Microsoft Corporation has unintentionally uploaded a program used for testing new Windows 11 features. Enthusiasts have long used a third-party tool called ViveTool to access hidden Windows 11 functionalities that are not yet available to all testers. StagingTool, Microsoft’s internal equivalent, was accidentally revealed during a Bug Bash event intended for Windows engineers and testers. Although the utility was quickly removed, it briefly appeared online and the community managed to obtain it.

On Wednesday, the internal tool was discovered by XenoPanther, a user of the social platform X. Microsoft promptly disabled access to the program, but the community is actively experimenting with it. ViveTool and StagingTool are surprisingly similar, which suggests that one of them may have inspired the creation of the other.

StagingTool operates through the command line and contains hidden feature IDs. This mechanism is used when only a small group of testers gains access to certain features and needs to expand or manage that access for specific testing reasons.

Microsoft is aware that the community uses such functionality: “We understand that some technologically savvy members of our Insider Program have discovered features that are intentionally disabled in the builds we release,” Amanda Langowski, Director of the Windows Insider Program, acknowledged last year.