Microsoft's July 2026 Patch Tuesday contains security patches for 571 vulnerabilities discovered in previous months, and those fixes arrive today as mandatory cumulative updates for Windows 11.
What the updates are and how to install them
Microsoft released two cumulative updates: KB5101650 for Windows 11 versions 25H2/24H2 and KB5099414 for 23H2. The company describes these releases as mandatory because they include the July 2026 Patch Tuesday security patches for 571 vulnerabilities discovered in prior months. You can install the updates by going to Start > Settings > Windows Update and clicking "Check for Updates," or by manually downloading the packages from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
Build numbers and scope: 25H2, 24H2 and 23H2
After installation, affected machines will report new build numbers: Windows 11 25H2 moves to build 26200.8875 (and 24H2 to 26100.8875), while 23H2 will advance to 22631.7376. This release is the seventh Patch Tuesday of 2026 and is based on 24H2, so 25H2 receives the same fixes; Microsoft says there are no exclusive or special changes between those versions—the same fixes are delivered across both.
Feature and quality changes administrators and users will notice
The update delivers a long list of refinements across Widgets, accessibility, File Explorer, Bluetooth and audio, networking, printing, and more. Highlights include:
- Widgets: Widgets no longer open on hover, notifications and taskbar badges are minimized by default, dashboards open by default on first use, dashboard icons show alert counts and badges clear automatically when leaving a dashboard, and overall reliability, responsiveness and visual quality are improved.
- Accessibility: A full-screen screen tint option is added to reduce eye strain; Magnifier gains direct zoom-percentage entry and an improved magnifier settings menu to change zoom increments from the Magnifier window.
- File Explorer: Hovering over a file in File Explorer Home shows quick actions such as Open file location and Ask Copilot for work and school (Entra ID) accounts; launch speed and responsiveness are improved; address bar now accepts paths with double backslashes and quotation marks; fixes address duplicated OneDrive files in Favorites and several rename-edge cases.
- Bluetooth and audio: Microphone mute state is kept in sync between the audio mixer and the Hands-Free Profile (HFP); accessory compatibility workarounds improve AirPods pairing speed and microphone reliability for Beats Studio Pro; Bluetooth stability and reconnection times are improved for Classic Audio and LE Audio devices.
- Voice access and voice typing: New support for French, German and Spanish with real-time text improvement for grammar, punctuation and recognition.
Networking, printing, WSL and system-level fixes
The update includes several infrastructure and enterprise-focused changes. Confidential Virtual Machines now use SR-IOV hardware acceleration by default for improved network throughput; a configuration issue in nested Hyper-V networking has been corrected to ensure reliable VM network provisioning. The Windows networking stack has been hardened to reduce bug checks related to Wi‑Fi power and to improve cellular (WWAN) connectivity and IPv6 VPN support; compatibility with third‑party VPNs and SR‑IOV configurations on server hardware is also improved, and network adapter settings and bindings are preserved across OS upgrades.
Printing now defaults to Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) for new printer installations when supported, with a toggle to control the behavior in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Default install printers using Windows Ready Print. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) gets improved behavior in mirrored networking mode when used with VPNs. Display, color profile persistence, search group policies, and input enhancements (including touchpad right‑click zone sizing and improved Japanese handwriting recognition) are also included.
How technologists, enterprises, and end users should respond
- Technologists and security teams: Apply the mandatory July 2026 cumulative updates promptly to receive patch fixes for the 571 vulnerabilities and the networking and virtualization reliability improvements, and verify protections in environments that use SR‑IOV, nested Hyper‑V, or third‑party VPNs.
- Enterprises and procurement leaders: Note the default change to IPP for new printer installs and the presence of a toggle to control that behavior; plan for testing where third‑party printer drivers or manufacturer customization are in use.
- End users and device administrators: Expect a quieter Widgets experience, accessibility improvements (screen tint and Magnifier controls), and faster Bluetooth pairing for certain accessories like AirPods; use Settings > Windows Update to install or the Microsoft Update Catalog for manual deployment.
Microsoft says it is not aware of any new issues with this month's Patch Tuesday, characterizing the release as smaller than some previous updates. The company also notes it is testing larger changes—such as a movable taskbar and a clutter‑free Windows Search—that are not included in this release. For now, organizations and users receive the security hardening and the incremental usability and device‑compatibility fixes described above.
