What is “Windows Feature Experience Pack” in Windows 10 About Page?
Yesterday an AskVG reader contacted me and asked me about a mysterious “Windows Feature Experience Pack” showing on Windows 10 About page in Settings app.
The newer versions of Windows 10 such as version 2004 and later show a new section called “Experience” under “Windows Specifications” section on About page in Settings app.
Following are the required steps to check this new “Experience Pack” information in Windows 10 newer versions:
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1. Open Settings app from Start Menu. Alternatively, you can press WIN+I keys together to open Settings directly.
2. Now click on “System” item present in Settings app.
3. Now click on About section or tab present at the bottom in left-side pane.
PS: Alternatively, You can also directly launch About page using “ms-settings:about” command in RUN dialog box as mentioned here.
4. In right-side pane, scroll down to bottom and you’ll see a new item named “Experience” under “Windows specifications” section.
This new Experience item shows following value:
Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.31.0
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The version number of Windows Feature Experience Pack might differ in your Windows 10 device based upon the installed cumulative update version number.
So what is this new “Windows Feature Experience Pack” item and what does it do in Windows 10? Does it download and install any new feature or app in Windows 10?
After a little research, I found some information about Windows Feature Experience Pack on official Microsoft website. (Thanks to Mary Jo Foley)
Here is what Microsoft has to say about this new item in Windows 10:
“Windows Feature Experience Pack” is a Features on Demand (FOD) available for Windows 10 and Windows Server. It comes preinstalled with Windows 10.
This Feature on Demand package includes features critical to Windows functionality. Do not remove this package.
Feature: Windows Feature Experience Pack
Capability Name: Windows.Client.ShellComponents~~~~0.0.1.0
Sample package name: Microsoft-Windows-UserExperience-Desktop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~.cab
Install size: 44.15MB
Satellites: No
Availability: Windows 10, version 2004 and later
The installation size of Feature on Demand package mentioned above is approximate and may vary between releases. Installation size will also vary if Reserved Storage is enabled.
So Windows Feature Experience Pack is an essential and critical component introduced in newer Windows 10 versions and Microsoft advises to keep it and NOT remove it using DISM or other PowerShell scripts.
It might be used in future to bring new features and functionality to Windows 10 without any need of installing cumulative updates or feature updates.
FUN TIP:
Microsoft has released a similar Windows Experience Pack for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 in past. We shared information about it long time back in following article:
“Windows Experience Pack” Available for Windows XP, Vista and 7
My experience is that almost 100% of these so called “***experience.exe” are nothing other than a major PITA. Can you imagine that just for getting that dumbbell shaped text cursor the EoAExperience takes up almost 10% of CPU on a hex core 3 GHZ i5 ??? Same for the powershell that I never use. I am happy with my TakeCommand CLI. Same with “search”. I have my own application for searching the content and file / folder names that takes no more than 0.5% . There are 22 different “experience” executables. Who gives a c**p?
This Feature Experience Pack — not to be confused with the Windows Experience Pack for Windows XP, Vista and 7 (which was an entirely different thing) — looks to be a way for Microsoft to bundle together features that will be updated faster than the Windows 10 OS itself. It will enable a set of Windows features (and not just UI/UX changes) to be updated through the Microsoft Store. I’m assuming this means this collection of apps will be able to be tested together as a bundle, rather than individually.
my computer seemed to total do what ever it wants it feels…. my drives are all remote i have been stripped of admin… i see win nt on a lot of programs hidden mind you.. need answers a hidden $RECYCLE.BIN file folder also: System Volume Information file folder these were never listed like this b 4 on storage drives….cannot delete these folders the come back even after formatting Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 20H2
Installed on 10/31/2020
OS build 19042.610
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.31.0
how do i stop windows from controlling all aspects it seem the windows management console 3.0 is not set up… there are hundreds of features to set up if you can figure it out w/no manual… as mentioned in other post every thumbdrive also gets a copy of a $recycle.bin and system volume …. how do i turn this off
^^ The folders you mentioned are system folders and are automatically created by Windows. I also have those folders. There is no need to worry about it. Since they are system folder, you can’t delete them.
The easiest keyboard shortcut for About Windows is Winkey + Pause/Break.