Windows Autopatch; Microsoft’s Automatic Fix

Microsoft first announced a pivotal game changer back in April 2022; the Windows Autopatch is another of the tech company’s undertakings, which is now a reality. This new enterprise service is expected to provide automatic updates for clients utilizing Microsoft 365 and other Windows software.

And now that the Windows Autopatch service is generally accessible to all Microsoft vendors, the company states that its clients will be able to access its new flagship service free of charge.

However, when rumors swirled about the Windows Autopatch in April, according to Microsoft’s tech team, it was indicated for Windows 10 and 11. But after the public preview was done in June the tech giant included individuals with Enterprise E3 licenses. In addition, clients with higher Microsoft licenses were also added to the program, as of July 2022.

With the new service, Microsoft vendors will no longer have to worry about fixing issues, as the new Windows Autopatch has the capability to find tech problems and automatically update and fix these issues. Microsoft revealed that this is all possible with the suite of software tools that were deployed with firmware, driver, and the Microsoft 365 Apps that are all suitable for even corporate accounts’ updates.

Windows 10 and 11 Autopatch updates

Microsoft has always been a leader when it comes to quality products, and with the Windows Autopatch feature that automatically upgrades Windows 10 and the newly released Windows 11, vendors enrolled with the tech giant can now effortlessly apply updates by orchestrating remote access to Microsoft’s tech team.

Thus, IT teams will be free to help plan new and improved upgrade services that will include sequencing and distribution of Microsoft’s products.

As of now, access is granted to customers with Windows Enterprise E3 and E5 licenses, according to Microsoft’s senior product marketing manager.

Microsoft is slated to distribute its new updates on the second Tuesday of each month. Above all, Windows Autopatch makes updating easier and is already touted as a new career path for individuals in the Information Technology field.

How to setup Windows Autopatch?

Microsoft provides administrative steps for the initial enrollment of tech devices in Windows Autopatch. In addition, a YouTube video is also available for Microsoft’s clients to access more detailed instructions.

• Find the Windows Autopatch entry in the Tenant Administration blade of the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center.
• Select Tenant enrollment.
• Select the check box to agree to the terms and conditions and select ‘Agree’.
• Select ‘Enroll’.

With the initial enrollment, a tenant now has access to the Windows Autopatch service, which is equipped to automatically divide the device fleet into four sets, with each group comprising its own testing ring.

A minimum number of devices are present in the “test ring,” 1% to 9% of the endpoints in the corporate environment are in the “first ring,” and the remaining 99% are in the “fast ring.” “The remaining 90% of devices fall into the “wide ring”.

After a validation period that enables device performance monitoring and pre-update metrics comparison, the updates are gradually delivered, starting with the test ring before moving on to the larger groups of devices.

Additionally, Windows Autopatch contains built-in “Halt” and “Rollback” tools. Thus, preventing updates from being pushed to higher test rings. The built-in “Halt” and “Rollback” tools also reinforce automatic updates, this feature ensures that problems are completely fixed.

Above all, enrolled clients can fine-tune their ring membership to gain access to the service dashboard. They can also generate reports, and submit support requests through the Autopatch blade in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager.