Windows 11 24H2 Update: Major Features, Enhancements, and Insider Insights

Microsoft has just raised the curtain on its latest round of prerelease updates for Windows 11, delivering substantial new builds—version 24H2—to both the Dev and Beta channels of the Windows Insider Program. If your system is enrolled in either channel, you’re in for a significant new update bundled with forward-thinking features aimed not just at streamlining productivity and personalization, but also at enhancing security and accessibility for a broader segment of PC users around the globe.

A Tale of Two Builds: Dev and Beta Diverge… Barely​

For Dev channel Insiders, Microsoft has released cumulative update KB5060824, pushing your Windows 11 build to 26200.5641. On the Beta channel, the parallel cumulative update is KB5060820, bringing systems up to build 26120.4250. According to official release notes and cross-referenced industry updates, both channels are receiving a largely identical feature set. This unified deployment signifies a melting of the formerly sharp lines between Dev’s bleeding-edge experimentation and Beta’s more measured advancements—at least for this particular cycle.
Cumulative updates like these often lay the foundation for the next wave of features that will reach all Windows 11 users later in the year. Microsoft appears to be using these channels as a synchronized proving ground, allowing for widespread feedback before full public rollout. By merging the update experience across Dev and Beta, Microsoft can harvest broader telemetry, helping iron out potential issues that could impact the broader user base.

Major Start Menu Overhaul: More Than a Facelift​

Topping the list of notable changes is a revamped Start menu, which stands as a centerpiece of the Windows desktop experience. Microsoft’s latest iteration brings:

• In-place Scrolling for All Content: No longer must users flip through secondary pages to discover less frequently used apps. The new experience keeps everything within reach via seamless scrolling.
• Category and Grid Views in ‘All’ Section: In addition to the familiar list interface, users can now toggle between category-based and grid layouts. This is a marked leap toward greater navigation flexibility—a nod to feedback from both enterprise and personal users seeking speedier access to their most-used resources.
• Dynamic Sizing: On larger displays, the Start menu expands to leverage available real estate, displaying more content without cramming it into a small window. Conversely, on smaller devices, it stays compact.
• Responsive ‘Pinned’ and ‘Recommended’ Areas: For the first time, these sections can be resized on the fly, responding dynamically to window adjustments or display changes, which is especially relevant as more users juggle diverse monitor setups.
• Advanced Customization: Users gain nuanced control over the Start menu’s appearance and arrangement, echoing longstanding demands from the enthusiast community.

This overhaul appears positioned to close a lingering gap with third-party Start menu replacements, many of which have long offered advanced customization. While the native Windows menu has steadily improved since Windows 10, this update represents the most notable leap forward in years.

Phone Companion: Better Integration for the Cross-device Era​

The updated Phone companion pane is another standout, enhancing the bridge between your Windows PC and connected mobile devices via Microsoft’s Phone Link. The feature, previously introduced in a basic form within stable Windows 11 builds, now offers:

• Sidebar Integration: The Phone companion lives on the left of the Start menu, readily accessible if you’re a Phone Link user.
• Expand/Collapse Button: A discrete button lets users toggle the pane, keeping distractions to a minimum while maintaining fast access to cross-device notifications, messages, and recent photos.

This move squarely addresses criticisms over fragmented phone integration in previous Windows builds. By embedding the companion more deeply into the Start menu, Microsoft signals its commitment to a seamless ecosystem that spans desktop and mobile platforms—a competitive response to Apple’s Handoff and similar continuity features.

Lock Screen Widgets: A Long-awaited Customization Bonanza​

Lock screen widgets, long a staple wish-list item for power users, now gain the customization flex that many have hoped for. Insiders can:

• Choose Which Widgets Appear: Decide exactly which widgets line up alongside your clock and background imagery.
• Personalize Widget Order: Dictate the sequence of widgets for maximum relevancy and minimal clutter.
• Add More Widgets: Any widget compatible with small sizing can now be included, opening possibilities for compact, context-rich notifications at a glance.

This granular control transforms the Windows lock screen from a passive information panel into an actively useful dashboard. Competing operating systems have either lagged or limited such options, so this increased flexibility represents a user-centric advance—though it will succeed or fail depending on the diversity and quality of widgets made available by Microsoft and its partners.

Narrator’s New Screen Curtain: Privacy and Accessibility Aligned​

In an era when privacy is as valuable as access, the newly introduced “Screen Curtain” option for Narrator is a smart, if overdue, feature. When active:

• Visual Output Is Blacked Out: Only audio information is relayed, leaving your screen unreadable to prying eyes.
• Ideal for Public Spaces: Whether working in a coffee shop, co-working hub, or shared family setting, users can consume sensitive data without worrying about shoulder surfers.
• Streamlined Onboarding: The update also introduces improved Narrator onboarding, ensuring that first-time users can quickly master essential features.

Accessibility advocates have called for such privacy tools for years, and Screen Curtain—successfully deployed in platforms like iOS—will help level the playing field for Windows users with visual impairments, or those concerned about information leakage.

All Search Settings, One Place: The New Windows Search Control Center​

Microsoft’s ongoing rework of Windows Search receives a structural consolidation: all settings relevant to Search are now located in a unified menu within Settings > Privacy & security > Search.
Previously, users seeking to fine-tune search behavior (such as SafeSearch, search history, or search indexing) had to wade through multiple sections or system dialogs. This consolidation:

• Simplifies the User Journey: Everything from indexing scope to permissions is now managed in a centralized interface.
• Reduces Redundancy and User Confusion: No more toggling between Control Panel remnants and Modern Settings panels.

Microsoft’s UX research notes that efficient search customization ranks highly among business users deploying Windows at scale and home users frustrated by ‘lost’ data. By reducing friction, Microsoft hopes to drive up satisfaction and perceived power across devices.

Touch Keyboard: Joy for Gamers, Power Users, and Multilingual Typists​

Gamers who’ve felt left out by Windows’s keyboard layouts can finally rejoice: the Gamepad touch keyboard layout is getting a significant tune-up. Key improvements include:

• Improved Controller Navigation: Movement through the touch keyboard is more intuitive, matching user expectations for quick jumps between keys.
• Enhanced Focus Handling: Child keys—like those in accents or function menus—are more responsive, helping users hit their intended targets the first time.
• Better Flyout Menus and Word Suggestions: Predictive typing is now more elegant and less intrusive.
• Smooth Language Switching and Settings Access: Changing layouts or adjusting configurations is more direct, with fewer taps required.
• PIN Sign-in Optimized for Controllers: Logging in with a PIN from the Lock screen via a game controller is streamlined.

For those using Windows on devices like the Surface line, or in hybrid desktop/gaming environments, these tweaks could prove transformative.

Framing the Competitive Landscape: Where Does This Leave Windows in 2024?​

The convergence of power-user features (custom Start menu, widget flexibility), accessibility improvements (Narrator Screen Curtain), and cross-device compatibility (Phone companion enhancements) is more than a sum of its parts. Microsoft is attempting to thread a fine line: maintaining familiarity for enterprise deployments and the mass market while satisfying enthusiasts and modernizing UX to woo younger, mobile-first consumers.
Its closest competitor, macOS, has doubled down on widget-driven, continuity-based interaction, while Chrome OS continues to blur the boundaries between app launcher and desktop search. Windows 11 24H2’s refinements, therefore, are not just incremental; they reflect a strategic repositioning of the OS as a lifestyle hub rather than just a productivity tool.

Notable Strengths​

• User Agency and Control: The trend throughout this update cycle is clear—Microsoft is returning agency to the user. Whether it’s Start menu sorting, lock screen curation, or touch keyboard preference, users and IT admins alike gain more levers to personalize and optimize workflow.
• Fast, Inclusive Feedback Loops: Aligning features across Dev and Beta channels enables Microsoft to crowdsource diverse testing feedback, leading to faster, more robust issue resolution.
• Privacy as a Priority: Screen Curtain and consolidated Search settings are small but meaningful steps toward a more privacy-forward Windows experience.

Potential Risks and Caveats​

• Fragmented Widget Ecosystem: Microsoft’s widget platform, while opening up to more flexible lock screen usage, suffers from limited third-party developer uptake. Unless Microsoft aggressively courts ecosystem partners, future innovation could stagnate.
• Usability vs. Complexity: With increased options comes increased complexity. Some less technical users may find the newly customizable Start menu or settings panels overwhelming rather than empowering. Microsoft will need to balance configurability with sensible defaults.
• Cross-device Integration: While Phone companion integration is progressing, Windows remains at a disadvantage compared to Apple’s cross-platform feature consistency (e.g., AirDrop, iMessage, Handoff). Windows 11’s mobile connectivity is improving but may still frustrate those in mixed-OS households.

Insider Channels: A Strategic Shift in Feature Rollout​

The near-identical features across the Dev and Beta channels for this update cycle are notable. Traditionally, Dev channel builds have introduced riskier, untested changes far ahead of Beta, which in turn anticipates more stable public releases. This time, feature sets are converging, suggesting that Microsoft may be refining its approach to Insider development.

• Expanded Telemetry and Bug Hunting: With broader deployment, unusual bugs and edge cases are more likely to surface before general availability.
• Faster Feedback Implementation: Issues reported in one channel can be quickly checked against the other, slashing response times.

This change brings clear upside for Windows 11’s overall reliability and makes it easier for organizations running Insider builds to justify participation in both channels.

The Broader Picture: Windows as a Service, Not Just an OS​

Windows 11 version 24H2’s current prerelease features exemplify Microsoft’s “Windows as a Service” philosophy. More than ever, the platform is characterized by continuous improvement, user feedback loops, and frequent iterative changes rather than isolated, monolithic updates.

• Ongoing Feature Drops: Expect additional upgrades and smaller feature packs in the months ahead—especially as Microsoft capitalizes on AI-driven feedback gleaned from Insider telemetry.
• Cloud-powered Customizations: Features like dynamic Start menu content and Phone Link will deepen as cloud integration becomes even more central to the Windows experience.

Looking Forward: What Should Insiders and Everyday Users Expect?​

If you’re an Insider, installing the new cumulative updates (KB5060824 for Dev, KB5060820 for Beta) unlocks not only short-term feature testing but also a window into Microsoft’s evolving vision for the PC platform. For the broader user base, these builds provide an early look at refinements likely arriving in the Windows 11 24H2 general release, anticipated to land later this year.

Key Takeaways​

• Start Menu is smarter, more powerful, and finally as flexible as users have long demanded.
• Lock screen widgets bring genuine utility to what was a largely wasted space.
• Accessibility and privacy continue to receive real investment, rather than token gestures.
• Beta and Dev channels have largely converged for this round, fueling faster feedback and improved software quality.
• Microsoft is staking the next phase of Windows on modular, cross-device experiences, even as longstanding pain points around ecosystem integration persist.

Conclusion: A Strong Step Forward, With Some Hurdles Remaining​

The prerelease Windows 11 24H2 builds for Dev and Beta channel Insiders signal that Microsoft is both listening to its power users and inching Windows further into the future. By levelling up customization, accessibility, privacy, and cross-environment features, the company is making tangible progress in areas that matter.
Yet, persistent risks remain: widget quality and variety, cross-platform parity, and the perennial trade-off between flexibility and simplicity. Still, as cumulative updates continue to trend toward real-time user needs and thorough, inclusive testing, Windows 11 stands poised for a more dynamic—and, arguably, more user-centric—new chapter.
As these builds mature, the stakes are high: Microsoft must prove it can deliver on this ambitious, iterative roadmap without leaving users behind or introducing new headaches. For now, though, 24H2 is shaping up to be one of Windows 11’s most consequential updates—and a sign of just how much ground the world’s most widely used desktop OS is willing to cover to remain relevant in a changing digital landscape.

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Source: Thurrott.com Microsoft Issues New Prerelease 24H2 Builds to Dev and Beta Channels