Wallpaper resets to color and New WinUI 3 Search has no Search bar in build 26340.9616

I am using Windows 11 26H2 Experimental build 26340.9616.

I am experiencing two separate issues in this build.

1. Desktop wallpaper always resets to a solid color

When I change my desktop background to a picture, Windows does not keep the selected image. The wallpaper changes back to a solid color/color palette instead.

Steps to reproduce:

Open Settings > Personalization > Background.

Select Picture as the background type.

Choose any image.

Apply the change.

The desktop wallpaper returns to a solid color instead of keeping the selected picture.

Expected behavior: The selected picture should remain as the desktop wallpaper.

Actual behavior: The wallpaper resets back to a solid color/color palette.

I performed a full ViVeTool reset, but this wallpaper problem remained afterward. This makes me believe the wallpaper issue is a Windows bug rather than being caused by my manually configured ViVeTool feature overrides.

New WinUI 3 Windows Search appears automatically but the Search bar is missing

I previously had the new WinUI 3 Windows Search experience working on this same Windows installation.

The sequence that caused the current Search problem was:

I performed a full ViVeTool reset.

I reset the Refined Windows Search feature back to its default state.

I checked for updates through Windows Update.

I restarted the PC.

After restarting, the new WinUI 3 Windows Search experience appeared to enable itself automatically. I did not manually enable a feature flag for the WinUI 3 Search experience.

However, the Search bar is missing from the taskbar, so I cannot use the new Search experience normally.

The important part is that the new WinUI 3 Search appeared automatically after checking for updates and restarting, but the Search bar itself is missing.

Expected behavior: The new WinUI 3 Windows Search experience should provide a functional Search bar on the taskbar.

Actual behavior: The new WinUI 3 Search appears to be enabled, but the Search bar is missing from the taskbar and the Search experience cannot be accessed normally.

Please investigate both the desktop wallpaper personalization bug and the new WinUI 3 Search/taskbar Search issue in Windows 11 26H2 Experimental build 26340.9616, particularly the interaction between the new Search rollout, Refined Windows Search, and the taskbar Search component.Title: Wallpaper resets to color and New WinUI 3 Search has no Search bar in build 26340.9616