Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25252 adds a VPN status indicator on the system tray

[harlan4096]

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25252 to the Dev Channel. It adds a VPN status indicator to the network icon in the system tray.



What's new in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25252

VPN status indicator on the network icon

Windows 11 will display a badge on the network icon to indicate that you are connected to a VPN. The shield icon is quite useful as you don't have to click the icon to access the Quick Settings and check whether the VPN connection is active or not, and it doesn't clutter the system tray by adding another icon.



This feature won't work if you use a VPN client directly, for example, if you have installed the Proton VPN app on your computer, and use it to manage your connection. You will need to set up a VPN profile from the Network and Internet settings to get this badge to show up on the internet icon. I tested this with a Proton VPN IKEv2 profile, and it works perfectly.



Search bar on the Taskbar

Microsoft continues its experiments with the Search bar on the Taskbar. The Redmond company says that it is giving users the option to change the treatment of Search on the Taskbar from the Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items. These options are only available for users who have the new experience available to them.

Fixes in Windows 11 Build 25252

Explorer.exe should no longer crash if the Alt+F4 hotkey is triggered and the show hidden icons flyout option is active in the system tray. The battery icon's tooltip will alert you when your device is charging slowly. Users who have the tablet-optimized taskbar can expand the taskbar without invoking the Start menu.

Folders in the Start menu were not opening on the first try, Microsoft has fixed this issue.

The issue that was leading some apps such as Media Player to crash while playing media in the background has been patched. A bugcheck with the error SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION was occurring after upgrading to the previous flight, this issue has been resolved in the latest update. Windows should not put your PC to sleep if it is configured to stay awake. Copying files from network to local drives was slower than normal, this bug has also been patched.

Known issues in Windows 11 Build 25252

8 new bugs have been added to the list of known issues in the Windows 11 Insider Preview Program's Dev Channel. Five of these issues are related to the search box in the tablet optimized taskbar.

A floating search box may appear on the desktop when you change the primary monitor, Microsoft is asking users to toggle the Search option under the Personalization > Taskbar > Search page as a workaround for this problem.  The search box may not be visible on non-active monitors when the search flyout is open, this issue only affects users who have the “Show my taskbar on all displays” enabled in their Settings. Clicking the search box will result in a flash before the flyout appears. There are some text layout issues in the search box in  right-to-left display languages like Arabic. Some Japanese IME candidate items may appear to be clipped inside the search box.

The Widgets panel may not be visible for some users. Microsoft is recommending the affected users to download and install the Windows Web Experience Pack from the Microsoft Store before upgrading to Windows 11 Build 25252.  If you skip the Widgets app and upgrade to the latest build, it will result in Explorer.exe to crash in a loop, and you will have to roll back to the previous build.

A bug in Windows 11 Build 25247 and above is preventing users from accessing certain secondary drives and PCI devices. The affected devices may also display an error in Device Manager. Accessing the Bluetooth section from the Quick Settings may lead to a crash, users are advised to access the Settings > Bluetooth & Devices page to manage their devices until a fix for the problem is released.

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1020 and 22623.1020 have been released to the Beta Channel, with support for new Braille displays, input and output in Narrator.
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