June 7, 2022
Microsoft announced that Windows Autopatch, a service to automatically keep Windows and Microsoft 365 software up to date in the enterprise setting, is now available for public preview.
This was initially announced in April and offered to Microsoft customers with at least a Windows 10/11 Enterprise E3 license free of charge.
Windows Autopatch automatically administers the deployment of Windows 10 and Windows 11 quality and feature updates, drivers, firmware, and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.
To enroll a tenant in the Windows Autopatch public preview, admins are required to:
- Log in to Endpoint Manager as a Global Administrator and locate the Windows Autopatch blade under the Tenant Administration menu. See Windows Autopatch prerequisites for more information especially on the correct licenses.
- Use an InPrivate or Incognito browser window to obtain your public preview code.
- Run the readiness assessment, add your admin contact, and add devices.
The Windows Autopatch service will automatically divide the organization’s device fleet into four groups of devices called testing rings.
The tech giant also provides further instructions on adding devices to your test ring and on resolving the status of “tenant not ready,” or a status of “device not ready” or “device not registered.”
Autopatch also has built-in Halt and Rollback capabilities that are able to block updates from being applied to higher test rings or rolled back automatically.
The main goal of this new service is to shift the orchestration of updates from enterprises to Microsoft. Once configured, the burden of planning the entire Update process will also be handled by Microsoft.
For more information, read the original story in Bleepingcomputer.
