Somewhere in the long history of personal computing, a small box that has waited behind the Win+R keystroke since the Windows 95 era is being quietly replaced. Microsoft's redesigned Run dialog, built on its modern WinUI framework, has reached the Release Preview channel and is expected to reach ordinary Windows 11 machines with the December 8 Patch Tuesday update. The change is modest in its measurements: the new panel opens about nine milliseconds sooner, and the Browse button that few people ever touched has been dropped. It is a reminder that even the smallest tools of the desktop are slow
Windows 11's Modern Run Dialog Heads to All PCs in December, Dropping a Rarely Used Browse Button
Roughly 1,330 people ever clicked Browse.
Mark
So what's actually changing when I hit Win+R?
Mimi
A new WinUI-based Run dialog replaces the Windows 95-era one, if you switch it on. It's faster, has dark mode, and adds a ~\ shortcut to your user folder.
Mark
Faster by how much?
Luke
Microsoft's median is 94ms versus 103ms. That's about 9ms, and it's Microsoft's own measurement, covering only the time to show the dialog.
Mimi
Right, and the reporter says it's not life-changing. The point is that a modern rewrite didn't come out slower.
Mark
And the Browse button is gone?
Mimi
Yes. Microsoft says 0.0038 percent of 35 million sampled users clicked it, roughly 1,330 people.
Luke
Worth noting that's a figure from a Microsoft blog post, and the article does the arithmetic on it. I can't tell from this how the sample was drawn.
Mark
Can I keep the old one?
Mimi
Yes, there's a toggle in Settings > System > Advanced under Taskbar.
Luke
But the rollout is gradual, so some people won't see the toggle straight away. December 8 is the expected date, not a guarantee.
Mark
Is this part of something bigger?
Mimi
Microsoft says it's rewriting older dialogs in WinUI 3, including Properties, AutoPlay and Print Management.
Der Puls
- Microsoft's redesigned Run dialog has moved into Release Preview, the final proving ground before it lands on everyday Windows 11 PCs.
- The new panel opens in a median 94 milliseconds, shaving about 9ms off the 103ms the legacy dialog has taken for decades.
- Telemetry from 35 million users found only 0.0038 percent clicked Browse, so the button was cut from the rewritten dialog.
- Users who want the old box can switch it back through Settings > System > Advanced, though the rollout is gradual and not guaranteed to appear at once.
- With the December 8 Patch Tuesday expected to deliver it broadly, the dialog is poised to become the new default for Win+R across supported PCs.
Somewhere in the long history of personal computing, a small box that has waited behind the Win+R keystroke since the Windows 95 era is being quietly replaced. Microsoft's redesigned Run dialog, built on its modern WinUI framework, has reached the Release Preview channel and is expected to reach ordinary Windows 11 machines with the December 8 Patch Tuesday update. The change is modest in its measurements: the new panel opens about nine milliseconds sooner, and the Browse button that few people ever touched has been dropped. It is a reminder that even the smallest tools of the desktop are slowly being rewritten, one dialog at a time, for those who still type their commands by hand.
Press Win+R on a Windows 11 PC this December and, if things go as planned, you will see a different box appear. Microsoft has moved its WinUI-based Run dialog into the Release Preview channel, the last stop before a feature reaches ordinary machines, and it is expected to arrive broadly with the December 8 Patch Tuesday update.
The new dialog has been a long time coming. It first appeared as a hidden option in preview builds, became an opt-in for Experimental Insiders in May, and has since been tested by outside reviewers. Its headline gain is speed: it opens in a median 94 milliseconds, against 103 for the legacy Run that dates back to Windows 95. The gain is small, but it is notable because the rewrite moved from a native Win32 dialog to WinUI and still came out ahead.
The rewrite also dropped the Browse button. Microsoft's team found that only about 1,330 of 35 million sampled users ever clicked it, and it had observed people pasting text into Run only to copy it back out, apparently to strip formatting. The classic Run has not been removed, however. A toggle under Settings > System > Advanced restores it for anyone who prefers the old behavior, and the new panel adds dark mode and a shortcut to the user folder.
The dialog is one of several old Windows dialogs being rewritten in WinUI 3, alongside File Explorer Properties, AutoPlay and Print Management. Together with a redesigned search, it suggests that December may bring Windows 11 a little closer to feeling consistent with itself.
Press Win+R on a Windows 11 PC this December and, if all goes to plan, a different box will appear. Microsoft has moved its redesigned Run dialog, built on WinUI, into the Release Preview channel with builds 26200.10066 for version 25H2 and 26300.10066 for 26H2. Release Preview is the last stop before a feature reaches ordinary PCs.
The timeline follows the usual pattern. The Release Preview build typically becomes the optional non-security update in the fourth week of the month, and its features reach everyone with the next Patch Tuesday, which this time is December 8. Microsoft's release notes for the November 13 builds say the Run dialog has been updated with a more modern design and improved usability. The company lists it as a gradual rollout, so installing the update does not guarantee the new dialog appears right away. Pulling a feature at this stage is rare.
The modern Run first surfaced as a hidden option in Windows 11 preview builds. In May, Microsoft made it an opt-in for Experimental channel Insiders with build 26300.8346. Windows Latest says it has tested it since then.
The headline number is speed. Microsoft says the new dialog opens in a median of 94 milliseconds, against 103 for the legacy Run, which dates to the Windows 95 era. That is a gain of 9ms, about 8.7 percent. The figure covers only the gap between pressing Win+R and seeing the dialog, not the time an app takes to launch after Enter. Windows Latest points out that Microsoft replaced a native Win32 dialog with a WinUI one and still came out faster, the opposite of what happened with File Explorer in Windows 11. When the 94ms figure was first shared, people online compared it to gaming monitors drawing a frame every few milliseconds. Windows Latest argues that is a different job: a dialog starting cold must create a process, load the interface and draw the window. In its side-by-side recording, the classic Run fades in over about five frames at 30fps, while the modern panel appears in one frame, with the text field and Run button filling in a few frames later.
Under the hood, the new Run is written in C# with WinUI 3 and compiled with .NET Ahead-of-Time, so it ships as native code. It shares code with the Command Palette in PowerToys. It adds dark mode and a ~\ shortcut that jumps to your user folder, from where you can keep typing a path. Local and network paths still work, and the dialog works in all taskbar positions.
What is gone is the Browse button. Before the rewrite, Microsoft's Command Line team measured how people used the old dialog. Clint Rutkas, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post that 0.0038 percent of users had clicked Browse in a sample of 35 million. That works out to roughly 1,330 people. Browse opens a file picker, but Run is meant for people who already know what to type. The team also found people pasting text into Run and copying it back out without running anything, apparently to strip formatting.
The new dialog is optional, and the classic one has not been removed. Once the update arrives, go to Settings > System > Advanced, and under Taskbar turn on Run dialog, described as using the modern Run dialog when pressing Win+R. Turning it off restores the legacy version. If the toggle is missing, the PC probably has not received the feature, or an organization has disabled Advanced settings by policy. The new Run opens as a compact panel just above the taskbar at the bottom left, with recent commands above the text field and the Up and Down arrows cycling through older ones. Clearing that history is finicky: close Run, reopen it, and press Backspace.
Run is one of several old dialogs getting the treatment, alongside the File Explorer Properties dialog, AutoPlay and Print Management, all due WinUI 3 versions. March Rogers, Partner Director of Design at Microsoft, says the team is working through its list of older dialogs and rewriting them in WinUI 3. A native WinUI Registry Editor sample exists in Microsoft's Reactor repository, but Microsoft has not announced plans to ship it. With a redesigned Windows Search also arriving in KB5132057, December looks set to make Windows 11 feel more consistent.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
0.0038% of users have clicked that button with a sample of 35 million.— Clint Rutkas, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft
Working through our list of all older dialogs and rewriting them in WinUI 3.— March Rogers, Partner Director of Design, Microsoft
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