Windows Autopatch Overview

Windows Autopatch is a collection of Azure-based services that can manage updates to help keep devices on the latest supported versions of Windows and other Microsoft products. 

Prior to Autopatch and the Windows Update for Business Deployment Service, the only way for organizations to control when Windows devices were updated was via Windows Update for Business, which was used to set registry entries on devices.

The Windows Update for Business Deployment Service was created to allow organizations to more easily stage, schedule, and deliver feature and quality updates from Windows Update to managed Windows endpoints, but use of Windows Update for Business Deployment Service relied on management via a Graph API to automate updates.

Autopatch began as an integration within Intune as the mobile device management interface to the Windows Update for Business Deployment Service, which allowed an organization to delegate update management to Microsoft. Now Microsoft states that Autopatch and Windows Update for Business are the same.