Microsoft sheds light on Windows 10 update policy

Microsoft senior program manager Chris Riggs revealed information about the company's Windows 10 update and upgrade in a presentation at the WinHEC technical conference in Taiwan.
While Riggs addressed business and Enterprise customers in the Windows As A Service presentation, some of it is also interesting to Home users.
Microsoft plans to release single cumulative updates each month, and so-called feature updates twice a year.
These cumulative updates are already used by the company. They supersede the previous month's update, and contain only security, reliability or bug fixes according to Microsoft.
Feature updates on the other hand, with the next major one called the Anniversary Update out in July 2016, ship with new features and capabilities but are released less frequently.
Windows 10 update timelines
Microsoft attempts to use the same timeline for each Windows 10 feature build that follows the scheme evaluate, pilot and deploy/use.
After six or more months of active development and testing using the Insider program, the new feature release is published to Current Branch systems.
The update is distributed to most consumer editions of Windows at this point in time. Windows 10 Home users have no option but to accept the update, while Pro, Education and Enterprise customers can configure the operating system to defer upgrades.
Doing so ignores feature updates during the pilot phase which will last for about four months.
The update is then pushed to all audiences after the four month pilot phase.
Microsoft notes that each Windows 10 release has its own lifecycle, and that they all start as Current Branch releases and proceed to Current Branch for Business afterwards.
There is also a Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) but it is limited to Enterprise customers. The core difference is that Long Term Servicing Branch systems don't require feature upgrade installations to stay supported.
How to defer upgrades
Windows 10 Pro, Education and Enterprise systems can be configured to defer upgrades. Note that Microsoft makes a clear distinction between updates and upgrades, with the former referring to monthly updates and the latter to the bi-annual feature releases,
- Tap on the Windows-key and select the Settings icon from the menu. Or, use Windows-I to open the Settings application right away.
- Select Update & Security on the start screen.
- Make sure Windows Update is selected on the next screen.
- Select Advanced options on the page.
- There you find listed the Defer upgrades option. Check it to skip feature upgrades during the pilot phase.
You may also configure the defer upgrades option using the Group Policy Editor instead. It offers better customization options.
- Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc and hit enter. This should open the Group Policy Editor. Note that the editor is not available on Home systems.
- Follow this path using the tree hierarchy on the left: Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Update.
- Double-click on the Defer Upgrades and Updates policy.
- Switch the policy to Enabled at the top.
- Now you can defer upgrades (the bi-annual feature upgrades) by months, and updates (monthly fixes and patches) for weeks.
- Feature upgrades can be postponed for up to eight months, and regular updates for up to four weeks.
The same policy holds an option to pause upgrades and updates. This blocks updates and upgrades "until the next monthly update or upgrade becomes available". The value resets automatically when that happens.
Also, Windows Defender definition updates are not blocked if the policy is enabled. Defer upgrades and updates has no effect if the "allow Telemetry" policy is enabled and set to the value of 0.


What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help