- Windows 11’s Run box is seemingly getting refreshed
- The new-look prompt was found hidden in a Windows 11 test build
- As well as a visual makeover, there’s a new feature that lists recent commands so you can swiftly access them again
A part of the Windows 11 interface that has been essentially the same for three decades looks to be finally getting a makeover to bring it in line with the rest of the contemporary look of the desktop.
This is the ‘Run’ dialog box, which arrived in Windows 95. Admittedly it’s not something everyone uses very often (or at all, perhaps), but nonetheless if you do invoke this panel, it’s somewhat jarring how old it looks in comparison to Windows 11’s overall ‘Fluent’ design.
Now, according to digging in a preview version of Windows 11 (build 26534) carried out by well-known leaker PhantomOfEarth on X (as Windows Central spotted), the Run box is being updated to Microsoft‘s Fluent design. This gives it a tidier and more modern appearance, and as you can see in the post below, it’s larger, too.
Windows 11 is getting a modern Run dialog! Build 26534 ships with bits for it, here’s a first look: pic.twitter.com/K0kWO8ltSeDecember 4, 2025
Note that this change isn’t live in testing yet, but it’s still in the background, and was discovered by playing about with a Windows configuration utility.
This isn’t just about the visual polish; Run is getting some additional functionality as well, now bringing up recently used commands above the command line (so you can quickly run those past instructions again with a single click).
As Windows Central points out, this new Run box also renders icons for apps you’re looking to fire up, a nice extra touch.
Analysis: Run slower? I’d hope not…
All in all, this seems to be a welcome improvement for the Run box, and it’s been a long time coming in my book.
Of course, we don’t know for sure that this is being introduced, as it’s not officially in testing yet – but I’d be very surprised if Microsoft abandoned this idea. It looks like it’s almost ready to go, in fact, and there are screenshots on X of the new incarnation of Run in dark mode (this dialog box has only just been added for coverage in that mode).
Interestingly, the new Run box is only an option in Windows 11, rather than a wholesale change. It’s not on by default, and the old Run dialog remains, but you’ll be able to enable the refreshed version in Settings (in advanced features, alongside the option to have End Task as a right-click option in the taskbar).
It seems odd that it isn’t automatically going straight into the mix with Windows 11, perhaps, until you consider that not everyone’s happy with this change even in the very early feedback being aired.
There are a fair few jibes along the lines of ‘oh no, it’s going to take five seconds for the Run box to open now’ and I get the paranoia there: will a combo of the visual polish, command history feature and icon rendering slow things down? Well, hopefully not in any meaningful way, and the leaker certainly doesn’t comment on this new take being sluggish at all.
On top of those worries, there’s also what is perhaps inevitable now: a joke that Copilot integration is surely coming. Yes, AI is getting everywhere in Windows 11 these days, but it won’t be gracing the Run prompt. Yet. (No, I can’t help myself, either).
If you’re new to the wonderful world of Run, you can pop up the box by hitting the Windows key + R together. You can then type in various commands, such as checking your Windows version (winver), system information (msinfo32), or opening the classic Control Panel (control) or the Registry Editor (regedit). If you do need to go in the latter for any reason, though, be very careful what you’re doing (I wouldn’t advise tech novices to be in the Registry at all, as it’s quite easy to break things in a nasty way with the slightest of typing errors).
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