Windows 11: WMIC will be removed in future

[German]Short addendum from last week: Microsoft will retire the command line tool wmic.exe in the next version of Windows. The WMI command line utility (WMIC) provides a command line interface for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). The execution of the tool is already disabled by default in Windows 11 Insider Preview versions since January 29, 2024. As a replacement for this command line tool, Microsoft suggests using corresponding PowerShell queries.

This has been announced in the Techcommunity article WMI command line (WMIC) utility deprecation: Next steps from January 26, 2024, which I became aware of via the following tweet. Readers have also pointed this out in various comments (thanks for that).

The command line tool wmic.exe was already classified as deprecated under Windows Server 2012 in 2016 (see timeline above). In 2021, the same followed for Windows 10 version 21H1 and in 2022 wmic.exe was implemented as a "feature on demand" under Windows 11 version 22H2. The tool is now being deactivated under Windows 11, initially in the Insider Preview. It remains to be seen when the tool will be removed completely.

Replaced by PowerShell

According to Microsoft, the reason for phasing out the command line tool wmic.exe is that the WMIC tool is being replaced by Windows PowerShell for WMI. Microsoft has invested heavily in PowerShell in recent years. The new PowerShell calls provide a more efficient way to query WMI. Removing a legacy component helps Microsoft reduce complexity while hoping to keep it secure and productive.

PowerShell includes cmdlets by default for working with technologies such as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). There are several native WMI cmdlets available in PowerShell without the need for administrators to install additional software or modules. Further details can be found in the Techcommunity article WMI command line (WMIC) utility deprecation: Next steps.