Microsoft releases Windows 10 21H2 and promises annual feature updates
Microsoft is starting the general availability of the Windows 10 November 2021 Update, aka Windows 10 21H2. The company will continue to provide Windows 10 with feature updates in the coming years, but annually instead of twice a year.
Users running Windows 10 version 2004 or later can expect the November 2021 Update from Wednesday via Windows Update. In corporate environments, the update appears through Windows Server Update Services, Windows Update for Business, and the Volume Licensing Service Center. Microsoft will release the update in phases and systems where the company expects the least problems will be offered it first. For systems with Windows 10 version 2004 or later, the 21H2 update will be installed quickly, as if it were a monthly update, the company promises.
The November 2021 Update is a feature update, but a limited one, which according to Microsoft focuses on productivity, management and security. That the update would come was announced in July and then Microsoft also announced the functions that will be added. New is the support for wpa3 h2e, which makes authentication of wpa3 more efficient. There is also GPU support for Windows Subsystem for Linux and Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows. There are also changes in the field of virtualization and management. The cloud trust improvements to Windows Hello for Business for faster delivery in business environments will be in a later update.
It has been unclear since the arrival of Windows 11 about any subsequent feature updates for Windows 10 and Microsoft is now putting an end to that ambiguity. Windows 10 will receive annual feature updates, just like Windows 11. They will then appear in the General Availability Channel, where Windows 10 has so far been in the Semi-Annual Channel. The next feature update for Windows 10 will be released in the second half of 2022.
The Home and Pro versions of Windows 10 November 2021 Update will continue to support Microsoft for eighteen months; for the Enterprise and Education versions, the support term is thirty months. Microsoft will continue to support at least one version of Windows 10 until at least October 14, 2025. Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 will also be released on Wednesday and Microsoft will support it for five years. It used to be ten years.