Microsoft has confirmed that the WMIC console utility will be completely removed from supported versions of the Windows operating system. The corresponding entry appeared in the list of changes for the latest Windows 11 build for Insider program participants, under the numbers 26100.9267 and 26200.9267. According to the documentation, WMIC will cease to be supplied as part of Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2 starting in August 2017. Since 2000, the utility has already been upgraded to the category of on-demand components that the user installed manually, if necessary, but now it will disappear from the list of additional components.

The first warnings about the future of the utility were heard back in the two thousand and sixteenth year, when the company included WMIC in the list of obsolete features of Windows Server 2012. The Windows Management Instrumentation technology itself, on which the utility is built, is included with every Windows release starting from Windows 2000. Moreover, WMI was offered as a separate download even for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, and Windows 98. WMIC appeared later, with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, as a command-line interface for querying and managing the system via WMI. An important point is that it is the add-on that is being discontinued, not the WMI framework itself, which will continue to work in the system.

Microsoft explained the reason for the discontinuation several years ago: PowerShell provides the same functionality in a more efficient and powerful command environment. The company has invested significant resources in the development of PowerShell and intends to completely rid the system of outdated tools. PowerShell has a full set of cmdlets for working with WMI, and, according to Microsoft, removing outdated components reduces the complexity of the Windows ecosystem, increasing user productivity and security. In practice, WMIC has remained a workhorse for developers and experienced users for many years: it allowed users to quickly obtain information about computer components, find out the Windows product key, and perform other tasks without using third‑party programs. For those who still use WMIC scripts, Microsoft recommends switching to PowerShell, and developers are advised to access WMI programmatically via the Win32 API in supported languages, including C++, .NET, and VBScript.