Windows Client OS Servicing

by
Michael Cherry

by
Michael Cherry

Michael analyzed and wrote about Microsoft's operating systems, including the Windows client OS, as well as compliance and governance. Michael... more

Microsoft offers a variety of on-premises and hosted technologies to support servicing the Windows client OS. The following technologies are used to support Windows servicing.

Windows Autopatch

Windows Autopatch is a Microsoft hosted service that automates distributing Windows and other Microsoft software updates to clients. In contrast to Windows Autopilot or Windows Update, Autopatch allows Microsoft to use its knowledge about updates to determine when updates should be installed on each device. Effectively, an organization that uses Autopatch is delegating the ability to decide when to install OS updates on the organization’s devices to Microsoft.

Autopatch is essentially a management layer over a collection of Microsoft hosted services, and it does not have its own version number or life cycle. It relies on Windows Update for Business (WufB) settings, Update Compliance, Intune, Entra ID, and the Graph API. Administrators use Autopatch to assess the readiness of devices for updates by monitoring how the deployment of updates is proceeding within the organization, as well as across all the organizations reporting diagnostic data to Microsoft. Although Autopatch does not have its own life cycle, it is getting considerable investment from Microsoft and should be supported for some time.