Dismantling SMB1 in Windows: Microsoft is taking the next step

The outdated and therefore also insecure network protocol SMB1 dies a slow death under Windows. For a good five years, support for SMB1 has had to be activated manually, now the complete removal is initiated.

Since the “Fall Creators Update” for Windows 10 in autumn 2017, SMB1 is an optional Windows component that is controlled via the “Turn Windows features on/off” function. By default it is on, but if no such connection is detected within 15 days, SMB1 will disable itself.

Since version 1809 of Windows 10, SMB1 has been inactive by default in the Pro versions, and this step is now also taken in the Home version of Windows 11: When reinstalling an Insider version, SMB1 is always switched off. With version 22H2 of Windows 11, this will become the standard. However, where SMB1 is enabled, Microsoft will not intervene.

At some point, at an unspecified date, support for SMB1 will be removed from Windows 11 entirely. If you still need it to connect to older devices, you can install it afterwards using an optional, unsupported installation package that Microsoft will provide. In the consumer sector, this should only affect a few very old NAS storage devices that have not yet given up the ghost. In medicine and industry, where measuring devices and the like are often in use for several decades, this option will certainly have to be used more often.

Details here: SMB1 now disabled by default for Windows 11 Home Insiders builds – Microsoft Tech Community