Tip of the Day: Windows Server 2016 Update Questions Answered

Today's tip...

Question: My customer noticed that Microsoft has moved to monthly updates for Windows. They would like to know why there was a move to monthly updates and if they should be expecting a Service Pack for Windows Server 2016?

Answer: Great questions. Microsoft moved to monthly updates to improve product quality and remove the possibility of error. From this blog:

Historically, we have released individual patches for these platforms, which allowed you to be selective with the updates you deployed. This resulted in fragmentation where different PCs could have a different set of updates installed leading to multiple potential problems:

·         Various combinations caused sync and dependency errors and lower update quality

·         Testing complexity increased for enterprises

·         Scan times increased

·         Finding and applying the right patches became challenging

·         Customers encountered issues where a patch was already released, but because it was in limited distribution it was hard to find and apply proactively

By moving to a rollup model, we bring a more consistent and simplified servicing experience to Windows so that all supported versions of Windows follow a similar update servicing model. The new rollup model gives you fewer updates to manage, greater predictability, and higher quality updates. The outcome increases Windows operating system reliability, by eliminating update fragmentation and providing more proactive patches for known issues. Getting and staying current will also be easier with only one rollup update required. Rollups enable you to bring your systems up to date with fewer updates, and will minimize administrative overhead to install a large number of updates.

With the move to monthly updates, Service Packs are retired for Windows Client and Windows Server.

Question: My customer has noticed that his personal Windows 10 systems update automatically. They are wondering what the default update settings are for Windows Server 2016? Does Window Server automatically download, install updates and reboot the server?

Answer: Microsoft recommends that customers stay up-to-date in terms of patches. Microsoft is also keenly aware that customers want to schedule server updates for maintenance windows. For this reason the default setting for Windows Server 2016 is configured to:

Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.

Question: Are the Windows Server 2016 update settings information publicly documented?

Answer: Yes, here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mu/2017/06/27/patching-with-windows-server-2016/