We have to go back to the time of the launch of Windows 8 (September 2012) to find the widget meteo on the operating system lock screen. Also known as lock screenthe lock screen of Windows anticipates the display of the login procedure, i.e. the choice of the user account with which you wish to access the machine. Usually, to access the login screen, just press any key or click the mouse.
After a few weeks of testing, involving those enrolled in the program Windows InsiderMicrosoft dusts off the idea of the weather widget and delivers it “into the hands” of users Windows 11. With the’cumulative update KB5034123, which the Redmond company distributed on the first patch day of 2024, the operating system has gained the new functionality. At least “behind the scenes”. The weather widget, in fact, is not yet officially available but will be progressively enabled for the entire database over the next few weeks.
What is the weather widget and how to activate it in preview in Windows 11
The new widget debuting in Windows 11 lets you show off weather information directly on the lock screen. By clicking on the widget box, the user can access more data and information forecastsdisplayed within the Microsoft Edge browser.
According to the technicians of the Redmond company, the weather widget is compatible with all wallpapers for the lock screen: for example with individual images chosen by the user or with the Windows Spotlight (Featured content, in Europen). In another article we saw how to change the lock screen wallpaper automatically with Windows 11.
How to use ViVeTool to activate the weather widget
If you want to try the weather widget immediately, without waiting for it to be activated on your system, you can use the well-known open source tool ViVeTool. ViVeTool is a utility that operates from the command line and which allows you to activate, using the correct identifiers, features not yet enabled by Microsoft on your system.
In the case of the weather widget, just press Windows+Xchoose the item Terminal (Admin)access the folder in which you extracted the ViVeTool files (example: cd c:/vivetool) then impart the following two commands:
cmd
vivetool /enable /id:47526873 /variant:1 /variantpayloadkind:1 /variantpayload:1
Once restarted Windows 11 (You can do this quickly from the command line by typing shutdown /r /t 0), you need to type Lock screen settings in the Start menu search box, then select Weather forecast to the right of Lock screen status. After a new restart, the weather widget should finally appear on the lock screen.
Weather widget also coming to Windows 10 systems
According to what Microsoft declared, the new feature will soon be introduced in Windows 10. The operating system will no longer receive security updates starting from October 2025. Furthermore, those responsible for the company led by Satya Nadella have confirmed that Windows 10 22H2 is the latest version of the operating system: no further releases will be made feature update.
Despite this, however, Microsoft is occasionally adding new features to the world’s most used operating system, distributing them as part of monthly updates.
Opening image credit: iStock.com – NguyenDucQuang