KB5050094 :Fixed: After you do a search, that search might repeat

January 28, 2025—KB5050094 (OS Build 26100.3037) Preview

Highlights

Gradual rollout
These might not be available to all users because they will roll out gradually.​​​​​

• [Taskbar] New! This update improves the previews that show when your cursor hovers over apps on the taskbar. The update also improves their animations.
• [ Windows Studio Effects ] New! An icon will appear in the system tray when you use an app that supports Windows Studio Effects. This only occurs on a device that has a neural processing unit (NPU). Select the icon to open the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings. To view the app that is using the camera, hover over the icon for a tooltip.
• ​​​​​​​[Fonts] New! This update adds Simsun-ExtG, a new simplified Chinese font. It includes the Biangbiang noodles character. Some apps might not be able to display these new extension characters yet. The font has 9,753 ideographs that support Unicode Extensions G, H, and I. See the list below.
  Unicode range G 30000-3134A (4,939 chars)
  Unicode range H 31350-323AF (4,192 chars)
  Unicode range I 2EBF0-2EE5D (622 chars)

- [File Explorer]
​​​​​​​New! When you right-click items in the left pane, the “New Folder” command appears on the context menu.
Fixed: After you do a search, that search might repeat when you don’t want it to.
Fixed: The date and time properties of a file might update after you copy it.
Fixed: Icons on the details pane might not update as you expect when you change a theme. This makes it hard to view the change when you switch between dark and light themes.
Fixed: The search box might lose input focus as you type.
[Settings] New! You can change time zones in Settings>Time & Language>Date & Time. You don’t have to be an admin to make this change.

- ​​​​​​​[Mouse]
Fixed: The mouse cursor might disappear. This occurs when you hover over text fields in certain applications.
Fixed: If you turn on pointer trails, the mouse cursor becomes transparent, and a black box appears behind it.
Fixed: The mouse cursor might stutter when it moves across the screen. This occurs even when the system is not using a lot of resources.

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​[Pinyin Input Method Editor (IME)] Fixed: When you switch app windows, the IME language might change from Chinese to English.
• [Snipping Tool] Fixed: Snipping Tool screenshots might be distorted. This occurs when you use two or more monitors that have different display scaling.
  - [Microsoft Excel 2016] Fixed: When you open certain files, Excel opens, but the screen might remain on the loading screen.

Normal rollout

• [High dynamic range (HDR)] Fixed: The display of some games appears oversaturated. This occurs when you use Auto HDR.
• [Digital/Analog converter (DAC) (known issue)] Fixed: You might experience issues with USB audio devices. This is more likely when you use a DAC audio driver based on USB 1.0. USB audio devices might stop working, which stops playback.
• [USB audio device drivers] Fixed: The code 10 error message, “This device cannot start” appears. This occurs when you connect to certain external audio management devices.
• [Chinese Pinyin input method editor (IME)] Bing will stop giving automatic suggestions in the search box for search engine sites, like Baidu. To get manual suggestions, use Ctrl+Tab or the chevron button (>).​​​​​​​
• [USB cameras] Fixed: Your device does not recognize the camera is on. This issue occurs after you install the January 2025 security update.
• [Passkey] Fixed: This update removes the one-minute timeout when you use a passkey on a phone.

Improvements

• Gradual rollout
• [Domains] Fixed: A device might fail to join a domain.
• [Task Manager] Fixed: It takes too long to close after you close the app.
• [Dam.sys] Fixed: A watchdog timeout error might occur when your PC resumes from sleep. ​​​​​​​
• [Windows update installation] Fixed: Cumulative updates might not install. The error code is 0x800736b3. This occurs after a feature on demand fails to install.

Normal rollout

• [Memory leak] Fixed: Leaks occur when predictive input ideas show.
• [Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file (DriverSiPolicy.p7b)] This update adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• [Remote Desktop Gateway] Fixed: You get errors or cannot sign when you connect to Windows 11 workstations. This occurs when you enforce device redirection.