Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Windows 11 leak gives us our first look at the radical new design

By

A new Windows 11 leak might have just spoiled Microsoft’s big surprise for its “what’s next for Windows” event on June 24.

Screenshots spotted on the Chinese website Baidu, and a fully working leaked internal operating system build showcases a newly redesigned Windows 11, complete with a new centered Start Menu and Taskbar.

Baidu

As seen in the image above, this essentially confirms what Microsoft said when it initially teased its future plans for Windows last month during the rollout of the Windows 10 May 2021 Update. In a radical change, the company is porting over the Start Menu and Taskbar from the canceled Windows 10X operating system. Another screenshot also confirms recent leaks that the next-generation Windows will indeed be called Windows 11.

Recommended Videos

So, what’s new? Well, the Start Menu in Windows 11 is now centered, with static icons and no support for the classic Windows 10 Live Tiles. Even the Taskbar is changed, so that icons are more centered, away from the left side of the screen as it is in current versions of Windows. You can also spot a new blue Start Menu icon, reminiscent of the new Microsoft logo. A new search box, a power button in the lower-right of the Start area, updated Task View icons also top out the list of changes.

Related

A separate settings page from the leaked build also showcases the version and information about the leaked build. It shows Windows 11 Pro as the SKU, suggesting that Microsoft will keep to the current “Pro” “Home” and “Enterprise” versions of Windows.

However, it is important to note that the leaked Windows 11 build and screenshots currently surfacing are not yet final. The build number comes in at 21996.1, and reports indicate that the “RTM” or final build for Windows 11 will come in “at least 22000.”

Additionally, according to Windows Central’s Zac Bowden, this build does reveal some aspects of Windows 11 like the new desktop user interface, startup sounds, but some things can change between now and Windows 11 becomes official. Additional app design updates, more user interface updates, could still come.

More leaks might come between now and the June 24 event, but for now, Windows 11 seems well underway.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus
Computing Writer
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
The Windows Copilot puts Bing Chat in every Windows 11 computer
Copilot in Windows being used in the side panel.

Announced at Microsoft Build 2023, Windows will now have its own dedicated AI "copilot" that can be docked right into a side panel that can stay persistent while using other applications and aspects of the operating system.

Microsoft has been highly invested in AI over these recent months, and it was only a matter of time before it came to Windows. The time is now -- and it's coming in a big way.

Read more
Windows 11 is ditching this almost 20-year-old classic feature
The new snipping tool in Windows 11.

People don't like change, especially when it comes to Windows. As if centering the taskbar in Windows 11 wasn't enough, Microsoft is now going to alter a Windows keyboard shortcut that's been around forever. We're talking about Print Screen, commonly written as PrtSc on keycaps, which currently takes a full-screen screenshot of the screen and saves it to your clipboard. Of course, it can also be used in combination with various keys for other screenshotting shortcuts.

But in recent years, Microsoft has been pushing its separate app, Snipping Tool, which was a modern replacement for Snip & Sketch. Compared to using Print Screen, though, Snipping Tool is a more effective and full-featured way of capturing, saving, and editing screenshots. There's no need to paste your screenshot into Paint just to save it. It can also record video of your screen.

Read more
The Windows 11 taskbar is getting an important new update
windows 11 taskbar third party app pinning

Microsoft is working on new experiences for Windows that will allow developers to enable pinning for third-party applications, as well as enable pinning to the Taskbar.

Microsoft recently announced the details of these upcoming functions in a blog post. This is the brand's attempt to universalize its pinning process across all apps used on Windows. In practice, it will be similar to how pinning works on the Edge browser, with the Windows 11 users being notified by the Action Center about a request for pinning to the Taskbar by the app in question.

Read more