Microsoft has now released the Windows 11 December update, KB5021255 with Build 22621.963 to everyone running version 22H2. The Build 22621.963 brings new Spotlight & OneDrive storage features. It also enables organizational messages feature targeted at enterprise customers. The December update also brings an important fix for Task Manager issue.
Coming to details now, the update combines Windows Spotlight with Themes on the Personalization page making it easier to discover and turn on the Windows Spotlight feature. OneDrive subscribers’ storage alerts and full amount of storage capacity from all OneDrive subscriptions now appear in Windows 11 Settings app. Third-party companies can now provide content to their employees via new organizational messages feature.
This update also addresses a known issue affecting Task Manager. Due to this issue, Task Manager might display certain elements in the user interface in unexpected colors. Here is the full changelog provided for the Windows 11 update KB5021255 by Microsoft.
Improvements
This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:
- New! It gives Microsoft OneDrive subscribers storage alerts on the Systems page in the Settings app. The alerts appear when you are close to your storage limit. You can also manage your storage and purchase additional storage, if needed.
- New! It provides the full amount of the storage capacity of all your OneDrive subscriptions. It also displays the total storage on the Accounts page in the Settings app.
- New! It combines Windows Spotlight with Themes on the Personalization page. This makes it easier for you to discover and turn on the Windows Spotlight feature.
- New! It adds a new mobile device management (MDM) policy for organizational messages. It gives your company the option to enroll tenant devices so that they receive custom messages from you. For example, you can use Intune to write the messages. They will render within Windows.
- This update addresses a known issue that might affect Task Manager. It might display certain elements in the user interface (UI) in unexpected colors. Some parts of the UI might not be readable. This issue might occur if you have “Choose your mode” set to “Custom” in the Personalization > Colors section of Settings.
- It addresses an issue that affects some modern applications. It stops them from opening.
- It addresses an issue that affects some devices that are managed by an enterprise. We improve the reliability of app installations for them.
- It addresses the suspension of daylight saving time (DST) in the Republic of Fiji for this year.
- It addresses an issue that affects Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) authentication hardening. We will automatically raise the authentication level for all non-anonymous activation requests from DCOM clients to RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_PKT_INTEGRITY. This occurs if the authentication level is below Packet Integrity.
- It addresses an issue that affects Unified Update Platform (UUP) on-premises customers. It removes the block that stops them from getting offline language packs.
- It addresses an issue that affects process creation. It fails to create security audits for it and other related audit events.
- It addresses an issue that affects cluster name objects (CNO) or virtual computer objects (VCO). Password reset fails. The error message is, ” There was an error resetting the AD password… // 0x80070005”.
- It addresses an issue that affects transparency in layered windows. This occurs when you are in High Definition remote applications integrated locally (RAIL) mode.
- It addresses a known issue that affects the Input Method Editor (IME). Certain applications might stop responding. This occurs when you use keyboard shortcuts to change the input mode of the IME.
- It addresses an issue that affects microphone streams that use the Listen To feature to route to the speaker endpoint. The microphone stops working after you restart the device.
- It addresses an issue that might affect applications that run on the Windows Lock Down Policy (WLDP). They might stop working.
- It addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Defender when it is not the primary antivirus. Microsoft Defender fails to turn off passive mode. This issue occurs when you turn off Smart App Control (SAC).
- It adds .wcx to the list of Dangerous Extensions that some app control policies do not allow.
- It addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Automated investigation blocks live response investigations.
- It addresses an issue that affects printing in landscape mode in Microsoft Edge. The print output is incorrect. This issue occurs when you use Microsoft Defender Application Guard.
- It addresses an issue that causes File Explorer to stop working. This occurs when you close context menus and menu items.
- It addresses an issue that might cause certain apps to stop responding. This occurs when you use the Open File dialog.
- It addresses an issue that sometimes affects File Explorer when you open a file. Because of this, there is high CPU usage.
- It addresses an issue that affects protocol activation of the Settings app. The app fails to open a page under the Accounts category.
- It addresses an issue that affects a computer account. Use of non-standard characters can stop the cleanup of the Out of Box Experience (OOBE) accounts.
- It addresses an issue that affects the CopyFile function. It might sometimes return error 317: ERROR_MR_MID_NOT_FOUND.
- It addresses an issue that affects the Windows Firewall service. It does not start when you turn on the Override block rules option.
- It addresses an issue that affects some games and applications. This issue is related to GPU performance debugging features. This lowers the expected game performance.
- It addresses an issue that affects cumulative update installations. They fail, and the error code is 0x800f0806.
If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.
Download link:
You can download and manually install Windows 11 update KB5021255 by clicking here. If you need help in understanding how to install these updates manually on your PC, you can refer to our step by step noob-friendly tutorial.
