Microsoft’s latest Release Preview drop for Windows 11—packaged as KB5065789—delivers one of the broadest mixes of AI-first convenience features, accessibility upgrades, and pragmatic UX polish the OS has seen in a single preview package, while exposing the same trade-offs that have defined Windows’ AI-era rollout: hardware and licensing gates, staged server-side enablement, and regional exclusions.
KB5065789 was issued to Windows Insiders in the Release Preview channel as Microsoft prepares its annual servicing timeline and the enablement-style switches that bring 25H2 features to 24H2 systems. The official Windows Insider post lists these preview builds and explicitly separates changes that are rolling out gradually (feature-flagged, hardware- or license-gated, or regionally limited) from items available to all testers immediately. That staged approach is central to how Microsoft is shipping AI features into the shell: binaries may be present, but activation depends on entitlements and server-side rollout.
Note: the community and press reporting around this release show minor discrepancies in the exact minor build numbers published by different outlets. Microsoft’s official Release Preview announcement cites builds in the 26100.671x / 26200.671x series for 24H2/25H2; a specific build number (26100.6725) reported elsewhere appears inconsistent with Microsoft’s blog and community trackers and should be treated as unverifiable until Microsoft’s official update history confirms it.
Why this matters: File Explorer is where files live; surfacing quick, contextual AI transforms there reduces friction and app switching for everyday photo-tidying and quick content triage.
A few user-visible changes are purely UX refinements: you can now reposition on-screen hardware indicators (volume, brightness, airplane mode, virtual desktops) via Settings → System → Notifications, and IT admins no longer need to restart Explorer to apply taskbar pinning policies (though the pin may take up to ~8 hours to appear depending on refresh cycles).
For organizations and power users, the right response is neither reflexive adoption nor blanket rejection: it’s measured piloting. Test the new flows that matter most to your workflows, map the data paths and license requirements, and scale only when you can prove the features meet your productivity, compliance, and accessibility goals.
(An important procedural note: where third-party coverage or community posts list a specific minor build number that differs from Microsoft’s official Release Preview post, treat the third-party minor build claim as unverified until Microsoft’s update history confirms it. Microsoft’s Windows Insider blog and the official update history are the final authorities on build identifiers.)
Source: Neowin Windows 11 KB5065789 update brings lots of new features
KB5065789 was issued to Windows Insiders in the Release Preview channel as Microsoft prepares its annual servicing timeline and the enablement-style switches that bring 25H2 features to 24H2 systems. The official Windows Insider post lists these preview builds and explicitly separates changes that are rolling out gradually (feature-flagged, hardware- or license-gated, or regionally limited) from items available to all testers immediately. That staged approach is central to how Microsoft is shipping AI features into the shell: binaries may be present, but activation depends on entitlements and server-side rollout. Note: the community and press reporting around this release show minor discrepancies in the exact minor build numbers published by different outlets. Microsoft’s official Release Preview announcement cites builds in the 26100.671x / 26200.671x series for 24H2/25H2; a specific build number (26100.6725) reported elsewhere appears inconsistent with Microsoft’s blog and community trackers and should be treated as unverifiable until Microsoft’s official update history confirms it.
What’s new: the headline features
File Explorer: AI actions arrive in the right-click menu
One of the most visible changes is the addition of AI actions to File Explorer’s context menu. Right-clicking (or Shift+F10) on supported files surfaces a new “AI actions” entry that currently focuses on image edits and Copilot-powered document summarization. The initial image actions listed are:- Visual Search — search the web using an image instead of text.
- Blur Background — open Photos and apply a subject-emphasis blur.
- Erase Objects — remove unwanted elements using Photos’ generative tools.
- Remove Background — launch Paint to isolate the subject and export a cutout.
Why this matters: File Explorer is where files live; surfacing quick, contextual AI transforms there reduces friction and app switching for everyday photo-tidying and quick content triage.
Click to Do: smarter prompts, table detection, and concise summaries
The Click to Do experience (the contextual Copilot suggestions and selection tooling) gains new action tags and improved summarization output. Crucially, Click to Do also adds the ability to detect simple on-screen tables and offer a “Convert to table with Excel” flow: select a table region, and the system can export or copy the captured table directly to Excel. That feature ties desktop selection tooling to spreadsheet workflows and is explicitly positioned as a productivity time-saver.Accessibility: Narrator’s Braille Viewer and reading improvements
Narrator receives substantive upgrades that matter for users with vision disabilities and for accessibility professionals:- Braille Viewer — a floating window that shows on-screen text and its Braille equivalent for connected refreshable Braille displays (or a 40-cell fallback), useful for training, testing, and classroom scenarios.
- Improved voice feedback and navigation in Word — smoother continuous reading, improved treatment of lists, tables, footnotes, and clearer selection and boundary announcements.
Settings, Advanced settings and porting of Control Panel options
Microsoft continues its long-term migration of legacy Control Panel options into Settings. KB5065789 introduces a redesigned Advanced page (the reworked “For developers” surface) and moves additional time, language, and keyboard settings into Settings — everything from adding clocks and editing time servers to Unicode and number/currency formats. The Advanced page also shows Git version control metadata inside File Explorer for repository folders (branch name, diff count, last commit message), a thoughtful convenience for developers.Passkeys and credential manager plugin support
Windows 11’s passkey story advances with a plugin credential manager model: third-party credential vaults (examples include 1Password and similar managers) can register as a system passkey provider. Once enabled from Settings → Accounts → Passkeys → Advanced options, users verify with Windows Hello and can then use or save passkeys via the plugin manager. Microsoft’s platforms documentation and Windows Insider coverage confirm the plugin API and sample implementations for credential managers. This is an important step toward broader, passwordless sign-in compatibility across third-party managers.Gaming, controller polish and Auto Super Resolution
Gaming received small but practical refinements: Xbox controller behavior has been tuned (short press opens Game Bar; long press opens Task View; holding turns off the controller), overlays perform better on multi-monitor setups with differing refresh rates, and Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) continues to be surfaced on Copilot+ hardware (devices with NPUs). Auto SR remains gated to Copilot+ PCs for now, and Microsoft is cautious about broader hardware support until driver and NPU availability improve.Fixes, polish, and known issues
This cumulative preview also brings numerous bug fixes and stability improvements, from DRM playback problems affecting some Blu-ray/DVD/TV apps to fixes for HDR toggling, Dynamic Lighting CPU spikes, touch sign-in issues after sleep, and Windows Sandbox CPU use on first boot. Several settings and UI glitches were addressed, such as overlapping icons on the desktop at high text scaling and mirrored icon problems for RTL languages. Microsoft paired those fixes with modest performance improvements like faster cloud-file launches and lighter context-menu loads.A few user-visible changes are purely UX refinements: you can now reposition on-screen hardware indicators (volume, brightness, airplane mode, virtual desktops) via Settings → System → Notifications, and IT admins no longer need to restart Explorer to apply taskbar pinning policies (though the pin may take up to ~8 hours to appear depending on refresh cycles).
Cross-check: what Microsoft says vs. media coverage vs. community reporting
- Microsoft’s Windows Insider blog provides the definitive feature list and identifies which items are in gradual rollout versus full rollout; that blog post is the authoritative baseline.
- Specialist outlets (Windows Central, The Verge) independently verified File Explorer’s AI actions, summarized supported file types and licensing requirements, and explained the functional limits (image formats and Microsoft 365/Copilot entitlements for document summarization). Those independent reports match Microsoft’s notes and community testing.
- Community trackers and forums have captured minor build increments and subsequent small updates (for example, builds moving from .6713 to .6718 in the Release Preview ring during Sept 12–17 flights). Those threads are useful for practical rollout timing and pilot experiences, but they should not be treated as definitive documentation in place of Microsoft’s official update history.
Strengths: what this update gets right
- Practical AI integration: File Explorer AI actions and Click to Do table capture bring AI tools into the user’s existing workflows where productivity wins are tangible and immediate.
- Accessibility focus: The Narrator enhancements and Braille Viewer are more than incremental—they reflect measurable investments in assistive tech, which benefits both users and organizations with accessibility compliance needs.
- Low-friction enablement model: By continuing the enablement-package approach (ship binaries broadly, flip features by enablement), Microsoft reduces upgrade downtime and gives IT better control for staged testing.
- Developer and pro workflows: Git metadata in File Explorer and advanced settings centralization reduce context switching for developers who work with local repos and command-line tools.
- Third-party passkey plugin model: Opening passkey storage to third-party credential managers (via documented plugin APIs) is a major positive for users who prefer a single password manager for multiple platforms and helps the larger passwordless transition.
Risks and the caveats every IT team should weigh
- Licensing and vendor lock-in
- Many of the most useful Copilot-powered features (Summarize, certain Click to Do transforms) require Microsoft 365 and Copilot licenses. That creates uneven feature availability across mixed-license fleets and increases dependence on Microsoft cloud services for functionality that lives in the OS shell.
- Data flow and governance concerns
- Copilot summarization and some Click to Do flows are cloud-enabled; organizations must map where data leaves the endpoint, how it’s logged, and whether retention practices match compliance policies. In regulated industries, this requires explicit testing and documentation.
- Regional fragmentation
- Microsoft is excluding some AI capabilities from the European Economic Area at rollout, producing heterogeneous user experiences that complicate global deployment plans. Enterprises with international workforces should plan pilot scopes that reflect regional differences.
- Hardware gating and fragmentation
- Features like Auto SR and some Copilot+ performance wins are tied to NPU-enabled Copilot+ hardware. Until broader OEM support and driver maturity arrive, these capabilities will remain niche rather than universal differentiators.
- Staged enablement leaves testing ambiguous
- Because Microsoft rolls out many features server-side and by entitlement, two identical machines on the same build may behave differently. That complicates validation: IT cannot assume a uniform test outcome just because the same cumulative update is installed.
Deployment guidance: a practical checklist for IT and power users
- Confirm Microsoft’s build and update history in the Windows Insider blog or official update history before making rollout decisions. Use winver or Settings → System → About to verify installed builds.
- Pilot KB5065789 in a small, representative ring that includes:
- A subset of Copilot+ devices (if you plan to evaluate Auto SR).
- Users with accessibility needs and assistive tech hardware (refreshable Braille displays, screen readers).
- Business document scenarios that will exercise Copilot Summarize on OneDrive/SharePoint files.
- Inventory licensing: verify Microsoft 365 and Copilot entitlements for accounts that will rely on Copilot-powered Summarize or Click to Do advanced flows.
- Verify data flow and logging: run sample summarization requests and trace network flows to determine which endpoints are contacted and whether logs are retained in ways that meet your compliance needs.
- Test third-party passkey integrations: if you use or plan to support credential managers (1Password, others), validate the plugin passkey workflow and the Windows Hello verification experience.
- Confirm media playback and DRM applications: KB5065789 specifically addresses a playback regression introduced by an earlier servicing update, but you should test your organization’s protected content apps after applying the preview.
- Coordinate training and documentation: because features are staged, prepare internal documentation that shows how to verify if the new AI actions are available (right-click a supported image or check Click to Do), and clearly describe any license or account requirements.
Technical verification and cross-references
- File Explorer AI actions, supported file types (.jpg/.jpeg/.png) and Copilot licensing requirements for Summarize are described in Windows Central’s hands-on coverage and corroborated by Microsoft’s Windows Insider notes. These two independent sources align on scope and gating.
- The Windows Insider blog is the authoritative source for build numbers and the explicit “gradual rollout vs. normal rollout” distinction. Community trackers in elevenforum/eight forums captured subsequent micro-updates (e.g., builds .6713 → .6718 during Sept 12–17), which is normal for Release Preview flights. If a third-party story reports an exact minor build (for example, 26100.6725) that doesn’t match Microsoft’s published entry, treat it as unconfirmed until Microsoft’s update history shows the number.
- Microsoft’s developer documentation and samples demonstrate the plugin passkey model and the APIs for third-party passkey managers; commercial coverage (for example, coverage of 1Password integration) shows how the plugin model is already being used in Insider builds. This cross-check confirms the plug-in approach is real and shipping in preview channels.
Verdict: who should install KB5065789, and when
- Release Preview Insiders and IT pilots: install and test. This update is exactly what Release Preview is for—validate interactions with Microsoft 365/Copilot workflows, test assistive tech and DRM playback, and confirm driver and imaging compatibility before broader rollout.
- Enterprise production fleets: hold and plan. The staged enablement, licensing gates, and EEA exclusions mean that broad deployment should wait until Microsoft announces the general availability rollout and you’ve run a phased pilot.
- Power users and enthusiasts on personal devices: try the update in non-critical environments to experiment with File Explorer AI actions and passkey plugin support, but be prepared for features to be inconsistent across accounts and regions.
Final thoughts
KB5065789 is a concentrated preview of Microsoft’s Windows strategy for the next chapter: bring AI to the places users already work (File Explorer, Click to Do), lean into accessibility improvements that matter, and make developer- and gamer-focused quality-of-life improvements. Those are meaningful wins. At the same time, the package illustrates the current costs of that strategy—feature fragmentation by license, hardware, and geography; additional governance burdens for enterprises; and an ongoing dependency on cloud services for some “desktop” features.For organizations and power users, the right response is neither reflexive adoption nor blanket rejection: it’s measured piloting. Test the new flows that matter most to your workflows, map the data paths and license requirements, and scale only when you can prove the features meet your productivity, compliance, and accessibility goals.
(An important procedural note: where third-party coverage or community posts list a specific minor build number that differs from Microsoft’s official Release Preview post, treat the third-party minor build claim as unverified until Microsoft’s update history confirms it. Microsoft’s Windows Insider blog and the official update history are the final authorities on build identifiers.)
Source: Neowin Windows 11 KB5065789 update brings lots of new features