Windows 10's latest major version, The Creators Update, debuted on PCs about two weeks ago, with the rollout to supported Windows phones starting a mere two days ago.
Among other things, version 1703 of the OS brings changes to update preferences, giving users the ability to schedule and reschedule updates if they so desire. Not only that, but whenever an update is ready to install, you get a pop-up which allows you to "snooze" the update in question, effectively postponing the download for three days. That's not everything to be said about the subject, as Microsoft details in a new post.
Starting off with the an explanation regarding the types of updates deployed at this point in time, Microsoft's Michael Niehaus stated that most organizations get security fixes, dubbed "Security Updates" in Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and System Center, every Patch Tuesday.
With the new approach to servicing, which was introduced back in the original version of Windows 10, Microsoft accelerated the rate at which fixes were pushed out. Taking customer feedback into account, the firm has made some more changes, and hopes to "routinely offer one (or sometimes more than one) additional update each month", which would simply show up as "Update" in WSUS and System Center's Configuration Manager, due to its non-security-related nature.
One thing to note is that if the company identifies a series of non-security fixes which would "address more critical issues that could be affecting organizations", those will pushed out as cumulative updates under the "Critical Update" moniker in Configuration Manager and WSUS.
To clear up some things regarding this new schedule, Michael Niehaus stated in one of the comments:
I would position it slightly differently. Before, most organizations picked up new security and non-security updates in the cumulative update released on Update Tuesday. Now those non-security updates will be available a couple of weeks earlier. This gives you the opportunity to validate these non-security fixes, in advance of the Update Tuesday package (which will include the same fixes, so if you don’t deploy this non-security update, you’ll still get the same fixes a couple of weeks later).
With all this in mind, those running Windows Update for Business will still be given the flexibility to defer installation of these additional updates, or indeed not install them at all. This updated servicing model is not coming to Windows Server 2016 for the time being.
Source: Windows IT Pro Blog
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