Users will soon be able to switch directly from the Dev Channel of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Program to the Beta Channel

Microsoft announced some changes to the Windows Insider Program. Let's take a look at what users can expect in the coming weeks.

Windows 11 Insiders will soon be able to switch directly from Dev Channel to Beta Channel

Announced last year During the Windows 11 Insider Preview Program, Microsoft imposed some restrictions on participants. If your computer does not meet the minimum system requirements, you will only have the option of entering the Development Channel or the Test Channel. While that's fair, there's another limitation that caused problems for testers.

If you install a Dev Channel version of Windows 11, you cannot leave it to the stable version or even the Beta channel without completely reinstalling the operating system using an ISO image (i.e. full format or clean install). Microsoft is changing the way it works, saying users will soon be able to switch from the Dev channel to the Beta channel without starting from scratch. This isn't the first time the company has allowed this.

The development channel has more bugs than other channels and is considered unstable in daily use. Although Microsoft tells users not to install Dev Channel Builds on their primary PCs, some people choose to ignore the warning. To make matters worse, some users fail to keep their operating systems updated, which in turn does not prevent them from expiring, after which they end up with an unusable operating system, i.e. the updates do not apply to the build. Users can take advantage of the upcoming window to move to the beta channel in the coming weeks, the announcement said.

After entering the Beta or Release Preview channel, you can choose to stop receiving preview builds, which will bring you back to the stable channel when a major update is released. That said, if you want to test Dev builds or even Beta builds, you should run them in a virtual machine. Why risk an unstable version of your main PC?

Windows 11 Dev Channel gets experimental features

Microsoft has been testing various features in Insider Preview builds, but some of them are not immediately available Used by all users. The company explains that it's testing the concept among a small group of people, sort of like a limited beta experiment. If the A/B test goes well, all users in the development channel can test the features and provide feedback to Microsoft to fix/improve the software. Android app preview for Windows 11 is a great example of A/B testing.

Depending on how users receive the feature, some additions may get the green light, while those that aren't completely scrapped. Feature experience packages that receive positive feedback from users will enter the beta stage and will continue to be tested on a wider scale. In the final stages of testing, before finally entering the stable channel, the function is promoted to the release preview channel, which is the general release.

This is why fixes and new features introduced in the Insider Preview Program take a long time to hit the stable channel. The only exceptions, of course, are security updates and patches for major issues, such as the recent fix for SSD issues. The announcement article mentioned that Microsoft will rely heavily on the Dev Channel to deliver experimental features, which may be why it provides users with a way out of Dev builds, as things can go wrong as the operating system evolves.

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