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Headsup for those managing Windows 10 boxen: Microsoft has tweaked patching rules

One category to rule them all? Er, maybe not...

Administrators dealing with the rollout of Microsoft's latest and greatest Windows 10 were warned last night that some tinkering of their finely tuned setups would be required.

Microsoft is desperate for enterprises to update their PC fleets to Windows 10 and, in the face of ongoing indifference, has opted to, er, make life briefly a little harder for admins tasked with managing the things. At least as far as the minty-fresh 1903 release is concerned.

The company has told customers riding the 1903 roller coaster that if they want to deploy "feature and quality updates" to the new OS then an update to System Center Configuration Manager (1902) is needed. This must be followed by enabling the Software Update Point to actually download updates for Windows 10 1903 (and later) and also Server 1903.

Version 1810 of Configuration Manager won't cut the mustard.

Windows Server Update Services users also need to check some boxes in the Update Services administrator console in order to ensure those updates keep flowing.

Or, of course, you could just let that fleet of workstations download updates themselves as and when Microsoft sees fit to release them. What could possibly go wrong?

In order to head off the inevitable admin grumbles, Microsoft explained that the changes were as a result of new product categories being needed for the upcoming Unified Update Platform (UUP) aimed at on-premises management. No, you can't get your grubby mitts on UUP yet – a public preview is due "at a later date".

Previous emissions (including 1903 itself) might once have trickled down under a general Windows 10 category, but no more. Things are now version specific and so even if you've been brave enough to send Windows 10 1903 out into the wider world, you'll need to check those boxes if you want the all-important patches to hit as well.

The good news is that customers won't need to select a new option the next time Microsoft updates Window 10, Server or Configuration Manager. The team intends to automatically add the category to existing configurations and deployment rules. ®

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