Microsoft to Release Windows 10 Update 21H1 In First Half of 2021

Microsoft’s next feature update to Windows 10, version 21H1, will be released in the first half of this year and include features to help organizations adjust to distributed work models.

According to a blog from John Cable, the company’s vice president of program management, Windows servicing and delivery, version 21H1 will be delivered with servicing technology similar to what is used for the monthly update process and how 20H2 was delivered.

The update will include a “scoped set of features” that improves security, remote access and quality, and are focused on core experiences that customers have said they rely on most these days, Cable says.

According to Cable, these improvements include:

Windows Hello multicamera support to set the default as the external camera when both external and internal Windows Hello cameras are present.
Windows Defender Application Guard performance improvements including optimizing document opening scenario times. This fixes an issue that causes delays when opening Defender Application Guard Office documents, among others.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) updating performance improvement to support remote work scenarios. This resolves an issue that causes changes that the Active Directory administrator makes to user or computer group membership to propagate slowly.

Customers using either Windows 10, version 2004 or version 20H2 who update to the new release will have a fast installation experience because the update will install just like a monthly update, Cable says.

Consumers or commercial users using versions of Windows 10 earlier than the May 2020 update will have an experience similar to previous Windows 10 updates. All Windows 10 editions of version 21H1 will get 18 months of servicing, Cable says.

Microsoft began releasing 21H1 builds to some Windows Insiders this week, and broad availability of 21H1 will begin later in the first half of this year.