Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2 to finally get one of the most requested features

This past week Microsoft officially confirmed Windows 11 version 26H2 with the latest build, 26300.8697, for testing in the experimental Insider channel. The company also published more details about it mainly directed towards IT admins and system admins. Essentially version 26H2 will be delivered via an enablement package (eKB) over Windows 11 25H2.

If you are wondering about some of the upcoming features in the next Windows version, one of them is certainly very interesting as Microsoft has confirmed it is finally bringing one of the most overwhelmingly requested features ever.

March Rogers, the Partner Director of Design at Microsoft, recently highlighted some of the Search improvements that the company is testing, and during the interaction with users on X where he posted it, Rogers also confirmed that the company is working on disabling web search results inside Search. This is something which many users find quite annoying as Windows would often serve them links to Bing which it feels could be more helpful rather than bringing up the actual object or app the user may be searching for on their PC. Finally though the company is prioritizing local file search over the web.

However the feature could not be disabled for many users as not all new features are immediately rolled out to everyone.

Windows enthusiast phantomofearth who likes to dig deep into new builds uncovered the IDs you will need to enable these features. Using the following feature IDs the new Search-related features landing in Windows 11 26H2 can be used.

Follow the steps below to enable the new Search experience on Windows 11 build 26300.8697:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Windows Terminal to the Command Prompt profile with the Ctrl + Shift + 2 shortcut or by clicking the arrow-down button at the top of the window.
4. Navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id: and press Enter.
6. Restart your computer.

If you change your mind and want to restore, repeat the steps above and replace /enable with /disable in the commands on steps 5 and 6.

Delightedly and perhaps also expectedly, once you disable web search and other such bloat, the Windows 11 Search is said to get snappier as remarked by another Windows enthusiast Xeno.