Next-generation Windows development plan
Dear Windows Team: Here's a supplementary systematic summary and analysis of the main features of Windows 12: Start Menu/Screen: Fresh layout: Clearly divided into different zones — account area (user account at the top left), shortcut area (on the far right for easy access to common folders), list area (where you can pin apps, including most used and suggested ones), and pinned tiles area (four-column layout). It's cleaner and you can even resize it by dragging the edges. Full-screen start screen is back: Combines the classic Windows 7 list (easy to browse) with Windows 8.1 style live tiles (for info and quick launch). Tiles can be arranged both horizontally and vertically. More flexible tiles: Tiles now come in five sizes — small, medium, long, wide, large, and tall — way more options than before, plus there's a new animation when you resize them. Structural Innovation: Clearly divided into the Account Area (user account located in the upper left corner), Shortcut Area (located on the far right for easy access to commonly used folders), List Area (applications can be attached to the list, including most frequently used and recommended apps), and Pinned Tiles Area (four-column layout). The structure is more organized, and the size can also be adjusted by dragging its edges. Full-screen Start screen return: It combines the traditional Windows 7 list (for easy navigation) with Windows 8.1-style live tiles (for information display and quick launch), with tiles supporting both horizontal and vertical arrangements. Enhanced Tile Flexibility: Provides five sizes—small, medium, long, wide, large, and tall—far exceeding previous options, while also introducing tile resizing animations. Custom tile options: including colorful, gradient, light, dark, transparent (default), and semi-transparent tones, offering a high degree of personalization. Migration Friendly: When upgrading from Windows 7, 8.1, 10, or 11, pinned apps and websites are automatically migrated, reducing the user's reconfiguration workload. Copilot Tile: The AI assistant Copilot has received a dedicated tile, highlighting its significance. A new rainbow effect has been added. Taskbar & Search: The taskbar consists of the Cortana icon (on the left), mobile devices (on the left), Start, Search, Task View, Chat, applications, the system tray (on the right), and notification icons (on the right), among others. Search box enlargement & shape change: The search box is more prominent, changing from a circular shape (Win11) to a rectangular one, and supports wider options, thereby enhancing the search entry point. Search menu flexibility: Highly adjustable, consistent with the style of the Start menu. Personalized lock screen interface: Date and time alignment: supports left alignment (default) and center alignment. Brand new photo effects: Highlight the main subject of the photo, allowing it to be placed before or after the background time. Windows Hello: Facial recognition supports logging in while wearing a mask. Widgets: Pinned to the desktop: No longer limited to the small panel above the taskbar, they can be pinned anywhere on the desktop like traditional widgets. Fullscreen mode: The left side is the widget panel, and the right side displays information sources (such as news), supporting up to six columns for greater information capacity. New widgets: Specifically mentions the 'Calendar' widget, 'People' widget, 'Microsoft Edge' widget, and 'Cortana Suggestions' widget coming soon (although Cortana itself also seems to have updates).Microsoft Store widget: A dedicated widget for accessing the app store. Productivity and Multitasking Enhancements: Task View returns to the Windows 10 experience: Dragging to multiple desktops: More mature virtual desktop management allows you to drag windows to the "Task View" icon and then move them to multiple desktops. Timeline feature returns, supporting cross-device history. Window switching returns to the Windows 10 experience: Alt+Tab experience restored to classic style. Snap Assist returns to Windows 10 experience with significant enhancements: Supports up to eight snap layouts (especially for large horizontal screens), a productivity tool. Supports ultrawide screens (21:9, 32:9) with a variety of snap layouts. App Updates: New Mail, Calendar, and People: Highlights mentioned, possibly accompanied by UI and feature updates. New Outlook App: Supports email address removed for privacy reasons, email address removed for privacy reasons and email address removed for privacy reasons. New Cortana: Multilingual Support: Expands usage scope. Consumer Skills Return: Music control, smart home control, and third-party skills return, aiming to restore its practicality as a voice assistant. Provided in two forms: rings and dough. Supports the 'Cortana Suggestions' widget. Screenshot Tool: Supports full-screen recording. Media Player: Appearance selector returns, supporting live tiles. Microsoft Store Revamp: UWP Apps Return: Some high-quality UWP apps and Metro apps are back on the store, and the progressive web apps (PWAs) from the original Microsoft Store are transitioning to UWP apps. Gaming Ecosystem Expansion: New PlayStation app, Nintendo Switch app, and a dedicated Nintendo game section have been added, significantly expanding gaming-related content. Enhancing Visual Experience: The window transparency effect has been improved, and a new glass effect has been added. System avatars are now rounded rectangles, and the search box is rectangular (more in line with current design trends).A new top bar has been added (weather, system tray, date and time).Dynamic wallpaper effects have been introduced. The Windows 11 startup sound has been retained. Large-scale return of classic applications and features: This is the most striking (and also most questionable) part, including: Applications: MSN series apps, Tips, Print 3D app, Maps, Windows 7 desktop gadgets, Windows Media Center, Groove Music, Desktop Messaging apps, Windows 8.1 apps. System Features: HomeGroup, Timeline (cross-device history), Tablet Mode (significantly enhanced tablet experience), Windows Ink Workspace. Evaluation: This is a very bold strategy aimed at satisfying the nostalgia and specific needs of different user groups. Others: Controllers: Compatible with DualShock 4, DualShock 5, Joy-Con, and Joy-Con 2, among others. Android Subsystem Return: WSA is back, with special emphasis on supporting full-screen operation for apps in landscape mode (addressing one of the previous main pain points). Notification Center separated from Calendar: The quick action panels for the Notification Center and Calendar are separated, which may make the interface cleaner and operations more focused. Windows 12 Next-Generation PC: Offers larger storage capacity, longer battery life, more powerful performance, and enhanced security and stability. Windows Backup: Expanded to more countries and regions, with the addition of backing up personal files and applications to external storage devices. Data Transfer: Allows transferring personal files and applications from an old computer to a new one, or migrating partitions to a new hard drive. Core and Versions: Version Number: Initial Release 26H1, with the OS internal version reset to 12.0.0.0, marking a significant new beginning. System Naming: References to Windows 12 and Windows 12e, as well as Windows 12 Ultra. Extensive Free Upgrade Path: Covers Windows 11 (including SE), Windows 10 (including S), Windows 8/8.1 (including Windows RT), and Windows 7. This is a key strategy to attract user migration. Hardware Requirements by Tier: Windows 12e: Ultra-low system requirements (2GB RAM, 32GB storage), aimed at education or basic devices, possibly similar to Cloud/SE versions. Windows 12 (Home/Pro/etc.): Mainstream system requirements (4GB RAM, 64GB storage, DirectX 11), removal of strict restrictions like TPM (the biggest change!). Windows 12 Ultra: High-performance requirements (8GB RAM, 128GB storage, TPM 2.0, DirectX 12), unlocking all advanced features (such as advanced AI functions, ultimate performance optimizations?). Significant Extension of the Lifecycle: Home & Pro: 2 years (24 months) -> 4 years (48 months). Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise: 3 years (36 months) -> 6 years (72 months). This presents a considerable advantage for corporate and institutional users, reducing migration frequency and overall costs. I hope this leaked information can be reported to Pavan Davuluri.Save the date: Windows Office Hours - October 16, 2025
Join us at our next monthly Windows Office Hours, on October 16th from 8:00-9:00a PT! We will have a broad group of product experts, servicing experts, and engineers representing Windows, Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, Windows 365, Windows Autopilot, security, public sector, FastTrack, and more. They will be standing by -- in chat -- to provide guidance, discuss strategies and tactics, and, of course, answer any specific questions you may have. For more details about how Windows Office Hours works, go to our Windows IT Pro Blog. If you can't make it at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, post your questions on the Windows Office Hours: October 16th event page, up to 48 hours in advance.
No icons on explorer, desktop, taskbar and everywhere
Hi everyone, I really need your help. I've searched all over the internet and tried every possible tutorial and command I could find: deleted the iconcache.db, ran sfc / scannow, and followed several other fixes that claim to restore missing icons. As you can see, it’s not just the desktop icons — all system icons are gone. They don’t show up in File Explorer, the sidebar, or even the taskbar. Only the text labels remain, but the icons themselves are completely missing. If anyone knows a way to restore them without having to format or reinstall Windows, I’d really appreciate it. I’m currently very busy with work and can’t afford to reset my whole system right now. My PC is fully updated — BIOS, Windows, and all software are up to date. I’ve scanned with Malwarebytes and Windows Defender, and neither found any issues or malware. Since I’ve run out of options, I’m reaching out to see if anyone has encountered this problem and found a working solution. Thanks in advance for any help or advice!
Microsoft whats your beef with local account?
I for one have a app that will not work unless I use a local account also you says fully configured is silly what can a online account do that a local account can't (no you don't get to say because I don't need to know because everything works just fine) if I only had one PC how will I hope to remember my password when the password is so long it is in a password wallet (or other method) but how do I access it in setup? Catch 22 (what if MY network needs to be setup first before it can get online!) so your focusing people to use a simple password for your online account thats not good is it! What do you hope to do with online account? What if your login fails due to your servers being down? It will happen. Maybe the only reason is another way to link ones windows key to a account but surely you can do that after a local account? And of cause what if someone has may Keys and uses the same online account (I'm sure you done that bit right) I mean you have me with Edge and Sync is on Plus Microsoft store which I'm sure you use to link the windows key to anyway. So way not make local account have what this online account has which it likely already has you just choose to reinvent the wheel that don't need doing. So people can still make a local account after a online account and use only the local account how long will that last I wonder? Will this be removed or is it just the case you want a log in before using windows your only goal here?
Microsoft Translator Conversation feature stopped working (“Unable to create new conversation”)
When trying to start a conversation, the mobile app (Android/iOS) shows the message: "Unable to create a new conversation. Try again." (Swedish version: "Det går inte att skapa en ny konversation. Försök igen.") About two weeks ago, the live transcription started to become very slow, with text appearing in large chunks instead of line by line. Shortly after that, the Conversation feature stopped working completely. We have tested this on multiple devices and platforms: – Android (several users, including myself) – iOS (tested by a colleague and a user we support) All users experience the same issue — no new conversation can be created. This function is used as a speech-to-text accessibility tool for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, so it is critical for communication support nationally in Sweden.
