Future of Windows Script Host

Question

What is the future of Windows Script Host ?

Microsoft has announced, in may 2015, the end of VBscript and ActiveX in their new browser Windows Edge (and that's a good news for web standards, by the way). However, I can't find out recent information about the desktop part of the scripting world. I'd like to know if VBscript, wscript.exe, cscript.exe and mshta.exe will still be supported by the next Windows desktop versions. I'm worried because Windows Script Host reference is, days after days, more and more difficult to find in MSDN library.

I've a lot of vbscript and hta files to maintain (in a professional environment) and I need to anticipate if a migration will soon be required.

If you have any information about that, please share !

Pursuer

That is up to Microsoft to decide. Anything we could tell you would be pure speculation. – Clan

Answer 1

Since the above-mentioned exe files are part of both the already released Windows 11 and Windows 12 in the test state, it can be rightly assumed that sooner or later Microsoft will further develop both VBScript and the closely related HTA. Last year I read in a Microsoft blog post about Windows that the company is already working on enabling VBScript to be able to use .NET classes directly, and on updating mshta.exe, that in Windows 12 the new version can be released. Since I myself do VBScript-HTA developments, I was also concerned about how long the company would support this. But after reading this blog post, which unfortunately I can't find now, I am no longer concerned with switching to other systems.

The fact that Microsoft has further plans for the VBScript-HTA pair is perhaps also indicated by the fact that one of the example programs of the new Visual Studio, VS 2022, which has just been released, demonstrates how to integrate a new language into the VS environment through VBScript. And also trough it is demostrated how to develop a new project template.

Spartan

VBScript has been deprecated and will gradually be removed from Windows over the next years: techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/… – Unbelt

Answer 2

It is on sustained maintenance so no updates (unless a major security flaw is found).

Millions of businesses use so it is safe for admin purposes. Well over half of all programmers are basic programmers.

Passant

Building on trigger's response here it is "from the horse's mouth" (albeit quite old): blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ericlippert/2004/04/09/… – Flex

Answer 3

Yes, this question still stays relevant nowadays. I also can't find any official announcement from Microsoft. They ended up with IE and AHT support years ago, but WSH stays usable. So, the answer is: there's no official end date for it, but Microsoft stimulates programmers to choose Powershell over VBScript for new applications.

Having tons of professional VBScript code running and with Powershell's leaking for easy Windows deploying and maintenance in mind, my piece of advice for you is: stuck with VBScript until you can develop a custom flawless deploying architecture for Powershell. Then, start every new project with the last, but keep the support for the former until its app's end cycle comes.

Conserve