Windows news you can use: August 2025

If you’ve ever taken a long road trip, you know how great it feels to finally arrive: “We made it!” This August, we’re celebrating some big milestones for Windows—thanks for joining us on the journey.

Here are just a few highlights! You asked for easier management of Windows quality updates during the out-of-box experience (OOBE), and we’re excited to announce that this feature is now available. You also wanted a way to back up and restore user settings on Windows devices—and we’ve delivered that, too. With Windows 11, your users can enjoy even better security and get up and running faster on new devices.

Windows 11, version 25H2 is now available in the Release Preview Channel of the Windows Insider Program (WIP). See Releasing Windows 11, version 25H2 to the Release Preview Channel for more details.

And this is just the beginning—there are plenty more exciting updates this month, so keep reading to catch all the news!

New in Windows update and device management

• [BACKUP] If you’re looking for a way to streamline backup and restore of settings and the list of Microsoft Store apps for users at your organization, Windows Backup for Organizations is now available. With this capability, it’s simple and secure to save user preferences and restore them on a new or reimaged device. To get started, check your prerequisites and configure Backup and Restore policies.
• [OOBE] Starting with the September 2025 security update, you can get the latest Windows quality updates during the out-of-box experience (OOBE) by default. Discover how to manage this capability with a policy setting to maintain control over updates while aligning with organizational security requirements.
• [HOTPATCH] With the hotpatching feature of Windows Autopatch, you can apply security updates to Windows without requiring a restart, minimizing downtime and interruptions to user experiences. To take advantage of hotpatching, virtualization-based security (VBS) must be enabled to help ensure endpoints are secure. Learn how to enable VBS for hotpatch readiness.
• [W365] Discover key benefits of Windows 365 Reserve, now in limited public preview, to help strengthen business continuity, simplify IT admin, and apply your organization’s security posture by default.
• [W365] Windows 365 is now supported in Korea Central. Create Cloud PCs with data stored in the Korea Central region, and select the geography in provisioning policies to help meet performance and residency needs.
• [OFFICE HOURS] Have you attended Windows Office Hours yet? Join our continuing series of live Q&A for IT professionals. Product experts, servicing experts, and engineers will be on hand to answer your questions. RSVP for the next Windows Office Hours on September 18, 2025.

New in Windows security

• [TRENDS] With AI, agents, and other emerging technologies, there are increased risks that can disrupt security. Learn about five major shifts that are redefining the security landscape and actions to take at your organization to address these disruptions.
• [ZERO TRUST] Integrate Zero Trust with cloud-native Windows to enhance security and compliance. Read about the principles your organization can adopt to help protect data, optimize performance, and prepare for future challenges and how to use Microsoft Intune to manage devices in alignment with Zero Trust.
• [SFI] Don’t miss the launch of the first wave of Microsoft Secure Future Initiative patterns and practices, a new library of actionable guidance designed to help organizations implement security measures at scale.
• [NETLOGON] Microsoft has introduced a hardening change to strengthen the Microsoft RPC Netlogon protocol by blocking Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) anonymous requests used to locate domain controllers. Learn more about the Audit Mode and Disabled Mode and Netlogon RPC Hardening.

New in AI

• [AI IN WINDOWS] Catch up on the latest with Windows and AI in this Skilling snack: Get started with AI in Windows. Stay tuned for more skilling snacks on different aspects of Windows and AI—coming soon!
• [GPT-5] Try GPT-5 while working in Microsoft 365 Copilot or Microsoft Copilot Studio. With its real-time router, high-throughput model, and a deeper reasoning model, this is OpenAI’s latest model for web and work data.
• [AGENTS] Help your tailor-built agents deliver more accurate and context-aware response by connecting it to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server. With this guidance, you’ll use the Microsoft Learn MCP Server, create a custom MCP connector with Power Apps, create a custom agent in Copilot Studio, add the MCP server tool to the agent, and test it.
• [COPILOT+ PC] Consult the New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ of Microsoft Copilot+ PCs report to help you calculate cost savings and business benefits of Copilot+ PCs.

Install the August 2025 non-security update for Windows 11, version 24H2 to get this and other capabilities, which are rolling out gradually.

• [AI MODELS] Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Text and Image Generation to see which third-party apps have recently used generative AI models provided by Windows. You can also choose which apps are permitted to use them—putting you in charge of your device’s AI experience.
• [COPILOT+ PC] Learn about new capabilities for Copilot+ PCs in this update.

New in Windows Server

For the latest features and improvements for Windows Server, see the Windows Server 2025 release notes and Windows Server, version 23H2 release notes.

• [VM] Start your transition from VMware to Windows Server with Hyper-V with the VM conversion tool in Windows Admin Center, now in public preview. To get started, ensure you're running the Windows Admin Center v2 GA release, then install the tool directly from the Extensions settings.

New in productivity and collaboration

[DaaS] Microsoft is reimagining Desktop as a Service (DaaS) and AI for the modern workforce. Learn more about this vision and how it supports new business models, sustainability, productivity, and a holistic platform that empowers people and simplifies IT.

[UNIVERSAL PRINT] Take advantage of the pull print capability, now generally available in Universal Print anywhere. Pull print provides key benefits for your organization including improved admin control and management, enhanced security and privacy, simplified user experience, cost savings, and cross-platform support.

[UPDATES] Review the August 2025 security update for Windows 11, version 24H2 and version 23H2. For additional details, please refer to the July 2025 non-security preview update release notes for Windows 11, version 24H2 and version 23H2.

To preview what’s coming in the September 2025 security update release, install the August 2025 optional non-security update for Windows 11, version 24H2, which includes the gradual rollout of:

• [SYSTEM DIALOG] When an app requests access to location, camera, microphone, or other device capabilities, Windows shows a redesigned system dialog box. To emphasize the privacy prompt, the screen dims slightly, and the prompt appears at the center of the screen.
• [SEARCH] When you use Search from the Windows taskbar, a new grid view will help you more quickly and accurately identify the desired image within your search.
• [WIDGETS] There are more widget options and support for lock screen widget personalization.
• [FILE EXPLORER] Dividers separate top-level icons in the File Explorer context menu.
• [TASK MANAGER] Task Manager now uses standard metrics to show CPU workload consistently across all pages, aligning with industry standards and third-party tools.
• [HELLO] A redesigned Windows Hello interface supports communication across authentication flows including the Windows sign-in screen, passkey, and more.

Lifecycle milestones

Check out our lifecycle documentation for the latest updates on Deprecated features in the Windows client and Features removed or no longer developed starting with Windows Server 2025.

• [W10 EOS] Windows 10 end of support (EOS) is now less than two months away. The October 2025 monthly security update will be the last update available for this version. Consult helpful resources in this 60-day reminder message.
• [W10 EOS] [IOT] Find out which versions of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise are impacted on October 14, 2025.
• [W11 22H2] Windows 11, version 22H2 (Enterprise and Education editions) no longer receives non-security preview updates. Monthly security updates will continue through October 14, 2025, when version 22H2 officially reaches end of servicing. Consult helpful resources in this 60-day reminder message.
• [W11 23H2] Windows 11, version 23H2 (Home and Pro editions) will reach end of servicing on November 11, 2025. Enterprise and Education editions will continue to be serviced through November 10, 2026 per the Modern Lifecycle Policy.
• [POWERSHELL 2.0] Starting in August 2025, Windows 11, version 24H2, will no longer include Windows PowerShell 2.0. Most users won’t be affected, as newer versions such as PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7.x remain available and supported. If you use older scripts or tools that depend on PowerShell 2.0, update them to avoid compatibility issues.

Additional resources

Looking for the latest news and previews for Windows, Copilot, Copilot+ PCs, the Windows and Windows Server Insider Programs, and more? Check out these resources:

• Windows Roadmap for new Copilot+ PCs and Windows features – filter by platform, version, status, and channel or search by feature name
• Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes for latest features and improvements
• Windows Insider Blog for what’s available in the Canary, Dev, Beta, or Release Preview Channels
• Windows Server Insider for feature preview opportunities
• Understanding update history for Windows Insider preview features, fixes, and changes to learn about the types of updates for Windows Insiders

Like every great road trip, our journey doesn’t end here. Next month we’ll cruise into even more exciting updates. Buckle up, and I’ll be back in September with another edition of Windows news you can use.

We always aim to make this monthly summary more helpful to you! Please drop us a note below and let us know what you most want to hear about.

Continue the conversation. Find best practices. Bookmark the Windows Tech Community, then follow us @MSWindowsITPro on X and on LinkedIn. Looking for support? Visit Windows on Microsoft Q&A.