Explained: How Microsoft is changing the Control Panel in Windows – Times of India

Microsoft, with its latest Windows 11 OS, started transferring multiple features from the Control Panel to the redesigned Settings app. According to a report by WindowsLatest, the tech giant is planning to make the Control Panel obsolete gradually, by moving more pages to the Windows Settings app. The report suggests that the company is likely to migrate more pages with the next major or minor update which will simplify several Control panel features for many users.
What is the Windows Control Panel
Control Panel is a Windows tool that allows users to view and change system settings. This tool is made up of sets of applets that include — adding or removing hardware or software, controlling user accounts, changing accessibility options and accessing networking settings. Windows 11 allows users to perform some of these functionalities through the Windows settings app, however, some are exclusive only to the Control Panel.
Control Panel features in the Windows Settings app
The new app is ready for the future as it runs on WinUI and is capable of receiving multiple design changes. As per the report, Microsoft is planning to move the entire Control Panel to Windows settings in the upcoming days “as part of the company’s long-term migration efforts.”

Moreover, the upcoming Windows 11 update is also expected to allow users to remove more apps that are installed on the device. Currently, the Settings app is unable to recognise certain Windows apps, including the Win32 desktop software and users have to remove these apps using the Control Panel.
Microsoft might soon allow users to remove all Win32 apps using the Settings app. Furthermore, users can also remove apps that have inter-dependencies like Steam and other gaming apps running on Steam that repair and modifies Win32 apps.
The future of Windows Control Panel
However, this doesn’t mean the end of the Control Panel as the migration is still unfinished. As Microsoft slowly gets close to a stage where the Control Panel won’t be required for most of the taskbar, many key pages are still exclusive to the tool and are unavailable on the Settings app, the report claims. Meanwhile, during this gradual transitional phase, both the Control Panel and the Settings app continue to co-exist in Windows.

The report claims also that Microsoft has already cancelled Windows 11 23H2 as the company is planning to focus more on smaller feature updates as it develops the next version of the OS — Windows 12.