Microsoft has launched a big safety management within the newest Home windows 11 preview replace designed to limit unauthorized interplay with crucial system recordsdata.
Launched as a part of the January 2026 non-security preview (KB5074105), this enhancement particularly targets the Storage settings menu, a delicate space of the working system that reveals detailed details about drive utilization, non permanent recordsdata, and system-reserved storage.
By implementing a compulsory Consumer Account Management (UAC) immediate, Microsoft goals to stop unprivileged customers and potential risk actors with native entry from modifying or analyzing storage configurations with out express administrative approval.
Hardening System Safety
The first modification on this launch serves as a hardening measure for native system safety. Beforehand, customers with entry to an unlocked Home windows session may navigate to Settings > System > Storage and think about granular particulars concerning how laborious drive house was being utilized.
This entry included the power to work together with non permanent recordsdata and think about the breakdown of put in purposes and system recordsdata.
With the set up of KB5074105, Home windows 11 variations 24H2 and 25H2 now implement an administrative checkpoint at this gateway. When a consumer makes an attempt to entry the Storage settings, the working system triggers a UAC immediate.
If the present consumer doesn’t possess administrative privileges, they have to present legitimate credentials to proceed. This successfully mitigates the chance of “shoulder browsing” or unauthorized information manipulation by people who might have gained bodily entry to a workstation or distant entry to a non-admin session.
This replace applies to the latest iterations of the Home windows 11 platform, particularly model 24H2 and the newer model 25H2.
The rollout is at the moment within the “C-release” section, that means it’s an non-obligatory preview that permits directors to check the modifications earlier than they’re included within the necessary Patch Tuesday safety replace scheduled for February.
The next desk outlines the technical specifics related to this launch:
Past the safety hardening of the Settings menu, KB5074105 introduces updates to the underlying AI framework built-in into Home windows 11. These modifications have an effect on the “Copilot+ PC” experiences, particularly updating the fashions used for native processing.
The replace refreshes the Picture Search, Content material Extraction, Semantic Evaluation, and Settings Mannequin parts to model 1.2601.1268.0. These updates are delivered alongside the core OS enhancements to make sure that native AI workloads stay environment friendly and aligned with the working system’s newest safety protocols.
Directors deploying this replace ought to notice that it features a Servicing Stack Replace (SSU), KB5074104. The SSU is crucial for guaranteeing the system permits for dependable set up of future cumulative updates.
As a result of the SSU and the cumulative replace are mixed right into a single payload, particular removing instructions should be used if a rollback is required.
Directors can’t take away the SSU portion as soon as put in; nevertheless, the cumulative portion might be eliminated utilizing the DISM /Take away-Bundle command if compatibility points come up inside the enterprise setting. Microsoft has acknowledged that they’re at the moment not conscious of any identified points affecting this launch.
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