Windows 11 build 25290 outs backup alert in Start menu

Windows 11 build 25290 is now rolling out in the Dev Channel.
The update introduces Phone Link and Spotify widgets.
The Start menu will now remind you to back up your files to OneDrive.
The flight also brings various fixes and changes.

Microsoft has released the Windows 11 build 25290 for devices enrolled in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program. This is a minor update that includes some interesting new features, improvements, and fixes.

Build 25290 for Windows 11, according to the official changes, introduces new two new widgets including one for Spotify and another for the Phone Link app. This is in addition to the Facebook Messenger widget that the company announced during the previous build release. Also, starting with the flight, the user menu in the Start menu will now make the option to back up your files to the cloud more prominent.

Windows 11 build 25290 changes

Here are all the new features and improvements for the latest release of Windows 11 in the Dev Channel:

Start menu new backup alert

Starting with build 25290, the Start menu user menu is getting an option to remind users to back up their files to the cloud. The company is currently testing two versions, one that reads “Back up your files” and another one that adds a description with an option to start the backup or turn off the notification.

Start menu backup message (Source: Microsoft)

Spotify and Phone Link widgets

In addition to the previously announced, Messenger widget, in this rollout, Microsoft is also announcing the availability of Spotify and Phone Link widgets for the Widgets dashboard. (You only need to install the applications from the Microsoft Store to access their widgets.)

Fixes and improvements

This flight also ships with a bunch of fixes and improvements for Taskbar, Input, Settings, File Explorer, and more.

Taskbar

Fixed an explorer.exe crash which could cause the taskbar not to load for some Insiders.

Fixed an issue where the search box would randomly disappear sometimes when you clicked it.

Fixed an issue where the search box was shifting to the side slightly when you clicked it.

Task Manager

Fixed an issue where the data content area of the Processes page might flash once when theme changes were applied in the Task Manager Settings page.

Fixed an issue where some dialogs did not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.

Fixed an issue where properties in the Memory section of the Performance page were getting truncated even though there was space to display them.

Reduced the transparency of graph colors in the Performance page, and adjusted the borders, to help make them stand out more.

Fixed a few issues causing Task Manager crashes.

Typing F in the search box should work again now.

You now shouldn’t have to make Task Manager be as wide before the navigation pane appears.

If text scaling has been increased, the search box shouldn’t overlap with the title bar text anymore.
Made some tweaks to address cases where text in dialogs was getting cut off when text scaling was increased.
Fixes an issue where certain parts of the title bar couldn’t be used to drag the window.

Spotlight

Fixed the issue causing some people to not get a consistent refresh of images on a daily basis.

Settings

Fixed an issue where the preview for Sans Serif Collection in Personalization > Fonts was displaying broken glyphs.

Other fixes

Fixed an issue that was preventing Narrator from announcing dropdown lists in Excel.

Fixed an underlying issue which could cause Snipping Tool screenshots to become stretched out and distorted in the last few builds if you had multiple monitors.

Fixed an issue which could cause a bugcheck with SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.

Fixed an issue which could make the Open With dialog crash on launch.

Fixed an issue where the Open File dialog would hang if you clicked it while using an IME after having selected “Choose an app on your PC” from the Open With dialog.

Fixed an issue which could cause Group Policy Editor to unexpectedly show “An error has occurred in the script on this page” with an invalid character error when editing a group policy.

If you have OpenSSH Server set to start at boot (instead of manual), that preference should be remembered across OS upgrades now. Please note, you need to be on a build with this fix before it will take effect with your next upgrade.

Fixed the issue causing Arm64 devices to fail to resume from sleep/hibernate when running Build 25281 and getting stuck at the OS boot logo.

Fixed an issue where some Insiders may have issues accessing websites and other resources via VPN connections.

Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience freezes when using the browser and certain other apps in recent Dev Channel builds.

This release also has known issues with the Taskbar, Start menu, Task Manager, Settings, Widgets, and more.

Install build 25290

If you want to download and install the Windows 11 build 25290, enroll your device in the Dev Channel using the “Windows Insider Program” settings from the “Windows Update” section.

Once you enroll the computer in the program, you can download build 25290 from the “Windows Update” settings by clicking the Check for Updates button. However, you will need a device that meets the minimum system requirements to receive the update if you are new to the Windows Insider Program.

Update February 7, 2023: Microsoft is pushing the update KB50234461 as build 25290.1010 to testers, but the update does not include new. It is only designed to test the servicing pipeline.