Windows 11 Build 22538 Fixes Explorer.exe Crash and Improves Voice Access

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22538 was released on January 19. This release updates Voice Access, a new feature that debuted in build 22518 that allows users to control their PC entirely with their voice. At the same time, this update also fixes the crash of Explorer.exe when using the hardware volume control. In addition to this, build 22518 also fixes other bugs from previous builds, see details below.

Build 22538 New Features

Voice Access

Voice access debuted at Build 22518. The Voice Access feature allows users to control the computer with just their voice. Currently, Voice Access is only available as a trial for Windows Insiders.

1 Voice access using the touch keyboard

• You can use the touch keyboard with voice access:
• Spell words such as names and email addresses.
• Enter numbers, such as phone numbers and addresses.
• Enter punctuation and symbols.
• Enter emoji.

2 When using the touch keyboard, you can only use the following voice access commands:

• Voice access on/off commands, such as “voice access wake up”, “voice access sleep”, “off microphone”, “off voice access”.
• Commands that use the touch keyboard, such as “Hide Keyboard”, “Click 2”.

Build 22538 Improvements

• The updated entry point for the widget with weather on the taskbar, first introduced in Build 22518, should now be available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
• In ALT+TAB, Task View, and Snap Assist, the focus rectangle showing the selection will now use the accent color you chose on your PC.
• The updated IME and touch keyboard design will now appear on the lock screen and where you enter account information such as username and password. This change is currently rolling out to a subset of Windows Insiders first, and we will expand over time based on feedback.
• Started rolling out voice input to download voice packs from the Microsoft Store for on-device speech recognition that provides better transcription performance.
• Attempt to improve the discoverability of some input functions in various areas of the operating system.
• If necessary, you can directly visit ncpa.cpl again.
• We added HTTPS booting for Hyper-V Gen 2 VMs. This feature is enabled by default.
• For PCs that support it, display calibration can now be done directly under Settings > Display > HDR without having to open a separate Settings page.