The latest release of Windows 11 is here with 22H2. Panos has published a really nice posting on the latest update and the changes to the update process found here.
New Features
- New! Adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.
- New! Introduces WebAuthn redirection. It lets you authenticate in apps and on websites without a password when you use Remote Desktop. Then, you can use Windows Hello or security devices, such as Fast Identity Online 2.0 (FIDO2) keys.
- New! Adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.
One of the features not included in the technical “New” list is Microsoft significant update to the Windows accessibility features. We hope to see a continued focus from Microsoft in this important area in the future.
Improved Features
As you can imagine, Microsoft has been busy working on improving existing features for the past 18 months. Here is a short list of the updated features and functionality with Windows 11 22H2:
- Addresses an issue that requires you to reinstall an app if you did not get the app from the Microsoft Store. This issue occurs after you upgrade to a newer OS.
- Addresses a rare error that leads to a blue screen. This occurs after you change the display mode while you are using more than one display.
- Addresses an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.
- Addresses an issue that affects IE mode after you open a PDF file. When you try to open a different page using the same browser window, the page will not open in that browser window.
- Addresses an issue that might cause a black screen to appear on your display. This might occur when you use a pen to turn on high dynamic range (HDR).
- Addresses an issue that affects the touch keyboard. The touch keyboard immediately closes when you tap to switch apps.
- Addresses a known issue that affects daylight saving time in Chile. This issue might affect the time and dates used for meetings, apps, tasks, services, transactions, and more.
Deprecated Features and Functionality
These following features have not been deprecated with 22H2, but have removed as part of the ongoing Windows 11 update process over the past year. Definitely worth adding to these platform changes to the deployment and testing, planning effort:
- Internet Explorer: Microsoft Edge with IE mode replaces the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application in Windows 11. For more information, see Internet Explorer 11 desktop app retirement FAQ.
- Math Input Panel: Math Recognizer will install on demand and includes the math input control and recognizer. Math inking in apps like OneNote are not impacted by this change. Given the on-demand installation, this process may not suit enterprise customers.
- Microsoft TimeLine: This feature has been removed. A manual/separate install is available with your Microsoft Office subscription.
The following Windows applications will not be removed on a OS upgrade but will no longer be installed on new devices or when clean-installing Windows 11:
These applications are still available for manual downloads on the Microsoft Windows App Store.
Known Issues
Microsoft has really improved their communication with these later, modern OS updates. We are also benefiting from the improved update update process with the following documented known issues with this latest Windows 11 22H2 release:
- Security update for Secure Boot DBX might fail to install. This issue only affects the Security update for Secure Boot DBX (KB5012170) and does not affect the latest cumulative security updates, monthly rollups, or security only updates released on August 9, 2022
- Intel and Microsoft have found incompatibility issues with certain versions of drivers for Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST) on Intel 11th Gen Core processors and Windows 11. Windows 11 devices with the affected Intel SST driver might receive an error with a blue screen. We recommend that you do not attempt to manually upgrade using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved and the safeguard removed.
Resolved Issues
Starting at 12:00 a.m. Saturday, September 10, 2022, the official time in Chile will advance 60 minutes in accordance with the August 9, 2022 official announcement by Chilean government about a Daylight Saving Time (DST) time zone change. This change in time may result in the following application issues:
- Time shown in Windows and apps will not be correct.
- Apps and cloud services which use date and time for integral functions, such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook, notifications and scheduling of meetings might be 60 minutes off.
- Automation using date and time, such as Scheduled tasks, might not run at the expected time.
An official resolution has been posted by Microsoft on September 20th with the release of the Windows KB article KB5017383.
Next Steps
We recommend that you assess your entire application portfolio for compatibility against:
- Windows 11 and these latest releases known issues
- Deprecated components
- Updated security settings
- Latest anti-virus and malware signatures
