Here’s What to Expect in Windows 26H2 Later This Year

Windows 11 26H2 is the next annual update for Windows 11 and is is planned to rollout in the second half of 2026, maybe somewhere in and around October. Microsoft says this release will arrive as a tiny enablement package on the same Germanium platform as 24H2 and 25H2, so systems already on those versions can update in a few minutes with one reboot.

With the update, users can finally place the taskbar at the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the screen and can let it use a smaller layout that reduces icon size, something that users have been asking for ages. The Start menu will have size options and toggles for Pinned, Recent, and All apps, along with a privacy setting to hide account details during screen sharing, as reported by Windows Latest.

Search also sees some improvements, as it is expected to have a cleaner layout, better ranking for apps and local files, and most importantly, a toggle to turn off web results for a local‑only experience.

There’s more: from the update onwards, Windows settings backup and restore will be on by default. There will be a deeper Copilot integration in Search and File Explorer, a newer Run dialog, administrator protection in Windows Security, and quite a few quality‑of‑life tweaks that arrive through cumulative updates across the 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2 releases.

Home and Pro editions will have 24 months of support, while Enterprise and Education editions will get 36 months, extending support for existing Windows 11 installations to 2028 or 2029. Hardware requirements do not change; any PC that runs Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2 can run 26H2, though Arm devices shipping with Windows 11 26H1 will instead go to 27H2 in 2027.