Windows 11 October 22H2 update appears on the Release Preview Insider channel

Last month, Microsoft released the Windows 11 2022 Public Update. Also known as Windows 11 22H2, this update brings several fixes and UI improvements to the year-old OS. Microsoft also announced that additional changes will follow in October’s second update, in line with the company’s commitment to launching new features when they’re ready, rather than locking them into any specific release window.

This October update is available to Windows 11 22H2 users on the Release Preview Insider channel, the last stop for new Windows updates before they go public. Most importantly, it includes the welcome addition of tabbed browsing for File Explorer, a feature that Microsoft has been testing since the heyday of Windows 10. Also improved handling of taskbar overflow icons when you have too many apps open or pinned (or both), and expanded options in the Sharing menu that can use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to share files between PCs in the same network.

Windows will also attempt to make context-sensitive suggestions for the copied test. This will happen “when you copy phone numbers or future dates, we provide suggestions, such as making a call using Teams or Skype, or adding an event to the Calendar app,”the company’s blog post says.

These updates will only be available to PCs that have the Windows 11 2022 Update installed. They will not be offered to PCs that are still running Windows 11 21H2, the first public version of Windows 11.

Starting October 4, Microsoft expanded the rollout of the 22H2 update to include any user with a compatible PC that manually checks Windows Update. The only exceptions are certain devices that have “security locks”, compatibility locks installed that may cause freezes, crashes, or other forms of instability in the new version of the OS. For example, last week an issue with an Intel audio driver was blocking the installation of Windows 11 22H2 on one of my systems.

If Protective Hold is preventing your system from updating, you’ll see a message about it in Windows Update, along with a link to more information. As usual, some issues need to be resolved by Microsoft and others by third-party hardware and software vendors, as happened when Nvidia updated its GeForce Experience software to fix stuttering and other performance issues on Windows 11 22H2.