Microsoft Overhauls Windows 11 with Largest Modernization Effort

Microsoft is advancing one of the largest modernization efforts in Windows 11 history, with print management, the File Explorer properties window, and the autoplay dialog—a holdover from the Windows 8 era—all set to receive new WinUI-based designs. The company's long-term goal is to gradually integrate features not yet migrated from the Control Panel into the Settings app, including legacy dialogs that most users rarely access.

In Windows 11, tasks such as uninstalling Windows updates, adding Bluetooth devices, managing Wi-Fi adapters, and adjusting advanced mouse options have already moved to Settings, so users open the Control Panel far less frequently than they did in the Windows 10 era.

Even after the update, however, the Control Panel will not disappear immediately, as Microsoft must ensure that the integration of legacy features relied upon by millions of enterprise users does not introduce compatibility issues.

The new features are not enabled by default; users must manually turn them on in the advanced options of Settings. The new version, built on WinUI, showed a median response time of approximately 94 milliseconds in testing, slightly faster than the previous version's 103 milliseconds. It also adds a "~" shortcut that lets users jump directly to their personal user directory.

The new version adopts the Windows 11 design language, presenting file type, size, deletion time, and creation time in clearer, grouped sections. The autoplay dialog is also being redesigned, with plans to remember user preferences—for example, after connecting a phone, users can set the system to always open File Explorer automatically.

Print functionality is a key focus of this overhaul. Microsoft is testing a new modernized print management app for configuring printer settings, which has entered the Release Preview channel, though it has not confirmed whether it will fully replace existing tools.