Quote:Microsoft announced the deprecation of the security feature VBS Enclaves today for earlier versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server. Based on VBS, Virtualized-Based Security, VBS Enclaves were formally introduced by Microsoft in Windows Server 2019. Microsoft improved the feature ever since, for instance by opening it up for third-party apps last year.

The deprecation announcement offers no explanation why the feature is being removed from older versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server.

The details:

• VBS Enclaves continue to be supported in Windows 11, version 24H2 and later, or Windows Server 2025 and later.
  
• The feature is deprecated on Windows 11, version 23H2 and earlier, and Windows Server 2022 and earlier.
  

Note: This has nothing to do with VBScript, which Microsoft deprecated in 2023.

VBS Enclaves explained

VBS Enclaves provide isolated, secure environments for sensitive data on Windows systems. Only a few Microsoft and Windows-specific programs are confirmed to use the feature at the time of writing. Besides Microsoft Azure SQL Database, it is Windows 11's Recall feature and Credential Guard that are making use of it as well.

One advantage of VBS Enclaves is that they do not have hardware dependencies. As long as the VBS Enclaves feature is enabled on a supported Windows PC, it should work fine.

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