Turns out the issue is widespread and still not patched. I noticed the reports of Windows 11 24H2 DHCP again when one of Windows Latest flagged a new Reddit thread on the topic titled “Win 11 24h2 and DHCP fix(WLAN or eth) | Option 43”, which goes on to talk about a bug we already reported.

Let me explain what’s going on with some of the PCs after upgrading to Windows 11 24H2 update. Before you read this article, I recommend going through my previous report on the same topic: Windows 11 24H2 issues break internet, Wi-Fi, network sharing, cause more BSODs.

It’s similar, but I’ve also highlighted some related bugs that might be breaking your internet connection.

So what’s up with DHCP, Wi-Fi and lack of internet after upgrading to Windows 11 24H2 update?

After some people started using Windows 11 24H2, they noticed that their devices were not getting an IP address. Instead, some of you might see APIPA address. For those unaware, APIPA is basically Automatic Private IP Addressing, where Windows 11 tries to automatically assign a random IP address.

This happens when DHCP server is not available. In other words, if your computer’s Wi-Fi uses DHCP and Windows 11 tries to automatically assign an IP address, it means the DHCP isn’t working as it is supposed to.

“A group of computers the pass few days have been having issue with DHCP, I can still statically set their IP address just fine. I’ve been trouble shooting the issue, slowly ruling out various setting and components,” one of the users noted after they installed Windows 11 24H2 update.

“What I have found is that all of the computers with issues have updated to Win11 v24h2, and upon rolling back the update DHCP works just fine. I then run some repairs, sync with Intune/defender and run a gp update to verify that none of those settings recreate the issue. This has occurred on both HP and Dell computers so far.”

“When running the stable version of Windows 11, I had no problems, but after updating to the preview version 24H2 of Windows 11, every time I turn on my PC, it says I have no access to the internet when I go to diagnose my network it says Windows is having trouble finding the DHCP server, I use the diagnostic tool to fix it, and it does fix the connection, but I have to do this every time I turn on my PC, and it only started happening after the update,” another user wrote an in a Feedback Hub post seen by Windows Latest.

Hundreds of people have reported the DHCP bug, and Microsoft confirmed to Windows Latest that it had seen the reports.

It looks like Microsoft has already tried to patch the problem in a November 2024 Patch Tuesday update.

According to the release notes spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft patched an issue that affected a number of devices.

“This occurs when a DHCP server response has duplicate DHCP options. This stops IPv4 connections on certain networks,” the company said.

How to fix the Windows 11 24H2 Wi-Fi DHCP issue

If you have issues with the DHCP server, try installing Windows 11’s November 2024 patch, which could help.

However, that’s not the case for everyone. Wi-Fi and DHCP connections are still broken for some people even when they use the December 2024 Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft is apparently aware of the mess, and it might share more details sometime, but it’s unclear when a proper fix will be issued. Microsoft probably doesn’t know what to do because it’s an isolated issue, and the workaround or the bug could vary from one device to another.

We have at least two workarounds that might work for some of you. The first one is easy as it requires you to change the endpoints for PCs running Windows 11 24H2. This includes changing the option type from text to string for your DNS configuration.

As soon as you change the endpoints, Windows 11 24H2’s internet should start working again.

Or you can also try these steps as they have worked for many people:

1. Go to Windows Search and search regedit.
2. This will open Registry Editor. In Registry Editor, you need go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WcmSvc
3. Inside the WcmSvc, try to edit the DependOnService and remove line that says: WinHTTPAutoProxySvc
4. Click OK to apply changes you made here. Then, open Task Manager > Services, and restart Windows Connection Manager (WcmSvc). Do the same for WLAN AutoConfig (WlanSvc).

Remember that it’s a hit-and-miss situation, so the workarounds may not work for everyone. We recommend going back to Windows 11 23H2 till Microsoft figures out what broke DHCP and the internet in the update.

The post Windows 11 24H2 Wi-Fi DHCP internet issue is still not fixed, headache for sysadmins appeared first on Windows Latest

For those unaware, PowerToys Run is an amazing feature that acts as a quick launcher without affecting performance. Using it, you can perform tasks like calculating mathematical equations, searching files and folders, searching programs, switching between open windows, etc.

PowerToys Run is also open-source, which is why we love it even more. It has support for additional plugins, which makes it a better option capable of performing additional tasks.

This feature is equivalent to the Apple Spotlight search, as it allows you to search and open apps, system tools, and files easily with a keyboard shortcut. However, Spotlight has superior features like news headlines, weather updates, and calculations that PowerToys Run doesn’t offer readily.

But this might change as PowerToys Run will be receiving a major update in 2025.

First spotted by Windows Latest, according to an X post by Kayla Cinnamon, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft for PowerToys and Windows developer experiences, they have heard user feedback and are currently revamping the UI and adding full extensibility support in PowerToys Run. 

This initiative comes as a part of the PowerToys Advent Calendar, in which Microsoft was highlighting a cool utility each day in December.

The teaser in Cinnamon’s post shows a quick peek at several new features like quick access to Windows Services and the option to add a bookmark.

Additionally, it also shows that you will be able to search users and hashtags on connected social media platforms, projects on designing and prototyping tools like Figma and issues and pull requests on GitHub with just a single click.

As shown in the above screenshot, you can easily search projects from Github using PowerToys Run’s new extension built by Microsoft.

Or you can also browse Github pull requests and bug reports.

The above screenshot spotted by Windows Latest also confirms that Microsoft will now create categories for each feature offered by PowerToys Run.

You can search for all apps, open windows, calculator, add a bookmark to Edge, visit settings, open Terminal profile, manage and search Windows Services, and look for specific keys or values inside Registry. All directly via PowerToys Run, which is a solid replacement for Windows Search.

These changes will begin rolling out in 2025.

Plugins and PowerToys Run

Currently, there are several third-party plug-ins created by the community for PowerToys Run. Some of my favorite plug-ins among these are the BrowserSearch that allows you to search your browser history, ChatGPT to ask a question directly to ChatGPT, and WebSearchShortcut to select a specific search engine for performing tasks.

Other than these, there are several other plugins created and maintained by third-party developers. Do note that none of these plugins are officially recognized by Microsoft, and users should use these at their own risk.

Installing these third-party PowerToys Run plugins is extremely easy. First, you need to download the plugin’s zip file from the official plugin page. Next, you should extract the zip file and move it to the plug-in folder. 

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys Run\Plugins\

Once done, relaunch PowerToys and the Run feature’s Plugin section and enable the newly added plug-in.

However, if the installed plug-in isn’t working, recheck the official GitHub, but first restart your PC. Most of the time, a simple restart can help fix issues like these.

Windows Latest has previously explained how PowerToys Run is a perfect replacement for Windows Search, so we’re not going deep dive into that again.

What about you? Do you use also use PowerToys Run? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Windows 11 search replacement PowerToys Run is becoming modern like Apple Spotlight appeared first on Windows Latest

The rollout is supposed to begin in January, and we’re already seeing the reminder when we open the Microsoft 365 app, which is now set to be called Microsoft 365 Copilot.

What’s funny is that the Windows 11 app was previously called Microsoft Office, but the company renamed it to Microsoft 365 as it believed more in Microsoft 365 branding at that point. Microsoft 365 still has the “Office” name inside the bracket to help people understand that it’s the same old Office app, but what would happen after the latest rebrand?

Is Microsoft going to call it Microsoft 365 Copilot Microsoft 365 Office? (pun intended), but I honestly don’t understand why the rebrand was necessary. It will likely be called just Microsoft 365 Copilot. Worse, it will be called Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat for enterprises.

More on the rebranding:

• In mid-Jan 2025, Microsoft Copilot for Entra will be renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
• Microsoft 365 app is switching to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Icons will change to Copilot for everyone.
• You can use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat feature inside Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Microsoft wants Copilot branding everything. It’s serious about it.

Previously, we thought the company would rebrand everything as Microsoft 365 and stop at some point. But now, the world has changed, thanks to OpenAI. Microsoft is convinced it needs to bring AI, particularly Copilot, to everything.

Bringing Copilot alone isn’t enough for Microsoft. It’s also trying to rebrand everything to Copilot.

As shown in the above screenshot, if you open the Microsoft 365 app on Windows 11, you’ll notice a friendly reminder about the changes in the branding.

The current icon is a blue gradient loop. On the other hand, the new icon is “Copilot” colorful with shades of blue, yellow, pink, and purple.

The text “M365” is added to the new icon.

The app will still work the same, only the name and icon are changing, Microsoft said when Windows Latest reached out.

However, it’s more than a simple rebrand and change of icon to Microsoft 365 Copilot.

As Windows Latest previously spotted and noted in our report, Copilot is taking a front seat in the new Microsoft 365 Copilot app. The app will ditch the header, and all buttons will move to the left sidebar. The Copilot will be aligned to the top. Microsoft is also dropping the ‘Back’ button for the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

“Microsoft 365 Copilot app [is] becoming the destination for Copilot, we will be bringing AI powered document creation into Copilot tab,” Microsoft officials said when Windows Latest reached out.

What do you think about Microsoft’s branding strategy? Is it a good idea to rebrand everything as Copilot when the company doesn’t even know what to do with the Copilot key on enterprise Copilot+ PCs? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Microsoft is really serious about giving more products Copilot name on Windows 11 appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows 11’s polished appearance looks nice, but long-time users, especially those who have witnessed the transition from Windows XP to the present, crave some old elements.

One such element is the classic Alt + Tab dialog that opens when you press the aforementioned shortcut. If you don’t remember, the old Alt + Tab dialog had only icons with a flat icon UI instead of the big icons with thumbnails that are available in 22H2 onwards.

While it was possible to restore it using a registry tweak, Microsoft seems to have blocked it in Windows 11 24H2.

Windows Latest tried all the possible tricks to restore the legacy Alt + Tab layout in Windows 11 24H2 and preview builds, but nothing worked.

Using Windows Registry to restore Alt+Tab in Windows 11

First, we started with the registry tweak of adding a new dialog AltTabSettings Dword value that restores the classic menu.

We tried these steps to force restore the classic Alt+Tab in Windows 11:

1. First, we opened Windows Run and launched Registry Editor through the regedit.
2. Then, we navigated to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer.
3. We right-clicked in the right panel and clicked New > 32-bit DWORD.
4. We created a new value named AltTabSettings, and changed its value to 1 by double clicking.

All the tutorials we followed had recommended the above steps, but after restarting the PC, there were no results. The Alt-Tab classic interface didn’t appear in Windows 11.

Then, we tried using open-source Explorer Patcher, which works well with other UI tweaks, such as changing the interface of the Start menu. We also used it for other experimentations. For example, we rrecently used Explorer Patcher to demonstrate removing the “Learn more about this picture” icon on the desktop.

Explorer Patcher has multiple options to restore the old Windows 10, Windows NT, and even a custom simple bar. But that also ended in despair as the option to turn on classic Alt-Tab style didn’t work at all.

Lastly, we tried another popular open-source app to adjust Windows features. Most apps no longer have the option to restore the classic Alt+ Tab dialog.

It could be because Microsoft has finally removed the feature from Windows 11.

Retro look ruined

While the classic Alt+Tab menu was a niche preference, removing it will surely hurt enthusiasts who love to do retro themed PC appearances while enjoying the benefits of a modern system. The next time you try to do the classic XP look or Windows 7 design on your PC, you’ll miss the Alt + Tab dialog.

While talking about menus, it’s hard to forget the classic right-click context menu that caused a major uproar at the time of Windows 11 release. All the above-mentioned apps still offer an option to restore the old menu because it was simply so much better.

Microsoft has been making incremental improvements, such as adding labels to frequently used actions, but it’s an uphill battle to convince everyone.

What about you? Do you miss the classic Alt-Tab in Windows 11? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Can you still enable classic Alt+Tab in Windows 11 24H2? appeared first on Windows Latest

For example, the core concepts of both tools are quite the same. AI Shell and Terminal Chat are designed to make the command line interactions easier to understand and can help you write commands. The AI integration is also designed to provide explanations and suggestions while help you fix errors.

For the time being, AI Shell comes with only two AI agents, Azure OpenAI and Copilot in Azure, but its framework allows you to create and integrate other AI agents as well. It is a great thing as you can pick the LLM (large language model) that works best for your specific needs.

I installed the AI Shell on my PC, and I must say, the installation process was a breeze. All you need is Windows 10 or later and PowerShell 7.4.6 installed on your machine, and you’re good to go.

If you meet these requirements, you can run the following script to install AI Shell on your computer:

Invoke-Expression “& { $(Invoke-RestMethod ‘https://aka.ms/install-aishell.ps1’) }”

Hands on with AI Shell

Once installed, the next step is to configure it.

Configuration was also quite easy as I was using OpenAI, and it just required adding my API keys for configuration.

To do this, open PowerShell, run the Start-AIShell command and select your preferred agent.

Next, run the /agent config command in the AI Shell to open the configuration file. Here, you need to uncomment the following section and then add your API keys.

Next, save the file, and that’s it. You’ve successfully configured AI Shell.

Once everything is configured, you can start communicating with it.

I started asking very basic questions like “What you can do?” And it gave me a basic idea of its features.

Next, I asked, “I have a lot of files on my PC. I want to get a list of files that are above 200 MB in size along with the details about their specific locations.”

It gave me the following output:

Get-ChildItem -Path “C:\Path\To\Search” -Recurse -File | Where-Object { $_.Length -gt 200MB } | Select-Object FullName, Length

It prompted me to replace the path with the directory I wanted to scan. I told it, “I want to scan my entire PC for large files,” and it gave me an updated script with the C drive selected.

But when executed, the output included directories with access denied, and I couldn’t see the file size.

So, I asked it to exclude directories with denied access and show the file size in the first column, followed by the file name and directory. For this, it gave me the following script, and when I executed it in the PowerShell, I received the desired results.

Get-ChildItem -Path “C:\” -Recurse -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { $_.Length -gt 200MB } | Select-Object @{Name=”SizeMB”; Expression={[math]::Round($_.Length / 1MB, 2)}}, FullName, DirectoryName

Next, I asked AI Shell if it could generate Python code. It prompted yes, so I asked it to write Python code for a basic calculator, and it did. And the Python script also worked as expected.

In our tests, Windows Latest observed that you can also use it to get explanations of cmdlets, ask it to write or refine PowerShell scripts, or just as a regular AI assistant.

Now, let’s quickly talk about the best things about AI Shell for Windows 11 apart from the ones that I have already explained –

• The /code post command allows you to post generated code from the AI shell to the PowerShell terminal.
• The /code copy command helps you copy the code generated.
• The resolve-error command in the PowerShell terminal sends the error to the AI Shell windows to find a resolution. This is again very similar to Windows Terminal Chat, which also uses ChatGPT.
• The Invoke-AIShell command in the PowerShell terminal, along with the code or without the code, will help you send queries to the AI Shell.

So, that was my take on AI Shell. Overall, it is a great tool, and considering it is just a public preview, we may see some new features in it.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comment section below.

The post Hands on: Microsoft is building an AI Shell for Windows 11 command line appeared first on Windows Latest

Now, Microsoft has introduced AI Dev Gallery, which makes it easy to add on-device AI features to any app.

The AI Dev Gallery app is for developers who want to try multiple models to integrate an AI feature into their app. AI Dev Gallery has over 25 samples to download and run on Windows 10. Moreover, you can export the project or source code directly into your app and get it working instantly.

It works with Windows 10 and 11 and supports x64 and ARM64 architectures.

Out of curiosity, Windows Latest cloned the AI Dev Gallery from its GitHub repository and compiled our own version of AI Dev Gallery.

Currently, the only way to access it is by building the project in Visual Studio and then running it. In addition, you’ll need at least 20GB of space and a multi-core CPU. It also suggests a GPU with 8GB VRAM, but those are for heavy models only.

We started with a 4-core CPU, 4GB RAM, or a Windows 11 PC. The app has two modes: Sample and models. We used the sample view to check out all the available models.

The app categorizes them into Text, Image, Code, Audio and video, and Smart Controls.

Testing the models

Models for image generation and video generation need about 5GB of bandwidth to download and save it to your PC. To better understand how things work, we started with a small one related to image upscaling, which was under 100 MB.

We took a screenshot of the screen and tried to upscale it using the CPU. Note that you can switch between CPU and GPU for processing the request.

The upscaling happened in under 30 seconds in this inferior virtual machine, where the RAM usage increased to 1GB. As you can see in the screenshots below, App Gallery produced an upscaled version of the image with a 9272*4900 resolution.

However, the 100MB upscale model has its own issues. While it used our local resources to upscale images, elements, especially text, were ruined. You can barely read the texts.

There’s no option to preview this generated image in a bigger window or full-screen. Even the download option isn’t there to save it to disk.

We tried another model called Detect Human Pose. It identifies someone’s position in an image. While it accurately identified a basic walking person, it even started showing position marks for screenshots of our desktop with a few apps open.

We don’t know how these models can be integrated into the app, but some of these features can be run locally. Of course, PCs will need bigger storage for these models and powerful CPUs with 16GB or more RAM.

What do you think? It is worth downloading a 5GB model to convert a text prompt into an image or wait for 30 seconds to do that on a web app. Clearly, most of these features have very niche use cases and implementation environments rather than appealing to the whole Windows 11 user base.

The post We tried Microsoft’s new app to run AI models on Windows 11 locally. It’s really good appeared first on Windows Latest

But why? Based on our understanding of Microsoft’s documentation, if you use a USB or drive to install Windows 11 24H2 with the October 2024 or November 2024 security updates included, you might end up breaking Windows Update. By default, Windows 11 24H2 ships without October or November security patches.

Windows 11 24H2 installation has a bug that causes conflict with Windows Update when you try to install the OS with newer updates. This can happen particularly when using a third-party tool to create your own copy of Windows 11 24H2 or you follow either of the methods:

• You used DISM or similar third-party apps to create an ISO image with newer updates pre-installed.
• This can be Rufus or some other tools.
  
• You mounted Windows 11 and then integrated October or November 2024 updates into the ISO, and installed it.

If you modified the media file or used a third-party to update Windows, you’re now stuck in a mess where Windows Update won’t install newer updates, such as the December one. This could be why we saw reports of Windows 11 December 2024 Updates failing to install on many PCs.

Microsoft does not offer additional Windows 11 24H2 ISO files with newer updates already integrated. Instead, these ISOs are manually created by you. For example, Media Creation Tool still offers the original version of Windows 11 24H2, which shipped on October 1.

Now, if you created your own custom installation media by integrating with newer security patches, you’ll run into major issues installing newer updates.

“When using media to install Windows 11, version 24H2, the device might remain in a state where it cannot accept further Windows security updates,” Microsoft warned in a support to its support document.

It means that you’re now stuck with a Windows 11 24H2 installation that cannot be updated with any new patches.

In the support document spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft also confirmed that the problem does not happen if you used the original Media Creation Tool, Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog to grab the updates.

Microsoft doesn’t have a proper workaround for any of this mess.

Microsoft says it will fix Windows 11 24H2 installation issues

Microsoft told Windows Latest that the company is aware of these reports and that they only affect a very small number of PCs. This makes sense because how many of you try to modify the ISOs to include fresh updates? Very few.

What can you do if you’re unable to install new cumulative updates after installing Windows 11 24H2? You’ll need to download the Media Creation tool, create a fresh media file, and reinstall the OS.

That’s the only “workaround”, but it requires a lot of effort, and here you’re basically reinstalling the OS all over again. Microsoft promises it’s working on a fix and will share more details in January when the engineers return to work.

Have you come across other other problems in Windows 11 24H2? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Microsoft confirms Windows 11 24H2 installation issues, newer updates fail for some PCs appeared first on Windows Latest

For those unaware, reset sync server data is an optional feature in Microsoft Edge for Windows 11 and other PCs that allows you to purge the synced data stored on Microsoft’s servers. The sync data is linked to a Microsoft account, and it apparently includes stuff like your browsing data, favorites, passwords, tabs, and more.

Edge syncs data in real time, but sometimes, it may not be able to sync everything across all devices. In some cases, older data could be synced, and you’ll lose access to the new content browsed on one of your devices. Or you might have duplicate items across all devices.

When you use the “reset sync server data” button in Edge for Windows, it purges all data from the server and reuploads data from the current device.

Finally, Microsoft syncs it across all devices.

Neat feature, right? However, the reset sync server data feature wasn’t available in Microsoft Edge for Android/iOS until now.

As shown in the above screenshot, Windows Latest can confirm that Microsoft Edge Android has Windows 11’s feature that gives you control over what has been synced to Microsoft servers with an option to purge everything and reupload it from Android.

This option has been on the desktop for close to a year now, and it’s nice to see it arrive on Android.

Bottom address bar on Android

Microsoft previously told Windows Latest that it’s considering bringing the bottom address bar or Omnibox to Edge on Android.

Google has also been experimenting with an optional bottom address bar for Chrome, so we weren’t surprised when we heard Microsoft wanted to pull this off with Edge, too.

A new experiential flag is already live in Edge Canary that lets you access the setting with a toggle to move the Omnibox to the bottom of the screen. In our tests, the toggle or the setting doesn’t show up yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s similar to Google’s implementation.

Here’s how Google has implemented the bottom address bar in Chrome through optional toggle:

In addition to these two new features in Edge, Microsoft is trying to bring a full-fledged Copilot experience to Edge Android.

The current Copilot implementation doesn’t do justice to the previous version’s PDF reading and summarizing capabilities. It also doesn’t work well with YouTube videos, but we can hope it will get better over time.

The post Microsoft Edge on Android will let you reset sync server data, tests bottom bar appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows Spotlight spruces up your desktop with good wallpapers so that you don’t have to change them every day. It’s so good that even we at Windows Latest use it to get away from the boring Windows 11 default backgrounds.

However, enabling the Windows Spotlight feature in personalization settings adds the “Learn more about this picture” icon to the desktop. It is a gateway to learn about the image or change it. Like us, most users don’t need the icon and just use the feature for wallpapers.

Microsoft, being Microsoft, doesn’t offer an option to remove the icon in the Personalization settings. You cannot hide the icon without hiding all the icons on the desktop and cannot move it to recycle. A rant about this ignorant idea on the Microsoft Feedback Hub has over 400,000 views so far.

The Easy Way: Disable Spotlight

The easiest way is to not use Windows Spotlight and use a personal image collection instead like the good old Windows 7 days. It is a straightforward method if the Spotlight feature is accidentally enabled on your PC and you don’t need it anymore.

Remove the “Learn more about this picture” icon using Registry Editor

Modifying a registry entry can help you remove the icon while keeping the feature active. Make a registry backup before treading on this route. After that, follow these steps to disable Spotlight watermark in Windows 11:

1. Launch the Registry Editor and navigate to the following path:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel key

2. Right-click the empty area and select New > DWORD (32-bit) value option.
3. Name the key {2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3} and double-click on it.
   
4. Keep the base Hexadecimal and change the Value Data to 1.
5. Click on OK and exit the registry editor.
6. Restart your PC and log in. The icon won’t be there anymore.

If you want the icon back, revisit this same DWORD value and change its value data to 0.

Remove the “Learn more about this picture” icon using a Third-Party app

If you find the Registry Editor method difficult or prefer an app to do the same, there are ample options for it. You can use open-source Explorer Patcher whichever you prefer.

Repeat the following steps to turn off the icon with Explorer Patcher:

1. Download the latest version of Explorer Patcher from GitHub or other reputable sources.
2. Run the file, and the app will launch after downloading additional icons.
3. Switch the Spotlight tab in the left-hand side menu.
4. Click on Hide the “Learn more about this picture” icon option.
   

As shown in the below screenshot, the icon will immediately vanish from the desktop. You can use the app to restore the icon if you want to change the image again.

This is how you can get rid of the bothersome Spotlight icon on the Windows 11 desktop.

The Feedback Hub post has staggering views and we think it’s compelling enough for the Redmond giant to finally offer a toggle in the Settings app to hide it rather than using third-party tweaks.

The post Permanently remove “Learn more about this picture” icon in Windows 11 appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows Latest covered this announcement and the subsequent developments of this plan when it began showing up on some users’ desktops. It’s almost a week before 2025 begins, but there’s no sign of a watermark on stable builds in Windows 11. The support document spotted by Windows Latest still mentions the watermark will be applied.

We aren’t longing for it, but surprisingly, Microsoft didn’t implement the watermark after such a strong stance against unsupported PCs. Some PCs simply didn’t make the cut due to TPM 2.0 limitation while being perfectly capable of running Windows 11.

As a result, they resorted to third-party tweaks and tools like Rufus to bypass the requirements and try the new OS.

Soon after, it released an official registry fix to bypass the requirement on unsupported PCs, which questioned its original decision to introduce the watermark. We anticipated that this decision wouldn’t stick for long, and until now, the broad rollout of the watermark hasn’t happened.

Microsoft briefly tested the Windows 11 watermark on unsupported PCs two years ago

In 2022, Windows Latest spotted the watermark in Windows 11 preview builds. Then, we spotted the watermark in the stable channel.

For example, in the below screenshot spotted by Windows Latest, we observed that the System requirements not met watermark was applied to the desktop when Windows detected we were using an unsupported device.

However, this watermark was only rolled out to some PCs in 2022 and later pulled back by Microsoft.

It’s also worth noting that the placement of the watermark was also poorly thought out. That area is typically reserved for “Windows not activated” or “Insider build” messages. Displaying two warnings in the same space would have been confusing.

It seems Microsoft has given up on the idea. We reached out to Microsoft, and they had nothing to share beyond what’s already documented.

Future of the incompatibility watermark

Microsoft should let users decide whether or not they want to use a less secure version of Windows 11. After an initial warning, if the user installs Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, they are responsible for their decision. There’s no reason to mock the user on the desktop daily with a watermark.

Microsoft might be the only company trying to hurt the promotion of its product by limiting its reach and coming up with ideas like watermarks.

We don’t expect Microsoft to pay attention to this stupid idea because it’s already got a lot on its plate with multiple Windows 11 24H2 bugs, upcoming Copilot features, and making the Copilot+ PCs more appealing to anyone looking to upgrade.

The post Has Microsoft given up on the System requirements not met Windows 11 watermark? appeared first on Windows Latest