Microsoft confirms Windows 11’s Registry, Print Management, and other classic tools are getting a modern makeover

• Microsoft confirmed it’s modernizing legacy Windows 11 tools like Registry and other administrative utilities while maintaining compatibility.
• A redesigned Print Management app on Windows 11 build 26300.9032 (26H2) offers the first preview of the effort.
• The new app replaces the legacy MMC interface with a WinUI 3 experience while preserving existing management features.

Microsoft has begun modernizing some legacy administrative tools that still appear on Windows 11, including Print Management, Registry Editor (Regedit), Computer Management, Disk Management, and other components that have remained largely unchanged for decades.

The effort is part of the company’s broader initiative to bring more of Windows to the modern WinUI 3 framework, replacing older Win32 and Microsoft Management Console (MMC) experiences with interfaces that better match the rest of the operating system.

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Microsoft confirms legacy tools are being modernized

During the latest Windows Central podcast, Microsoft’s Vice President of Design and Research for Windows, Marcus Ash, confirmed that the company has started evaluating ways to modernize some of the legacy utilities while preserving the compatibility network administrators and power users depend on.

When asked whether Windows 11 still contains too many legacy elements dating back to Windows 95, XP, Vista, and Windows 10, and whether Microsoft plans to reduce those older components, Ash replied that it’s a work in progress.

Also, he added: It’s hard to pick one surface and say we’re going to do it. But I would say the common things we look at are the top things that users (customers) want, like File Explorer and some of the big apps. But even things like Regedit and some of the tooling, we’ve already started to look at, and how do we attack this problem so that we keep the compatibility and we can modernize these frameworks.

Although Microsoft hasn’t announced specific redesigns, Ash’s comments suggest the company is looking beyond consumer-facing features and beginning to modernize the administrative layer of Windows itself.

Print Management offers the first glimpse

Microsoft’s comments come as an early version of a redesigned Print Management app has appeared on Windows 11 build 26300.9032 (26H2).

While the application retains virtually all of the functionality of the classic tool, it appears to have been rebuilt from the ground up using WinUI 3 instead of the legacy Microsoft Management Console framework.

Unlike the classic Print Management console, the new version appears as a standalone application in the Start menu rather than an MMC snap-in, making it feel like a native Windows 11 app instead of a legacy administrative console.

The redesigned experience retains the same core functionality as the classic Print Management console, allowing administrators to manage printers, drivers, ports, and forms. However, it replaces the legacy interface with a more modern design that includes a collapsible navigation pane, customizable columns, and refreshed Driver Properties dialogs that better align with Windows 11’s Fluent Design language.

At the same time, the app remains a work in progress. Users currently have to launch it manually, for example, from the Windows Sandbox experience. Some dialogs have already been modernized while others still display legacy Win32 interfaces, and the classic Print Management console continues to ship alongside the new version.

More community feedback before features ship

Microsoft also says it wants to involve Insiders earlier in the design process.

Instead of waiting until new interfaces are integrated into preview builds, the company plans to begin sharing design concepts and screenshots to collect feedback before committing engineering resources to implementation.

While the company hasn’t announced when this process will begin, the approach could allow the community to influence future redesigns before they become part of Windows Insider releases.

Pureinfotech’s Take

I think this is one of the most encouraging Windows 11 changes Microsoft has announced in a long time. While redesigning a tool like Print Management won’t matter to most users, it signals that the company is finally paying attention to the parts of Windows that have been neglected for years.

Since Windows 11 launched, the company’s design efforts have mostly focused on consumer-facing experiences like the Start menu, Settings, File Explorer, and the Taskbar. Those improvements were important, but they also made the contrast with the operating system’s older utilities even more noticeable. It’s not uncommon to navigate from a modern Fluent Design interface into a dialog or management console that looks virtually unchanged from Windows XP or even earlier.

The new Print Management app, along with Marcus Ash’s comments about Regedit and other legacy tools, suggests Microsoft is finally moving beyond cosmetic updates and tackling the operating system’s administrative layer. If the company can continue modernizing these utilities while preserving the functionality and compatibility that network administrators and power users depend on, Windows 11 will feel far more cohesive and polished over time.

Of course, this work is still in its early stages, and the software giant hasn’t committed to redesigning specific tools or provided a timeline. However, the appearance of a WinUI 3 version of Print Management shows the effort is already underway rather than just an idea being discussed internally.