update for version 26H1.
- Xbox mode arrives on PCs, File Explorer gets performance boosts, there is new haptic feedback support, and Microsoft is adding Taskbar AI agent monitoring.
Microsoft has made available the Windows 11 build 28000.2173 as the first preview of the June 2026 update for devices running version 26H1. This update includes virtually the same features and changes as the May 2026 Security Update for version 25H2.
According to the changelog, the “2026-06 Preview Update (28000.2173)” marks the start of the rollout of the Xbox mode for PCs. File Explorer receives a bunch of improvements, and more.
This update also ships with new haptic feedback effects on compatible input devices, Voice Typing on the touch keyboard now looks simpler and more intuitive, and adds a new Arabic 101 Legacy keyboard layout.
In addition, this Windows 11 release renames Drag Tray to Drop Tray and adds a new agent monitor for the Taskbar. Furthermore, Microsoft is improving the Windows Driver Policy, enhancing security and performance for batch files, and adding support for the format command to format volumes up to 2TB with FAT32.
Microsoft is also pushing a bunch of fixes and improvements regarding the Microsoft Store, fonts, audio, Windows Hello, Delivery Optimization, Kiosk mode, and more. If you want to keep up with every Windows release, including Insider Preview builds and cumulative updates, the Windows Build Tracker has the full timeline.
It’s worth noting that Windows 11 26H1 is not a version for current devices. Microsoft has explicitly stated that version 26H1 is not an upgrade path for Windows 11 25H2 or earlier releases.
According to the company’s newly published Microsoft Health Dashboard page, version 26H1 is a hardware-optimized release designed to enable next-generation silicon developed in partnership with device manufacturers and silicon partners. This release will be available exclusively as a preinstalled experience on select new devices beginning in early 2026, with capabilities tailored specifically for those platforms.
Microsoft is referring to the new ARM64 PCs, starting with devices powered by the Snapdragon X2 Plus, Elite, and Extreme processors. If you own a computer running on Intel or AMD hardware, Windows 11 26H1 will never be offered to your system.
- What’s new on Windows 11 26H1 build 28000.2173
- Windows 11 June 2026 Patch Tuesday – Manual installation process
- Windows 11 June 2026 Patch Tuesday – Update history
What’s new on Windows 11 26H1 build 28000.2173
Microsoft is currently rolling out these improvements and fixes as part of the June 2026 Security Update for Windows 11 26H1.
Xbox mode new feature
Xbox mode is now rolling out to regular PCs running Windows 11 26H1 in select markets, bringing a console-style experience to laptops, desktops, and tablets.
The feature has been designed around the Xbox app interface, and this full-screen mode prioritizes your games while reducing background activity and distractions. It’s built for a more relaxed, controller-first experience, letting you jump in and play without the usual desktop clutter.
You can enable Xbox mode from Settings > Gaming > Xbox mode by turning on the “Enable Xbox mode” toggle switch.
File Explorer improvements
File Explorer is gaining several enhancements, including built-in support for additional archive formats, including UU, CPIO, XAR, and NuGet packages (.nupkg), making it easier to access more compressed file types directly in File Explorer.
In folders such as Downloads and Documents, File Explorer will now respect your existing “View” and “Sort” preferences when apps open these locations directly, helping maintain a consistent browsing experience.
This update also addresses a visual issue in which a brief white flash may appear when opening the “This PC” page or resizing the “Details” pane in dark mode.
Finally, reliability has been improved behind the scenes, reducing issues where explorer.exe processes would continue running after closing the File Explorer windows.
Haptic feedback effects
Windows 11 build 28000.2173 is expanding support for haptic feedback, bringing more tactile interactions to compatible devices. You can now feel subtle vibrations when performing actions like aligning objects in PowerPoint or snapping and resizing windows, adding a more responsive, physical layer to everyday tasks.
These haptic signals can be customized or turned off in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse, Touchpad, or Pen > Haptic signals. The experience is currently supported on devices such as the Surface Slim Pen 2, ASUS Pen 3.0, and MSI Pen 2, all of which have haptic feedback.
The company is also expanding support, with additional devices expected to gain compatibility through future updates from hardware partners. This could include select mice, such as the Logitech MX Master 4, as manufacturers roll out firmware and driver updates.
Voice Typing changes
Voice Typing on the touch keyboard is getting a cleaner, more streamlined design. Instead of taking over the screen, the experience now stays compact, with animations appearing directly on the dictation key.
Also, Voice Typing is getting more consistent, with the Fluid Dictation setting now properly persisting across sessions.
Keyboard layouts
The update for version 26H1, coming in June, also adds a new Arabic 101 Legacy keyboard layout, giving users the option to return to the previous typing experience before recent AltGr changes.
In addition, keyboard navigation in the emoji panel using “Windows key + Period” has been improved for better responsiveness.
Finally, typing reliability has been improved for ADLaM keyboard users, addressing issues that could affect input accuracy and overall usability.
Input improvements
Microsoft is making several under-the-hood improvements to input and typing experiences on Windows 11. Setting up custom tools for devices like the Surface Dial under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Wheel is now more reliable, reducing issues when configuring or saving preferences.
Drop Tray changes
The feature previously known as Drag Tray has been renamed to Drop Tray, and it now ships with some changes. For instance, the settings have also been relocated, moving from Nearby sharing to Settings > System > Multitasking, aligning it more closely with other window and workspace controls.
In addition, Drop Tray now uses a smaller peek view. This refinement helps reduce accidental activation when working near the top of the screen and makes it easier to dismiss it when it appears, resulting in a smoother, less disruptive multitasking experience.
Taskbar new AI agents
The June 2026 update for Windows 11 introduces a new way to monitor your agents from the Taskbar, providing real-time visibility into background AI agent activity across both first-party and third-party apps.
Starting with this update, you can monitor supported agents directly from the Taskbar without opening the full app. The first integration comes with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, where the Researcher agent can now show live progress while it generates reports. When it’s working, the operating system surfaces status updates on the Taskbar so you can quickly check what’s happening at a glance.
Hovering over the Microsoft 365 Copilot icon in the Taskbar reveals more detailed, real-time progress, and once the report is complete, the system delivers a notification. From there, you can jump straight back into the app to review and use the results.
Enterprise State Roaming (ESR)
Windows 11 is expanding support for Enterprise State Roaming (ESR), making it easier for organizations to manage user data and settings across devices.
In June 2026, ESR can now be configured through Windows Backup for Organizations policies, streamlining deployment and reducing setup complexity for network administrators. This change simplifies how enterprise environments maintain consistency across managed Windows devices, improving both scalability and administration efficiency.
Debloat policy changes for apps
Microsoft is also introducing a more flexible way for organizations to control preinstalled apps through an updated policy that removes Microsoft Store packages.
The change is intended for administrators of the Enterprise and Education editions, who can extend the “Remove Default Microsoft Store packages” policy with a dynamic list. This allows additional MSIX and APPX apps to be removed by specifying their app package family names through Group Policy.
The update gives organizations granular control over default apps beyond the standard list, making device customization more scalable in managed environments.
Windows Driver Policy update
Windows 11 is also tightening driver security with a major update to how the Windows kernel handles third-party drivers.
The change removes default trust for cross-signed drivers, shifting enforcement toward more secure validation. Going forward, only drivers signed through the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) and a curated list of trusted legacy drivers will be permitted by default.
Before enforcement is enabled, the operating system runs a compatibility audit for at least 100 hours of active use and three system reboots, ensuring stability across real-world scenarios. Once enforcement is active, some previously accepted cross-signed drivers may be blocked if they do not meet the updated trust requirements.
Batch files with better security and performance
On build 28000.2173, the system includes a new security and performance control for batch file and Command Prompt script execution, aimed at reducing the risk of runtime manipulation.
Administrators and Application Control for Business policy authors can now enable a hardened processing mode for batch files. When it’s active, this mode prevents batch files from being modified while they are executing, helping protect against tampering during runtime.
The setting can be enabled via the Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor by adding the LockBatchFilesWhenInUse DWORD value and setting it to 1. A value of 0 keeps it disabled.
Alternatively, policy authors can enforce the same behavior using the LockBatchFilesWhenInUse application manifest control, as defined in the Application Control for Business schema.
Storage with 2TB formatting support for FAT32
In this security update for Windows 11, the command-line tool for formatting FAT32 volumes now supports volumes up to 2TB, up from the previous 32GB limit.
Also, there are performance improvements while on the “Disks & Volumes” settings page.
Other changes
The company has also released security fixes and improvements for the operating system:
- Microsoft Store: Reduces unexpected errors when downloading and installing apps, specifically addressing error codes 0x80070057, 0x80240008, and 0x80073d28.
- Fonts: Improves the Leelawadee UI font family for Thai, Lao, Khmer, and Lontara scripts, enhancing glyph sequencing, positioning, and rendering.
- Audio: Improves third‑party driver compatibility with
midisrv.exe. - Taskbar: Improves reliability when loading the system tray area of the taskbar.
- Windows Hello: Improves Windows Hello Face reliability and enhances persistence of Windows Hello Fingerprint across upgrades.
- Delivery Optimization: Improves memory usage to reduce the likelihood of unexpectedly high memory consumption.
- Display and graphics: Improves persistence and availability of color profile options for supported monitors.
- Kiosk mode: Simplifies configuring allowed packaged apps in kiosk setups when Microsoft Edge is among them.
- General Performance: Improves the performance of launching startup apps after boot.
- General Reliability: Introduces underlying changes that improve explorer.exe reliability, including during login, when interacting with taskbar flyouts and Task View, when unpinning items from File Explorer’s Quick Access, and more.
Windows 11 June 2026 Patch Tuesday – Manual installation process
Since there’s always a chance of problems during and after applying a quality update, it’s recommended to prepare your computer by creating a restore point and a full backup before proceeding with the installation.
To download and install this Windows 11 update, open the “Windows Update” settings and click the “Check for Updates” button after enrolling the computer in the Release Preview channel from the Windows Insider Program.
If your computer has issues after installing this package, follow these instructions to uninstall the June 2026 update. If you’re unable to uninstall the update, follow these steps to recover your device.
The update will download and install automatically. However, you can also apply it manually by downloading the update KB5079466 from the Update Catalog website.
Windows 11 June 2026 Patch Tuesday – Update history
- Final Release – Patch Tuesday (Stable Channel):
- Windows 11 26H1 build 28000.2173 release date: May 14, 2026. Official notes.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert and founder of Pureinfotech in 2010. With over 22 years as a technology writer and IT Specialist, Mauro specializes in Windows, software, and cross-platform systems such as Linux, Android, and macOS.
Certifications: Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), VMware Certified Professional (VCP), and CompTIA A+ and Network+.
Mauro is a recognized Microsoft MVP and has also been a long-time contributor to Windows Central.
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