The Mysterious Case of the Windows 11 23H2 System Components (Premium)

Windows 11 version 23H2 seems like a non-event now that its best features were released early to force their adoption on the user base. But if you’re following along with 23H2 in the Release Preview channel of the Windows Insider Program, as I am, you will occasionally run into features that are unique to this release, like a new Microsoft Teams – Free application pinned to the Taskbar. (Which, knowing Microsoft, probably will make its way to 22H2 too.)

But other changes are much subtler. This is the story of such a change and a few thoughts about why Microsoft is doing this.

We didn’t cover the latest Release Preview channel build because there wasn’t much going on: The top new feature or improvement was a new behavior for the “gleam” in the Search box in the Taskbar, and it was only going out to a “small” subset of testers anyway. So it seemed like there was nothing to see here.

But as techosarus pointed out on Twitter, there was one new feature in this build, a new System Components entry in Settings (app) > System. And in there, you will find several apps that Microsoft refers to as “in-box apps” because they’re included with Windows 11. Things like Game Bar (previously called Xbox Game Bar), Get Help, Microsoft Store, and the like.

(Because Microsoft is rolling out individual 23H2 features via Controlled Feature Release, or CFR, you may not see this on your PCs yet: Of the two 23H2-based PCs in front of me right now, one has it and one does not.)

In previous Windows 11 versions, these apps were commingled with other in-box apps and any apps the user installed in Settings > Apps > Installed apps.

And that interface, which precedes Windows 11, was designed as the modern replacement for the legacy Control Panel’s Uninstall or change a program interface. It’s a place to manage your installed apps.

Your app management abilities vary by app. Those apps that you install yourself can be uninstalled, of course. If you have two or more drives or partitions, you can sometimes move them to another location (typically only with Store apps). And you can access advanced features, and repair, reset, or terminate apps from this interface.

Your in-box app management abilities also vary by app. For example, some can be uninstalled and some cannot. Microsoft Edge is an example of an app that can be modified (selecting this option, in this case, runs an Edge-specific repair wizard) but not uninstalled.

But other in-box apps can be uninstalled, like Calculator, Mail and Calendar, and Microsoft To-do.

Why some in-box apps can be uninstalled while others cannot is a bit of a mystery. But what we do know is that Microsoft has added more and more in-box apps to the list that can be uninstalled over time. Back in April 2018, for example, it moved many of its own apps to this list in Windows 10, a benefit that carried over into Windows 11. And a lot more recently, this past August, it began testing the ability to uninstall even more apps in the Canary channel (a benefit that has thus far not made it to the stable version of Windows 11).

To date, all in-box apps have been commingled with user-installed apps in that Installed apps interface in Settings. And for those who wish to clean up their PC and/or Start menu by removing apps they consider non-essential, this created a bit of a “whack a mole”-type problem: You have to click on the More (“…”) link next to each app, in turn, to see whether it can even be uninstalled. If it can’t, the “Uninstall” link is grayed out.

The new System Components interface helps to declutter that Installed apps list: Now, apps that Microsoft considers to be system components now appear in the new System Components interface in Settings instead. These apps cannot be uninstalled—or “removed,” as Microsoft now describes it—so you’re left with a list of management choices that vary a bit by app. Reset, repair, and terminate among them.

What’s odd is that all non-uninstallable in-box apps are not now in System Components. Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Photos are two key examples. Why these are any different than, say, Microsoft Store or Phone Link, both of which are now in System Components, is unclear. Wouldn’t a user who wanted to uninstall Phone Link just look in Installed apps? (It doesn’t matter, I guess: You can’t uninstall it regardless.)

I’m curious to see how or if this evolves and, more importantly, whether Microsoft ever addresses this change and its reasons for making it. Ideally, this interface would only include in-box apps that cannot be uninstalled, but perhaps there is a low-level distinction that I’m missing. Maybe one could install something that Microsoft considers a system component—an image or video codec for Photos, perhaps—and then later uninstall it from this new UI.

And I wonder if Microsoft’s recent changes to Windows 11 to address new EU laws play a role here. For example, an August Dev channel build introduced a new behavior, not yet available in stable, by which “Windows system components [would now] use the default browser to open links,” instead of forcing Microsoft Edge on unsuspecting users. Is this terminology usage a coincidence? Or is Microsoft differentiating system components from other in-box apps to address behaviors that might run afoul of new legal conditions?

As always, we can only speculate until or unless Microsoft explains itself. But I’m curious if anyone has any theories about this. For now, this new System Components interface remains a bit of a mystery.