A few days ago, we shared the news that Microsoft was planning to retire the Control Panel in favor of the Settings app in Windows 11. Microsoft finally confirmed this long-rumored decision on their Windows support page.
The announcement sparked significant reactions on social media and within tech communities. Due to the strong response, Microsoft has made a significant change: the Control Panel will remain available for the foreseeable future.
Microsoft clarifies that the Control Panel will continue in Windows 11
Microsoft made a brief announcement that we commented on here on the Windows support page that stated the following:
The Control Panel is a long-standing feature of Windows. It provides a centralized location for viewing and manipulating system settings and controls. Through a series of applets, you can adjust a variety of settings ranging from system time and date to hardware and network settings, and more. Control Panel is on its way out in favor of the Settings app which offers a more modern and optimized experience.
Advice: While the Control Panel continues to exist for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet been migrated, we recommend that you use the Settings app whenever possible.
This suggests that while Microsoft’s ultimate goal is to transition from the Control Panel to the Settings app fully, they have decided to keep the Control Panel around for now. Since Windows 10, we’ve seen more and more Control Panel features being moved to the Settings app, making this shift a logical progression.
However, Microsoft slightly adjusted its statement just days after its initial announcement. They now clarify that the Control Panel will remain available for compatibility reasons, and they don’t plan to retire it anytime soon.
The newly updated text on the Windows support page says:
The Control Panel is a long-standing feature of Windows. It provides a centralized location for viewing and manipulating system settings and controls. Through a series of applets, you can adjust a variety of settings ranging from system time and date to hardware and network settings, and more. Many of the Control Panel settings are in the process of being migrated to the Settings app.which offers a more modern and optimized experience.
Advice: While the Control Panel continues to exist for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet been migrated, we recommend that you use the Settings app whenever possible.
The reason for its long existence: backward compatibility
The primary reason Microsoft won’t be retiring the popular Control Panel anytime soon is straightforward: compatibility.
Windows, an operating system nearly 40 years old, still supports many older components that haven’t been updated in years but are still widely used. For instance, many users still rely upon the old Windows Backup function.
Many companies and users are still accustomed to using the classic Control Panel rather than the newer Settings app. Additionally, certain configurations, like file indexing or specific recovery options, can only be accessed through the traditional Control Panel, making it essential for these scenarios.
