[German]Microsoft has just released Windows 11 build 25136 for Insiders. The details can be found in the Windows Blog, where you can also read that tabs and the navigation of the file explorer will be rolled out to Windows Insiders. The tabs have been tested with Insiders from time to time. Notepad and Media Player have also received an update (see). Under the hood, however, Microsoft also seems to be experimenting with the search in the taskbar, which is now may be somehow arranged on the left.
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Rafael Rivera have noticed this new feature and he made it public in the following tweet. There is an option to move the search field to the left corner of the taskbar.
However, the whole thing is hidden and the SearchBoxLowerLeft feature must be explicitly enabled with the vivetool using the following statement.
vivetool addconfig 37010913 2
The vivetool is available for free on GitHub and allows to unlock hidden Windows features. he above instruction is to be entered in an administrative prompt under the Insider Preview build in question. If you prefer to work with a user interface, you can also use the vivetool GUI and search for the ID 37010913 or SearchBoxLowerLeft. Then the feature can be enabled or disabled.
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Ok, Microsoft's developers has started again with some experimenting. But I'm wondering, whether they have a final plan? We have had a Windows 10 GUI, where the search bar was on the left side of the taskbar. Then Redmond decided to re-use the work they invested into the failed Windows 10X and announced Windows 11 with big fanfares. Since then, all elements of start menu are centered, the inofficial way to move that element to the left has been removed in some Windows 11 builds. Now they seems to think to bring seach widget back to the left in taskbar.
When I look at the reactions of users on Twitter, they are quite mixed. There is already the tenor "what's that all about?" When I then count how upset users reacted to Microsoft's staggered rollout of search highlights – and realize that these search highlights collide with HP drivers (see the links at the end of the article), I'm asking "what's Microsoft's master plan?".
Similar articles:
Windows 10: New icons for Search Highlights in the search area, who else has this? (April 26, 2022)
Windows 10: Microsoft expands "search highlights" in search area (May 19, 2022)
Windows 10 21H1 – 21H2/Server 20H2: Preview Update KB5014023 (June 2, 2022) with bug fixes
Windows 10 21H2: Explorer and taskbar issues due to "HP Development Company, L.P. – Extension – 8.10.5.34686"
Windows 10 21H2: Explorer /Taskbar issuses – a collision between Search Highlights and "HP Development Company, L.P. – Extension – 8.10.5.34686"
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