It might have varied across versions (maybe Home Edition still hid them, while Professional didn't?). But given the number of guides and people complaining about it online even in the XP days, it must have been a default in some capacity on XP.
It was still a default on some Windows 10 installations I've made, so it's still around (can't confirm 11, since I haven't installed that for myself).
alt Hacker News
It might have varied across versions (maybe Home Edition still hid them, while Professional didn't?). But given the number of guides and people complaining about it online even in the XP days, it must have been a default in some capacity on XP.
It was still a default on some Windows 10 installations I've made, so it's still around (can't confirm 11, since I haven't installed that for myself).