The new Insider Preview build of Windows 11 that was released this week introduces some handy and oft-requested new features, including the ability to write in any text field with Windows Ink and reintroducing the Windows 7-to-10-era “never combine labels” setting for app icons in the taskbar.
But Windows 11 giveth and Windows 11 taketh away. The new preview is also removing several power-user-oriented settings away from the File Explorer’s Folder Options menu, most of which have been around for decades. These are the settings Microsoft has removed:
Hide Folder Merge conflict
Always show icons, never thumbnails
Display file icon on thumbnails
Display file type information on Folder tips
Hide protected OS files
Show drive letters
Show popup description for Folder and Desktop items
Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color
Use sharing wizard
The Folder Options menu, one of several Windows 95-style menus lurking just below Windows 11’s shiny surface. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)
Microsoft says all of the settings will continue to exist but that they’ll only be accessible via registry keys. In a default Windows install, some of these options are on-by-default and others are off-by-default; Microsoft didn’t say any of these defaults would be changing.