Microsoft Company announcedwhich will begin reducing the use of VBScript in the second half of 2024, first making it an on-demand feature and then removing it permanently.
On-demand features are additional features in Windows (for example, .NET Framework, Hyper-V, Windows Subsystem for Linux) that are not installed by default, but can be added separately if needed.
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“Over the years, technology has evolved and more powerful and versatile scripting languages have emerged, such as JavaScript and PowerShell. These languages have greater capabilities and are better suited for modern web development and automation tasks, Microsoft representatives report. — Starting with the new OS release, which is planned for the second half of this year, VBScript will be available as an on-demand function. The feature will then be removed entirely from future releases of Windows as we move toward more efficient use of PowerShell.”
Microsoft's VBScript phase-out plan currently consists of three phases. The first phase will begin in the second half of 2024, when VBScript will become an on-demand feature by default in Windows 11 24H2.
In the second phase, which will start around 2027, VBScript will still be available as an on-demand feature, but will no longer be pre-installed.
After this, in the third stage, VBScript will be permanently removed from future versions of Windows. As a result, all VBScript libraries (.dll files) will be removed and projects using VBScript will no longer function.
Let's remember that in October last year the company first announced that after 30 years of existence as a system component, VBScript (aka Visual Basic Script or Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition) would be retired from Windows.
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VBScript comes bundled with Internet Explorer (IE 11 disabled in some versions of Windows 10 in February 2023) and helps automate tasks and manage applications using Windows Script. Note that Microsoft has already disabled VBScript by default in Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 as part of a cumulative update in the summer of 2019.
Although the company prefers not to mention it, the abandonment of VBScript is also due to the fact that this is one of the popular vectors for delivering malware to user systems. For example, previously it was used to spread such malware as Lokibot, Emotet, Qbot, DarkGate, and so on.