Windows 11 Build 22621 Released To Beta Channel: Potential 22H2 Release

The Insider Beta channel for Windows 11 has been updated with Preview Build 22621.1. The update does not include any new features, but only fixes a few issues. This is understandable since Windows 11 Version 22H2 has been finalized by Microsoft. This suspicion is confirmed by the following statement by Microsoft:

The build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop is no longer present in this build. This doesn’t mean we’re done, and the watermark will return to Insiders in a future build.

Microsoft

This means that Microsoft is now evaluating this release for “Release to Manufacturing (RTM),” which essentially means that it is being finalized for the consumers as well as the OEMs.

Furthermore, Microsoft has also released an ISO for this build, using which you can perform a clean install and test out Windows 11 22H2 beforehand.

Let us now continue to see improvements as well as known issues in this release.

Improvements and Fixes

The following lists all the improvements made with Build 22621 for Windows 11:

• [General]
  • The underlying speech platform to improve voice activity detection for voice access, live captions, and voice typing has been updated. Some issues with how punctuation is recognized have also been addressed.
• [File Explorer]
  • An issue leading to Insiders seeing the error 0x800703E6 when copying files from Google Drive has been fixed.
  • An issue where if you had ever opened the context menu, Using the CTRL + ALT + DEL shortcut keys to cancel it would lead to explorer.exe crashing, has been mitigated.
• [Taskbar]
  • An issue related to loading the system tray icons in Settings >> Personalization >> Taskbar causing the Settings app to crash has been fixed.
• [Windows Security]
  • An issue that could result in Smart App Control unexpectedly blocking correctly signed applications has been addressed.

With these improvements, there are also several new known issues we think you should know about before upgrading to this build.

Known Issues

• [Live captions]
  • When using certain apps in full-screen mode (e.g., video players), live captions may not appear.
  • When some apps are positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions are run, they will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at the top. If you experience these issues, use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.

How to Install Windows 11 Build 22621

To install this update, you either need to be running Windows 11 and subscribed to the Beta channel, or perform a clean install using the ISO image provided by Microsoft.

Windows Update

If you have enabled Windows updates, you will automatically get a “New features are ready to install” prompt.

Follow the steps below to upgrade to this build:

1. Navigate to the Settings app and then click Windows Update on the left.

2. Here, click Check for updates on the right side of the window.

   

3. You will then see the following update available under Updates available to download:

   Windows 11 Insider Preview 22621.1 (ni_release)

   Click Download now.

   

4. The update will now begin to download and then install. Once complete, click Restart Now.

   

Once the computer restarts, you can verify that the OS has been updated by typing in winver in the Run Command box.

Download Windows 11 Insider Build 22621 ISO Image

You can also download the ISO image for Windows 11 Build 22621 and perform a clean install. Here is how:

1. Open the Windows Insider Preview Downloads page and log in with your Microsoft account registered with the Windows Insider program.

2. Once logged in, scroll down and select Windows 11 Insider Preview (Beta Channel) – Build 22621 from the drop-down menu and click Confirm.

   

3. Now select the language you want to download it in and click Confirm.

   

4. Finally, click 64-bit Download to begin downloading the ISO image.

   

You are now set to perform a fresh installation of Windows 11 Dev Build 22598 using the downloaded ISO image.

Learn how to create a multiboot USB installation media using Ventoy.

Rollback/Remove Windows 11 Insider Preview Update

If you do not wish to keep the installed preview update for some reason, you can always roll back to the previous build of the OS. However, this can only be performed within the next 10 days after installing the new update.

To roll back after 10 days, you will need to apply this trick.

Cleanup After Installing Windows Updates

If you want to save space after installing Windows updates, you can run the following commands one after the other in Command Prompt with administrative privileges:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup