Windows 11 Dev Channel?
Windows 11 Dev Channel?
I've been using Windows 11 on a fresh installation recently, but I'm still adjusting to it. Many times I've attempted to revert to Windows 10, especially for certain features or methods. For example, the context menu and previously defaulted features are now disabled, and some functionalities have disappeared. Sorting is particularly problematic—Win11 doesn't automatically refresh sorting when adding new files, so you have to manually refresh (press F5). This is frustrating. In my situation, it works on partition drives but not on the main OS drive. It seems illogical, and I've tried various workarounds.
Windows 11 now includes updated versions of Notepad and the photo viewer, but during installation I was given older versions (in February, I installed Win11 from Microsoft to my PC). Later, at an unknown point, Windows upgraded me to the newer versions. The issue is that I prefer maintaining a clean OS image for restoration purposes. When I revert to this image, the older versions of Notepad and photo viewer remain installed. Eventually, they update themselves without any connection to updates.
Could anyone explain what causes Windows 11 to update these applications? Does this relate to Dev Mode? Am I automatically placed in Dev Mode by default? Most of the information I've found about Dev Mode is outdated, dating back a couple of years. In 2024, does Windows 11 offer an alternative to Dev Mode, or has it been discontinued? I just want a stable version of Windows 11 and don't need to test new features for free. What should I be using instead?
It might be true that the Windows version on the USB differs from the latest release, especially since it was released in February. This could lead to installing an older version of Notepad and similar tools, which may later update to newer versions included in official Windows updates or be available through the Microsoft Store as part of a patch.
If you're using a preview version of Windows, it's best to disable it to ensure stable and regular releases from now on. This means you'll stay on the current test version until a stable release is released.
To manage your participation in Windows previews, use the provided tool. You can obtain it from GitHub, unzip it, run "OfflineInsiderEnroll.cmd" as an administrator, choose to stop receiving builds, and then reboot.
Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to try to help.
However, that doesn't make sense. I'm mean February of 2024 which ended just 9 days ago and yet Windows 11 started rolling out the new notepad sometime late in 2021. I just went to the main M$ page and downloaded the latest version so I don't see why I would have gotten something older or some developer version, etc.
As I said, so far as a I can tell, notepad and photoviewer does NOT update when I update windows. If the cause is M$ store updating, then it's updating at some sort of random interval. How can manually trigger M$ to update? If I can do that, I can at least see if that's what's causing the update to notepad.
Again, I'm trying to keep a clean image to go back to. That might be a troubleshooting tool but I don't want to install things I don't need like github as a permenant solution. I don't understand why or how I got signed up for "Windows Insider program" or "Dev" mode, unless M$ is having these enabled on their default build from their website. Again, this was a totally fresh install on new hardware and I paid for the full verison of windows Home.
Can you help me first by simply identifying my version of windows enough to know what's going on? I'm open to going all the way back and downloading a whole new version of windows from M$ to my USB and starting over, but only if I know that's going to help.
Here's what my build reports:
OS Build: 22631.3155
Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22684.1000.0