Announcing new builds for 8 May 2026

May 8, 2026 admin

Hello Windows Insiders,

We continue to expand the rollout of the new WIP changes to those channels already announced. We have not yet begun moving Insiders in Canary 29500 Series Channel or Beta Channel to the new WIP experience just yet, although we expect this to happen in the coming weeks.

As a reminder, if you are in the Beta Channel and looking for best continuity of all existing features, we encourage you to consider moving to the Dev Channel prior to taking the new Beta experience. See the WIP changes rollout blog for more information.

New builds this week

Today we are releasing new Windows 11 Insider Preview Builds. As a reminder, all Insiders can find the release notes for your device based on the new channel system, even if you haven’t moved yet. This is to make finding build information as easy as possible during the transition. See your channel release notes here:

For those on other specific build versions, here are today’s new builds and release notes:

Experimental (26H1) – Including former Canary 28000 series: Build 28020.2075
Experimental (Future Platforms) – Including Canary 29500 series: Build 29585.1000

As a reminder, you can always find your build number in the watermark on bottom right-hand corner of your desktop.

Notable new features:

[Touchpad]

Release channel: Experimental

We’re adding new gesturing-related functionality to precision touchpads in Settings. The new features should be widely available across applications, with the exception that WinUI3-based UI requires new WinAppSDK versions for complete functionality – we’re in the process of bringing the necessary changes to versions 1.8 and 2.0.

Scroll / zoom speed: control the baseline speed for these gestures
Automatic scrolling: scrolling continues indefinitely without lifting your fingers. Activate by either bringing your fingers near the edge of the touchpad while scrolling, or holding them still and pressing harder (requires hardware support).
Accelerated scrolling: repeatedly scrolling increases their speed, allowing quick traversal of long documents.
Single-finger scrolling: perform a vertical scroll with a single finger starting from the left or right side of the touchpad.

Touchpad improvements bring new gesture capabilities including automatic scrolling, gesture speed controls, accelerated scrolling, and optional single-finger scrolling support.

[EDU Licensing]

Release channel: Experimental Beta Channel

Free upgrade path to Windows 11 Pro Education for K-12

Windows Insiders in K–12 education environments can now experience a seamless upgrade path from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro Education edition—at no additional cost. This enables educational organizations to procure Windows 11 Home devices, upgrade them to Windows 11 Pro Education, and bring devices under school management.

See release notes for more information.

Thanks,

Stephen and the Windows Insider Program team

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