Windows 11 retiring Windows 95 UI relics with WinUI 3 replacements

Microsoft has shipped a ground-up replacement for the Run dialog, one of Windows' longest-surviving Windows 95-era UI surfaces, and the new version is measurably faster than the original. The rebuilt dialog, released to Insider testers two months ago using WinUI 3, gives Microsoft its first concrete benchmark showing a modern-framework replacement can outperform the Win32 component it replaces. Preview builds suggest the File Explorer Properties dialog is next, with leaks pointing to broader work replacing other decades-old dialog boxes across Windows 11, PCWorld reported today.

Here's where things stand. Run is live in the Insider Experimental channel as an opt-in feature, legacy interface still the default. A WinUI 3 redesign of the File Explorer Properties dialog is hidden inside Experimental build 26300.8935, active only for the deleted files sub-dialog so far, with more coverage planned. Beyond those two, PCWorld reported that Microsoft has confirmed all outdated dialog boxes are slated for WinUI 3 replacements, some dating to Windows 8, others to Windows 95, though no timeline has been attached to that commitment.

What you can try now: The new Run dialog is available as an opt-in toggle at Settings > System > Advanced in the Insider Experimental channel. The File Properties redesign is still hidden in the same channel and limited to the deleted files dialog only.

Run is shipped, and it proves WinUI 3 doesn't have to mean slower

The new Run dialog is a C#/WinUI 3 application compiled with .NET ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, which converts managed code into native binaries at build time rather than at runtime. The practical result: a median time-to-show of 94ms, down from 103ms for the legacy version, according to Microsoft's Dev Blog. That 9ms gap isn't something users will consciously feel, but the significance isn't the speed itself. WinUI 3 interfaces have historically carried a reputation for being heavier than the Win32 components they replace, and a faster replacement breaks that assumption. It gives Microsoft a concrete performance benchmark as it moves to other dialog boxes.

The redesign also added things the original never had: dark mode support, program icons displayed alongside recent entries, and ~\ shorthand for quick navigation to a user's home directory, a convention borrowed from Unix-style command lines, per the same post.

One thing disappeared: the Browse button. That omission looks like a regression until you see what's behind it. Before rebuilding the dialog, Microsoft instrumented the existing interface and measured real usage across 35 million sampled users; only 0.0038% had ever clicked Browse, Microsoft's Dev Blog reported. The same telemetry surfaced something unexpected: some users open Run, paste text into it, then copy it back out without pressing Enter, using the dialog to strip rich-text formatting from clipboard contents. Microsoft preserved that behavior in the new version. The team studied how people actually used a 30-year-old utility before touching it.

"This dialog may seem small, but for some folks it is a mission critical part of your workflow," Clint Rutkas, principal product manager at Microsoft, told Windows Central two months ago. The legacy interface remains the default; the new version is opt-in. That rollout discipline carries directly into what comes next.

Why the Windows 11 File Explorer properties dialog update is harder than Run

The File Explorer Properties dialog, the panel that appears when you right-click a file and select Properties, is the next surface in line. A WinUI 3 replacement is already hidden inside Experimental build 26300.8935, currently active only for the deleted files dialog with broader coverage planned, PCWorld reported today. The underlying code for this panel has changed little in decades, and the challenge of replacing it is structurally different from what the Run team faced.

The reason comes down to shell extensions. The Properties dialog isn't a closed, self-contained surface; it's a host that third-party applications can inject their own tabs and controls directly into. Utilities like 7-Zip, Dropbox, codec packs, and antivirus software all do this in common configurations, PCWorld noted. Change the underlying dialog structure and those integrations can silently break, leaving users with missing controls or non-functional tabs. Run had no equivalent surface to protect.

This is why any performance claims for the File Properties replacement remain aspirational rather than measured. The Run dialog has hard benchmarks and published telemetry behind it. The File Properties redesign is a hidden test build covering one narrow sub-dialog, with no published data and active compatibility risk that will need working through before any broader rollout.

Why these relics survived this long and what constrains the cleanup

The Win32 API, the programming interface behind most of Windows' legacy dialog surfaces, became widespread with Windows 95 and has never been cleanly replaced. Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, described it as "bedrock" earlier this year, explaining that so many applications, tools, and ecosystems have accumulated on top of it over three decades that its staying power is effectively structural, per PCWorld. Right-clicking a file in Windows 11 today still executes code written in the 1990s.

Microsoft has tried to break from this architecture before. WinRT, the modern API framework introduced with Windows 8, was positioned as Win32's successor and it didn't replace it. The Settings app, introduced to replace Control Panel, has been in transition since 2012 and still redirects users to legacy Control Panel paths for common device management tasks, XDA reported four months ago. Replacing individual dialog boxes won't resolve that wider fragmentation, but it's a necessary precondition for any serious progress.

The cautious rollout pattern applied to Run, telemetry first, opt-in toggle, legacy interface retained as default, feedback loop before broader deployment, is being applied to the File Properties redesign as well. A dialog with active third-party integrations demands at least as much care as a self-contained text box, and by the evidence of the Properties panel, considerably more.

One shipped, one in testing, a long list remaining

The new Run dialog is real, measurably faster, and available to test today, according to Microsoft's Dev Blog. It also settles one practical question: a WinUI 3 replacement can beat its Win32 predecessor on performance, not just appearance.

The File Properties redesign is the harder test. Hidden behind a feature flag, covering only one narrow sub-dialog, and carrying compatibility risk that Run never faced, it's where Microsoft's stated modernization intent meets the messier reality of a platform with 30 years of third-party integrations built into it, PCWorld noted today. When it moves from hidden feature flag to the broader Insider program, that transition will show whether the Run playbook scales to something genuinely more complex.

How many compatibility surprises emerge along the way will likely shape how much of Microsoft's broader replacement program holds to its stated scope.