Microsoft starts killing off WMIC in Windows, will thwart attacks

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Apr 24, 2016
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Microsoft is moving forward with removing the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) tool, wmic.exe, starting with the latest Windows 11 preview builds in the Dev channel.

WMIC.exe is a built-in Microsoft program that allows command-line access to the Windows Management Instrumentation.

Using this tool, administrators can query the operating system for detailed information about installed hardware and Windows settings, run management tasks, and even execute other programs or commands.

Microsoft announced last year that they had begun deprecating wmic.exe in Windows Server in favor of Windows PowerShell, which also includes the ability to query Windows Management Instrumentation.

"The WMIC tool is deprecated in Windows 10, version 21H1 and the 21H1 General Availability Channel release of Windows Server. This tool is superseded by Windows PowerShell for WMI," explains the list of deprecated Window features.

"Note: This deprecation only applies to the command-line management tool. WMI itself is not affected."

As first noted by security researcher Grzegorz Tworek, Microsoft has now begun removing WMIC from Windows clients, starting with Windows 11 preview builds in the Dev channel.
 

Lightning_Brian

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Sep 1, 2017
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I for one am happy it will be done. Just another worm hole I say for security reasons. Much to everyone's point being made - how fast is the question and will people try to work around this?
 

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