Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27695 (Canary Channel)

Hello Windows Insiders,

Today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27695 to the Canary Channel.

We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being.

What’s new with Build 27695

New position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars 

We’re beginning to roll out a new position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars. The taskbar entry-point will move to the left of the systems tray and will be wider so you can see richer content from Widgets on your taskbar. When you launch the Widgets board, it will fly out from the right side instead of the left side.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Windows LAPS: Retrieve encrypted passwords during Active Directory recovery situations

Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) has been improved with a new ability to recover encrypted passwords from Active Directory (AD) backup media even when there are zero AD domain controllers running.

Windows LAPS encrypted passwords offer much better security over the traditional approach of storing clear-text passwords in Active Directory. Windows LAPS password encryption is based on Cryptography API: Next Generation Data Protection API (CNG DPAPI). Under normal operating conditions, the decryption keys are always retrieved from a running AD domain controller. When an unexpected disaster occurs, there may be no AD domain controllers running.

You can now use the Get-LapsADPassword PowerShell cmdlet to retrieve and decrypt Windows LAPS encrypted passwords from Active Directory backup media (mounted using the AD snapshot browser, aka dsamain.exe) with zero network interaction with any AD domain controller. In fact, this operation is now possible even when running on a non-domain-joined, workgroup machine. If you still have access to your AD backup media, all Windows LAPS encrypted passwords will now be recoverable regardless of the situation.

This new improvement is implemented in the existing Get-LapsADPassword PowerShell cmdlet. When the -Port and -RecoveryMode parameters are both specified, any retrieved passwords will be automatically decrypted in a purely local operation using the decryption keys found in the snapshot browser.

Step 1: Mount the Active Directory backup media database:

mount_AD_database

Step 2: Recover the Windows LAPS passwords from the mounted AD backup media database:

Recover_password

Step 3: This step is informative only; the screenshot below demonstrates that the above operations were executed on a workgroup machine:

Verify_workgroup​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In summary this improvement resolves a key Windows LAPS concern of how to recover Windows LAPS passwords in a disaster scenario where no AD domain controllers are running. For more information see: Retrieving passwords during AD disaster recovery scenarios.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

  • Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2025 starting with Build 27691. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.

  • Some Insiders in the Canary Channel will begin to see an estimated time for how long their PC will be offline to install Build 27695. This estimate will be shown on the Windows Update settings page and via the Start menu power button.

[Notifications]

  • If desired, there’s now an option to turn off the suggestions to disable notifications from certain apps. You can now press the “…” within the notification to disable the notification, as you can with other notifications, or you can go to the list of notification senders in Settings > System > Notifications and turn it off from there (called “Notification Suggestions” in the list). Note – this entry will only appear in the senders list after you have received one.

[Windows Share]

  • We are rolling out the ability to easily share content to an Android device from Windows share window. The feature requires you to pair your Android device to your Windows PC using the Link to Windows app on Android and Phone Link on your PC.

[Widgets]

  • We are rolling out an update to the Widgets Board to improve security and the APIs for creating widgets and feeds for users in EEA regions. As part of this update, the Microsoft Start Experiences app will power the Microsoft Start widget and feed experiences. Also, as part of this update, some existing widgets will be removed and others will be modified, temporarily affecting their functionality. This update sets the foundation for new widgets and other features in development, set to roll out soon.

[Settings]

  • [ADDED 9/3] We’ve updated the dialog when viewing your Wi-Fi password under Settings > Network & internet to match the Windows 11 visuals.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.

  • Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.

  • Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel.

  • Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.

  • To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder – Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.

  • The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

  • Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.

Before you update your machine, visit the Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27695 (Canary Channel) | Windows Insider Blog today to view full details on new features, general changes, improvements, known issues and much more!