Windows 11 build 22449

Windows 11 build 22449 is the first Insider Preview build of Nickel, the 22H2 development semester of Windows as a service. It was released to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel on 2 September 2021.

Shell

 * The WinUI 3 ring-shaped progress spinner, which introduced in Windows 10 build 19587, is now used by default on the boot screen. This change can be reverted by merging the following to the registry and then rebooting:
 * Notifications now have an acrylic background.
 * The Sign-in options button has been added to the shutdown menu.
 * Right-clicking on the Bluetooth entry in Quick Settings and selecting Settings will now open the main Bluetooth & Devices page in Settings.
 * The Windows startup sound will no longer play after an unattended update.
 * Added a link to the touch keyboard personalization settings from Typing > Touch Keyboard to help improve discoverability.
 * Updated animation used in the notification introducing users to Windows Hello if it hasn't been set up.
 * Updated the dialog when closing Windows Sandbox so that it has rounded visuals.
 * Adjusted the design of Notification Center to make the app names more visibly separated from the notifications.
 * The system crash background has been reverted back to blue.

Bugfixes

 * no longer crashes when pressing Alt.
 * The title font in taskbar previews has been changed from Arial to Segoe UI.

Shell

 * The Widgets board may appear empty. This can be fixed by logging out and back in.
 * Widgets may be displayed in the wrong size on external monitors.
 * The options to open System and Windows Terminal may be missing from the ⊞ Win menu.

Taskbar
The taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.

Search

 * After clicking the Search icon on the Taskbar, the Search panel may not open. This can be fixed by restarting Explorer and opening the search panel again.
 * The search panel may appear as black and not display any content below the search box.
 * Text may be unable to be inputted when using Search from Start or the taskbar. This can be fixed by pressing ⊞ Win to open the Run dialog box and then closing it.

Bugcheck

 * Some Surface Pro X devices with this build may bugcheck with a.
 * Devices with this build installed may continuously bugcheck if WDAG is enabled.