July 28, 2026—KB5101684 (OS Builds 26200.8973 and 26100.8973) Preview

Applies To
Windows 11 version 25H2, all editions Windows 11 version 24H2, all editions

This cumulative update for Windows 11, version 25H2 and 24H2 (KB5101684), includes production-quality improvements. 

Announcements and messages

This section provides key notifications related to this release, including announcements, change logs, and end-of-support notices.  

Windows Secure Boot certificate expiration

Important: Secure Boot certificates used by most Windows devices expire starting in June 2026. Microsoft has been updating these certificates on consumer and non-managed business devices over the past several months. Devices that haven’t received the newer certificates will continue to start and operate normally, and standard Windows updates will continue to install. Updated certificates will continue to be delivered through Windows Update in the coming months. For more information, see Windows Secure Boot certificate expiration and CA updates.

End of updates

Windows 11, version 24H2 Home and Pro editions will reach end of updates on October 13, 2026. Devices running these editions will no longer receive fixes for known issues, time zone updates, technical support, or monthly security and preview updates containing protections from the latest security threats. Enterprise and Education editions remain supported until October 12, 2027.

To stay protected and up to date, we recommend you upgrade to the latest version of Windows 11.

Change log
Change date Change description
July 28, 2026 Added a highlight for mobile device management (MDM)

Highlights

This update is available through two release phases: gradual rollout and normal rollout. A gradual rollout delivers an update in phases, so features reach devices over time instead of all at once, meaning availability varies by device. A normal rollout is the broad release to all eligible devices at the same time, usually when it reaches general availability (GA). 

The following summary outlines features from AI-powered Windows 11 PC experiences, along with improvements and fixes. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change.

Windows 11 PC experiences

This section highlights some new features and enhancements for Windows 11 PCs, including AI-powered capabilities, continuous innovation, and performance improvements.

File Explorer

  • File sizes in the Details view now display using appropriate units (KB, MB, GB) instead of KB-only, making them easier to understand at a glance.

  • Middle click to open a folder in a new tab is now supported in the Address Bar and the Home page for a more consistent and efficient tabbed navigation experience across File Explorer.

  • This update eliminates a grey flash on load and unexpected scrolling to the top on the Home page in certain cases.

  • This update improves the appearance of file thumbnails in the Recommended section on the Home page so they’re crisper and easier to read.

  • This update improves app search to better handle typos and partial app names when finding installed apps.

  • This update improves Settings relevance to surface more useful settings higher in search results.

Voice Access

  • New! This update adds Voice Isolation to Voice Access, helping it better recognize your voice by reducing interference from other speakers and background noise. Voice Access now offers three speed recognition modes under Voice Access settings > Improve speech recognition:

    • Voice Isolation — Filters out other speakers and background noise (one-time voice setup required).

    • Remove background noise only — Filters out non-speech sounds like typing or door slams. No additional setup needed.

    • No filtering — Default microphone input with no additional processing.

    • To set up Voice Isolation, go to Voice Access settings > Improve speech recognition and select Voice Isolation.

  • New! This update adds Korean language support for voice access.

  • This update improves the realiability of starting Voice Access.

Widgets

  • New! Taskbar notification badges now use your Windows accent color instead of appearing red, helping reduce unnecessary attention-grabbing alerts.
  • New! This update also simplifies the Lock screen Widgets experience. For new users, Weather is now the only widget shown on the Lock screen by default.

Touchpad

  • New! New gesture controls for precision touchpads are available in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad:

    • Scroll and zoom speed — Adjust the baseline speed for scroll and zoom gestures.

    • Accelerated scrolling — Scroll faster the more you repeat the gesture, so you can move quickly through long documents.

Start menu

  • The update improves the reliability of Start menu view preferences, ensuring your selected view is retained.

  • This update improves keyboard navigation when keyboard focus was set to the apps list within Start menu.

Voice Typing

  • Fluid dictation is now off by default for new users. A teaching tip is also available when the feature is used for the first time.

Input

  • This update improves persistence of mouse cursor size.

Windowing

  • This update ensures system dialogs open at the appropriate size on small tablets.

Accessibility

  • This update improves the Magnifier experience on touch-enabled devices. The horizontal and vertical touch bars used to pan the magnified view are now off by default, so they no longer obstruct magnified content. If you use touch to pan, you can turn the bars back on in Settings > Accessibility > Magnifier.

Windows Hello

  • New! Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security (ESS) now supports peripheral fingerprint sensors. This update extends this secure sign in option beyond devices with built in fingerprint sensors to include desktops and other Windows 11 PCs, including Copilot+ PCs. To get started, plug in a supported ESS fingerprint reader, go to Settings > Accounts > Sign in options, and follow the prompts to enroll. This feature was previously disclosed in January 2026 (KB5074105) and is now beginning to roll out.

Fonts

  • This update restores support for Unicode variation sequences in the Myanmar Text font.

  • This update improves character shaping and rendering for Mongolian Baiti font, providing more accurate and consistent text display.

Account Control

  • This update refreshes the design of the Start menu account control and adds a badge that displays your subscription status. To view your account control, open the Start menu and select your account picture in the lower-left corner. This experience is available for users signed in with a Microsoft account. 1

Taskbar

  • This update improves reliability of loading the system tray area of the taskbar when using the taskbar on touch devices in a tablet posture.

AI Component

  • This update allows you to remove the Image Generation AI component from supported Copilot+ PCs where the component is installed.

Windows Setup

  • This update adds a parental controls notice during Windows setup that highlights available family safety features.

Power and Battery

  • This update improves the reliability of power settings by applying changes made in Settings to all power plans. This includes display, sleep, hibernate, power button, sleep button, and lid-close settings, helping ensure your preferences are consistently maintained.
  • This update restores the ability to set a threshold for when energy saver should enable within Settings > System > Power & Battery.

Windows Update

  • This update improves calculation of update progress progression in Windows Update Settings.

  • This update includes changes to update clean-up logic to improve system performance immediately following an update.

Sounds

  • This update improves system sounds when using Windows in dark mode.

Date and Time

  • This update improves detection for triggering time zone change notifications.

  • This update improves daylight saving time (DST) data accuracy for Middle East Standard Time (Beirut), Morocco Standard Time (Casablanca), Israel Standard Time (Jerusalem), and Greenland Standard Time (Nuuk).

Network

  • This update improves the reliability of DHCP renewals in a few scenarios, particularly in the case of NACKs received from the DHCP server, as well as on devices that use Modern Standby.

Print

  • This update improves print time performance (page per minute) for IPPS (Internet Printing Protocol Secure) printers.

Clipboard

  • This update improves clipboard reliability in some Remote Desktop and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) scenarios.

General Reliability

  • This update improves explorer.exe reliability, including when opening Jump Lists and recent files, when sharing files and folders, and when using Task View and multiple desktops.

  • This update improves the reliability of the Windows sign-in and lock screens, especially when system memory is low. It also improves the reliability of the Start menu and taskbar during startup.

1Feature availability varies by device and market.

Components updates

AI components

This release updates the following AI components to version 1.2607.840.0: Image Search, Content Extraction, Semantic Analysis, and Settings Model.

To learn more, see Release information for AI components.

Servicing stack update (SSU)

Includes KB5101711 (Build 26100.8962), which improves the reliability of the Windows update installation process. To learn more about SSUs, see Simplifying on-premises deployment of servicing stack updates.

Known issues in this update

Microsoft is not currently aware of any issues with this update.

How to get this update

Before you install this update

Microsoft combines the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system with the latest cumulative update (LCU). For general information about SSUs, see Servicing stack updates.

Deployment

If you deploy dynamic updates such as this update to an existing Windows image, ensure the boot.stl file is included as part of the installation media. Failure to include the file might prevent devices from successfully starting from the installation media and can result in error code 0xc0430001.

Note

The boot.stl file is used during Secure Boot validation and must match the Windows version and architecture of the image you are updating.

To ensure the boot.stl file is included as part of the installation media, do one of the following:

  • Use the Update WinPE script to update an existing Windows image. (Recommended)
  • Manually copy the boot.stl file from the device Windows\Boot\EFI folder to the corresponding folder on your installation media before deploying the update.

For information about how to apply Dynamic Update packages to existing Windows images, see Update Windows installation media with Dynamic Update.

Install this update

To install this update, use one of the following Windows and Microsoft release channels.

Available Next Step
Included Open Start WindowsLogo > Settings Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates. In the Optional updates available area, you will find the link to download and install available updates.
Check for optional updates

File information

For a list of the files provided in this update, download the file information for cumulative update 5101684.

For a list of the files provided in the servicing stack update, download the file information for the SSU (KB5101711) - version 26100.8962.

Windows monthly updates explained

Description of the standard terminology used for Microsoft software updates

Microsoft Store for Business and Education with Configuration Manager

Get updates for apps and games in Microsoft Store