Windows 11 Dev Channel Build 26220.6982: Copy & Search and Proactive Memory Diagnostics

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6982 (KB5067109) to the Dev Channel, a focused incremental flight that pairs small, practical productivity improvements with early-stage AI experiments and platform reliability work—most notably a one‑click clipboard search called Copy & Search, a post‑crash Proactive Memory Diagnostics flow, and additional gating and polish for Copilot‑related features on Copilot+ hardware.

Background​

Windows Insider Dev Channel builds continue to be delivered as enablement-style cumulative updates tied to the 25H2 track (Build 26220.xxxx). Microsoft separates Dev Channel changes into two clear buckets: (1) features and fixes that are gradually rolled out to Insiders who opt into the “get the latest updates as they are available” toggle, and (2) features and fixes that roll out to everyone in the Dev Channel. This staged model—Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR)—lets Microsoft test UX and telemetry at scale while limiting exposure to early, unstable experiments.
That rollout model explains why identical hardware can show divergent behaviors: server-side flags, account type (personal MSA vs. Work/School Entra ID), region, and Copilot+ hardware entitlements all influence whether a specific feature lands on a particular device. For Insiders who want to maximize early exposure, the Settings > Windows Update toggle remains the single control to increase the likelihood of receiving toggle‑gated features.

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What’s new in Build 26220.6982 — at a glance​

• Copy & Search: a small but immediately useful clipboard-to-search convenience that surfaces a “paste gleam” in the taskbar search box when you copy text, letting you paste and search with one click.
• Proactive Memory Diagnostics: after a bugcheck (unexpected restart), Windows may suggest scheduling a fast Windows Memory Diagnostic scan on the next boot; the scan is short (average under five minutes) and will notify you if corrective action occurs. This is an early flight and currently excludes Arm64 devices, devices using Administrator Protection, and BitLocker volumes without Secure Boot.
• Voice Typing — “Wait time before acting”: a new setting for Copilot+ PCs that controls the delay between recognized speech and command execution, improving accuracy for varying speech cadences.
• Settings polish: Device Cards and the About page were reorganized for clarity, with faster access to related device pages (including Storage) and an improved, scrollable Search flyout.
• Click to Do discoverability: a first‑run hint helps users discover Click to Do actions, though the hint currently duplicates across multiple monitors when present.
• File Explorer & enterprise: File Explorer Home hover actions (previously limited to personal Microsoft accounts) are now available for enterprise customers as part of the staged rollout.
• Windows Studio Effects: camera effects are being broadened to support additional cameras on Snapdragon and AMD Copilot+ PCs, expanding beyond the initial Intel Copilot+ hardware gating.
• Numerous quality fixes addressing taskbar, input, File Explorer, Widgets login, administrative prompts, and Task Manager groupings.

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Deep dive: Copy & Search — small change, big convenience​

What it does and how it looks​

Copy & Search adds a lightweight visual affordance to the taskbar search box: after copying text anywhere in Windows—web pages, documents, chat windows, or error messages—a subtle “paste gleam” appears inside the taskbar search box. Click that gleam and the copied text is pasted into Search instantly, letting you run a lookup without manually activating Search and pasting. The flow is deliberately short and discoverable: copy → glance at taskbar → click the gleam → search.

Why it matters​

This shortcut removes two user actions (open Search, paste text) and the resulting micro‑friction matters. For anyone who frequently transfers snippets—error codes, command lines, references, or quotes—into web searches, this is a speed win that integrates clipboard usage with the broader Windows Search surface.

Privacy and enterprise risk​

Any feature that couples clipboard content and a search surface raises privacy questions in enterprise contexts. While the experience appears to paste the text locally into the Search UI (no public indication of backend transmission), organizations should evaluate how clipboard content is handled by their DLP policies. Sensitive values—passwords, API keys, PHI—sometimes live briefly on clipboards; administrators should treat clipboard-affecting features as a potential data-loss vector until formal documentation explicitly enumerates telemetry and retention behavior.

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Deep dive: Proactive Memory Diagnostics — pragmatic post‑crash triage​

What Microsoft shipped​

Proactive Memory Diagnostics is a pragmatic reliability feature: if Windows experienced a bugcheck (unexpected restart), you may see a sign-in notification suggesting a quick memory scan. If accepted, Windows schedules the Windows Memory Diagnostic to run during the next reboot. Microsoft estimates this quick scan takes on average 5 minutes or less and will present a follow-up notification if issues are found and mitigations applied. Because this is an early flight, Microsoft currently triggers scans on all bugcheck codes while it studies which crash codes most strongly correlate with memory corruption.

Where it is and isn’t supported (early flight limitations)​

This early experience excludes certain configurations: it is not supported on Arm64 devices, systems with Administrator Protection enabled, or devices with BitLocker enabled without Secure Boot. Those exclusions matter for enterprise testers and for users relying on strong endpoint protections. Microsoft intends to refine the trigger logic in future flights to reduce noise from unrelated bugchecks.

Practical implications and recommendations​

• Treat Proactive Memory Diagnostics as a diagnostic triage tool rather than a final warranty action. It’s intended to speed detection of memory faults that could cause repeat crashes.
• Pilot it in a controlled test ring that mirrors production hardware and firmware configurations; avoid blanket enablement in mixed fleet deployments.
• Validate outcomes against hardware vendor diagnostics and warranty guidance—some false positives or transient DIMM errors can appear under heavy telemetry sampling.

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Voice Typing & Copilot+ gating​

The new “Wait time before acting” setting in Voice Typing aims to reduce false command triggers by allowing users to tune the delay between recognized speech and the execution of voice commands. Microsoft targets this to Copilot+ PCs—machines with specific hardware and entitlement profiles that enable on‑device model inference for low-latency AI features. This setting is a good example of incremental accessibility and interaction tuning that benefits people with slower or more deliberate speech patterns. However, the hardware gating means the feature is not guaranteed to appear on every Insider device; Copilot+ entitlements and regional gating remain determinative.

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Settings, Search, and Click to Do: discoverability and polish​

Build 26220.6982 includes several UI polish items that generally improve discoverability:

• Settings — Device Cards & About: device information is reorganized into clearer cards and the About page emphasizes structured navigation and quick access to related pages, including Storage. These changes are small but lower the cognitive cost for device management tasks.
• Search flyout scroll: you can now scroll through search results directly within the flyout, avoiding the need to open a separate results page for quick lookups. This improves speed for short queries.
• Click to Do hinting: new first-run hints surface helpful actions for users unfamiliar with Click to Do; the current known issue shows the hint appearing on every monitor in multi‑display setups and not dismissing correctly when closed on one screen. Expect this to be refined in subsequent builds.

These efforts show Microsoft is iterating on discoverability—nudges and inline hints—rather than broad redesigns, privileging incremental gains that reduce friction for specific workflows.

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File Explorer, Taskbar, and Windows Studio Effects​

File Explorer​

• Enterprise access to hover actions: hover actions previously restricted to personal Microsoft accounts are now extended to enterprise customers in this rollout, letting enterprise users benefit from quick hover commands in File Explorer Home. This is notable for admins evaluating productivity gains from File Explorer Home enhancements.
• Minor fixes such as resolving an infinite search icon animation loop and copy dialog rendering issues in dark mode are included; some dark‑mode copy dialog issues remain in the known issues list.

Taskbar​

• Microsoft restarted the rollout of updated taskbar animations; additionally, several taskbar reliability fixes are included (e.g., pen hovering incorrectly hiding the taskbar and voice access interactions with numbered taskbar items). These fixes address day‑to‑day annoyance regressions that can decrease perceived stability for power users.

Windows Studio Effects​

Windows Studio Effects—the on‑device camera enhancements used for background blur, eye contact, and framing—are being expanded to support more cameras on Snapdragon and AMD Copilot+ devices. Initially exclusive to Intel Copilot+ devices, this expansion indicates Microsoft is broadening vendor support for on‑device camera effects. Expect OEM camera firmware and driver updates to play a key role in reliable preview and capture; Microsoft notes known compatibility problems and advises disabling Studio Effects for problematic cameras until drivers/firmware are fixed.

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Fixes in this flight — selected highlights​

This build bundles a number of quality fixes addressing common reclamations from Insiders:

• Resolved broken text actions using the Phi‑Silica model in Click to Do and Recall.
• Fixed taskbar hide behavior when hovering with a pen and voice access number‑invocation issues.
• Corrected a login-screen touch keyboard disappearance issue.
• Fixed a stuck animation in File Explorer search and improved Widgets login reliability.
• Addressed UAC text truncation when running applications as administrator and Task Manager grouping issues.
• Cosmetic update: rounded button corners in shutdown prompts when apps are running.

These fixes are the kind of iterative quality work that disproportionately improves daily experience even when the developer-visible features are minor.

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Known issues to watch for​

Microsoft lists several active investigations and persistent known issues that Insiders should consider before installing:

• A new investigation into keyboards and other USB devices not functioning for a small number of Insiders after recent flights. This is a high-impact regression for affected users and underscores the risk of running Dev Channel builds on primary machines.
• The Start menu may not open on click for some Insiders (it still opens with the Windows key) and the notification center may also be impacted.
• In some installs, apps may not appear in the system tray when they should.
• File Explorer copy dialog in dark mode can show flashing progress or missing scrollbars and footer when text is scaled.

Because these issues range from cosmetic to functionally blocking, the standard guidance remains: do not deploy Dev Channel builds on production or mission‑critical hardware; use isolated test rigs or virtual machines for evaluation.

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Analysis — what this flight signals about Microsoft’s priorities​

• Incremental productivity improvements: Copy & Search and Search flyout scrolling are small ergonomics wins that reduce micro‑friction in everyday tasks. Microsoft is favoring “micro-optimizations” that compound into measurable time savings for frequent tasks.
• On‑device AI and hardware gating: Features tied to Copilot+ PCs—Voice Typing tuning, Click to Do model-powered suggestions, Windows Studio Effects—reflect Microsoft’s ongoing strategy to enable low-latency on‑device AI experiences when hardware permits, while retaining cloud-based fallbacks where appropriate. This creates a bifurcated experience: Copilot+ machines will see richer local AI functionality sooner, while other devices will wait. That hardware-based gating is deliberate but complicates testing and support.
• Reliability-first experiments: Proactive Memory Diagnostics shows Microsoft prioritizing quick, actionable diagnostics to reduce repeat crashes, but the initial broad trigger set indicates the team is still tuning signal vs noise. Tightening trigger criteria and clarifying support boundaries will be necessary before broad adoption.
• Controlled rollout and telemetry-driven iteration: CFR enables Microsoft to watch telemetry and iterate rapidly—but it also produces inconsistent experiences across seemingly similar devices. This increases the importance of localized testing for IT and OEM partners.

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Practical guidance — who should install, who should wait​

• Install if:
• You are an active Windows Insider who expects instability and wants early exposure to Copilot/AI experiments and new diagnostics.
• You are testing feature parity for hardware or software integrations (camera firmware, storage providers, accessibility tooling).
• Avoid installing on production machines if:
• You need predictable uptime, certified apps, or enterprise-grade support. Known regressions affecting input devices, the Start menu, or system tray behavior can disrupt daily workflows.
• For IT/enterprise pilots:
• Use a small pilot ring that mirrors production hardware and security posture (Administrator Protection, BitLocker, Secure Boot).
• Validate any clipboard/search interactions against DLP policies and confirm whether Proactive Memory Diagnostics behavior matches your incident response and warranty processes.
• Work with OEMs to ensure camera firmware and drivers are up to date if testing Windows Studio Effects.

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Quick checklist — how to get the most from this build​

• Enroll a test device in the Dev Channel via Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program and toggle “get the latest updates as they are available” if you want the fastest access to staged experiments.
• For Copilot+ experiences, verify device entitlement and firmware/driver currency from your OEM; many AI features require certified hardware and updated drivers.
• When evaluating Proactive Memory Diagnostics, run controlled crash scenarios and confirm the scheduled scan behavior and notifications before wider rollouts.
• If you rely on external cameras, test Windows Studio Effects with each camera and have a rollback for firmware/drivers that don’t play well with the preview.

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Risks, cautions, and unverifiable claims​

• The build notes indicate the Proactive Memory Diagnostics triggers are broad in this early flight; this is an explicit design choice while Microsoft studies correlations between bugchecks and memory corruption. That approach can produce false positives—monitor telemetry closely during pilots.
• Some file-search and community trackers referenced small variations in build identifiers or timing across adjacent flights in the 26220.x family; where a discrepancy exists between local update metadata and public summaries, confirm the authoritative state via Settings > Windows Update on the target device. If any KB/build-number mismatch appears, treat on-device metadata as the ground truth.
• Any implicit or explicit claim that clipboard contents are never transmitted outside the device should be treated as unverified until Microsoft publishes explicit telemetry and privacy documentation for Copy & Search. Administrators should assume clipboard data may be observed by local UI surfaces and evaluate DLP accordingly.

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Conclusion​

Build 26220.6982 (KB5067109) is a classic Dev Channel checkpoint: practical, incremental usability wins layered on careful experiments in on‑device AI and diagnostics. Copy & Search is a tidy productivity tweak that improves a small but common workflow; Proactive Memory Diagnostics underscores Microsoft’s focus on making triage faster for crash-prone systems; and the continued hardware gating around Copilot+ features shows Microsoft’s emphasis on low‑latency, local model execution where the silicon and firmware allow it. The flight also bundles the usual set of reliability fixes and a handful of known issues that merit caution for production deployment.
For Insiders and IT teams, the sensible approach is selective pilot testing: enable the toggle on disposable or pilot machines, validate behavior against organizational policies (especially around clipboard and diagnostics), and coordinate with OEMs where camera or firmware dependencies are involved. For the average enthusiast, this build delivers meaningful everyday polish without radical change—provided you accept the usual Dev Channel tradeoffs.

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Source: Microsoft - Windows Insiders Blog Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6982 (Dev Channel)