Windows 11's new setup interface is found out - it was actually in Windows 10 a decade ago

Windows 11 just got a new interface for the setup process of the OS - the first time the installation UI has been modified in ages - but it seems that this new look has been kicking about in Windows for, well, ages.

The change to setup came in with preview build 26040, the latest release in the Canary channel.

If you caught sight of it, you'll no doubt have noticed that while it is a fresher - and more fleshed out - setup interface than is currently in place, the UI still looks pretty basic.

It wasn't difficult to improve the existing setup panel, mind you, seeing as that's been the same since Windows 8.

However, the new setup experience has been in preview builds of Windows 11 as far back as version 21996 as XenoPanther made clear on X (formerly Twitter).

Windows Central, which spotted the above tweet, goes even further and claims that they've found this 'new' interface in technical preview builds of Windows 10 - and no, that's not a typo. It's apparently present in builds of Windows 10 dating back to 2014, so the setup screen has been hanging around in the background for 10 years.

So, after a decade, Microsoft has only just decided to take this redesign live with the new Canary build 26040, and that seems very odd.

We were rather underwhelmed when we first saw the new setup UI, because while it is an improvement on the current scheme of things, it's hardly a piece of modern (fluent) interface work.

Still, maybe Microsoft will tweak it more as this part of the interface goes through testing. That could happen in 2034, perhaps.

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