Microsoft, earlier today, published a new Tech Community blog post outlining its latest May 2023 Windows Autopatch public preview. (In case you aren"t familiar with Autopatch, check out this article.) The blog post notes that this month"s update is its most impactful ever since Autopatch was first introduced back in April 2022. Lior Bela , CPA, Windows Autopatch and Microsoft Intune, who penned the blog post, writes:
Not since the introduction of Windows Autopatch have we had a blog so full of impactful news. This is a parade of public previews for powerful new features now available in Windows Autopatch, so keep reading to get a glimpse at the latest additions to the service. The theme of this release is responding to real enterprise needs – all because we"ve heard from Autopatch customers and would-be customers about what they want from the service. So here they are: new capabilities, controls, and reports, all geared towards helping IT administrators improve security and productivity with less effort.
One of the reasons for saying this is because the May 2023 Autopatch will now bring greater control over how IT admins and system admins are able to deploy feature updates. For example, certain updates can be configured for specific Autopatch groups only, meanwhile for others these updates can be rolled out in a staggered manner. These various Autopatch groups are identified as "Deployment rings".
The latest Autopatch update also brings alerts and notifications for when it detects missing or modified policies inside the Tenant Management section. Reporting about both Feature Updates and Quality Updates has also been improved. You can find more details on the new features and additions in official blog post.