Windows Update Preview: New Secure Boot Certificates, App Backups, and More

In the early hours of Wednesday this week, Microsoft released the preview update for Windows 11. It is quite extensive in February. Among other things, the update brings new Secure Boot certificates and introduces recovery functions for Windows backup for organizations.

Microsoft lists the details of the changes with the updates in the Knowledgebase entry KB5077241. After installation, Windows 11 will be on build numbers 26200.7922 (Windows 11 25H2) or 26100.7922 (Windows 11 24H2). The update preview is not intended to put non-security-relevant components of the upcoming Microsoft Patchday updates through extensive testing. However, in February, updated Secure Boot certificates are also on the list of updated components. The old ones expire in June of this year; the new ones are now being distributed to more machines. In addition, the developers have worked on the reliability of BitLocker drive encryption. System freezes after entering the BitLocker recovery key should no longer occur.

Update components also for business customers

Windows Backup for organizations also includes the restoration of apps from the Microsoft Store and their settings. Microsoft has promoted this for the smooth migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Upon first login on devices connected to Microsoft Entra, on cloud PCs, and in multi-user environments, the corresponding recovery process now starts so that users find their familiar environment on new PCs as well. Microsoft is now enabling “Quick Machine Recovery” (QMR) on Windows Pro editions that are not managed in an organizational environment or domain. If a computer no longer starts, for example, because a driver from a security solution like the one from Crowdstrike prevented startup in mid-2024 for millions of users, the Windows recovery environment starts, connects to the network, and transmits diagnostic data. It is then supposed to apply solutions that allow the computer to start normally again.

The update preview also brings functions that only landed last week in the Windows Insider preview in the Release Preview channel. These include a speed test for the network connection, which can be started directly from the taskbar by right-clicking the network icon. In addition to a stylized speedometer icon, the new entry is “Perform speed test”. Somewhat unexpectedly, this only starts a Bing search in the default browser for “Speed Test”, and similar to a Google search for the term, a speed test embedded directly on the results page can be started. Also included now is native Sysmon support, allowing the monitoring and debugging tool to be installed directly as a Windows add-on feature.

More advertising

Other changes fall somewhat behind. Microsoft is selling more advertising in the operating system as an improvement in the account menu of the Start menu, where a “Benefits page” now allows an overview and management of the Microsoft account benefits. Camera settings allow configuration of pan and tilt for supported cameras. Widget settings now open an entire page instead of just a settings dialog. Desktop backgrounds can be in WebP format.

For Windows 11 on ARM processors, Microsoft is now also making Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) available. This allows Active Directory Domain Services and LDAP service tools, among others, to be installed. The Windows Update page in the system settings should respond faster. Nearby Sharing should also be more reliable with larger files.

Windows 11 installations will receive the update automatically if the option “Get the latest updates as soon as they're available” is enabled on the Windows Update settings page. Otherwise, searching for updates will offer the update as an optional update.

(dmk)