Windows 11 modern Run dialog rolls out to everyone in December

What is changing

Microsoft has moved its redesigned Run dialog into the Release Preview channel, the final testing stage before a feature ships to regular PCs. According to Windows Latest, the feature appears in Windows 11 builds 26200.10066 for version 25H2 and 26300.10066 for version 26H2, released on 13 November.

The rollout is gradual, so not every PC will see the new dialog immediately after installing an update. Windows Latest reports that the feature should arrive as an optional download later in November, then reach all compatible PCs with the mandatory Patch Tuesday update on 8 December, unless Microsoft delays it at the last minute.

The Run dialog is the small window that opens when you press Win+R to launch a program or folder by typing its path. The redesigned version replaces a dialog that dates back to Windows 95 with a compact panel built on WinUI 3, Microsoft's newer interface framework.

Why Microsoft removed the Browse button

Before rebuilding Run, Microsoft's Command Line team measured how people actually used the old dialog. Clint Rutkas, a Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, said in a blog post that only 0.0038% of users in a sample of 35 million had ever clicked the Browse button.

That works out to roughly 1,330 people. Microsoft therefore dropped the button in the new version.

The company also noticed an unexpected habit: some people paste text into Run and copy it back out, without running anything, purely to strip formatting from the clipboard.

Faster opening despite a modern design

Microsoft says the new Run opens in a median of 94 milliseconds, measured from pressing Win+R to the dialog appearing, against 103 milliseconds for the legacy version. That is a gain of about 9 milliseconds, or roughly 8.7% less waiting time.

The improvement is notable because the old dialog was a lightweight native Win32 component, while the replacement is written in C# with WinUI 3 and compiled using .NET Ahead-of-Time compilation, which turns the code into native form before it ships. Windows Latest notes this is the opposite of what happened with File Explorer, which became slower after its Windows 11 redesign.

The new Run also shares code with the Command Palette in PowerToys, Microsoft's collection of power-user tools.

New features and how to switch back

The redesigned dialog adds dark mode and a shortcut that jumps to your user folder, from which you can keep typing to navigate deeper. Local and network paths still work as before, and recent commands appear above the text field, with the arrow keys cycling through older entries.

Clearing that history is less straightforward: you must close Run, reopen it, and press Backspace. Windows Latest also reports the dialog works in all taskbar positions.

The classic Run has not been removed. A toggle in Settings under System and then Advanced lets you return to the legacy version at any time. If the toggle is missing, your PC may not have received the feature yet, or your organisation may have disabled Advanced settings through policy.

More old dialogs are being rebuilt

Run is part of a wider effort to replace ageing Windows components. March Rogers, Partner Director of Design at Microsoft, said the team is working through a list of older dialogs and rewriting them in WinUI 3.

Microsoft's Reactor repository also contains a sample WinUI-based Registry Editor, though the company has not announced plans to ship it. The idea drew criticism online, with some users mistaking the sample for a real replacement.

December should also bring a redesigned Windows Search in update KB5132057, making Windows 11 feel more consistent overall. Anyone attached to three decades of muscle memory can keep the classic Run, so the change carries little risk.