Microsoft has put a redesigned File Explorer right-click menu into the Windows 11 Beta Channel, in Build 26220.9757 released October 23, 2026. The Beta release notes describe a Windows 11 context menu that is faster, cleaner and easier to tailor, with a new Settings experience for choosing which items appear.
If you have ever right-clicked a file and scanned a long list for the one command you actually use, this is aimed at you. The notes are short, though, so a few questions stay open.
TL;DR: Build 26220.9757 brings the redesigned File Explorer context menu to the Windows 11 Beta Channel, with a Settings experience for choosing which items show up. It also speeds up the Settings home page in some scenarios. Microsoft lists no bug fixes or known issues for the build, and the phone controls and speed test announced the same day are Experimental only.
What the Windows 11 context menu change does
Microsoft says the updated menu reduces top-level clutter while keeping commonly used actions easy to reach. The goal is fewer items to scan before you find the one you came for.
The new piece is a Settings experience reachable from the menu itself, which gives you more control over which items appear. A teaching tip may show up the first time to point you toward those options.
That is a modest change on paper, but the right-click menu is one of the most used surfaces in Windows, so small edits get noticed fast. It also shifts some of the work from Microsoft to you, because a cleaner menu depends on what you choose to keep.
What else is in Build 26220.9757
The only other change in the notes is a set of performance improvements to the Settings home page, which Microsoft says should reduce loading times in some scenarios. The wording is cautious, so expect a small difference rather than a transformation.
The same notes list no bug fixes and no known issues. A short list of changes with no open problems is a quiet way to test something people touch every day.
Build 26220.9757 sits on Windows 11, version 25H2, delivered through an enablement package (KB5054156). Microsoft also says the desktop watermark in the lower right corner is normal for Insider pre-release builds.
Why the phone controls are not in this build
Microsoft shipped several Insider builds on the same day, which is easy to mix up. The Windows Insider Blog post lists the Beta build alongside an Experimental build, 26340.9767.
The Quick Settings phone controls and the built-in speed test belong to that Experimental build, according to its release notes, and we covered them in our Quick Settings report. If you are on Beta, expect the context menu and the Settings tweak, and nothing else from that announcement.
How to report problems with the new menu
Microsoft asks for feedback in the Feedback Hub, which you can open with WIN + F, under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer. That is the place to say if the new menu hides something you use daily.
The release notes also warn that features in these builds may change, be removed or be replaced, and that some may never ship. Treat the redesigned menu as a preview until it reaches a build you can install on a main PC.
The notes do not say whether every Beta device sees the new menu straight away, so if yours still looks the same after updating, that is not necessarily a failed install.
