By Dervish / Last update January 24, 2022

On January 20th, Microsoft has been working hard to update the system interface of Windows 11, including some of its own application functions. In the latest Build 22538, some users found a hidden task manager with a new UI.

Microsoft hasn't changed the Task Manager UI since Windows 8 in 2012. As you can see from the figure, the new version of the task manager adopts the Fluent Design of Windows 11, supports light/dark mode, and the previous top bar menu has been changed to a side bar.

However, this task manager is still in its early stages, many functions are not available, the UI is not fully adapted, and needs to be further optimized, which is why Microsoft is hiding it.

We also learned that this new task manager needs to be upgraded to Build 22538 in the Dev channel, which is the latest version pushed by Microsoft today, and then manually enabled using ViveTool.

Download ViveTool and unzip it

Run the terminal as administrator in the ViveTool directory

Enter the following command:

vivetooladdconfig359080982

  • vivetooladdconfig372041712
  • vivetooladdconfig368981952
  • vivetooladdconfig368981952

After restarting the computer, right-click the Start button and select "Task Manager" to see the new interface.