Microsoft 'quietly Kills' a Popular Driver Feature That Has Existed

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If you don't know, 'device metadata' – as the name suggests – is a set of additional information that the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides about a piece of hardware, aimed at users. This feature was introduced with Windows 7, including elements like icons, logos, descriptions, etc. that help the Windows interface display details about the device in places like Task Manager or Device Manager.

This was a huge feature back in the days of Windows 7. Microsoft called it " Device Stage " and described it as a "new visual interface" that acted as a "multi-purpose version of Autoplay, displaying all the apps, services, and information related to your device." It was also often referred to as the equivalent of the "Devices and Printers" applet in the Windows Control Panel.

Windows operating systems used to be able to retrieve device experience metadata from WMIS. However, this feature is now being phased out. Microsoft has begun removing information about Device Stage from official support documents.

This can be seen in a Windows support article about automatic hardware drivers that were updated for Windows 11 and 10 sometime last year, after the Windows 11 24H2 update rolled out.

Previously, this article focused on Windows 7 and was much longer. It also included information about Device Stage – which is a top feature of Windows 7 as mentioned.

In the article above, the " If Windows can't find information about your device in Device Stage " section has been removed. You can view the archive of the support page here.

In addition to shortening the content, Microsoft also added some new details:

• Explain more clearly what Microsoft Basic Display Adapter is.
• How to update drivers via Device Manager.
• A detailed troubleshooting guide for common hardware driver errors on Windows, including USB-C related errors.

You can see all the new information on the updated support page here (Microsoft website).