According to it, the Settings app and pages within will be revamped to align with the app, possible support for taskbar drag and drop, tabs in File Explorer, a Smart App Control, and mandating a Microsoft Account for accessing Windows 11 Pro. The Sun Valley 2 may probably roll out in October this year.
Windows 11 Sun Valley 2 Update
With the launch of Windows 11, Microsoft has switched to a new annual feature update cycle – by releasing only two of them per year. And the next one up for Windows 11 is codenamed Sun Valley 2 (or we internally call Windows 11 22H2). This isn’t a big feature update though, but a mere anniversary update to Windows 11. So we shouldn’t be expecting many new features, but few, and more improvements made to the current features. We’ve already seen a few of them in the recent preview builds of Windows 11. And with Microsoft’s latest act of accidentally uploading a page on Feedback Hub – which confirms Sun Valley 2 codename and new features for Windows Settings apps, this becomes more interesting.
— Xeno (@XenoPanther) March 19, 2022 Although the post was deleted now, it shared a lot of details of the upcoming update. These include a “newly refreshed Settings page experience” that will have a bunch of redesigned pages, that are updated and consistent with the rest of the app. Further, Microsoft could bring back the taskbar drag and drop option, and even add tabs support to File Explorer. This will let users open multiple instances of File Explorer, and check various sections seamlessly. And, there’s the introduction of a new security feature called Smart App Control, aimed at preventing untrusted or potentially unwanted apps from getting downloaded on your system. This should thwart viruses, phishing attempts, and malware or ransomware. Finally, there’s the Spotlight support for auto-replacing the desktop wallpaper regularly, and even adding stickers to the desktop background for customization. What’s intriguing above all these is the mandating of a Microsoft account for Windows Pro users. This is a controversial change and isn’t liked by most in the community. Well, we may know more about these when the update rolls out to everyone by the end of summer, or in October like the previous Windows 10 feature updates.
