Microsoft quietly burying a massive Windows 7 hardware driver feature as Windows 11 kills it

Last month Microsoft announced a big update for Windows hardware drivers. The company declared that it was killing Windows Device metadata and the Windows Metadata and Internet Services (WMIS).

For those wondering what it is, device metadata, as the name suggests, is the collection of additional, user-facing information that an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides about a hardware device. The feature was introduced with Windows 7 and can include stuff like icons, logos, descriptive texts, among other things, that help the Windows UI display details about such devices in places like Task Manager or Device Manager.

This was a huge deal back in the day when Windows 7 debuted. The company called the feature "Device Stage" and Microsoft described it as a "new visual interface" that essentially worked like a "multi-function version of Autoplay where it displays all the applications, services, and information related to your device." It is often considered synonymous with the Windows "Devices and Printers" Control Panel applet.

Neowin did an in-depth overview of the feature when it first launched which you can find in its dedicated article here.

The Windows OS was able to obtain the device experience metadata from the WMIS, but now that the feature is being deprecated, Microsoft has begun removing information about Device Stage from its official support documents.

Neowin noticed while browsing that a support article regarding automatic Windows hardware drivers was updated for Windows 11 and 10 sometime last year after the release of Windows 11 24H2.

Previously, this article was geared for Windows 7 and was much longer. It also contained information about Device Stage, which, as mentioned above, was a headlining feature on Windows 7.

In the said article, the section "If Windows can't find information about your device in Device Stage" has been deleted. You can find the archived version of the support page here.

Aside from shortening the amount of information on the page, Microsoft has also added some more details on it. The company has now tried to define what the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter is, how updating drivers through Device Manager works, as well as a thorough and detailed troubleshooting section for common hardware driver errors on Windows, including one for USB-C.

You can find all the new details on the updated support page here on Microsoft's website.

Source

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