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Credit: Mark Hachman / IDG
Microsoft has released the latest update, Windows 10 20H2: the H2 stopped by second half – for brave users eager to be first and for business customers who want to start testing before a broader deployment.
Also called the “Windows 10 October 2020 Update,” the update was immediately available to at least some of those who searched for it. “Starting today, the October 2020 update is initially available to users of select devices running Windows 10, version 1903 or later (emphasis added), “Wrote John Cable, a Microsoft executive on the Windows delivery and service team, in a company blog post.
On an unmanaged PC, select Settings> Update & Security> Windows Update, choose Check for updates, and then choose Download and install now.
On all PCs running Windows 10 Home and on those Windows 10 Pro systems not supervised by IT, 20HY2 will be installed only when the user chooses the “Download and install now” option. Not all machines will be offered that option initially, as Microsoft adapts to a staged distribution that starts out small and only slowly expands the pool of possible receiving devices.
“We are slowly accelerating availability over the next several weeks to ensure a reliable download experience,” Microsoft stated on the Windows version status dashboard. “As a result, you may not be offered the update right away.”
Microsoft will also, at a future date, use Windows 10 20H2 to update PCs running versions that are close to supporting retirement. When Microsoft debuted the “Download and Install Now” option and gave users control over update time, it also reserved the right to forcibly update systems that are nearing the end of support.
The first chance for Windows 10 20H2 to be used in that way will likely be in May, when Windows 10 1909 reaches its support withdrawal date.
Commercial customers were also told Tuesday to begin their 20H2 tests. “We recommend that commercial organizations start with specific implementations to validate that their applications, devices, and infrastructure will perform as expected with the new version,” Cable said.
The update was available immediately through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Windows Update for Business (WUfB), the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC), and the Microsoft Download Center via Update Assistant and Media Creation Tool.
Major-minor, second consecutive year
Like last year’s Windows 10 1909, this year’s 20H2 is less of a feature update, far less, than a repeat of the spring Windows 10 2004, which went public on May 27. Windows 10 20H2 combined the 2004 code with the fixes Microsoft made to the latter. since its launch, then added some new features or improvements. That few Here is the list of Microsoft vendors.
Most notable addition: Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser, which although launched in January, has not been included in an operating system update until now.
This is the second year in a row that Microsoft has taken the feature update and feature retreading approach, dubbed “major-minor” by many, instead of releasing a couple of feature-rich and functionality-rich updates. But he has yet to say whether the practice will be permanent.
Because 20H2 is a superset repeat of 2004, a trait that prompted Windows veterans to revive the term “service pack,” the code for the latter’s latest cumulative update is identical to the code for the former. Upgrades from Windows 10 2004 to Windows 10 20H2, then, finish faster than the usual wholesale operating system replacements customers have been used to for decades.
Microsoft first incorporated the slight differences from 20H2 in the September 2004 cumulative update, which was released on September 8. To change a PC from 2004 to 20H2, all that is required is what Microsoft calls an “enablement package,” a small shock that turns the new one on at 20H2.
The enablement package is included with Windows 20H2 when users upgrade from a version other than 2004. Therefore, Windows 10 1909 or earlier users can upgrade to 20H2, but it does not save time as the process is the same as the one from any version to -version update.
Since Windows 10 20H2 is, well, the second half update, it allocates 30 months of support to Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education customers. Those running Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro, however, get the standard 18 months.
Microsoft established the withdrawal of support for Windows 10 20H2 on May 10, 2022 for Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro and on May 9, 2023 for Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education.
Tags Microsoft Windows 10
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