Windows 11 Beta Build 26120.6760: Copilot Tiles Speed Test and StorageProvider API

Today’s Beta-channel drop for Windows Insiders — Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.6760 (KB5065793) — continues Microsoft’s cautious, staged approach to delivering Copilot-era features and quality fixes on top of the Windows 11, version 24H2 servicing stream. The release mixes modest user-facing additions (notably a taskbar‑accessible internet speed test and a Microsoft 365 Copilot tile in Get Started) with developer-facing plumbing (StorageProvider APIs for File Explorer Home), multiple accessibility improvements, and a laundry list of targeted fixes and known issues that practical testers and IT pilots must weigh before upgrading.

Background​

Microsoft is delivering this Beta-channel update as part of the 26120.xxxx enablement/servicing stream for Windows 11, version 24H2. That model ships the binary changes in cumulative/checkpoint updates and then toggles feature exposure selectively using server-side flags — which means what you see can depend on toggles, account type, hardware (Copilot+ eligibility), and region. This flight explicitly calls out two categories of changes: items gradually rolled out to Insiders who enabled the “get the latest updates as soon as they are available” toggle, and fixes/features rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel.
Why that matters: the build you receive is not a single monolithic experience. Expect a mix of visible bug fixes and gated, experimental features that may only appear on a subset of machines — particularly Copilot+ PCs that have the required neural processing hardware and OEM driver support.

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Major additions and what they mean​

Built-in network speed test from the taskbar​

• What’s new: a new entry in the network context menu (right‑click the network/system‑tray icon) and a button in the Wi‑Fi/Cellular Quick Settings that launches a Perform speed test flow. The action opens your default browser and runs Microsoft’s web-hosted speed test widget (the lightweight, web-based tool reports download, upload, and latency).
• Practical implications: this is a convenience shortcut — not a native diagnostic engine. It’s useful for quick checks (e.g., confirming ISP throughput or spotting obvious local issues), but it depends on a working browser and a functioning HTTP path to the internet; it won’t help when web access itself is broken (captive portals, DNS failures, or extremely degraded network paths). The test doesn’t create in‑OS logs, historical records, scheduled tests, or low‑level diagnostics that power users or network engineers normally need.
• Evaluation checklist:
• Handy for consumers and support teams looking for a rapid “is the internet working?” check.
• Not a replacement for packet captures, netsh/tracert diagnostics, or enterprise monitoring tools.
• Because it’s a web widget, results reflect the backend test methodology (server selection, stream count) used by the service — which impacts absolute numbers.

Microsoft 365 Copilot tile in Get Started (managed commercial devices)​

• What’s new: managed commercial devices with active Microsoft 365 subscriptions may see a Microsoft 365 Copilot page added to the Get Started experience. The goal is to increase discoverability for Copilot features and help organizations onboard users to Copilot functionality from first boot or enrollment flows.
• Practical implications: Managed devices (Entra/Intune environments) will get a targeted UX nudge to find and enable Copilot features where licensing and tenant policy permit it. IT should treat this as a discoverability enhancement rather than a hard enablement — entitlements, tenant policy, and per-user licensing still determine real access.

StorageProvider APIs for File Explorer Home​

• What’s new: Microsoft published new StorageProvider APIs so cloud storage providers can integrate with the File Explorer Home experience. That integration allows cloud accounts to surface content and actions directly within File Explorer Home, improving discoverability and productivity for cloud-backed documents.
• Why developers care:
• Cloud provider teams (OneDrive, third‑party providers) can now build tighter File Explorer Home experiences.
• Expect integration points for showing cloud‑synced files, storage status, and possibly in‑context cloud actions — subject to provider implementation.
• This is an API-level change; the visible consumer benefit depends on third‑party adoption.

Voice access: “Wait time before acting” setting​

• What’s new: voice access gains a configurable Wait time before acting setting so users can tune the delay between spoken commands and execution. This helps accommodate varying speech speeds and improves recognition accuracy for users who speak more slowly or produce longer phrases.
• Accessibility value: a simple but meaningful control for users who rely on voice input. It reduces false activations and tailors voice interactions for different speech patterns.

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Fixes that matter​

This flight includes many targeted fixes across File Explorer, Taskbar, Settings, Windows Update, and accessibility features. Key fixes called out in the release notes and community trackbacks include:

• Screen reader reliability: an underlying issue causing some screen readers to stop reading content was addressed. This is an important fix for assistive technology users.
• Taskbar battery icon: corrected a bug where the battery icon could show the wrong charging state.
• File Explorer folder view persistence: resolved an issue where folder view customizations (sort orders, icon sizes) only applied to a specific navigation path and failed to persist when opening the same folder from other apps. This was especially noticeable in Downloads if Group By Date was turned off.
• Windows Update “Update and shut down” reliability: fixed a problem where “Update and shut down” would not actually power off some PCs.
• Settings stability: crashes when accessing drive information and misaligned placeholder text in the Settings search box were corrected.

Operationally, these fixes improve day‑to‑day stability for many users and are worth validating in pilot rings before a broad enterprise rollout.

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Known issues and important cautions​

This build lists several known issues that Insiders and administrators should weigh carefully before installing on production or mission‑critical machines. Highlights include:

• Click to Do visuals on the wrong display when invoked by right-edge gesture. A cosmetic but confusing UI bug.
• Taskbar animations temporarily disabled because they interfered with sharing a window from its preview; also issues remain with the “automatically hide the taskbar” scenario where the system tray may peek up unexpectedly.
• Windows Studio Effects (advanced camera features) may cause some external webcams to fail preview due to firmware compatibility. The interim workaround is to disable Windows Studio Effects in camera settings. This is a compatibility problem that OEMs and Microsoft will need to resolve with driver/firmware updates.
• Xbox Controller (Bluetooth) bugchecks: some Insiders experienced system bugchecks (crashes) when using Xbox controllers over Bluetooth. Microsoft published a technical workaround: open Device Manager → View → Devices by driver → find the oemXXX.inf entry for XboxGameControllerDriver.inf and uninstall it to stop the crashes. This is a heavy workaround and should be applied only on affected test machines.
• Search anomalies: certain searches may display unexpected text instead of expected results and images — a reliability issue that affects discoverability.
• PIX on Windows: third‑party developer tooling (PIX) required an update to play back GPU captures on recent OS versions; Microsoft and the PIX team released a new PIX update to address this. Developers relying on PIX should ensure they are using the compatible PIX release.

Because some of these problems affect kernel-level drivers (controller driver) or hardware‑dependent camera pipelines (Studio Effects), enterprises should not deploy this build broadly to production users without a staged validation plan.

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Deep dive: Copilot+, Click to Do, and hardware gating​

One recurring theme across this and other recent 26120-series builds is the hardware- and license-gating of advanced Copilot experiences. Microsoft increasingly designates certain experiences — Click to Do contextual actions, Studio Effects, and expanded Windows Search behaviors on Copilot+ PCs — to only appear on machines that meet Copilot+ hardware requirements or where Microsoft 365 Copilot entitlements are present.

• Copilot+ PCs: machines with NPUs (neural processing units) and OEM-enforced driver stacks can run on-device small language models and computer vision pipelines at low latency. Those devices are prioritized for the newest on‑device experiences.
• Controlled Feature Rollout: features are toggled selectively and ramped over time. Even with the KB installed, many AI features may remain invisible until server flags flip or device eligibility is met. For testers, enabling the Settings > Windows Update toggle “Get the latest updates as soon as they are available” will increase your chance of seeing these early rollouts — at the expense of additional instability.

Practical guidance:

• Inventory which devices in your fleet qualify as Copilot+ and prioritize those for on‑device AI testing.
• Confirm Microsoft 365 licensing and tenant-level policy for Copilot entitlements prior to mass enablement.
• Coordinate with OEMs for the latest NPU and camera driver firmware.

Note of caution: several reports reference on‑device model names and capabilities in community threads; internal model codenames or precise TOPS numbers are sometimes mentioned in unofficial coverage and should be treated as unverified unless Microsoft or the OEMs publish them. Avoid assuming specific internal model families without direct confirmation.

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What sysadmins and IT pilots should test (recommended checklist)​

• Preflight (before you install):
• Back up a full system image or create a VM snapshot.
• Inventory drivers and OEM utilities that are critical (audio stacks, camera drivers, NPU drivers).
• Identify a pilot group of non‑production devices that includes Copilot+ hardware if you plan to test AI features.
• Ensure you have documented recovery steps (uninstall KB, rollback images) and the Device Manager uninstall workaround for Xbox controller driver if you test controllers.
• Install and validate:
• Enable the Beta Channel on pilot devices and toggle the “get latest updates” option only on test machines that can tolerate early features.
• Check Settings → Windows Update and run the update; reboot and confirm build number (26120.6760).
• Validate critical endpoints: sign-in, File Explorer operations (especially Downloads and shared folders), app compatibility, and Windows Update flows.
• Test known‑issue scenarios: use a Bluetooth Xbox controller to verify the bug does not occur on your hardware (or apply the uninstall workaround if it does), and test external webcams with Windows Studio Effects toggled on and off.
• Monitor and report:
• Use Feedback Hub (WIN + F) with repro steps and system logs for any new regressions.
• Track behavior for a minimum of 48–72 hours in pilot groups to surface intermittent issues (hibernation, Windows Update shutdown, audio driver anomalies).

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Developer and ISV considerations​

• PIX and GPU tools: developers should confirm they are using the updated PIX release if they rely on GPU capture playback, since older PIX versions were incompatible with the recent OS previews.
• File Explorer StorageProvider API: cloud providers and ISVs should evaluate the new StorageProvider APIs to integrate the provider experience into File Explorer Home, improving file discoverability and user workflows. Adoption requires implementation on the provider side to yield visible benefits to end users.
• Controller behavior: game developers should account for the Xbox button’s new long-press mapping to Task View on some machines, and test against both Bluetooth and wired controller stacks to avoid unexpected input capture issues. The lack of a published millisecond threshold for “long press” means developers should use tolerant input-handling logic and expose in‑game toggles where relevant.

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Security, privacy, and compliance notes​

• On‑device small language models (SLMs) used for fluid dictation and some Copilot surfaces lower cloud exposure compared to cloud-only models, which is a positive for privacy-conscious deployments. However, administrators must still validate whether any Copilot actions cause content handoffs to cloud services (Ask Copilot, cloud backup, or tenant-level logging) and update DLP and governance policies accordingly.
• Kernel‑level drivers and firmware: workarounds for driver regressions (e.g., uninstalling an OEM XboxGameControllerDriver.inf entry) touch low-level components and should be validated with endpoint protection tooling to avoid false positives or conflicts. Maintain driver whitelists and test signature checks on pilot machines.

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Risks and verdict​

This Beta-channel flight is a classic example of Microsoft balancing incremental quality work with experimental, hardware-gated Copilot features. The positives include targeted accessibility fixes, File Explorer polish, and convenient discoverability tweaks (speed test, Get Started Copilot tile). The enterprise risks are real: kernel-level regressions (controller bugchecks), camera firmware incompatibilities with new Studio Effects, and gating/fragmentation across hardware and licensing complicate broad rollouts.
Recommended stance:

• Home/enthusiast Insiders who enjoy experimenting should enable the toggle to receive fresh rollouts and expect occasional regressions.
• Enterprises and production users should restrict this build to pilot rings and test labs. Validate hardware drivers, test critical workflows (hibernation, audio, external webcam pipelines), and prepare rollback steps.

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Bottom line​

Build 26120.6760 (KB5065793) for the Beta Channel continues Microsoft’s incremental path: practical bug fixes for stability and accessibility, developer APIs for cloud integration, and small but useful UX additions that nudge Copilot discoverability forward. The release demonstrates how Microsoft is shipping binaries broadly while keeping feature exposure controlled by hardware eligibility and server-side flags. For Insiders and IT teams, the pragmatic approach is to test on representative hardware (including Copilot+ devices if you need to exercise on‑device AI), monitor Feedback Hub and Flight Hub for updates, and apply provided workarounds where necessary until final fixes land in future flights.
Conclusion: this flight is worth exploring for testers and Copilot experimenters, but it is not yet a candidate for wide production deployment — plan pilots, validate drivers, and maintain robust rollback paths while Microsoft continues to iterate.

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Source: Microsoft - Windows Insiders Blog Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.6760 (Beta Channel)