Windows 11 25H2 New Features: Every Change, Improvement, and Removal Explained

Windows 11 25H2 — officially called the Windows 11 2025 Update — is the fourth major feature update for Windows 11, released on September 30, 2025.

Unlike previous Windows upgrades that required large downloads and lengthy installation processes, 25H2 arrives as a small enablement package for anyone already on Windows 11 24H2. Most of its features were already sitting dormant inside monthly cumulative updates — 25H2 simply unlocks them. For 24H2 users, the entire upgrade takes a few minutes and one restart.

But “a small enablement package” undersells what 25H2 actually delivers. Between the initial September 2025 release and the monthly updates through July 2026, Windows 11 25H2 accumulated an impressive set of new capabilities — Point-in-Time Restore, Quick Machine Recovery, Administrator Protection, Agentic File Explorer, a redesigned Start menu, Shared Audio, a native speed test in the taskbar, and dozens of smaller improvements that collectively make 25H2 feel substantially different from 24H2.

This guide covers every significant new feature — organized by category so you can find what matters to you.

How Windows 11 25H2 Is Different From 24H2

Before diving into features, one important context point: Windows 11 25H2 shares the same core as version 24H2. It’s faster to install, easier to manage, and brings improvements without the hassle.

Devices updating from Windows 11, version 24H2 use an enablement package. Most of the files for the 25H2 update already exist on Windows 11, version 24H2 devices that have a recent monthly security update installed. Many of the new features are already enabled on Windows 11, version 24H2 clients. However, some features are just in an inactive and dormant state because they are under temporary enterprise feature control.

This is why upgrading from 24H2 to 25H2 via the KB5054156 enablement package installs in minutes rather than the 45 to 90 minutes of a traditional Windows upgrade.

The practical difference is visible in features, security capabilities, and legacy tool removals — not in the underlying system architecture.

Security and System Protection — The Most Important New Features

Quick Machine Recovery

Quick Machine Recovery is one of the most significant additions in Windows 11 25H2 — and one of the most underreported.

It allows Windows to recover a device that cannot boot by connecting to Windows Update remotely and applying targeted fixes without requiring physical access to the machine. For IT administrators managing remote fleets, this is transformative — a device that previously required physical intervention to recover from a boot failure can now be repaired remotely.

For consumers, Quick Machine Recovery means that a future bad update — the kind that causes a boot loop or prevents Windows from loading — may be automatically detected and corrected without you needing to create recovery media or boot from a USB drive.

The feature is configured through Settings, System, Recovery on supported devices.

Administrator Protection

Administrator Protection is a new security model that changes how Windows handles elevated permissions.

In standard Windows, an administrator account runs daily tasks with full administrator privileges available at all times — meaning any malicious software running under that account also has access to full system privileges. Administrator Protection separates daily activity from elevated permissions. When an app or process needs administrator-level access, it must explicitly request it, and approval happens through Windows Hello authentication — face recognition, fingerprint, or PIN — rather than a simple UAC dialog click.

This is a meaningful security hardening change. Administrator Protection adds agentic File Explorer actions, and reduces the attack surface for privilege escalation attacks.

Point-in-Time Restore

Point-in-Time Restore is the recovery feature Windows users have wanted for years. Unlike System Restore — which only saves registry and system file snapshots — Point-in-Time Restore captures the full system state including apps, settings, and personal files. Unlike Reset This PC — which takes 30 to 90 minutes — Point-in-Time Restore is designed to be significantly faster.

The feature debuted as a preview in the June 23, 2026 optional update KB5095093 and became available to all 25H2 users through the July 2026 Patch Tuesday KB5101650.

Access it through Settings, System, Recovery. Create manual restore points, schedule automatic point creation, and roll back to any saved point when something goes wrong after a bad update or software installation.

Smart App Control — Toggle Without Reinstall

25H2 resolved a long-standing frustration with Smart App Control. Previously, you could only change SAC’s state during initial Windows setup — if you wanted to enable or disable it later, a complete Windows reinstall was required.

Starting with 25H2, Smart App Control can be toggled from Settings, Windows Security, App and Browser Control, Smart App Control settings — no reinstall required. This makes it practical for users who want to try SAC without committing to it permanently.

System Performance — Speed and Responsiveness

App Launch and Core Shell Speed

One of the most impactful improvements in 25H2’s 2026 monthly updates is a direct improvement to system responsiveness. The May 2026 update KB5089573 specifically accelerated app launch and core shell experiences including Start menu, Search, and Action Center.

For users who noticed Windows 11 feeling sluggish compared to their hardware’s capability — particularly on systems that accumulated months of updates and installed software — this improvement is noticeable in daily use. The Start menu opens faster, Search results appear more quickly, and the Action Center responds more crisply.

Low Latency CPU Performance Profile

A new CPU performance mode — Low Latency Profile — improves frame rate performance in games and latency-sensitive applications by adjusting how Windows schedules CPU resources. The profile prioritizes low-latency task completion over maximum throughput efficiency, reducing input lag and improving frame consistency in gaming.

The Low Latency Profile activates automatically when the system detects a compatible workload — no manual configuration required. It shipped as part of the June 2026 KB5094126 update.

NPU Battery Drain Fix

For Copilot+ PCs and other devices with Neural Processing Units, a significant battery drain issue was resolved in the January 2026 KB5074109 update. The NPU was remaining in an active power state longer than intended — consuming power even when no AI workloads were running. After the fix, NPUs correctly enter low-power states when idle, restoring expected battery life on affected laptops.

File Explorer — Smarter and More Capable

Agentic File Explorer Actions

Agentic File Explorer is one of the headline 25H2 features for productivity users. It introduces AI-driven multi-step file management — you can give File Explorer a task like “organize these photos by date” or “rename all these files with a consistent naming pattern” and it executes the steps automatically.

This moves File Explorer from a passive browser to an active assistant for file management tasks that previously required manual repetition or third-party tools.

More Compressed Format Support

File Explorer’s Extract All context menu option — previously limited to ZIP archives — now supports additional compressed formats including .tar, .tar.gz, and other common archive types. This reduces the need for third-party extraction tools like 7-Zip or WinRAR for formats that were not previously natively supported. This change arrived in the March 2026 KB5079473 update.

Improved Multi-Drive Search

File Explorer search received reliability improvements for searching across multiple drives simultaneously and across “This PC.” Previously, searches spanning multiple drives could feel slow, incomplete, or stuck. The updated search indexer interaction reduces these issues significantly — improving what has historically been one of the most complained-about Windows 11 experiences.

WebP Wallpaper Support

You can now set .webp images directly as desktop wallpapers without converting them first. WebP is increasingly the default image format on the web due to its smaller file sizes at comparable quality. This change eliminates the conversion step that WebP wallpaper enthusiasts previously needed. Arrived in KB5079473.

Start Menu and Taskbar

Redesigned Start Menu

Microsoft introduced a redesigned Start menu for Windows 11 that consolidates previously separate experiences into a single, scrollable layout. The new design merges the Pinned, Recommended, and All Apps sections into a single unified interface.

Phone Link integration is embedded directly in the Start menu — allowing you to see and interact with your paired Android or iPhone without opening the Phone Link app separately.

Taskbar Improvements

Several taskbar quality-of-life improvements arrived through 25H2’s 2026 updates:

Battery percentage on the taskbar — the battery icon in the system tray now displays the numerical percentage directly without requiring a hover.

Smaller taskbar icon option — users who preferred a more compact taskbar can reduce icon sizes.

Network speed test — clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the system tray now provides a quick network speed test option. This feature debuted in KB5079473.

Taskbar clock with seconds — a frequently requested feature allowing the taskbar clock to display seconds.

Lock Screen Widgets

Customizable widgets appear on the Windows 11 lock screen, showing information like weather, upcoming calendar events, and notifications without requiring you to unlock the device first. The lock screen widget experience is configurable through Settings, Personalization, Lock screen.

Audio and Connectivity

Shared Audio (Bluetooth LE Audio)

Shared Audio allows two pairs of Bluetooth earbuds or headphones to receive the same audio simultaneously from one Windows 11 PC. Both devices must support Bluetooth LE Audio — the newer Bluetooth audio standard that enables multiple simultaneous streams.

This feature was previewed in the May 2026 KB5089573 optional update and shipped to all users in the June 2026 KB5094126 Patch Tuesday update.

Multi-App Camera Access

Windows 11 previously limited camera access to one application at a time. 25H2 removes this restriction — multiple apps can now access the same camera stream simultaneously. This means you can run a video call and a recording application at the same time without one blocking the other. Arrived in KB5094126.

Major Bluetooth Improvements

Significant Bluetooth reliability fixes arrived in the June 2026 KB5094126 update — described as the biggest Bluetooth fix in years for Windows 11. Improvements include mic mute synchronization between Windows audio mixer and Bluetooth devices, faster AirPods pairing, fixes for Beats Studio Pro microphone recognition, and faster reconnection after hibernation.

Wi-Fi 7 Enterprise Support

Windows 11, version 25H2 has support for Wi-Fi 7 enterprise access points, representing a significant advancement in wireless networking capabilities for modern organizations. Wi-Fi 7 enables increased speeds, greater throughput, improved performance in congested environments.

Accessibility Improvements

Narrator With Copilot Image Descriptions — For All PCs

The April 2026 KB5083769 update extended Narrator’s AI-powered image description capability to all Windows 11 PCs — not just Copilot+ hardware. Use Narrator key + Ctrl + D to describe a focused image or Narrator key + Ctrl + S to describe the full screen. Descriptions are generated by Copilot and provide context that previous Narrator versions could not produce for arbitrary on-screen visuals.

Voice Typing — New Languages With Grammar Correction

Voice typing now supports French, German, and Spanish with real-time grammar and punctuation correction — the same quality of dictation experience that was previously only available in English. Arrived in KB5089573.

Magnifier Improvements

Magnifier received reliability improvements addressing intermittent focus tracking issues where the tool would lose cursor position during rapid navigation. Also improved: text zoom accessibility features across multiple Windows 11 UI areas.

Developer and IT Pro Features

Built-In Sysmon

Sysmon — the system monitoring tool previously only available through Microsoft’s Sysinternals suite — is now an optional Windows feature in 25H2. Enable it through Settings, Optional Features or via:

cmd

DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:Sysmon

Sysmon logs detailed system activity including process creation, network connections, registry changes, and file creation timestamps to the Windows Event Log — essential for security monitoring and incident detection. Arrived in KB5079473.

NPU Monitoring in Task Manager

Task Manager’s Performance tab now includes NPU (Neural Processing Unit) monitoring for Copilot+ PCs, showing real-time AI chip usage, temperature, and load alongside CPU, GPU, and memory metrics.

curl Upgraded to 8.21.0

The curl command-line tool built into Windows was upgraded to version 8.21.0 in the July 2026 KB5101650 update, including security patches and performance improvements.

RDP SHA-2 Certificate Thumbprint Support

Remote Desktop Protocol connections now support SHA-2 certificate thumbprints for trusted publisher authentication — hardening RDP against phishing attacks that use fraudulent certificates. SHA-1 support is retained only for backward compatibility and is planned for future removal. Arrived in KB5094126.

Windows Server 2025 Gets Separate KB Identifiers

Starting with the January 2026 security update, Windows Server 2025 has its own KB identifiers and build numbers — separate from Windows 11. This helps enterprise administrators track and deploy updates independently for each platform.

Emoji and Visual Changes

Emoji 16.0 Support

25H2 includes full Unicode 16.0 emoji support — the latest Unicode standard adding new characters. The new emoji are available across the emoji panel (Win + .), messaging apps, and any input field that supports emoji. Keeps Windows 11’s emoji set current with iPhone and Android. Arrived in KB5079473.

Improved Dark Mode Consistency

These updates include a more consistent dark mode experience in File Explorer and across system dialogs. The KB5083769 April 2026 update and subsequent releases addressed dark mode inconsistencies where some dialogs, context menus, and UI elements did not properly respect the dark mode setting.

Widgets Redesigned — Quieter Defaults

The Widgets experience received two significant updates through 25H2. First, the notification behavior was revised to be less intrusive — Widgets surface information when requested rather than pushing unsolicited notifications. Second, in the April 2026 KB5083769 update, Widgets settings expanded to a full-page interface instead of a small popup dialog.

What Was Removed in Windows 11 25H2

25H2 is not only about additions. Several legacy tools were removed.

PowerShell 2.0 — Removed in 25H2. PowerShell 2.0 is a 2009-era release with no support for modern Windows features. PowerShell 5.1 (included in Windows) and PowerShell 7 remain available.

WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) — The wmic command is removed. This affects enterprise scripts that used wmic for hardware queries. The PowerShell equivalent — Get-CimInstance or Get-WmiObject — replaces it for all wmic use cases.

If your organization uses WMIC-based scripts for inventory, monitoring, or management, 25H2 is the time to migrate those scripts to PowerShell equivalents before wmic stops responding.

Windows 11 25H2 vs 24H2 — Key Differences Summary

Feature	24H2	25H2
Quick Machine Recovery	Limited	Full cloud-based recovery
Administrator Protection	No	Yes
Smart App Control toggle	Requires reinstall	Settings toggle
Agentic File Explorer	No	Yes
Shared Audio (Bluetooth LE)	No	Yes
Multi-App Camera	No	Yes
Point-in-Time Restore	No (KB5101650 adds it)	Yes
NPU monitoring (Task Manager)	Partial	Full
Built-in Sysmon	No	Optional feature
Wi-Fi 7 Enterprise	No	Yes
Emoji 16.0	No	Yes
WebP wallpaper	No	Yes
WMIC	Available	Removed
PowerShell 2.0	Available	Removed
Support end (Home/Pro)	October 13, 2026	October 2027

Should You Upgrade to Windows 11 25H2?

The support deadline is the most urgent reason for most users. As covered in detail in the Windows 11 24H2 end of support guide, Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro editions lose security updates on October 13, 2026 — roughly five weeks from now. Upgrading to 25H2 extends that deadline to October 2027.

For individual users on 24H2, upgrade before October 13. The process takes minutes via Windows Update or the KB5054156 enablement package.

For enterprise users on 24H2 Enterprise or Education, you have until October 12, 2027 — but planning the migration now gives you time to validate WMIC script compatibility and test any application that depends on removed legacy components.

For anyone still on Windows 11 23H2 or earlier, or on Windows 10, the upgrade to 25H2 requires a fuller update process — check Windows Update for the available path from your current version.

Frequently Asked Questions