Windows 11 just added some pretty big new features in its latest patch, though these fly under the radar because they’re hidden and require special configuration tools to enable.
New article (opens in a new tab) Tagged PhantomOcean3 on Twitter, an avid Windows tester and leaker, for posting the hidden search feature that comes with Windows 11’s KB5022303 patch (just deployed in January).
Not surprising, but you can use ViVeTool to enable the new taskbar search in .1105, and even the unannounced new start menu search. That doesn’t mean you should, but you can 🙂 ID: 40887771 for new taskbar search, 38937525 for new start search. You still need 39281392 pic.twitter.com/dFjUH7uOqzJanuary 10, 2023
They consist of a search bar at the top of the Start menu and a search box on the taskbar (the Windows 10 style, seen in the Windows 11 preview).
With the taskbar’s search box, not only can you enable it, but you also have options to choose from, such as having a full box or just an icon.
As mentioned, you won’t see these extra search features in Windows 11 because they’re hidden behind the scenes. However, as Neowin mentioned, they can be enabled using the Windows configuration utility ViVeTool. However, you’d better not open these things just yet, we’ll talk about that next.
Analysis: Features are hidden for a reason
So why not turn on these search features? For starters, you’ll need some technical proficiency to use ViVeTool (it’s not particularly difficult to open a hidden feature using an ID assigned in the tool, but less confident computing types might be intimidated by the process).
Also, though, once you turn these features on, they can act weird and mess up your Windows 11 environment, which is not something you want on your main PC. Keep in mind that these features are hidden for a reason – they are not ready for release and can cause problems. As PhantomOcean3 pointed out in their tweet, you might be able to turn them on, but that doesn’t mean you should.
This does indicate to us that Microsoft is likely to bring these features to Windows 11 soon. But, as ever, there’s no guarantee that anything that’s being tested or still behind the scenes will end up being cut for inclusion in the OS.
