Windows 11’s 2022 update is here. This first update, also known as 22H2, was once codenamed “Sun Valley 2” during development. With Windows 11, Microsoft has moved to a yearly release cycle for major updates, leaving behind Windows 10’s frantic twice-per-year schedule.
What You Need to Know
This update’s final name is the 2022 Update, and Microsoft released it on September 20, 2022. The update became ready for everyone in late January 2023.
Its name during development was 22H2, as it was released in the second half of 2022. Microsoft is on a yearly release cycle for major updates, and Windows 11 was released on October 4, 2021, so the update arrived nearly one year after Windows 11’s original release date.
The free update will be offered via Windows Update on Windows 11 PCs. You’ll see it as an option at the top of the window at Settings > Windows Update when it’s available for your device. If you’d like to install the update before Windows Update offers it on your PC, you can install Windows 11’s 2022 Update in another way.
Note: We’re going to focus on what we think are the most interesting changes here. As always, there are many bug fixes, performance improvements, security patches, and small tweaks throughout the operating system. For example, Microsoft renamed the “Windows Terminal” to “Terminal.”
A New Task Manager
Windows 11 now features an updated, modernized Task Manager with some new features. As always, you can press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open it, right-click the Start button and select “Task Manager,” launch “Task Manager” from the Start menu, or press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and then click “Task Manager” to open it.
The Task Manager’s interface now looks much more at home on Windows 11. It’s similar to how Microsoft handled the Notepad update: All the standard functionality is still here. However, the interface is modernized—it now even has support for dark mode, and the shading for the resource usage columns on the Processes tab uses your chosen accent color.
Under the Processes tab, you’ll also find an “Efficiency Mode” option. You can manually enable this for certain processes to reduce their power usage. Certain processes—like some Microsoft Edge processes—automatically use similar techniques and will show a leaf icon in their Status column.
Taskbar Drag and Drop
One huge missing feature is back: You can now drag and drop files, images, and other things to taskbar icons. This was a big feature beloved by many Windows users in Windows 10 and earlier versions of Windows.
Now, it’s back and works mostly like you would expect it to. However, when you drag something to a taskbar icon, you will still see a circle with a line through it, implying you can’t drag and drop. However, when you drag to the application icon, Windows 11 will switch to the relevant window and you can drag and drop directly onto that window, as usual.
Unfortunately, you still can’t move the taskbar—not without a registry hack, anyway.
Tabs in File Explorer (in October)
The File Explorer is finally getting tabs, years after Microsoft killed off the Sets feature that would have added them to Windows 10. This feature isn’t available to everyone as of the 2022 Update’s release in September, but Microsoft says it will arrive in October 2022.
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