BLOG: Windows Insiders - State of vbscript deprecation - September 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. With this blogpost, I am sharing my point of view on the state of dependencies I am seeing in this regard, focusing on a way forward towards the full removal of vbscript. My findings show, that there is a quite some action required, and 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 Their Chipset drivers installer, remains one of the major non-MSFT related adoption blockers for FOD VBSScript removal. 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 September 2026 update: Microsoft has published this new guidance surfacing PowerShell commandlets in their lastest OS releases. 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. 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 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/keep-windows-activation-automation-working-with-powershell/4540459
How to Install WSL 2 on Windows Server
A couple of months ago Microsoft announced the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2), which is a successor of the Windows Subsytem for Linux shipped a couple of years ago. WSL 2 is currently available for Windows Insiders running Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18917 or higher and with the Docker Tech Preview, you can now even run Docker Linux Container directly on WSL 2. With the latest Windows Server Insider Preview build 18945, you are also able to run WSL 2 on Windows Server. In this blog post, I am going to show you how you can install the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) on Windows Server. The Windows Subsystem for Linux was already available in earlier versions of Windows Server; however, WSL 2 brings a lot of new advantages. Read more here: https://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2019/08/how-to-install-wsl-2-on-windows-server/
In-place upgrade possibility planned for Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Azure Edition ?
There is currently no official ISO for Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition that supports setup.exe /auto upgrade for in-place upgrades. Azure Update Manager does not support OS version upgrades for Azure Edition through optional features. Is anyone aware of a supported workaround?Windows Admin center V2 Authentication issue
Windows Admin center V2 "Modernized" v2.0.01 will not operate in Windows Authentication mode. If you run the installer in Remote Express mode, it is set to Forms Authentication. This mode will not allow a login with an Active Directory administrator the V2 gateway is joined to, only the local machine administrator. If you rerun the setup in custom mode and attempt to indicate Kerberos / Windows Authentication the gateway will not run. If you use the powershell admin script to run the command "Set-WACLoginMode -Mode WindowsAuthentication" on a functioning gateway in Forms auth mode, the gateway will crash/not run. Both methods of setting integrated authentication produce this .NET runtime error below. Running the indicated netsh command produces no change in behavior and no change in future .NET runtime errors. Running a netsh show command clearly displays the indicated urlacl exists. The gateway server OS is Windows 2022 STD Desktop Exp. This is not installed SxS with V1 gateway. V1 gateway operates without issue on this server when installed. Application: WindowsAdminCenter.exe CoreCLR Version: 6.0.2523.51912 .NET Version: 6.0.25 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.HttpSys.HttpSysException (5): The prefix 'https://+:6600/' is not registered. Please run the following command as Administrator to register this prefix: netsh http add urlacl url=https://+:6600/ user=DOMAINHIDDEN\WAC$ See "Preregister URL prefixes on the server" on https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2127065 for more information. at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.HttpSys.UrlGroup.RegisterPrefix(String uriPrefix, Int32 contextId) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.HttpSys.UrlPrefixCollection.RegisterAllPrefixes(UrlGroup urlGroup) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.HttpSys.HttpSysListener.Start() at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.HttpSys.MessagePump.StartAsync[TContext](IHttpApplication`1 application, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.GenericWebHostService.StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting.Internal.Host.StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.WindowsAdminCenter.Core.HostingRuntime.StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.WindowsAdminCenter.Executable.WindowsService.OnStart(String[] args) at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.<>c.<ThrowAsync>b__128_1(Object state) at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallbackDefaultContext.Execute() at System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch() at System.Threading.PortableThreadPool.WorkerThread.WorkerThreadStart() at System.Threading.Thread.StartCallback()
