According to a post published on the Windows Insider Blog, the company is working to move settings from the Control Panel into the Settings app. Right now, the switch appears to be a test only available to the company’s software testing program, Windows Insider. “We have moved the advanced sharing settings (such as Network discovery, File and printer sharing, and public folder sharing) to a new page in Settings app under Advanced Network Settings,” the blog post reads. “We’ve made some updates to the device-specific pages under Printers & Scanners in Settings to show more information about your printer or scanner directly in Settings when available.” Microsoft added that some of the entry points for the network and devices settings in the Control Panel would now redirect to the corresponding pages in Settings so that you wouldn’t be brought to the Control Panel. The move away from Microsoft’s Control Panel has been a long time coming and has been in the works since at least Windows 8, according to The Verge. Microsoft introduced the Settings app in 2012 in the hopes of eventually replacing the Control Panel. It makes sense that Windows 11 may finally be the system update to officially phase out the Control Panel since Microsoft has focused on modernization and a clean design for Windows 11.
