At the beginning of 2024, Microsoft announced plans to turn off WMIC in the next-gen Windows 11 version as part of its ongoing deprecation. However, WMIC or Windows Management Instrumentation Command, is not going away just yet. Despite deprecation, customers and admins can continue using it, and Microsoft just posted a brief guide on how to make it work.
To help organizations migrate from WMIC to PowerShell, Microsoft made WMIC a feature-on-demand (FoD) enabled by default. Windows 11 version 24H2, which is coming later this year, will arrive with WMIC disabled by default. Here is what you need to know about it.
For starters, Microsoft explained how to know that WMIC is missing. Executing a WMIC command on a system with missing, turned off, or uninstalled WMIC will result in the following CLI message:
‘wmic’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file.
You can fix that error on Windows 11 by doing the following:
- Go to Settings > System Optional features.
- Click "View features" next to the "Add an optional feature" option.
- Type WMIC into the search box and place a checkmark next to it in the result list.
- Click "Next" to install WMIC in Windows 11.
Once everything is done, you will see WMIC in the list of installed optional features. From there, you can uninstall it whenever you want it.
Turning off WMIC in the next-gen Windows version is one of the final steps during the feature's deprecation. The next and final step is the complete removal of WMIC from future Windows client and server editions. For now, Microsoft does not know when WMIC will be gone for good, and its latest roadmap for WMIC still says the final step is "to be determined."
You can learn more about installing WMIC in a post on the Tech Community forums.
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