When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Microsoft is finally offering Windows Update Catalog over an HTTPS connection

Windows 10 update screen composition

Microsoft has finally begun offering standalone Windows updates from its Microsoft Update Catalog website via the hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) protocol. The change was spotted by German outlet Deskmodder when trying to download one of the recent update packages under the KB5011563.

The site noted that the update files now offered carry the following address:

"https://catalog.s.download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/updt/",

whereas previously they were:

"https://download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/updt/"

This is certainly a welcome change as modern web browsers would often block downloads or cause problems to users from non-secure connections interpreting those as potentially malicious.

While it's not clear what has finally prompted the change now after so many years, Dr. Windows speculates that Microsoft may have had decided against offering it earlier due to concerns related to legacy support on older systems. Hence, the situation maybe somewhat similar to Microsoft still offering the IE Mode.

This isn't the first time that Microsoft Update Catalog has undergone a big change (in a good way). Back in October of 2016, the Redmond giant finally removed ActiveX requirement allowing the Update Catalog website to run on web browsers other than only Internet Explorer.

Source: Deskmodder via Dr. Windows

Report a problem with article
Word logo on a blue back ground with angry and thumbs down emoji on the right and heart eyes and thu
Next Article

Here are the top 10 features people want in Microsoft Word

Dell Alienware AW3423DW - Thumb Image
Previous Article

Review: Meet the world's first 34" QD-OLED ultrawide monitor (AW3423DW) by Dell Alienware

Join the conversation!

Login or Sign Up to read and post a comment.

15 Comments - Add comment