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Unified Update Platform for Windows 11 Now in Public Preview
Microsoft’s Unified Update Platform (UUP) for Windows 11 is now in public preview, Microsoft announced Monday.
Despite the public preview milestone, organizations that want to try it must sign up with Microsoft to get it. A form is available here. There is also an on-boarding process to use it, which will “enable UUP and sync updates”.
Back in July, UUP was just available as a private preview. Microsoft has been talking about UUP since maybe 2016. It was usually described as a means of reducing the size of Windows updates, but now Microsoft seems to have revamped it with other benefits. For example, it will have an “automatic corruption repair” feature, which is a new feature.
This is how the announcement featured UUP:
The Unified Update Platform (UUP) is the next iteration of our system for delivering Windows OS quality and feature updates. It offers improved delivery technologies in response to requests from IT administrators for more seamless updates, greater control over installation time, longer battery life, and smaller download size.
Microsoft plans to make UUP the de facto approach to updates, stating that “beginning in 2023, all new releases of Windows will be provided with UUP updates.”
The switch to UUP impacts organizations that manage Windows updates using tools such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft Configuration Manager. UUP is supported on “version 2203 or later” of Configuration Manager.
UUP just changes the format of the Windows update. UUP will not replace WSUS and Configuration Manager, Microsoft clarified in its July announcement:
“We’ve updated the timeline image to clarify that UUP will not replace WSUS or Configuration Manager as the source of updates, but that UUP will be the format for Windows 11 updates delivered to/through Configuration Manager and WSUS from Q1 2023,” Heather wrote. Poulsen from Microsoft, in the comments.
Microsoft states that UUP will improve processes when using WSUS and Configuration Manager. The benefits include:
Updates through maintenance, rather than “media-based task sequences” Needs one reboot to comply with security The ability to install Features on Demand and language packs, which will be preserved during subsequent upgrades, and The ability to “run task sequences for other custom actions.”
Microsoft encourages IT professionals to perform the sequence of tasks using UUP’s “Software Update” process, rather than building an operating system image.
“You can continue to use a task sequence, but integrated with the software update, instead of building a custom OS image,” the announcement said.
When UUP is released commercially early next year, “Windows 11 version 22H2 and later releases will be UUP updates,” the announcement said. These UUP updates arrive “automatically”.
Microsoft’s only stipulation in preparation for UUP’s arrival next year is that “devices must be updated until April 2022”.
In other update and deployment news, Microsoft announced this week that the “accelerated deployment” feature for quality updates using the Windows Update for Business service is currently available. This allows organizations to push certain updates to devices. Organizations may want to patch faster when zero-day vulnerabilities need to be addressed, for example. Certain licenses are required to use the accelerated deployment feature. A table of what is required can be found in the announcement.
About the author
Kurt Mackie is a senior news producer for 1105 Media’s Converge360 group.