Microsoft will soon disable and remove SMB1 in Windows

Microsoft’s current operating systems still contain some technology dating back to earlier versions, some of which are not just years old, but decades old. This undoubtedly includes SMB1, Microsoft finally wants to throw this protocol away. SMB1 was created by IBM in 1983, and with a proud age of nearly 40 years, the “Server Message Block” protocol has, of course, long been a risk to modern networks. However, since 2017, SMB1 is no longer an important component.

Because since the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10, it is only optional on Microsoft operating systems. It is rarely used, like Microsoft in one contribution explains, “The Home and Pro editions still had the client, allowing users to connect to the multitude of third-party home and small business NAS devices that only supported SMB1.” In concrete terms, this means that the log is automatically deactivated if no active use has been detected for 15 days. Since version 1809 of Windows 10, SMB1 is no longer installed in Pro versions.

At some point, it will all be over

Now the Redmond-based company goes one step further: “And now it’s time to finish the last remaining piece. If you deploy a Windows Insider Dev Channel build in a variant of the Home Edition, the SMB1 client will not be installed.” So this basically means that there is no more Insider Preview release of Windows 11 in which SMB1 is still enabled by default.

This will also be standard with the next feature update of the current operating system, Redmond writes. If you still need SMB1, you can activate the protocol manually. In the future, however, Microsoft wants to completely remove SMB1 from Windows, so whoever still needs it will have to use an external installation package (from Microsoft).