Microsoft is starting to rollout Windows 10 22H2 as well as several additional features for Windows 11 that weren’t included in the launch if the 2022 update.
In a blog announcing the release, Microsoft says the update—the only feature update for Windows 10 this year—will have a “limited scope of new features and functionality” that will be delivered via the Windows Server Update Services (including Configuration Manager), Windows Update for Business and the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).
This comes about a month after the company started to roll out the annual feature update for Windows 11, which included dozens of new features in security, efficiency, productivity, usability and more.
However, the company says the new Windows 10 update won’t have as many bells and whistles, with just a limited scope of new features and functionality coming to the operating system, which is currently only slated to be supported through Oct. 14, 2025 as Microsoft continues to push users to Windows 11.
“For consumer or commercial users with devices running version 20H2 or later, the 2022 Update will have a fast installation experience,” writes John Cable, vice president of program management for Windows Servicing and Delivery, in a blog. “Home and Pro editions of the 2022 Update will receive 18 months of servicing, and Enterprise and Education editions will have 30 months of servicing.”
Since Microsoft is now only releasing major feature updates once a year, all editions of Windows 10 21H1 will reach the end of servicing on Dec. 13. Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 10, version 20H2 will reach end of servicing on May 9, 2023. After these dates, devices running versions 20H2 and 21H1 will no longer receive monthly security and quality updates containing protections from the latest security threats, Cable writes.
To support the new version of Windows 10, Microsoft is updating several IT tools to ensure smooth rollouts, including new security baselines, a Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation, administrative templates accessible in the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\ folder, and more.
In addition to the new version of Windows 10, Microsoft also announced the availability of new features in Windows 11, including a new Tabbed File Explorer, Suggested Actions, Taskbar Overflow and easy access to Taskbar Manager, the ability to share to more devices, a new Photos app and more. These features will be made available to all editions of Windows 11, 22H2, in the November 2022 security update release, according to Microsoft.
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