News

Microsoft Updates Windows 10 and Publishes Tracking Resources for IT Pros

• By Kurt Mackie
• 02/09/2016

Microsoft updated Windows 10 today and it also released a new update history page that likely will be of interest to IT pros.

The Feb. 9 updates, like all Windows 10 updates, are "cumulative" updates, which mean they contain all changes since the last update release. The new updates this month address both quality and security issues with Windows 10, but there are no new features added to the operating system.

Today is also Microsoft's "patch Tuesday" for the month of February, and so Microsoft released 13 security bulletins plus one security advisory today. A summary of the security updates is available at this SANS Internet Storm Center page.

Two Updates, One OS
There are two Feb. 9 Windows 10 updates, per the new Windows 10 history page. The update that arrives for an organization will depend on which service branch they are using.

Update KB3135173 is for systems using Windows 10 version 1511 (the November update of Windows 10). It will update these Windows 10 systems to build 10586.104, which is now most current build. Microsoft's new update history page shows a bulleted list of improvements included in this update. It's worth checking out as IT pros may spot problematic issue getting fixed. For instance, the first bullet states that Microsoft "fixed issues with authentication, update installation, and operating system installation," although no other details are provided.

Update KB3135174 is for systems using Windows 10 version 1507 (the July update of Windows 10). It will update these Windows 10 systems to build 10240.16682. Microsoft's update history page also provides a bulleted list of improvements that come with this update, although it, too, contains limited information.

Update History
The new Windows 10 update history page doubtless will be well received by IT pros. Traditionally, they've been used to getting detailed information about Windows client changes, but Microsoft switched its approach with Windows 10, offering scant or no information. With the new history page, IT pros now have a bulleted list, although it no doubt just shows highlights and omits many other changes. The bulleted list does not include links to get more information. However, there is a Windows 10 release information page that offers a few more details about the overall release history. Michael Niehaus, directory of product marketing for Windows at Microsoft, pointed to both resources in this Microsoft blog post today.

Tracking Service Branches
The update history page isn't too friendly for IT pros just getting their minds wrapped around Microsoft's current Windows 10 servicing scheme. That scheme involves a "current branch" release, followed by a "current branch for business" release, which happens about four months later. Only the "long-term servicing branch" option permits traditional update deferrals by IT pros, but Microsoft sees that option as only being used for Internet of Things device-management scenarios. Organizations are expected to want to use the current branch for business update approach, according to Microsoft's thinking.

The update history page does have this link to a page that explains Microsoft's Windows 10 servicing options, although a more nuanced explanation can be found here.

The new history page doesn't use Microsoft's servicing branch nomenclature. IT pros have to look at the Windows 10 release information page to get those details. At that page, it's shown that the July Windows 10 update (version 1507) was both the current branch and the current branch for business release, while the November Windows 10 update (version 1511) was just the current branch release. That's really very obscure (and confusing) information, but it's missing in the main Windows 10 history page.

The tools for IT pros to track service branch changes seem to be lagging a bit. Microsoft showcased how tracking will work in a future update to System Center Configuration Manager back in January. Under that concept, organizations will get a graphical view of Windows 10 use per service branch, but we don't know when that capability will arrive in the System Center Configuration Manager product (Microsoft now updates System Center Configuration Manager like Windows 10). In addition, using the free Windows Update for Business management capability to track service-branch changes seems to be a work in progress at this point.