That’s a relief! Windows 11 servicing is something that Microsoft has not talked about much, but the company has finally broken silence on how this new OS will be kept updated.
And the big story here is that there is no story.
Windows 11 will retain the current servicing model that Windows 10 has perfected.
You might know it as the “Windows as a Service” philosophy. That simply means the copious amounts of updates released all through the year, including monthly security updates, optional cumulative updates, servicing stack updates, out-of-band updates — all that jazz.
Plus, of course, there is the LTSC version of Windows 11 that was very recently confirmed.
This, the software titan revealed in updated documentation that reaffirms that Windows 11 will continue the current trajectory. Redmond notes that there will be no changes to the existing servicing mode, and updates will continue to arrive at least twice a month.
Security updates will be released for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 on the second Tuesday of each month, also known as Patch Tuesday.
These updates will include both security and non-security fixes if we are not talking about the optional preview updates that can be skipped. Only Patch Tuesday updates will be downloaded automatically, while the optional cumulative updates will appear under the optional updates section.
But unlike Windows 10, updates for Windows 11 will be noticeably smaller in size.
Users will also be treated to optional C or D updates for the new OS, which will be released in the third or fourth week of the month. These updates are generally ready for production, but they will arrive as optional fixes, and will be included in the following Patch Tuesday.
And finally, both Windows 11 and Windows 10 will also receive out of band updates. These can be released without any prior announcement, most likely in cases where a security fix can’t wait until the mandatory Patch Tuesday release cycle.
Yeah, nothing’s changed!
