BLOG: Windows Insiders - State of vbscript deprecation June 2026

While I greatly appreciate the decision of vbscript / cscript / wscript removal, with security and hardening in mind – I would also appreciate if Microsoft could be actively using the vNext release channel, preparing for feature removal.

In sharing this summary, I am sharing my point of view that related changes indicating an adoption of the deprecation are not unveiled at that point.
This stands a bit contrary to the announcement, Microsoft intends removing the optional feature of vbscript by default with the upcoming release - anticipated by fall 2027.

 

Given my lessons learned from Secure Boot CA2023 exchange initiative, Microsoft guidance, foremost PowerShell based scripts, tooling and dashboards have been released quite late, looking at the timeline, considering the impact and scale customers had to deal with, and consequences for their security posture if they are not ready and done, with first certificates to expire soon.
Taking this learning into account and and projecting it to vbscript deprecration I come to the following conclusion:

SMB customers, enterprises, Microsoft Products, see below, are required to be updated or replaced, in order of adopting this change.
I believe there is quite some communication and learning curve required for users, admins, enterprises and OEMs in adopting the implicated change and including changed workflows and automation processes.

Looking forward to the next Windows Insider and esp. Windows Server Insider vNext builds!
Both Windows Insiders and Windows Server Insiders, also including ISV and OEMs may assist in reviewing and validating the new workflows required - assuming vbscript deprecation is in effect, as planned.

Without further ado, I am sharing my observations in regard to VBScript deprecation. I will try to keep this blogpost updated as soon I am aware about public facing changes.

Third-Party

AMD

Chipset drivers  so far is one of the major non MSFT related blockers. 

Suggestions:
Microsoft should initiate talks with AMD and other ISV and OEMs fixing their dependencies, also offering other solutions, see below.
Currently AMD Chipset drivers silently using vbscript calls checking for OS and HW platform compatibility. The installer fails when vbscript optional feature is removed.

OEM, ISV and Enterprise

Potentially affected:

• expected dependencies for imaging, deployment and management workflows. Related or unrelated to Microsoft products.
• LOB apps
• custom Office Integration
• logon and logoff scripts
• setup and installers

Recommendation:
Please observe vbscript related events in Windows Event Viewer at scale using PowerShell, Remoting or Windows Event Subscriptions:

VBScriptDeprecationAlert 
Event ID 4096

VBScript is scheduled for deprecation. Our telemetry indicates that your system is currently utilizing VBScript.
We strongly recommend identifying and migrating away from any VBScript dependencies at the earliest.
The following process has been detected as using VBScript. The associated process tree and call stack are provided below to assist in identifying the scenario in which VBScript was invoked.

 

Microsoft

Windows Server and Client OS

affected: slmgr.vbs / printer management vbscripts / product activation logic and UX,
setup.exe, slui.exe

Office 2024 LTSC
affected: slmgr.vbs / ospp.vbs / Office deployment toolkit / product activation logic
Microsoft has placed a new PowerShell based script into the respective OSPP folder.
This script however is rather offering on checking licensing and cannot activate the Office product at this time.

Microsoft 365 Business, Enterprise, Home, Family
Affected: ospp.vbs
despite being subscription based will also trouble with activation once vbscript is removed

Sconfig
Related to product activation. no changes so far, relies on external changes. The script itself is safe to comply with the change, now it has been reworked and updated using PowerShell , starting Windows Server 2022.

WinRM
Affected: the whole WinRM configuration command, e.g. winrm qc

Windows Server Roles and Features: KMS / ADBA

Potentially affected as they rely on slmgr for adding and removing CSVLK keys.

Windows Server Roles and Features: IIS
legacy IIS extension management.

Windows Server Roles and Features: WSUS
related deployment and configuration scripts.

Windows Server Roles and Features: KMS / ADBA

potentially affected as they rely on slmgr for adding.

System Center Products incl. ConfigMgr
there might be depencendies for OS deployments in regard to OS imaging.

ADK, esp. Windows Imaging Tools and VAMT 3
potentially affected. Need to adopt changes in regard to activation and other operations.


Suggestions: 

• Recommending all these scripts being converted using Claude or Copilot from vbscript to PowerShell.
• Providing a serviceable PS modules, especially for printer management, product activation, which enables enterprises to automate their activations and printers, even though Microsoft is going to remove vbscript. The modules should be improved for existing day two adminstration tasks and workflows. slmgr, in particular, had some nuances that were tedious such as identifying and removing (stale) activation keys.
• Existing tools like slmgr and other will not work well in remoting. They do something but their interactive parts and outputs are reserved for interactive user sessions. Example: you can use slmgr in a remote PowerShell session for installing and activating a key but therer is no result return to the shell.
• Combining slui.exe and slmgr.vbs into aforementioned improvements in functionality and syntax.
• Consider support for PowerShell 7 in WinRE and Offline Setup phase.

Many thanks for your consideration!

 

Directory: C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 98756 prncnfg.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 66172 prndrvr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 62698 prnjobs.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 95908 prnmngr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 71616 prnport.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 44278 prnqctl.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 22612 pubprn.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\System32 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 4119 CallUxxProvider.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 145712 slmgr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 1720 SyncAppvPublishingServer.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 204072 winrm.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 98756 prncnfg.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 66172 prndrvr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 62698 prnjobs.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 95908 prnmngr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 71616 prnport.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 44278 prnqctl.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 22612 pubprn.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\SysWOW64 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 145712 slmgr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 204072 winrm.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-a..nagement-appvclient_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_0895f7c27f109b8a Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 1720 SyncAppvPublishingServer.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-iis-legacyscripts_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_ba69ed912e209e30 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 98133 adsutil.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 41401 IIsExt.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-p..inscripts.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_en-us_ 4ad0e09e0339f1ef Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 98756 prncnfg.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 66172 prndrvr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 62698 prnjobs.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 95908 prnmngr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 71616 prnport.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 44278 prnqctl.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 22612 pubprn.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-s..r-core-mgmtprovider_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_62cec50667f8da2a Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 4119 CallUxxProvider.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-security-spp-tools_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_81bcc6c67609fdb9 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 145712 slmgr.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-w..for-management-core_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_0688f60763f16bc8 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 204072 winrm.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_updateservices-services_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_bae89f3176313538 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 8332 DynamicCompression.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 4289 SetAppPool.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 5813 SetMimeMap.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-iis-legacyscripts_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_c4be97e36281602b Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 41401 IIsExt.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-p..inscripts.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_en-us_ 55258af0379ab3ea Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 98756 prncnfg.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 66172 prndrvr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 62698 prnjobs.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 95908 prnmngr.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 71616 prnport.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 44278 prnqctl.vbs -a--- 4/16/2026 10:43 AM 22612 pubprn.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-security-spp-tools_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_8c117118aa6abfb4 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 145712 slmgr.vbs Directory: C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-w..for-management-core_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.29574.1000_none_10dda05998522dc3 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 4/16/2026 9:14 AM 204072 winrm.vbs

related announcements: 

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/Windows-ITPro-blog/vbscript-deprecation-timelines-and-next-steps/4148301