{"id":764384,"date":"2026-09-08T22:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T22:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/764384\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T22:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T22:14:21","slug":"windows-11-kb5124008-out-with-5-features-direct-download-links-for-offline-installer-msu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/764384\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 11 KB5124008 out with 5 features, direct download links for offline installer (.msu)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Windows<\/a><\/p>\n

Windows 11 KB5124008 is here, and it comes with at least five of the most requested features, including a smaller taskbar and Bing-free Windows Search. It\u2019s a massive release, and it also makes File Explorer load faster<\/a>. In addition to Windows Update, Microsoft has posted direct download links for KB5124008 offline installers (.msu).<\/p>\n

KB5124008 is labeled as a Patch Tuesday update, so it\u2019s supposed to install automatically unless you\u2019ve deferred Windows Update using Group Policy or Windows Update pause controls. It won\u2019t install during active hours if you\u2019ve set that up or allowed Windows to do it for you.<\/p>\n

\"2026-09<\/p>\n

On our PCs, today\u2019s cumulative update shows up as \u201c2026-09 Security Update (KB5124008) (26200.9445).\u201d The installation process depends entirely on your hardware, but also on whether you\u2019ve installed or skipped previous updates. If you installed the August 2026 optional update<\/a>, today\u2019s update will install relatively faster.<\/p>\n

Windows 11 25H2 bumps to Build 26200.9445 when you install the September 2026 Update<\/a>, and those on version 24H2 will have their PCs advance to Build 26100.9445. This is the second-to-last update for Windows 11 24H2, as support for the 2024 OS version ends in October 2026, alongside 15 Microsoft products<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

In addition to the cumulative update, Microsoft has published .NET Framework updates, depending on the version you use. Here\u2019s what shows up on my PC:<\/p>\n

2026-09 .NET 8.0.31 Security Update for x64 Client (KB5126104)
\n2026-09 .NET 9.0.20 Security Update for x64 Client (KB5126105)
\n2026-09 .NET Framework Security Update (KB5126052)<\/p>\n

And as always, there\u2019s a new security tool update called \u201cWindows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 \u2013 v5.145 (KB890830).\u201d<\/p>\n

Download Links for Windows 11 KB5124008<\/p>\n

Windows 11 KB5124008 Direct Download Links:\u00a064-bit and ARM-64<\/a> | I am dropping the Update Catalog links for anybody who prefers downloading the .msu installers, which install the update locally, but you should use Windows Update (Settings) for faster installation and a smaller download.<\/p>\n

Here are the sizes for the September 2026 Patch Tuesday update:<\/p>\n

Build Number
\nSize
\nOS Version
\nArchitecture<\/p>\n

26200.9445
\n4934.9 MB
\nWindows 11 25H2
\nx64-based<\/p>\n

26200.9445
\n4771.5 MB
\nWindows 11 25H2
\narm64-based<\/p>\n

26100.9445
\n4934.9 MB
\nWindows 11 24H2
\nx64-based<\/p>\n

26100.9445
\n4771.5 MB
\nWindows 11 24H2
\narm64-based<\/p>\n

To download Windows 11 Build 26200.9445, open Settings > Windows Update and check for updates.<\/p>\n

Note: In our tests, Windows Latest observed that the September 2026 Update takes up to 30 minutes to download on some PCs, and another 15 minutes to finish installation. I am not able to figure out why it\u2019s taking so long, but we\u2019ve reached out to Microsoft with our findings. For now, you can safely install September Patch Tuesday.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s new in Windows 11 Build 26200.9445 (25H2) \/ Build 26100.9445 (24H2)?<\/p>\n

All the features listed below are rolling out gradually, which means they may or may not show up today, but can be force-enabled if you don\u2019t have patience<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Movable taskbar rolling out on Windows 11<\/p>\n

\"Taskbar<\/p>\n

After almost five years of waiting, denial, and lies, Windows 11 is finally restoring Windows 10-era features, and one of my personal favorites is the ability to move the taskbar to the sides or top<\/a> (my preferred spot!).<\/p>\n

With Windows 11 KB5124008, Microsoft turned on the movable taskbar, and you can configure it from Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.<\/p>\n

However, Microsoft told Windows Latest that the movable taskbar is being rolled out in stages, so you may not see it right away. Once you have it, you can turn it on from Settings, as I\u2019ve shown in the screenshot below:<\/p>\n

\"Taskbar<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no other way to find out if the feature is enabled, as you can\u2019t hold and drag the taskbar around the screen like you could on Windows 10. Previously, it was possible to unlock the taskbar and move it around, but Windows 11 doesn\u2019t support that level of flexibility yet, and personalization options are strictly locked to Settings.<\/p>\n

In terms of appearance, when you move the taskbar to the top, for example, the Start menu and Search also adapt to the new position. It\u2019s just like how it used to work on Windows 10, or the experience you could previously force-enable using third-party apps, except it\u2019s now official.<\/p>\n

\"Taskbar<\/p>\n

But what took so long? Did Microsoft fix some software limitation to bring back the movable taskbar? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

You couldn\u2019t move the taskbar on Windows 11 because Microsoft simply did not prioritize it over its other adventures. After years of outrage, Microsoft decided to listen to some of the top feedback, and that\u2019s why you\u2019re seeing the feature today. There have been no fundamental changes to the underlying taskbar code that suddenly made moving it possible.<\/p>\n

Five years ago, when Windows 11 rolled out, and Microsoft was asked why you couldn\u2019t move the taskbar, make it smaller, or even resize the Start menu, it told the world that it would disrupt the flow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about having the taskbar on the right or the left, all of a sudden, the reflow and the work that all of the apps have to do to be able to have a wonderful experience in those environments is just huge,\u201d Microsoft explained in a video seen by Windows Latest. That video was published in 2021 and is no longer available.<\/p>\n

Microsoft also had to rebuild the taskbar from scratch for Windows 11, so other features, like the ability to make it smaller, have been missing until now.<\/p>\n

2. You can now make the taskbar smaller<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be lying if I said Windows 11 never supported a \u201csmaller taskbar.\u201d It does, but the catch is that the feature shrinks the icons on the taskbar, not the taskbar itself, and that\u2019s a major difference, not just some poorly worded toggle.<\/p>\n

Until now, if you opened the Taskbar behaviours page in Settings and toggled on \u201cShow smaller taskbar buttons,\u201d<\/a> you\u2019d notice that the feature shrinks the icons, but the taskbar still takes up all the space!<\/p>\n

\"WindowsOld behaviour of smaller taskbar on Windows 11<\/p>\n

Now, look at how Windows 10 did things. If you enabled smaller taskbar buttons, it also made the taskbar itself smaller, which made sense because why would you want smaller icons inside a massive taskbar if the whole point was to accommodate more apps?<\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/p>\n

With Windows 11 KB5124008, Microsoft is now restoring the same behaviour<\/a>, and Windows 11 finally supports the real \u201csmaller taskbar\u201d experience.<\/p>\n

For example, here\u2019s what happens when I make the taskbar buttons smaller:<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

Just like on Windows 10, the taskbar itself now becomes smaller.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a nice change, but other options are still missing. For example, Windows 10 had a \u201cLock the taskbar\u201d feature. If unlocked, you could move the taskbar and resize it by dragging with the pointer. You can\u2019t do that on Windows 11 because the OS locks it by default, and we don\u2019t know when Windows 10-like customization will arrive.<\/p>\n

At IFA 2026, Microsoft confirmed that it\u2019s working to add more customization options to Windows 11<\/a>, and it even admitted that it was adding some of these features back \u201cagain,\u201d taking a jibe at its own misadventure of removing Windows 10-era features. Here\u2019s a clip from IFA where Microsoft makes that quite evident:<\/p>\n

3. You can now resize the Start menu<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a 13-14-inch laptop and installed recent Windows updates that turn on the Categories layout in the Start menu<\/a>, you\u2019ve probably noticed how it can take up most of the screen unless you manually change the display scaling settings.<\/p>\n

\"WindowsWindows 11 Start menu grew in size considerably in 2025. Credit: Windows Latest<\/p>\n

When you deliberately reduce display scaling, you make everything on Windows smaller, including the Start menu, but that\u2019s not the perfect way to get rid of the huge Start menu.<\/p>\n

With Windows 11 KB5124008, Microsoft is finally adding back a resizable Start menu<\/a>, so you can now choose between \u201cLarge,\u201d \u201cSmall,\u201d and \u201cAutomatic\u201d options. I tested it on my PC, and here\u2019s how it works:<\/p>\n

Large makes the Start menu take up more than 70% of the screen, giving you more space for pinned apps or the Recommended feed. You can choose Small if you want a more compact Start menu, or Automatic if you want Windows to decide the size based on your display and scaling settings.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re not getting Windows 10-like controls where you could simply drag and resize the Start menu, make it smaller, show just the apps list, remove Live Tiles, or make it full screen. For comparison, here\u2019s how Windows 10 allowed you to resize it:<\/p>\n

Those features are not coming, at least not yet, and I don\u2019t have any answers from Microsoft. If I were you, I wouldn\u2019t keep my hopes up.<\/p>\n

4. You can now fully customize the Start menu in Windows 11<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Microsoft added the ability to hide the Recommended feed, but it was a botched implementation. We noticed that when you turned off the Recommended feed in the Start menu, you also disabled the Recent section in File Explorer and the taskbar\u2019s jump list (right-click menu).<\/p>\n

With Windows 11 KB5124008, Microsoft has decoupled the toggle and renamed it from \u201cRecommended\u201d to \u201cRecent.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also possible to fully customize the Start menu layout, so you can now choose to hide certain sections, such as \u201cPinned,\u201d and just have your Recent section with the All apps list. Or you can turn off Pinned and Recent, and just have the installed apps list.<\/p>\n

5. You can finally remove Bing and Microsoft Store results from Windows Search<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another notable feature in Windows 11 KB5124008 that lets you remove Bing and Microsoft Store results from Windows Search<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Windows has never allowed you to disable Bing in Windows Search, so nobody really anticipated this. And I can bet those who work at Microsoft wouldn\u2019t have expected a Bing-free Search experience either if you had asked them last year. A lot has changed in 2026, and it\u2019s largely due to recent backlash.<\/p>\n

\"Typos<\/p>\n

Windows 11 now lets you entirely disable Bing and Microsoft Store results, so when you search for your images, apps, or files, you\u2019ll only see local results. And it makes the Search experience a lot faster. You don\u2019t have to make any changes to the Windows Registry or switch your region to the EU to achieve any of this.<\/p>\n

When you install Windows 11 KB5124008, and you\u2019re lucky enough to be included in the gradual rollout, you can open Settings > Privacy & security > Search and turn off the toggles for Web Searches and Microsoft Store.<\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/p>\n

And now, if you try to search on Windows 11, you\u2019ll only see local results.<\/p>\n

5. File Explorer now loads faster<\/p>\n

Windows 11 KB5124008 also makes File Explorer load faster, especially if the default page is set to \u2018Home.\u2019<\/p>\n

File Explorer\u2019s Home tab is usually slower than \u201cThis PC,\u201d but it\u2019s finally catching up, and you\u2019ll notice a visible difference after deploying the September 2026 Update. However, it\u2019s more noticable on low-end PCs with 8GB of RAM. And no, it\u2019s not the preloading feature that Microsoft tested a long time ago.<\/p>\n

6. Cursor, wallpaper, and Office issues finally fixed<\/p>\n

Microsoft has finally patched a bug where the cursor disappears or changes size and ends up looking different from the standard cursor. This issue was found in Windows 11 KB5120998, which broke cursor personalizations, including pointer style and cursor.<\/p>\n

The same August update also ended up breaking desktop wallpaper and replaced it with a solid black color.\u00a0Another bug has been fixed where Microsoft Teams and Outlook apps would crash on Arm-based PCs.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, Microsoft argues that Windows 11 KB5120998 rolls out a Secure Boot certificate to more PCs, but if you have firmware compatibility issues, you still won\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n

\t\tSupport original journalism.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tMake us your Preferred source on
\n\t\t\tGoogle Discover<\/a> and
\n\t\t\tGoogle Search<\/a>,
\n\t\t\tand help our independent reporting reach more people.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Windows 11 KB5124008 is here, and it comes with at least five of the most requested features, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-764384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}