72

Happy new year folks! This is the first release of 2026 and focused on publishing some needed windows-bindgen updates so that Windows can ingest and update its Rust support internally.

This release only updates the windows-bindgen crate (0.66.0) while other crates in the Windows family remain unchanged at this time.

What's Changed

• Promote remaining error types to windows-result by @kennykerr in #3783
• Fix for new warnings by @kennykerr in #3789
• Bump actions/setup-node from 5 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #3790
• Add comment for combase workaround handling by @kennykerr in #3794
• Add --sys-fn-ptrs for windows-sys fn ptr types by @uint-nate in #3782
• Use heuristic to determine handle types by @kennykerr in #3793
• Fix for Nightly warnings about using rotate_left by @kennykerr in #3800
• Fix nested type indexing in the windows-metadata reader by @kennykerr in #3799
• Bump actions/upload-artifact from 4 to 5 by @dependabot[bot] in #3803
• Remove service thread sample by @kennykerr in #3804
• Remove Display trait implementation for HSTRING and BSTR by @kennykerr in #3812
• Remove mostly-unused hint by @kennykerr in #3811
• Bump js-yaml from 4.1.0 to 4.1.1 in /web/features by @dependabot[bot] in #3817
• Simplify yml generation by @kennykerr in #3820
• Bump actions/checkout from 4 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #3819
• Add least privilege permissions to GitHub Actions workflows by @Copilot in #3826
• Add option to generate extern declarations rather than link macros by @kennykerr in #3828
• Bump actions/cache from 4 to 5 by @dependabot[bot] in #3831
• Temporarily pin clippy tests to nightly-2025-12-11 to avoid ICE by @riverar in #3835
• Bump actions/upload-artifact from 5 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #3833
• Bump node-forge from 1.3.1 to 1.3.3 in /web/features by @dependabot[bot] in #3842
• Bump qs and express in /web/features by @dependabot[bot] in #3843
• Bump qs and body-parser in /web/features by @dependabot[bot] in #3844
• Encourage using raw strings in registry docs by @spenserblack in #3847
• Revert "Temporarily pin clippy tests to nightly-2025-12-11 to avoid ICE" by @kennykerr in #3850
• Release 72 by @kennykerr in #3849

New Contributors

• @uint-nate made their first contribution in #3782
• @spenserblack made their first contribution in #3847

Full Changelog: 71...72

71

This is a relatively small release to publish the workaround for a Cargo bug that affects vendoring. #3774

All of the published crates get a minor update for the workaround (#3785) while the windows-bindgen crate gets a major update as it also includes a new warning for when rustfmt fails (#3778) and this is a breaking change.

What's Changed

• Clippy workflow also needs rustfmt to be installed by @kennykerr in #3779
• Add windows-bindgen warning when rustfmt fails by @kennykerr in #3778
• style: trim trailing whitespace by @ErichDonGubler in #3784
• Add readme workaround for Cargo.toml files by @kennykerr in #3785
• Release 71 by @kennykerr in #3786
• Add readme existence check to package validation by @kennykerr in #3787

New Contributors

• @ErichDonGubler made their first contribution in #3784

Full Changelog: 70...71

70

This release provides a few notable additions and features:

• An option to disable the default agility for COM implementations (#3770).
• Improved code generation dependency targeting (#3763).
• Ability to query OS revision number (#3752).
• Updated readme guidance on version ranges (#3754).

Major version updates to existing crates

The windows-bindgen crate (0.64.0) provides improved dependency targeting support via the new --specific-deps option (#3763).

Minor version updates to existing crates

The windows-implement crate (0.60.1) adds the ability to disable the default agility for COM implementations (#3770).

The windows-version crate (0.1.6) adds the ability to query OS revision number (#3752).

The windows crate (0.62.1) crate has been updated to depend on the latest version of the windows-implement crate and update the readme with version range guidance.

The windows-collections crate (0.3.1) crate has been updated to depend on the latest version of the windows-implement crate.

The windows-core crate (0.62.1) crate has been updated to depend on the latest version of the windows-implement crate.

The windows-future crate (0.3.1) crate has been updated to depend on the latest version of the windows-implement crate.

The windows-sys crate (0.61.1) crate has an updated readme with version range guidance.

The windows-targets crate (0.53.4) crate has an updated readme indicating that windows-link should be preferred.

What's Changed

• Bump actions/stale from 9 to 10 by @dependabot[bot] in #3744
• Bump actions/setup-node from 4 to 5 by @dependabot[bot] in #3745
• Remove unused stale.yml workflow by @kennykerr in #3747
• Fix new cast_slice_from_raw_parts clippy lint by @kennykerr in #3750
• Remove workaround for with_exposed_provenance_mut by @kennykerr in #3749
• Add query for OS revision number to windows-version crate by @kennykerr in #3752
• docs: update README to include guidance on using looser semver ranges for dependencies by @wmmc88 in #3754
• Improve windows-bindgen dependency targeting consistency and flexibility by @kennykerr in #3763
• Add option to disable default agility for COM implement macro by @kennykerr in #3770
• Install rustfmt as part of the build by @kennykerr in #3772
• Release 70 by @kennykerr in #3771

New Contributors

• @wmmc88 made their first contribution in #3754

Full Changelog: 69...70

69

This release is focused on upgrading the ecosystem to standardize on the windows-link crate for universal raw-dylib support on Windows. This avoids all kinds of build complexity and undesirable complexity in dealing with the linker directly via import libs.

To date, the only major Windows crate that still uses the older windows-targets crate for linking is the windows-sys crate. This release updates windows-sys to depend on windows-link and thus raw-dylib unconditionally. This is required for some internal OS and Azure scenarios. It should also meaningfully reduce build time in general since the large windows-targets import lib crates no longer need to be downloaded at all.

I am also using this release as an opportunity to update all of the remaining crates to use the latest version of windows-link which itself receives a major update to finally stop overwriting the ABI (#3689), fixing a cross-target compatibility issue.

With this update, Rust for Windows no longer offers any crates that depend on the windows-targets crate. Although very stable, it will remain supported by this repo for the foreseeable future should there ever be a reason to service it. I do not however plan to provide any non-essential updates to the windows-targets crate. You should instead use the windows-link crate.

Major version updates to existing crates

The windows-bindgen crate (0.63.0) includes updated Windows metadata (#3729) and targets the latest version of the core Windows crates.

The windows-link crate (0.2.0) no longer overwrites the ABI (#3689) avoiding cross-arch incompatibility but is unfortunately a subtle breaking change.

The windows-sys crate (0.61.0) is updated to target the latest windows-link crate and thus raw-dylib (#3724).

The windows crate (0.62.0) is updated to target the latest windows-core crate and provides an API refresh for Windows metadata (#3729).

The windows-core crate (0.62.0) provides a number of improvements for compatibility and target support.

The windows-collections crate (0.3.0) is updated to target the latest windows-core crate.

The windows-future crate (0.3.0) is updated to target the latest windows-core crate and provides new join and when functions for simplifying async continuation (#3708).

The windows-numerics crate (0.3.0) is updated to target the latest windows-core crate.

The windows-registry crate (0.6.0) is updated to target the latest windows-link crate.

The windows-result crate (0.4.0) is updated to target the latest windows-link crate.

The windows-services crate (0.26.0) is updated to target the latest windows-link crate.

The windows-strings crate (0.5.0) is updated to target the latest windows-link crate.

The windows-threading crate (0.2.0) is updated to target the latest windows-link crate and sports a new pool scope for lifetime management (#3696).

Minor version updates to existing crates

The cppwinrt crate (0.3.3) is updated to target the new version of the windows-link crate.

The windows-version crate (0.1.5) is updated to target the new version of the windows-link crate.

What's Changed

• Use --no-allow for internal bindings to improve static analysis coverage by @kennykerr in #3686
• Update Windows on Arm workflow by @riverar in #3680
• Stop overwriting the ABI in windows-link by @kennykerr in #3689
• Address most Clippy warnings in test code by @kennykerr in #3691
• Turn on Clippy testing for all crates and tests by @kennykerr in #3692
• Add specific test coverage for activation by @kennykerr in #3697
• Add specific test for interface macro -> Result transformation by @kennykerr in #3698
• Resolve from_win32 confusion from windows-result by @kennykerr in #3701
• The internal windows-core bindings need not be public by @kennykerr in #3702
• Make use of more prelude items by @kennykerr in #3703
• Properly locate and simplify the ArrayProxy type support ABI by @kennykerr in #3704
• Delegate closures should be immutable by @kennykerr in #3706
• Update to latest GitHub runner for Windows by @kennykerr in #3709
• Bump actions/checkout from 4 to 5 by @kennykerr in #3712
• windows-threading: Implement scope for Pool by @ChrisDenton in #3696
• Add specific yml job names by @kennykerr in #3715
• Add Debug implementation for HStringBuilder by @kennykerr in #3713
• Prefer expect to allow for Rust and Clippy lints by @kennykerr in #3716
• Adds Cargo package validation by @kennykerr in #3714
• Update windows-future with join and when functions by @kennykerr in #3708
• Apply changes for use_self Clippy lint to hand-written code by @kennykerr in #3718
• Add Debug implementation for Array<T> by @kennykerr in #3720
• Assume default readme fields in Cargo.toml by @kennykerr in #3721
• Remove a few unnecessary wraps - private functions that only return Ok or Some by @kennykerr in #3722
• Switch windows-sys to use windows-link and thus raw-dylib by @kennykerr in #3724
• Enforce workspace lints to all workspace crates by @kennykerr in #3726
• Simpler lifetime syntax to improve readability by @kennykerr in #3727
• Add missing unsafe on extern blocks by @kennykerr in #3728
• Update Windows Runtime metadata by @kennykerr in #3729
• Workaround for integer_to_ptr_transmutes warning by @kennykerr in #3731
• Simplify construction of Ref and OutRef directly by @kennykerr in #3730
• Add Rust for Windows book and create unified docs/web area by @riverar in #3733
• Add environment to web workflow by @riverar in #3738
• Avoid running test suite for web changes by @riverar in #3739
• Remove ole32.dll dependency from windows-core crate for compatibility by @kennykerr in #3743
• Release 69 by @kennykerr in #3741

Full Changelog: 68...69

68

This releases focuses on two distinct crates that have been updated and are in need of a release. While many other improvements and fixes have occurred this month - see what's changed below - no other pressing updates are required and those changes will accrue to a future release.

Major version updates to existing crates

The windows-services crate (0.25.0) introduces a range of powerful updates for supporting different hosting, testing, fallback, and extended commands (#3662).

Minor version updates to existing crates

The windows-targets crate (0.53.3) now forwards the link macro for raw-dylib support to the newer windows-link crate rather than implementing it directly (#3670).

What's Changed

• Remove "deprecated" feature by @kennykerr in #3638
• Fix new nightly Clippy warning by @kennykerr in #3649
• Update toml dependency from 0.8 to 0.9 by @kennykerr in #3655
• Replace CoCreateGuid with UuidCreate to avoid ole32.dll dependency by @kennykerr in #3656
• Add simple C# interop sample/test by @kennykerr in #3657
• Add error handling and string test for C# interop by @kennykerr in #3658
• Fix new Rust nightly warnings by @kennykerr in #3659
• Fix nightly Clippy warning by @kennykerr in #3665
• Fix use-after-free in json_validator sample by @riverar in #3668
• The windows crate's "std" feature should enable dependent "std" features by @kennykerr in #3666
• Windows service improvements for hosting, testing, fallback, and extended commands by @kennykerr in #3662
• Clarify and test extern abi workaround for variadic function support by @kennykerr in #3669
• Forward link macro for raw-dylib support by @kennykerr in #3670
• Add reminder to remove hardcoded "C" before next major update by @kennykerr in #3671
• windows: Use new hints.mostly-unused by @joshtriplett in #3660
• Parameterize fix-environment action by @riverar in #3677
• Apply clippy workflow to all but tests by @kennykerr in #3675
• Minor release of windows-targets by @kennykerr in #3683
• Major release of windows-services by @kennykerr in #3684

New Contributors

• @joshtriplett made their first contribution in #3660

Full Changelog: 67...68

67

As requested here, this minor update to the windows-registry crate adds support for volatile registry keys (#3632).

What's Changed

• Fix for nightly unpredictable_function_pointer_comparisons warning by @kennykerr in #3633
• Add support for volatile registry keys in OpenOptions by @copilot-swe-agent in #3632
• Release 67 by @kennykerr in #3639

Full Changelog: 66...67

66

This release is primarily to publish #3622, the fix for rust-lang/rust#142330, and make it available to dependent crates and afford them a path forward.

Major version updates to existing crates

The window-sys crate (0.60.1) receives its first update in 11 months to address this issue and update its dependency on the windows-targets crate. This is a major update since metadata changes have caused breaking changes in the generated code.

The windows-bindgen crate (0.62.1) receives an update to correctly generate the link macros using the appropriate calling convention as per #3622. This is a major update since generated code may change.

The cppwinrt crate (0.3.1) is updated to provide access to the recently published version of the cppwinrt compiler. This is a major update since the compiler and base library has some breaking changes.

Minor version updates to existing crates

The windows crate (0.61.2) has been updated to address the calling convention future incomparability warnings. This is a minor update since this is the only change since the last release and is itself not considered a breaking change.

The windows-link crate (0.1.2) and the windows-targets crate (0.53.1) have been updated to address the calling convention future incomparability warnings. This is a minor update since this is the only change since the last release and is itself not considered a breaking change.

What's Changed

• Apply must_use to the bindgen function by @kennykerr in #3605
• Update rand dependency in DirectComposition sample by @kennykerr in #3611
• Add item indexing support to windows-metadata by @kennykerr in #3612
• Add bindgen argument documentation by @kennykerr in #3617
• Address new lifetime errors in Rust 1.89 by @kennykerr in #3620
• Update cppwinrt crate to 2.0.250303.1 by @kennykerr in #3619
• Use extern "C" instead of extern "cdecl" by @ChrisDenton in #3622
• Release 66 by @kennykerr in #3624

Full Changelog: 65...66

65

This is a quick workaround for what appears to be a cargo vendor issue that fails to include some files that are otherwise included by cargo package (#3607).

There are no new crates or major updates in this release.

Minor version updates to existing crates

• The windows-core crate has been update with a workaround for cargo vendor support (#3607).
• The windows-result crate has been update with a workaround for cargo vendor support (#3607).
• The windows-strings crate has been update with a workaround for cargo vendor support (#3607).

What's Changed

• .natvis workaround for cargo vendor by @kennykerr in #3607
• Release 65 by @kennykerr in #3608

Full Changelog: 64...65

64

New crates in this release

• The windows-services crate provides a simple and safe way to implement Windows services in Rust (#3599).
• The windows-threading crate provides simple, safe, and efficient access to the Windows threading support (#3595).

Major version updates to existing crates

• The windows-metadata crate is a low-level metadata library for ECMA-335, providing both a reader and writer for the ECMA-335 metadata format (#3560) used by .NET, WinRT, and more recently the Win32 metadata. It is technically a brand new implementation but reuses the older crate name from my first attempt at a metadata parser in Rust. The emphasis is on low-level. While it is easy to use, the metadata format is intended for tools to use internally. This implementation is very fast and scalable.

Minor version updates to existing crates

• The windows-bindgen crate has been updated to use the new windows-threading crate for parallelism to improve reliability and reduce dependencies (#3588, #3595).
• The windows-future crate now uses the new windows-threading crate for parallelism (#3595).
• The windows-registry crate adds support for key rename (#3567).
• The windows-core, windows-result, and windows-strings crates no longer require the windows_debugger_visualizer option to enable natvis support (#3586).

What's Changed

• Mark stale issues and pull requests by @kennykerr in #3550
• Fix circular dependency by @kennykerr in #3549
• Fix semver compatibility issue by @kennykerr in #3554
• Low-level metadata library for ECMA-335 by @kennykerr in #3560
• Add fast indexing support to windows-ecma335 by @kennykerr in #3562
• Derive Hash for Type in windows_registry by @allan2 in #3564
• Add key rename support to the windows-registry crate by @kennykerr in #3567
• Collapse internal config/writer structures inside windows-bindgen by @kennykerr in #3569
• Add Windows on Arm test coverage by @riverar in #3577
• Remove extra call of message() in Error formatting by @CrazyboyQCD in #3579
• Clarify contributing guide by @kennykerr in #3584
• Fix nightly clippy warnings by @kennykerr in #3585
• Remove windows_debugger_visualizer as cfg option by @kennykerr in #3586
• Remove MacOS testing by @kennykerr in #3587
• Remove rayon dependency by @kennykerr in #3588
• Adds a Windows service example by @kennykerr in #3590
• Introduce the dedicated windows-threading crate by @kennykerr in #3595
• Restrict allow to bindings in windows-threading crate by @kennykerr in #3597
• Introduce the dedicated windows-services crate by @kennykerr in #3599
• Fix typos by @kennykerr in #3600
• Rename windows-ecma335 to windows-metadata by @kennykerr in #3601
• Release 64 by @kennykerr in #3603

New Contributors

• @allan2 made their first contribution in #3564
• @CrazyboyQCD made their first contribution in #3579

Full Changelog: 63...64

63

Note: I've switched to numeric release and tag numbers (e.g. 63 instead of 0.63.0) to avoid confusing releases with crate versions, which are independent of the release name and git tag.

Major updates to existing crates

windows - this update adds marshaling support for COM implementations inside the windows crate (#3531), remapping of more numeric types to the windows-numerics crate (#3524), detection of nested structs with differing layout or packing requirements (#3522), and other minor fixes.

windows-bindgen - this update adds marshaling support for COM implementations generated by windows-bindgen such as delegates (#3531), detection of nested structs with differing layout or packing requirements (#3522), deriving Default in more cases (#3520), and other minor fixes.

windows-core - this update adds the core marshaling implementation used by the windows-bindgen crate and all other Windows code including COM implementations, delegates, and weak references (#3531). The windows-core crate also includes minor improvements to COM authoring support.

windows-implement - this update adds plumbing to hook the windows-core crate's marshaling support into all COM implementations (#3531).

windows-numerics - this update adds scale and skew functions to Matrix3x2.

windows-strings - this update introduces a small breaking change to the h! macro for creating HSTRING literals in compliance with Edition 2024 (#3530) and Miri test coverage (#3535).

windows-collections - updates dependencies with minor improvements to documentation.

windows-future - updates dependencies with minor improvements to documentation and adds COM marshaling support to async delegates (#3531).

Minor updates to existing crates

cppwinrt - updates dependencies with no visible changes.

windows-interface - updates dependencies with minor improvements to documentation.

windows-link - updates linker correctness on Linux.

windows-registry - updates dependencies with no visible changes.

windows-result - updates dependencies with no visible changes.

windows-version - updates dependencies with no visible changes.

What's Changed

• 0.62.1 by @kennykerr in #3503
• Automate yml workflow generation for MSRV checks by @kennykerr in #3504
• Remove cast from implement macro by @sivadeilra in #3506
• Remove IUnknownImpl::from_inner_ref as no longer needed by @sivadeilra in #3513
• Restore and extend feature index generation with method support by @riverar in #3486
• Remove features.json specific to windows-sys by @kennykerr in #3515
• Simplify and refactor the implement macro by @sivadeilra in #3507
• Simplify tool_yml and extend Clippy coverage by @kennykerr in #3516
• Avoid OutRef for array parameters in windows-bindgen by @kennykerr in #3517
• Derive Default for more structs by @kennykerr in #3519
• Implement Default for sys style structs by @kennykerr in #3520
• Detect nested structs with differing layout or packing requirements by @kennykerr in #3522
• Remap common numeric types by @kennykerr in #3524
• Hide vtables in docs by @kennykerr in #3526
• Add scale and skew functions to Matrix3x2 by @robmikh in #3527
• Add dedicated test crate for windows-numerics by @kennykerr in #3529
• Tweaks to support Edition 2024 of Rust in future by @kennykerr in #3530
• Add marshaling support for COM implementations by @kennykerr in #3531
• Add basic Miri testing by @kennykerr in #3535
• Limit unsafe code in windows-version crate by @kennykerr in #3536
• Port ECMA-335 fixes for correctness by @kennykerr in #3537
• Cleanup and remove unnecessary internal bindings by @kennykerr in #3542
• Correct minor typos by @utilForever in #3544
• Improve workspace dependency management by @kennykerr in #3546
• Simpler toml configuration by @kennykerr in #3547
• Release 63 by @kennykerr in #3548

New Contributors

• @utilForever made their first contribution in #3544

Full Changelog: 0.62.0...63