Windows 11 preview adds NPU metrics to Task Manager and promises snappier launches

Microsoft rolled out a cumulative update preview for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 on 27 May 2026. The build is positioned as a modest quality‑of‑life bump for users willing to live on the edge, but a few of its additions hint at where the OS is heading.

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What’s new?

Feature	Why it matters
Bluetooth LE Audio broadcast	Enables a single device to stream high‑quality audio to multiple listeners, a step toward the “wireless‑room” experience many laptops and tablets have been asking for.
Task Manager NPU columns	Adds NPU, NPU Engine, Dedicated Memory and Shared Memory columns on the Processes, Users and Details tabs.
Isolation column	Shows whether a process runs inside an App Container, helping power users spot sandboxed workloads.
Performance boost for launches	Claims faster Start‑menu and app start‑up, likely a short‑lived CPU frequency bump based on community telemetry.
Custom user‑folder name	Lets you rename the C:\Users\<name> folder during OOBE, a long‑requested personalization tweak.
Dev Drive size in GB	Shifts the size selector from megabytes to gigabytes, simplifying storage planning for developers.

NPU visibility in Task Manager

Task Manager has evolved from a simple kill‑list into a full‑blown performance console. The new Neural Processing Unit (NPU) columns surface hardware that Windows previously treated as a black box. If a machine ships with a dedicated AI accelerator – for example, Intel’s Gaudi‑2 or Apple’s M‑series Neural Engine – you’ll now see per‑process usage, memory footprints, and which engine is handling the workload.

"Neural engines that are part of a GPU now appear on the Performance page, providing a more complete view of AI‑related activity," the update notes read.

For developers working with on‑device inference (e.g., TensorFlow Lite, ONNX Runtime), this is a practical diagnostic tool. You can now correlate a spike in NPU Engine usage with a specific Python script or a background service, something that previously required third‑party profiling tools.

Isolation column

The optional Isolation column marks processes that run inside an App Container. This is useful for security‑conscious users who want to verify that a given app isn’t escaping its sandbox. The column shows values like Container, Full Trust, or None, making it easier to audit the attack surface of a system.

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Community reaction

Positive signals

• Developers on the r/WindowsDev subreddit praised the NPU metrics, noting that “finally we can see how much of the AI workload lives on‑chip versus the CPU.”
• Hardware reviewers highlighted the Bluetooth LE Audio broadcast as a “nice, low‑effort way to turn a laptop into a multi‑room speaker hub.”
• Power users welcomed the isolation view, calling it “a quick sanity check for sandbox‑aware apps.”

Skeptical notes

• Some users suspect the “faster launches” claim is a temporary CPU boost rather than a deeper architectural change. The build does not expose a new scheduler or prefetch algorithm, and the performance gain disappears after a few minutes of idle time.
• The NPU columns are hidden by default and require the user to enable them in View → Select Columns. Critics argue this adds friction for the very audience that would benefit most.
• A handful of testers reported that the new columns cause a slight UI lag on low‑end machines, suggesting the added telemetry may be a trade‑off for older hardware.

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The lingering EFI partition bug

The update documentation still lists a known issue where devices with ≤10 MB free on the EFI System Partition (ESP) fail around 35 % progress, showing error 0x800f0922 and rolling back the installation. Microsoft’s wording – “A resolution is in progress and will be included in a future Windows update” – is familiar, but the problem remains a blocker for users on cramped SSDs or those who have accumulated many recovery partitions.

Workarounds circulating on the Microsoft Tech Community include:

1. Shrinking the C: partition by a few gigabytes and expanding the ESP using diskpart.
2. Running bcdboot C:\Windows /s Z: after assigning a drive letter to the ESP.
3. Using the Windows Update Troubleshooter to clear stale update caches before retrying.

Until Microsoft ships a permanent fix, the update is best suited for test rigs, developer boxes, or machines with ample ESP space.

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What does this tell us about Windows’ direction?

1. AI hardware awareness – By surfacing NPU data, Microsoft signals that on‑device AI will be a first‑class citizen, not an afterthought. Expect future telemetry APIs and perhaps PowerShell cmdlets that let admins script NPU throttling policies.
2. Incremental UX polish – Features like custom user‑folder names and GB‑based Dev Drive sizing are small but address long‑standing complaints, suggesting a “listen‑to‑feedback” approach rather than a wholesale redesign.
3. Stability trade‑offs – The ESP bug shows that Microsoft still pushes preview builds with known regressions, banking on the community to surface edge cases. This mirrors the broader industry trend of “continuous delivery” at the cost of occasional friction for power users.

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Bottom line

The Windows 11 24H2/25H2 preview is less about headline‑grabbing new UI concepts and more about tightening the feedback loop between the OS and the hardware it runs on. NPU visibility and isolation tracking give power users concrete data they previously had to chase with third‑party tools. At the same time, the update’s performance claims feel modest, and the persistent ESP space bug reminds us that early‑adopter builds still carry risk.

If you have a machine with a dedicated AI accelerator and you’re comfortable rolling back updates, enabling the new Task Manager columns is a worthwhile experiment. Otherwise, waiting for the next stable patch – especially one that resolves the ESP issue – may be the safer path.