For a long time, Microsoft has been offering its Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to businesses. This feature allowed IT admins to approve updates for Microsoft products for their businesses and organizations. It also allowed those admins to delay those updates if needed in case the businesses needed to keep their PCs running those systems on their current software versions.
Earlier this year, Microsoft revealed that it would deprecate WSUS driver synchronization on April 18, 2025, because only about a third of IT admins were using it for that kind of feature. Today, Microsoft revealed it was going to deprecate WSUS itself.
In a blog post, Microsoft stated:
Specifically, this means that we are no longer investing in new capabilities, nor are we accepting new feature requests for WSUS. However, we are preserving current functionality and will continue to publish updates through the WSUS channel. We will also support any content already published through the WSUS channel.
Microsoft further explained that WSUS will be included in the next update of the server OS, Windows Server 2025. However, it added that IT admins should try to move on to cloud-based updating tools. That includes the use of Windows Autopatch and Microsoft Intune for PC clients and Azure Update Manager for updating servers.
Earlier today, Microsoft announced the first public preview of hotpatching for Windows Server 2025. This will allow IT admins to download and install security updates for the OS without the need to reboot the server. This is due to the OS incorporating the use of he company's cloud-based Azure Arc services.
While WSUS will remain in place for the upcoming Windows Server 2025, it seems clear that the company is preparing to shut down WSUS at some point since it will no longer be adding any new features. However, the company has yet to reveal exactly when that will happen.
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