- Windows 11 build 26100.5061 (KB5064081) is the first preview of the September 2025 update for version 24H2 available through the Release Preview Channel.
- It adds a redesigned Recall homepage, new AI actions in File Explorer, a grid view for image searches, Taskbar seconds display, Lock Screen widget customization, and numerous fixes.
- The update is available in the Release Preview Channel and will roll out broadly during the Patch Tuesday release on September 9, 2025.
Microsoft is now rolling out Windows 11 builds 26100.5061 (KB5064081) for versions 24H2, as the first preview of the Patch Tuesday update for September 2025 in the Release Preview Channel. The update brings non-security fixes, visual changes for Taskbar, Windows Search, and security, and new features for Recall, Click to Do, and File Explorer.
According to the official notes, the update KB5064081 for version 24H2 introduces a redesigned homepage for Windows Recall, an interactive tutorial for Click to Do, and new AI actions for File Explorer.
In addition, the cumulative update for September brings seconds again to the Notification Center, a Centered dialog with a dimmed background for location, camera, and mic access, and Windows Search will now show images in a grid view.
Microsoft also notes that the next cumulative update will remove PowerShell 2.0 from Windows 11, and it’ll make the Windows Backup for Organizations generally available.
As per usual, for clarification, during the early stages of development, Microsoft does not disclose the final name of updates intended for the Stable Channel. While these updates are in preview, they are labeled as non-security updates. It’s only when they are officially released on Patch Tuesday that the company designates them with their final name, such as the “September 2025 Security Update.”
- What’s new on Windows 11 24H2 build 26100.5061 (KB5064081)
- Windows 11 September 2025 Patch Tuesday – Manual installation process
- Windows 11 September 2025 Patch Tuesday – Update history
What’s new on Windows 11 24H2 build 26100.5061 (KB5064081)
Microsoft is currently testing these new features, improvements, and fixes as part of the September 2025 Security Update for Windows 11 24H2:
Windows Recall new homepage
Starting with build 26100.5061, the “Recall” app introduces a new home page that groups your recent snapshots and top content for easier access.
The home page also offers greetings with the current date and a search box to help you look through your activities.
Furthermore, there’s a new navigation bar on the left, and you can access the settings menu at the bottom-left corner.
Click to Do a new interactive tutorial
Microsoft is also adding a quick interactive tutorial with text and images to help users understand how to start using Click to Do on Windows 11.
Clock with seconds in Notification Center
Microsoft brings back the bigger clock with seconds in the Notification Center. This update gives you a more detailed time display, making quick glances at the clock even more convenient.
To display the full clock with seconds in Notification Center, open Settings > Time & language > Date & time, and turn on the “Show time in the Notification Center” toggle switch.
This feature does not appear by default, but the company is also building a toast notification to let you know about the clock with an option to turn it on automatically.
In this release, Microsoft has also resolved an issue where dragging the mouse across Taskbar preview thumbnails could disable click functionality, and a bug causing File Explorer previews to appear when hovering over unrelated Taskbar icons.
Windows Search grid view for images
In this preview release, when you perform an image search, the results for photos will be displayed in a grid view.
In addition, if your device is still organizing files, the system will display a notice with a link to track the indexing progress.
Finally, the file and folder state is also visible, making it easy to see whether items are stored locally or in the cloud.
Lock Screen widgets customization
Microsoft is adding the ability for everyone to choose the widgets that appear in the Lock Screen from Settings > Personalization > Lock screen, along with other improvements. This feature was previously only available for European users.
File Explorer with AI actions
Starting with the September 2025 patch, the software giant continues the integration of AI into File Explorer with the introduction of “AI actions.”
AI actions allow you to interact with files without opening them. You only need to right-click and choose an action:
- Bing Visual Search: Quickly identify objects and landmarks or shop for items based on an image.
- Blur Background: Automatically detects backgrounds in images and blurs them with customizable intensity.
- Erase Objects: Remove unwanted elements from photos using Generative Erase.
- Remove Background: Instantly cut out a subject from an image with one click.
The above actions are currently available for JPG, JPEG, and PNG file formats.
In addition, you will find options to summarize documents for Microsoft 365 files, letting you preview key insights without opening Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. Also, you will be able to turn files into an AI-generated question and answer list.
These new AI actions will be supported for XLSX, PPT, PPTX, DOC, DOCX, PDF, TXT, RTF, ASPX, HTML, and HTML files.
Finally, this new version of File Explorer will show people icons under the “Activity” column from the “Recommended” section in the “Home” page. However, this feature is only limited to users with a work or school Entra ID.
Even further, this update also fixes a bug using the unblock option from the file properties page.
Windows Hello with modern design
In this cumulative update, Windows 11 is updating the Sign-in screen with some visual changes if your computer is configured using Windows Hello Face, Fingerprint, or PIN. For instance, as you access the screen, the system will show an animation on the icon representing the current sign-in methods to improve the experience and make it a bit easier to understand.
While on your account, the system also updates the security credential user experience dialogs for the passkey.
For example, once you create a passkey, the next time you have to sign in, you will notice a new Windows Hello animation for entering your credentials and recognizing the information. Also, you can now switch between authentication options.
In addition, in build 26100.5061, facial recognition now works reliably without false positives that prompt for a PIN. If you are still experiencing issues, you can recalibrate under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Improve recognition.
Finally, fingerprint login is now more consistent after waking from standby.
New Advanced page in Settings app
In the Settings app, the September 2025 update introduces a new “Advanced” settings page that replaces the “For Developers” page.
The page includes a new design that groups settings in different categories, and it adds some new features:
- Enable Long Paths: Removes file path length (MAX_PATH) limitations.
- Virtual Workspaces: Easily toggle features like Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox.
- Git integration in File Explorer: Displays version control details, branch status, and commit history directly in Explorer.
I have also published another article and a hands-on video that explores these new settings coming to Windows 11 in more detail.
New AI agent for the Settings app
The Settings app is also bringing the new AI agent that helps you find and change settings more quickly to AI processors from AMD and Intel. Previously, this feature was only available for Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon chips.
As part of this integration, using on-device AI, you can now use natural language to describe the problem or setting you want, and the feature will find and change the settings on your behalf with your permission.
If you want to test the feature, you can ask questions like “How do I control my PC by voice?” or “My mouse pointer is too small.”
New Settings app changes
In addition to the new “Advanced” page, the Settings app includes several other improvements. For example, the activation and expiration prompts match the design language of the operating system.
Privacy and security changes
You’ll notice a new “Recent activity” option in Settings > Privacy & security > Text and image generation, which allows you to view recent requests to use text and image generation with AI from different third-party applications installed on your computer.
Settings app Home page changes
The company is also rolling out a new “Device Card” on the Home page for users in the United States using a Microsoft account that shows key specs and usage, such as processor, storage, graphics card, and amount of memory.
Control Panel to Settings changes
On Settings > Time & language > Date & time, this flight brings the following changes:
- Option to add additional clocks from the “Show time and date in the system tray” setting.
- Setting to change the time server under the “Additional settings” section.
- An option to access the date and time formatting is now available through the “Date & time” page, rather than from “Language & region.” The page also includes the option to change the AM and PM symbols.
On Settings > Time & language > Language & region, you can now find these improvements:
- Option to change number and currency format under the “Regional format” section.
- Option to enable Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support under the “Language” section.
- Option to copy current user language and region settings to the welcome screen and system account, and new user accounts under the “Additional settings” section.
On Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard, Microsoft is adding settings for character repeat delay and rate. Also, on Settings > Accessibility > Text cursor, you’ll find the setting to control the cursor blink rate.
Finally, this release fixes a crash when adding a security key in the “Sign-in options” page.
Task Manager with better CPU metrics
Windows 11 build 26100.5061 ships an updated version of the Task Manager that makes “CPU” usage information consistent. You’ll now see the same CPU workload across all pages, matching industry standards.
If you need the previous CPU value, you can show the “CPU Utility” column, which is located in the “Details” tab.
Other fixes and changes
The development team is also pushing several fixes and changes for the next monthly update.
- Live captions: Fixed an issue where adjusting caption opacity via the Caption Style setting in Accessibility had no effect.
- Input: Resolved multiple IME-related issues, including, missing the first character when typing Chinese after using “CTRL + C,” crashes in apps like Sticky Notes and Notepad due to textinputframework.dll, extended characters appearing as empty boxes in the Chinese (Simplified) IME, and touch keyboard input failures with Changjie, Bopomofo, and Japanese IMEs after reverting versions.
- Kerberos: Fixed a crash that could occur when accessing cloud file shares using Kerberos authentication.
- Login: Improved login reliability by addressing cases that caused prolonged blank screens or “just a moment” delays.
- dbgcore.dll: Fixed a crash issue linked to
dbgcore.dll, which could affect apps such asexplorer.exe. - Audio: Improved audio playback reliability by resolving a service hang that could prevent sound in certain scenarios.
- Device management: Fixed a temporary file sharing conflict that disrupted system recovery features and impacted device management tools.
- File system: Resolved a memory exhaustion issue in Resilient File System (ReFS) triggered by backup apps handling large files.
- Performance: Fixed a slowdown affecting application installations on ARM64 devices.
In addition, when an app requests access to location, camera, microphone, or other device capabilities, the system will show a redesigned centered system dialog box that also dims the screen.
Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available, offering enterprise-grade backup and restore to support seamless device transitions.
Starting with this release, Windows 11 removes PowerShell 2.0. For context, the operating system includes PowerShell 5.1 by default, and PowerShell 7 is the new, cross-platform successor. Although it was previously possible to enable and use PowerShell 2.0, it has been deprecated for some time.
Windows 11 September 2025 Patch Tuesday – Manual installation process
To download and install this Windows 11 build, enroll your devices in the Release Preview Channel through the “Windows Insider Program” settings from the “Update & Security” section. Once you enroll the computer in the program, you can download the build from the “Windows Update” settings by turning on the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” option and clicking the “Check for Updates” button.
Windows 11 September 2025 Patch Tuesday – Update history
- Initial Release – Release Preview Channel:
- Windows 11 24H2 build 26100.4762 release date: August 14, 2025. Official notes.
- Second Release – Optional Install (Stable Channel):
- Final Release – Patch Tuesday (Stable Channel):
Update September 12, 2025: This content has been updated with new information, and it’s been revised to ensure accuracy.
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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