How to highlight active instance of a program when hovering over combined taskbar button?
Description of problem: When I have many windows/instances of a specific program open, they are combined on the taskbar (which I love), but when I hover over the taskbar icon, I can't see which window/instance is open and active. In Windows 10, I had customized my color settings so that the active window/instance of the application was highlighted in a brighter shade of my accent color, and then had chosen an accent color to maximize that contrast difference. I can't seem to figure out how to do that in Windows 11. I've searched the forums here, but I don't think I've found the exact same issue. I have Windows 11 Enterprise, Version 25H2. Example screenshot showing what I want: All names have been redacted from this screenshot for privacy. In this screenshot, I have manually added highlighting to show what this feature looked like in Windows 10. In reality, all windows/instances of Word in the list are the exact same color and I can't tell which one in the list is open without looking for the file name. Use case: I'm a teacher and like to grade my class's work simultaneously, one question at a time. For example, I grade question 1 for all students, then I grade question 2 for all students, etc. This speeds my work while maximizing grading consistency. I often have 20+ instances of Microsoft Word open at the same time, and I need to be able to switch from one Word window to the next without skipping any. Not looking for and reading the file name allows me to work faster and grade my students' work much more quickly, as well as with greater anonymity/consistency. Not a good option: Registry edits, because of IT department restrictions 3rd party Windows customization software, because of IT department restrictions Grading from the browser using Office 365 with each student's work in its own tab, because I use comments to give detailed feedback and Word 365 does not have as many comment features as the desktop version Rolling back to Windows 10 or switching to Linux, because the content that I teach requires Microsoft Windows 11. Failed attempts to solve the problem: I have attempted these fixes without success: In Settings --> Accessibility --> Contrast themes, choosing a contrast theme. In Settings --> Personalization --> Colors, setting Choose your Mode to Custom and Changing settings for "Choose your default Windows mode" Changing settings for "Choose your default app mode" Toggling "Transparency effects" Changing the accent color to Manual, then trying several accent colors Toggling "Show accent color on Start and taskbar" Toggling "Show accent color on title bars and window borders" In Settings --> Personalization --> Taskbar -->Taskbar behaviors, changing settings for: Toggling "Show flashing on taskbar apps" Toggling "Show badges on taskbar apps" Changing the settings for "Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels" Changing the settings for "Show smaller taskbar buttons" Your help/suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Microsoft Print to PDF
I use the Microsoft Print to PDF quite frequently. Until recently you got a prompt to select a location to save the resulting PDF file, however that stopped happening after a recent update. Where is Microsoft saving the files, and can I change the function back so that each time I print something to PDF I can set it up to get a prompt to specify a file location? Thanks!Unable to remove an inactive/old linked PC from Link to Windows Android app
Hi everyone, I currently have two PCs linked to the Link to Windows Android app. One of them is no longer active, but it still appears in the app, and I’m unable to remove it. I have already tried the usual troubleshooting steps, including resetting the Link to Windows app, but the inactive PC continues to be listed. Interestingly, when I check Devices under my Microsoft Account, only my currently active PC is shown. The inactive PC does not appear there. This issue has been ongoing for more than two years. I recently contacted Microsoft Support regarding this issue, and after further troubleshooting, I was advised to seek assistance from the Microsoft Community. Has anyone experienced a similar issue or knows how to remove an old/inactive PC that is still listed in the Link to Windows Android app? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Don't show windows 11 update notifications after the update has been viewed.
It used to be that we'd get a notification and the Windows Update taskbar icon would show on the taskbar ONLY when there was a new notification AND we had not yet viewed it. After that it would be silent. But now I see the taskbar icon ALL THE TIME until I install every available update. Since some updates are NOT SAFE to install immediately (let's face it, both Microsoft and NVidia are infamous for rolling out updates that are not yet fully mature, but they eventually fix them), but it is ideal to let them simmer for a few weeks and only then install them. The problem is a "Boy who cried wolf" syndrome. If installing an update is best to be delayed, the taskbar icon stays on, not just when a NEW product update shows up. So, we end up ignoring them all. Not good. I can't find a way to silence the new taskbar behavior so that I can choose when to install product updates and still have a visible sign that a new update that I have not yet inspected just showed up. So... how do I get the taskbar icon to go back to the old behavior? ONLY show the update icon if a new update for a product is available and I have not yet opened the Windows Update app since it became available... regardless of whether I installed it or not? Or has windows 11 been crippled and this is no longer possible?Windows 11 Microsoft Account authentication fails system-wide – WAM/Sign-in issue
Hello, I am experiencing a system-wide Microsoft account authentication/sign-in problem on Windows 11 25H2. Microsoft Support has already assisted me with extensive troubleshooting and recommended that I report the issue here because the problem appears to be related to the Microsoft account authentication/sign-in process rather than to a specific Windows user profile. Main issue I am currently using a local Windows account. When I go to Settings > Accounts > Your info > Sign in with a Microsoft account instead, the process eventually asks me to authenticate my existing local Windows account. The password for my local account is definitely correct and works normally on the Windows sign-in screen. However, the same password is rejected during the Microsoft account linking/conversion process. The problem is not limited to my Windows user profile. To test this, I created a completely new local Windows test account. The exact same problem occurs there as well: the local password works for signing in to Windows, but is rejected when attempting to link/convert the local account to a Microsoft account. This strongly suggests that the issue is system-wide rather than caused by corruption of my individual Windows user profile. Additional Microsoft authentication issue I also tried to submit this problem through the Windows Feedback Hub. During the submission process, Windows Security asks me to verify my identity for my Microsoft account using my Windows Hello PIN. My correct Windows Hello PIN is rejected with the message that the PIN is incorrect. Therefore, I cannot submit the report through the Feedback Hub. At the same time, I can successfully sign in to my Microsoft account through a web browser. In fact, I was able to sign in to the Microsoft Tech Community through the browser in order to submit this report. Additional symptoms that have now appeared The problem is no longer limited to linking my Microsoft account to Windows: Outlook is no longer reliably receiving new emails. Microsoft Word can no longer save documents. Feedback Hub cannot authenticate my Microsoft account because the correct Windows Hello PIN is rejected. Microsoft account authentication through the web browser continues to work normally. These additional symptoms make me suspect that there may be a common problem with Microsoft account authentication, WAM (Web Account Manager), the account broker, or another Windows authentication component. Troubleshooting already performed Extensive troubleshooting has already been carried out: The problem was reproduced with a newly created local Windows test account. The local account password was verified and works correctly at the Windows sign-in screen. SFC was run and did not identify an unresolved system-file corruption problem. DISM was run and the component store was repaired/checked. A Windows 11 repair installation was already performed. The problem remained afterward. Relevant Microsoft account/authentication components and services were checked. Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant, WAM-related components, Account Control/Credential Provider-related components and associated services were checked and appear to be present/running. Credential-related services, including Credential Manager/Vault-related components and TokenBroker, were checked. The issue persists across multiple local Windows accounts. Microsoft Support has therefore concluded that this does not appear to be a simple user-profile corruption issue and may instead involve the Microsoft account linking/authentication pipeline. Current situation Windows 11 25H2 is otherwise running, and my Microsoft account itself is accessible through the browser. However, Microsoft account authentication within Windows appears to fail in several places. I would therefore appreciate assistance in determining whether this is a WAM/account broker/Microsoft account authentication issue and how the affected Windows authentication components can be repaired or reset without reinstalling Windows from scratch. Please let me know if diagnostic logs, event logs, correlation IDs, or any other information would be useful. I can provide additional diagnostic information if required. Thank you.
Microsoft Emailed Me: KB5124010 File History Log Bug Is Under Investigation
Hi everyone, on September 23rd, I contacted Microsoft Support to report a minor issue with the file history log caused by the KB5124010 update. Several other users have also reported this problem. Microsoft Support sent an email yesterday confirming they are aware of the issue and are currently investigating. This is the content of the letter :Windows 11 Remote Terminal server with a custom port across the internet
Hi All I have the need to connect to a windows 11 box across the internet using RDP for a short period of time I have changed the default port from 3389 to 44710. I have tested this change on the local LAN and workes fine using the RDP App with the connection string of 192.x.x.x.:44710 I have configured my firewall to look like this (I will restrict the source when I get it working) I have configured the windows firewall on the windows 11 machine like this When I try to connect over the internet I immediately get prompted for credentials but all that happens is Anyone have any ideas as to what I can do to make this work? thanks for any help or advice Gary
Windows 11 Lock Screen Spotlight Not Updating (Error 0x80004002)
Hello everyone, I'm dealing with a persistent issue where Windows Spotlight on the Lock Screen refuses to update or fetch new images, getting permanently stuck on a default image. What makes this unique is that Windows Spotlight on the Desktop background works completely fine, meaning internet connectivity, backend content servers, and general user settings are functioning. The failure is strictly isolated to the lock screen integration. What is Already Tested & Ruled Out: Network & Policies: Internet connection is active, and no Group Policies or registry blocks are interfering. New User Account Test: Tested on a freshly created local account—the issue persists identically. System Files: Ran SFC /scannow and a full DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth repair. Corrupted files were successfully repaired, but the lock screen issue remained. Packages Verified: Checked via PowerShell; Microsoft.LockApp, Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost, and MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience are all installed and registered properly. Assets Folders: The local Spotlight asset folders remain empty because background fetch tasks fail to download content. The Critical Diagnostic Clue: When investigating the underlying background tasks via Task Scheduler and PowerShell, I found that the Content Delivery Manager tasks are failing consistently: Task Path: \Microsoft\Windows\ContentDeliveryManager\UpdateContent (and SubscriptionContentChanged) Last Result Code: -2147467262 (0x80004002) Error Meaning: E_NOINTERFACE ("No such interface supported"). This indicates that a Windows component, registered COM interface, or background handler thatthe Content Delivery Manager task expects to talk to for the lock screen/shell interaction is missing,broken, or failing to bind. Attempts to manually re-register the Web Experience and Content Delivery Manager packages in an elevated PowerShell session are met with file-lock restrictions(0x80073D02) or core-package removal blocks (0x80070032). Has anyone encountered this specific 0x80004002 COM interface error affecting Lock Screen Spotlight on newer Windows 11 builds (version 26100+), and is there a way to safely repair or re-register the broken component interface without doing a full in-place upgrade? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!File History has stopped functioning
My file history program has stopped functioning. I tried searching the internet for some of these error messages and I have not found anything that has a solution that works. I tried deleting the backup on my backup drive, and also deleting the file history data/configuration folders so it would "start fresh" and I still keep getting errors. Here are some of the errors: Also have gotten a bunch of different errors for "reparse points". This is one example. I tried to exclude some of these folders from the backup but it didn't seem to help. But how do I find and eliminate a "reparse point" so it doesn't cause the file history to fail? And why doesn't file history just ignore those folders and go on and back up everything else?
