Windows 11 Build 26100.5061 (KB5064081): AI features, Recall, and IT changes

Deep Dive: Windows 11 Build 26100.5061 (KB5064081) — what’s new, what to watch for, and how to handle it​

Published: August 14, 2025
Microsoft today released Windows 11 Build 26100.5061 (packaged as KB5064081) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel for Windows 11, version 24H2 (OS build 26100). This is a “quality + features” update for the 24H2 track that continues to fold in AI-powered experiences, usability refinements, and a number of reliability and compatibility fixes. It also includes a few policy/footprint changes that IT teams should plan for.
Below you’ll find a detailed, practical breakdown geared toward forum readers and power users: what’s included, which changes are gradual vs. broadly rolling out, hardware and account requirements for the AI pieces, potential risks (including privacy and compatibility), recommended pre-install steps, rollback and troubleshooting guidance, and suggestions for IT admins planning deployments.
Summary — the headline items

• Release: Windows 11 Build 26100.5061 (KB5064081), released to Windows Insider Release Preview on August 14, 2025.
• Two delivery patterns: “Gradual rollout” (features will appear for subsets of devices over time) and “Normal rollout” (features/fixes delivered broadly).
• Big user-visible items: Recall (personal timeline / snapshots) improvements; Click to Do (interactive on-screen actions and text/image AI actions); new AI actions in File Explorer (image edits, document summarization via Copilot/M365); redesigned device permission dialogs; taskbar and task manager refinements; redesigned Advanced Settings page in Settings.
• Enterprise-focused changes: Windows Backup for Organizations moves toward general availability and PowerShell 2.0 is being removed starting with Windows 11, version 24H2 (August 2025) — plan compatibility testing and script migrations now.
• Copilot/AI features: Many of the new AI features target Copilot+ PCs and may rely on on-device NPU resources and/or Microsoft 365 licensing (for Copilot integration).

What “gradual rollout” means (and which features are in that category)
Microsoft explicitly splits some features into a gradual rollout model. That means after the build is published they will enable certain features for a subset of Insiders first and expand availability over days/weeks. Expect staggered appearance of these items on your PC; not everyone will see everything immediately.
Notable gradual-rollout features in this update:

• Recall: a redesigned homepage that highlights recent activity, “Recent Snapshots” and “Top Apps and Websites,” plus a left navigation bar with Home, Timeline, Feedback, and Settings. Recall still requires opt-in snapshot collection to actually store screenshots. (Recall is an opt-in feature and includes filters for apps/websites and sensitive information.)
• Click to Do: a first-run interactive tutorial appears the first time you launch it; Click to Do provides local, on-device actions on text and images (summarize text, remove image background, etc.). Some functions require Copilot+ PC hardware and/or language/account conditions.
• Redesigned system dialogs for permission requests (location, camera, mic, etc.): visual refresh — screen dims slightly and the prompt is centered for better clarity.
• Taskbar refinements: the notification center can show a larger clock with seconds (optional), and fixes to thumbnail preview behavior.
• File Explorer AI actions: right‑click on supported images or documents to run Visual Search, Blur Background, Erase Objects, Remove Background, or Summarize (Summarize of documents relies on Microsoft 365 Copilot and requires a subscription + license). File Explorer also shows persona/activity indicators when signed in with a work or school (Entra) account.

Features and fixes delivered broadly in this update (normal rollout)
These items are included in the update for all Insiders who get the build (subject to standard phased Windows Update rollouts):

• Reliability and compatibility fixes:
• Device management: fixes to system recovery/file-sharing conflicts that interfered with some device-management tooling.
• File system: ReFS memory exhaustion when backing up very large files addressed.
• Input: fixes for Chinese IME and touch keyboard issues, and a number of reliability improvements for IMEs and the text input framework.
• Performance: fixes targeting slow installer behavior on ARM64 devices.
• dbgcore.dll and certain app crashes: fixes to prevent explorer.exe and other apps from crashing in some scenarios.
• Windows Hello improvements: modernized Windows Hello UI across sign-in flows; fixes where face recognition succeeded but then failed to let you sign in.
• Task Manager: CPU workload metrics standardized across the UI with an optional “CPU Utility” column to show the older metric if you prefer it.
• Settings / Advanced settings redesign:
• The For Developers page has been reworked into a new Advanced page at Settings > System > Advanced. It consolidates developer and system-level toggles (Enable long paths, Virtual workspaces, File Explorer + version control, etc.).
• New device card on Settings home (shows key PC specs); initially visible when signed in with a Microsoft account in the U.S. only.
• Text and Image Generation page: visibility into which third-party apps have recently used Windows’ generative models, and controls to permit/deny those apps.
• Windows Backup for Organizations: flagged as generally available (enterprise backup/restore solution for Entra-joined devices; IT controls via Intune). This is designed to simplify device refresh and migration workflows for organizations that use Microsoft Entra and Intune.
• PowerShell 2.0 removal: Windows will no longer include Windows PowerShell 2.0 starting in August 2025 for Windows 11, version 24H2. PowerShell 2.0 was deprecated in 2017 and is being removed to reduce legacy surface area; PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7.x remain available. If you or any vendor tools depend on PS 2.0, plan for migration.

Copilot, Copilot+ PCs, and hardware/account requirements
A lot of the new AI experiences in this build are targeted at Copilot+ PCs (devices with on-device NPU acceleration and certified hardware). Key requirements and notes:

• Copilot+ PC hardware expectations (representative minimums used by Microsoft for AI-heavy features): an on-device NPU capable of roughly 40 TOPS, 16 GB RAM, at least 8 logical processors, and 256 GB storage. Some features may be initially limited to specific SoC families and then expanded.
• Some AI features require a Microsoft account or Microsoft Entra account, and others (Document Summarize in File Explorer via Copilot) require an active Microsoft 365 subscription + Copilot license and appropriate Entra/M365 entitlements for business accounts.
• Several on-device AI models (e.g., summarization, text rewrites) are executed locally using the NPU (model name “Phi Silica” referenced in Microsoft docs) on Copilot+ PCs; that reduces cloud roundtrips but does not eliminate any cloud-bound actions you choose (e.g., “Search the web” or “Visual search”), which will send content to online services.

Privacy and safety considerations — Recall and Click to Do
These AI-driven features are convenient, but they carry privacy and compliance implications you should be aware of:

• Recall (snapshots): Recall takes frequent snapshots of your screen to let you “retrace your steps.” It is opt-in for snapshot collection; when enabled, snapshots are stored and encrypted and protected by Windows Hello. You can filter apps and websites so they are not captured in snapshots, and there’s a sensitive-information filter that's turned on by default, but early testing and reporting by independent outlets has shown the filter can still miss some cases. If you enable Recall:
• Configure filters to exclude banking sites and other sensitive apps.
• Use Windows Hello to secure access to Recall data.
• Understand snapshots are stored locally on-device (but backups / sync behaviors may depend on your settings / organization policy).
• If you manage machines for enterprise users, Recall can be disabled by policy; admins can control snapshot saving and filter lists.
• Click to Do: the analysis step runs locally on-device when you explicitly engage the feature; actions that depend on web searches or visual search will send content to the cloud only when you choose that action. Click to Do creates temporary files during transfers; these are not stored long-term by the feature itself.

Given evolving expectations and past public criticism of screenshot-style features, treat Recall as a powerful, potentially privacy-sensitive tool — do not enable snapshot saving on devices that handle regulated data unless your compliance team signs off.
Before you install: recommended pre-update checklist
If you plan to install this build (Insider Release Preview or once it rolls to a broader ring), follow these prep steps:

• Backup first — at minimum create a system restore point or a full disk image. If you’re on a managed device, ensure your IT-approved image/backup strategy is current.
• Make sure your drivers (especially GPU and chipset) are up to date. Some earlier 26100-series builds saw performance issues with certain drivers; update GPU drivers from vendor channels if you see regressions.
• If you rely on older automation or installers, check for PowerShell 2.0 dependencies (scheduled tasks or installers explicitly calling –Version 2). Update scripts to use PowerShell 5.1 or 7.x.
• If you’re an admin, test the build in a small pilot group before broad deployment and verify critical line-of-business apps and installers.
• If you have concerns about Recall or Click to Do, plan communication with end-users and consider enabling policies that prevent snapshot saving until you have a tested filtering policy in place.

How to get the update (Insider Release Preview)

• Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program: ensure your PC is enrolled in the Release Preview Channel and check for updates. The build is being distributed in phases, so you may not see it immediately even if enrolled — that’s expected.

How to roll back or uninstall the update
If you hit issues after installing:

• Go to Settings > System > Recovery > Advanced recovery > Uninstall updates (or Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates) and remove the problematic quality update.
• If uninstalling fails or the system does not boot, use recovery media (WinRE) to restore an image or roll back to a previous restore point / system image.
• For enterprise image management, stage the update in Windows Update for Business rings or test in a small collection before broader deployment.

Troubleshooting tips for known or likely issues
Based on the update notes and community reports from earlier 26100-series builds, here are practical troubleshooting steps:

• File Explorer problems (context menu or crash): if you see crashes after installing, try clearing File Explorer cache, disable third-party shell extensions with ShellExView, and test with a clean user profile. If problematic shell extensions are the culprit, update or remove them.
• Taskbar thumbnail / preview issues: reboot Explorer (Task Manager > Windows Explorer > Restart). If specific hover thumbnails still behave badly, check for updated GPU drivers (Intel, NVIDIA, AMD), and report feedback via Feedback Hub with a repro.
• Windows Hello facial recognition fails after success: go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Facial recognition and use “Improve recognition,” or remove and re-register the face data if the issue persists.
• IME / input issues (Chinese IME first character missing after copy): if the IME misbehaves, try toggling the IME off and back on, update language packs, and install any language-related optional features via Settings > Time & language > Language & region. Send Feedback Hub logs if it reproduces consistently.
• Audio hangs / playback failures: restart Windows Audio services, ensure audio drivers are updated, and check Event Viewer for service hang traces. If widespread, hold the update on similar hardware pending driver updates.

Enterprise guidance: Windows Backup for Organizations and PowerShell 2.0 removal

• Windows Backup for Organizations: if you’re evaluating the new enterprise backup/restore capability, note that the preview requires Microsoft Entra-joined devices and Intune administration for full restore workflows. Test with a throwaway Intune tenant and pilot users. The feature aims to restore user environment settings (not apps), but you must verify which categories of settings your organization needs are covered.
• PowerShell 2.0 removal: audit your estate for scripts/installers that explicitly invoke PowerShell 2.0. Tools that hard-check for the presence of PS 2.0 will need a patch or workaround. Microsoft recommends migrating to PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7.x; if immediate migration is not feasible, isolate legacy workflows in VMs/containers that retain older engines.

How to provide feedback / file bugs

• Use the Feedback Hub (Start > Feedback Hub) and include repro steps, hardware details, exact build number (Build 26100.5061), and attach logs/data when possible. For enterprise bugs, open a Premier / paid support case if the issue blocks production workloads.

Practical recommendations (quick reference)

• Home users: feel free to try the Release Preview build once you’re comfortable with some features being behind gradual rollouts. If you rely on legacy apps or special input methods, test first or delay until the feature is widely available. Consider delaying Recall snapshot collection until you confirm filter behavior for your typical app set.
• Power users and tinkerers: the new AI actions in File Explorer and Click to Do are worth testing on Copilot+ hardware. If you want to avoid any AI collection, don’t opt into Recall’s snapshot saving.
• IT admins: prioritize PowerShell audit and vendor checks now. Pilot Windows Backup for Organizations in test tenants only, and validate which settings categories it preserves in your scenario. Use staged deployment rings for the update.

Bottom-line takeaways

• Build 26100.5061 (KB5064081) continues Microsoft’s push to integrate AI features into Windows while also delivering stability fixes and enterprise tooling updates. The update surface includes convenience features (Click to Do, File Explorer AI actions), UI polish, and some important enterprise changes (Windows Backup for Organizations, removal of PowerShell 2.0).
• AI features are increasingly tied to Copilot+ hardware and on-device NPU resources — not all PCs will see the full experience. Many features are opt-in for privacy reasons, but you should still evaluate the privacy filter and policy controls before enabling them on devices that handle sensitive data.
• Administrators must plan specifically for PowerShell 2.0 removal (August 2025) and should pilot the Windows Backup for Organizations workflow before broad adoption.

If you want

• A short checklist you can copy for pilot testing (what to test first, what to block), I can produce one tailored for home users, power users, or enterprise IT.
• Step-by-step rollback instructions with screenshots and exact Settings navigation for different failure scenarios.
• A script to scan a fleet for PowerShell 2.0 usage (scheduled tasks, installers that call –Version 2, etc.) that you can run as a health check.

Which of the above would you like next — a compact pilot checklist, rollback walkthrough, or the PowerShell‑2.0 audit script for your environment?

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Source: Microsoft - Windows Insiders Blog Releasing Windows 11 Build 26100.5061 to the Release Preview Channel