Microsoft has decided to revert some undesirable changes in Windows 11 Taskbar that it introduced recently. The latest Dev channel Build 22616 has reversed the changes in system tray and the “Show hidden icons” flyout.

These changes in the “Show hidden icons” flyout were introduced in Windows 11 Build 22581. Microsoft received negative feedback from insiders about these Taskbar changes and consequently decided to do away with them.

But these changes may come back in future builds after “further refinement in experience”, exhorts Microsoft. Check the details provided by Microsoft in its official Blog post below.

As a result of feedback from Windows Insiders, we have decided to disable the changes to the system tray introduced in Build 22581 for now. The system tray and specifically the “Show hidden icons” flyout will now function the same way it did with the original release of Windows 11, including the ability to rearrange icons in the flyout. We hope to bring these changes back in the future after further refinement of the experience by addressing some of the feedback we have received. As we’ve mentioned previously, features we try out in the Dev or Beta Channels may not always ship.

Windows 11 Build 22616 brings more improvements and fixes along with itself that you can read below.

[Other]

  • Previously, we shared new requirements for internet and MSA on the Windows 11 Pro edition. Today, Windows Insiders on Windows 11 Pro edition will now require MSA and internet connectivity during the initial device setup (OOBE) only when setting up for personal use. If you choose to setup device for Work or School, there is no change, and it will work the same way as before.

Fixes

[General]

  • We fixed an issue where performance and reliability of explorer.exe could degrade over time, eventually resulting in a bugcheck, in the recent Insider Preview builds.

[Taskbar]

  • We fixed the issue causing the “Show hidden icons” flyout in the system tray to disappear completely for some Insiders, even though it shows as “on” under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and “Other system tray icons”.

[Input]

  • Fixed an issue which was leading to some apps crashing when pressing the half-width/full-width key while using the Japanese IME.

[Widgets]

  • Fixed an issue where if you tried to open the widgets board using a gesture from the side of the screen, you would see the widgets board open and then immediately close.
  • Fixed an issue where users were unable to use the swipe functionality to reliably invoke Widgets.

[Settings]

  • Fixed an issue that could cause Quick Settings to crash when projecting to certain wireless devices.

[Windowing]

  • Addressed an issue where using the 3-finger on-screen touch gesture for minimizing could cause animations to stop working across the system.
  • Fixed an issue impacting DWM reliability in recent flights.
  • Fixed an issue which was causing some apps like Settings to open blank if they were re-opened an upgrade or reboot.

[Task Manager]

  • We fixed an issue that was causing the process list to fluctuate between Apps & Background groups when clicking on Efficiency mode from the command bar

[Windows Sandbox]

  • Fixed an underlying issue which could cause some text in Windows Sandbox to appear as black boxes in certain cases.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue leading to Windows Update notifications showing they were sent from “Windows.SystemToast.WindowsUpdate.MoNotification” instead of “Windows Update”.