The December (2212) service release of Microsoft Intune includes the general availability of the capability to fully control and schedule feature update deployments along with the ability to expedite critical quality updates. Additionally, we’re making it easier for admins to find the latest version of apps to ensure they are easy to install on Windows-managed devices. I hope you appreciate these enhancements as deployment wraps up for the month. I look forward to your feedback. Please comment on this post or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Deployment flexibility though feature and expedited updates
We’re giving you more control over what updates are deployed to your devices and when they are delivered through the general availability of Windows feature and expedited quality updates.
Through feature updates, your devices will remain on the version they’ve been assigned until you either update the policy or assign those devices to a new feature update policy targeting a newer update. You can currently select all supported versions of Windows 10 and 11.
To provide even more control, there are three rollout options:
- Make update available as soon as possible.
- Make update available on a specific date.
- Make update available gradually.
By utilizing expedited updates, we are providing the ability to deploy a quality update faster than usual. Let’s say you have a severe, zero-day security vulnerability or an urgent quality fix that needs to be deployed to a specific set of devices. By using expedited updates, you can temporarily override deferrals and other settings, so you can install the necessary updates. Settings are then automatically restored once the update is complete.
To learn more about this capability, see Feature and expedited update management in Intune now generally available.
Add Microsoft Store apps to Microsoft Intune
This feature is definitely one that Intune admins have been waiting for. We are improving IT productivity by connecting the Windows Package Manager framework into the Intune app service. The resulting workflow allows these experiences to work together seamlessly, providing the ability to add apps from the Microsoft Store for Business to Microsoft Intune. You can now browse, deploy and monitor apps inside Intune. And, you have complete control to curate what your users can install.
Once apps are deployed, Intune will automatically apply updates when new versions are available. Keeping these apps up to date improves security. Apps supported by the Microsoft Store include UWP apps, desktop apps packaged in .msix, and Win32 apps packaged in .exe or .msi installers.
The most important feature to make note of is the ability to browse and search for store apps from Intune. Additionally, admins can monitor the installation progress for store apps.
Explore this capability in more depth with this Microsoft Mechanics video!
You can also read more about this capability in the blog post, Update to Endpoint Manager integration with the Microsoft Store on Windows
Let us know what you think
We’ve been rolling up key feature releases through these posts in 2022. Please share your comments, questions, and feedback, so we can continue to improve the endpoint user experience and simplify IT administration. Simply comment on this post or connect with me on LinkedIn.
