Microsoft says it’s rolling out an improved experience for the Windows Insider Program as part of broader plans to address concerns about the reliability of Windows 11.
For those who don’t know, the Windows Insider Program is a beta testing program that allows you to test Windows releases early and provide your feedback to Microsoft.
Until now, Microsoft hasn’t really listened to all the feedback from testers, and all of that has added up to a bad Windows experience.
To deal with this, Microsoft is now making the Windows Insider Program easier and more transparent in the hope that it will help in the development of Windows 11.
In a blog post, Microsoft admitted that the current channel structure is confusing.
The Insider Program used to be simple when Microsoft replaced Insider Rings with channels, such as Chromium (Beta, Dev, and Canary), but over time, the structure has become very confusing.
There is no clarity on which channel to choose if you want to be on the cutting edge and test new features as they develop within Microsoft. In fact, many testers do not get access to test features, due to Microsoft Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR).
Microsoft has admitted that the experience is frustrating: you read about a new feature online, update your PC, hope to test and give feedback, only to find out it’s not there.
“That experience, where features are announced but only some of you get them because we release things slowly, is the biggest frustration we hear,” wrote Alec Oot, who oversees the Windows Update experience at Microsoft.
While you can use third-party tools like ViveTool to enable testing features, it’s not the right experience and it’s not what you signed up for.
Microsoft says the Windows Insider Program is now simpler and more transparent
Microsoft says it’s listening to feedback, simplifying all channels, and moving the Insider Program to just two channels.
The first new channel is ‘Experimental,’ which replaces the Dev and Canary channels. The name makes it clear that it’s a channel you should subscribe to if all you want to do is check out test features, which may never be sent to production.
The new second channel is still called ‘Beta,’ which is an updated version of the first Beta Channel.
Source: Microsoft
In the Beta channel, Microsoft is phasing out the features, which means that all the new features mentioned in the release notes will be available immediately.
In Test Station, you will be given access to some features out of the box, but some will be locked behind the flag.
Source: Microsoft
The good news is that you can manually change the test features in Windows Settings.
For example, if you want to try out the new haptic features of the mouse but the feature doesn’t show due to slow release, you can turn it on Windows Insider Program Settings > Feature flags, and turn on the feature.
Microsoft explains how it releases new channels to Windows Insiders
Microsoft says it’s moving Insiders to the new channels in phases, starting with Dev Channel users, who will now move to Experimental.
If you’re in Dev and don’t see the new test channel UI, Microsoft says you can turn it on manually by going to Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program > Feature flags and enabling the new experience.
Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will also move Canary users to some test versions.
Those on the Canary 28000 series will move to Experimental (26H1), while users who have installed the optional 29500 series update will move to Experimental (Future Platforms).
Source: Microsoft
Beta Channel users will migrate to the new Beta experience, but Microsoft says minor feature changes may occur during the transition.
If you want to keep access to all existing beta features, Microsoft recommends moving from Beta to Dev before the transition, as Dev is moved to Testing. Microsoft is also changing the way it shares build information.
As part of today’s release, Microsoft is shipping Build 26220.8283 for Beta, Build 26300.8289 for Experimental, Build 28020.1873 for Experimental 26H1, and Build 29576.1000 for Experimental Plat Future.
Today’s update includes early access to the new Windows Update functionality where you can schedule updates as you wish, avoid forced restarts, and more.
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