Unlock Windows 11 25H2’s hidden features, including new Start menu, battery percentage, AI actions and more

Windows 11 just got a major update with the November 2025 Patch Tuesday. There’s something new for everyone, including a redesigned Start menu, colourful battery icons, “AI Actions” in the File Explorer context menu, and more. However, the catch is that these features don’t appear due to Microsoft’s staged (slow) rollout.

Windows features are tied to unique feature IDs that can be manually toggled on using a third-party open-source app called “ViVeTool.” While it’s open source and safe to use, you just need to be careful that you use the correct ID. An incorrect feature ID could cause problems on some PCs.

But don’t worry. I’ve got you covered, and I’ve got all the correct feature IDs required to turn on the new features. You just need to follow the template and replace the feature IDs required to turn new features on one by one. Or if you don’t want to take this route, you will need to wait for the magical Windows 11 staged rollout to work in your favour.

How to turn on missing features in Windows 11 25H2 or 24H2

1. Install the KB5068861 or newer update on your PC, which will upgrade it to build number 26200.7171 / 26100.7171 or newer. You can verify the OS build version number from Settings > System > About.
2. Download the Vivetool from GitHub and extract its files to the C drive.
3. Press the Win key, type cmd, and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to launch Command Prompt with administrator privileges.
4. Now, you need to access the directory where Vivetool and its related files are present. Type cd C:\ and press Enter. For example, on one of our PCs, vivetool.exe is saved in C:\Users\thema\Downloads\Compressed\ViVe. In that case, I need to use cd C:\Users\thema\Downloads\Compressed\ViVe to access the directory.
5. Once you’re in the right directory, type vivetool and press Enter. If the tool is there, you’ll see a detailed section about the tool in the Command Prompt window.
   
6. Now, you’re ready to use vivetool to enable the hidden features in 25H2. The basic command template is: vivetool /enable /id:IDnumber
7. Simply type the feature ID after the colon and press Enter to enable the feature. For example, if I want to enable the new Start menu, I’ll paste the ID 47205210 in the template: vivetool /enable /id:47205210
   
8. If a feature needs multiple IDs, you can paste them after adding a comma in the command. So, you can easily run multiple feature ID activations in one go.
9. Restart the PC afterwards to apply the changes.

Here’s a list of commands you can use to enable the following features:

1. New Start menu: vivetool /enable /id:47205210
2. New battery icon: vivetool /enable /id:48822452,48433719
3. Administrator protection: vivetool /enable /id:45172197
4. AI Actions in File Explorer: vivetool /enable /id:54792954,55345819

Note: If these features still don’t show up, you will need to first run vivetool /enable /id:48433719,57048216,57048218,57048226,57048231,57048237 command before trying to enable any of the above features.

A small, incremental update

Microsoft’s major focus is obviously the Start menu, which is now customizable to some extent. The pinned icons appear at the top, and you can choose from multiple layouts for the app list. I love the Category layout because it eats up less space.

The Start menu is also dynamic and can adapt to the display scale. Another great thing about it is that you can completely hide the Recommended section. It was an eyesore for me for the last four years, and can now be hidden from the Start menu.

AI actions in File Explorer will suggest opening the file in another app with AI tools for better editing. I don’t have a Copilot+ PC, but I saw the option to edit the image in the Paint app. Paint can do background erase with AI on a non-Copilot+ PC, so File Explorer showed me the option. You might see additional options depending on the file type.

Administrator protection is basically superimposing a layer of PIN-based authentication for any task that needs elevated permissions. Earlier versions of Windows showed a UAC prompt, but that didn’t ask for a device PIN.

Enabling Administrator protection will ask for the device PIN for all actions that request elevated privileges.

Lastly, the new Battery indicator icon is available with multiple color schemes. It makes it easy to distinguish between different battery states like full, charging, low, etc.

You will also have a clear idea about the charging percentage because it’ll be visible on the taskbar, next to the icon.