List of features removed in Windows 11


Windows 11 is the latest major release of the Windows NT operating system and the successor of Windows 10. Some features of the operating system were removed in comparison to Windows 10, and further changes in older features have occurred within subsequent feature updates to Windows 11. The removed features are listed as follows.

Features removed in original release

Bundled software

No longer available

The following applications are no longer bundled with Windows 11 and no longer available.

Not bundled, but available

The following applications are no longer bundled with Windows 11, but can still be installed from the Microsoft Store.

Windows shell

The following parts of the Windows shell are no longer available in Windows 11.
  • Lock Screen's quick status
  • Toggleable tablet mode
  • Timeline feature in Task View
  • Save Search option in File Explorer
In addition:
  • The touch keyboard no longer docks in screens larger than 18 inches.
  • Windows no longer synchronizes desktop wallpapers across devices with a Microsoft account.
  • Windows no longer shows a small preview of images or videos on folder thumbnails. Instead, it shows the generic folder icon for any folder containing images or videos.

Start menu

Some functionality from the Start menu was removed and replaced with other features.
  • Folders and groups
  • Live tiles, but the Widgets panel provides portions of what the live tiles of Windows 10's bundled apps provided
  • Recent and pinned files on pinned apps

Taskbar

The following taskbar features are no longer available as of Windows 11:
  • Support for moving the taskbar to the top, left, or right of the screen
  • Support for using the taskbar in full screen
  • Support for changing the size of the taskbar or its icons
  • "Time" is not displayed in the calendar when clicking on the "Date/Time" on taskbar
  • Scheduled events are not displayed in the calendar when opened
  • The option to show or hide Windows shell's tray icons
  • All settings and shortcuts in the taskbar's context menu
  • The network and audio flyouts have been consolidated into a new settings flyout
  • "Some icons in the System Tray", although Microsoft doesn't specify which
  • Support for third-party taskbar components
  • The upward swipe gesture for jumplists
  • Ability to move the system tray from the primary monitor
  • The People button
  • The News and Interests panel
  • Action Center
  • Support for showing one icon per app window the taskbar
  • Support for showing windows labels on taskbar
  • Support for bringing an app into focus by dragging a file to its button
  • Task Manager can no longer be opened by right-clicking taskbar
  • Ability to peek at the desktop by hovering the mouse cursor over the Show Desktop button
  • Ability to display the seconds on the current time removed
  • Support for adding toolbars such as the Quick Launch Bar
  • Expanding Taskbar to two levels

Settings

  • File History can only be configured using the legacy Control Panel application, which does not support adding custom folders to the set of protected folders as the Settings app in Windows 10 did.
  • The option to simultaneously set a program as the default for all file associations it can handle is no longer available.

Architecture and other features

Windows 11 is only available for the x86-64 and ARM64 CPU architectures, as Microsoft is no longer offering a Windows build for IA-32 x86 and ARMv7 systems. Additionally, NTVDM and the 16-bit Windows on Windows subsystems, which allowed 32-bit versions of Windows to directly run 16-bit DOS and Windows programs, are no longer included with Windows 11.
User-mode scheduling, available on x64 versions Windows 7 and later, was a lightweight mechanism allowing applications to schedule their own threads, without involvement from the system scheduler. This feature is not included with Windows 11.

Themes

The default Windows 10 and Flowers themes have been removed.

Features removed in later releases

2022 Update

2023 Update

2024 Update

  • WordPad is no longer bundled with Windows 11, but is still included in existing installations.
  • A x86-64-v2 CPU supporting SSE4.2 and POPCNT CPU instructions is now required.
  • An ARMv8.1 CPU is now required, dropping unofficial support for ARMv8.0.
  • ARM variants drop support for 32-bit applications.
  • WMI command line tool is no longer installed by default. It has been made as an optional feature installable via Windows Settings.
  • It is no longer possible to add or remove items from Quick Settings. However, items can be rearranged between at least 2 pages.
  • The Windows 10 Taskbar code, which third-party customization tools utilize, has been removed. Taskbar for the SYSTEM account is no longer supported.