Microsoft issues new Insider Preview Builds to Dev and Beta channels but breaks Windows 11 with a Microsoft Teams advert

Microsoft has released new Windows 11 Insider Preview Programme builds to the Dev and Beta channels. The news of this week's builds should have been that Microsoft has flighted next year's version of Windows 11 to the Dev Channel. However, Microsoft's decision to include an advert that breaks both Build 22000.176 and Build 22449 has overshadowed that change, somewhat. 

You can read about Microsoft's changes with Build 22000.176 and Build 22449 in their corresponding Windows Insider Blog Posts. In short, both include numerous fixes, although Build 22449 more so than Build 22000.176. If Windows 11 is not working properly on your device, having updated to either build, Microsoft advises to follow these steps:

• Step 1: Use CTRL-ALT-DEL and choose to open Task Manager.
• Step 2: Choose "More details" at the bottom of Task Manager to expand Task Manager.
• Step 3: Go to "File" and choose "Run new task".
• Step 4: Type "cmd" in the "Open" field.
• Step 5: Paste the following:
• reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\IrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0
• Step 6: Hit enter, and then your PC should reboot. After rebooting, everything should be back to normal.

The fix worked for us, before which our machine could not open anything. Microsoft reports 'that Start and Taskbar were unresponsive and Settings and other areas of the OS wouldn't load', which is a long way of writing that Microsoft broke Windows 11. Initially, we put the issue down to running a beta build, but Ctrl Blog discovered that it had nothing to do with Build 22000.176 or Build 22449.

On the contrary, the registry key relates IrisService, a component that Microsoft bundles in Windows Spotlight, a service Windows 11 uses to deliver adverts, tips and suggestions, among other things. Upon digging further, Ctrl Blog determined that the key also featured a serialised JSON blob, within which sits a Microsoft Teams advert.

For some reason, Windows 11 could not talk with these cloud-hosted advert, resulting in the OS becoming an unresponsive mess. Overall, this is not a good look for Microsoft, with adverts being an unpopular part of Windows 10 and Windows 11 anyway. The notion that one advert could break a desktop OS is concerning, particularly as we are a month out from Microsoft releasing stable Windows 11 builds. 

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