Microsoft already classified WMIC as deprecated back in 2024. Since then, the company has been phasing the tool out, with new Windows 11 installations already excluding WMIC. But with this preview update, even existing Windows PCs will no longer have WMIC at all.
Table of Contents
What exactly is being phased out?
WMIC is a command-line utility that can be used to retrieve system information and automate administrative tasks. Administrators and power users could, for example, use it to retrieve hardware data, BIOS information, or run processes via commands.
With this update, Microsoft is removing the wmic.exe executable file. The underlying Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), however, remains fully intact and will continue to be supported.
For most home users, the change is unlikely to have any immediate impact. Most Windows users have probably never used WMIC.
These scripts may be affected
Problems are most likely to arise where older management and automation scripts still rely directly on WMIC. After installing the update, such commands will no longer work.
The following may be affected: