Did you know that hotpatch updates are significantly smaller than standard Windows updates?
Rather than the larger cumulative packages that take more time to install on devices, hotpatch updates bring faster security and improved productivity. Their smaller size translates to optimized network performance, faster installation, and quicker compliance, among other benefits.
Smaller updates, same security, smarter delivery
Hotpatch enables devices to receive critical security updates without restarting. Instead of downloading the full monthly update, hotpatch delivers only the in-memory code changes needed to address security vulnerabilities. For several releases, the hotpatch package has been reported to be more than 10 times smaller than the standard cumulative update. Importantly, these significantly smaller packages still maintain the same level of security and compliance.
Benefits of smaller updates for your organization
Hotpatch updates don’t just save time. They drive business continuity by ensuring that users remain secure and productive, without disruption. By reducing update sizes, hotpatch unlocks new levels of efficiency:
- Optimized network performance: Reduced download sizes result in lower bandwidth consumption, easing the load on corporate networks. Fewer megabytes travel across your network to allow large fleets to update smoothly without spikes in WAN usage.
- Sustainability benefits: Smaller updates reduce energy consumption tied to downloading updates, reducing the carbon footprint significantly.
- Faster security compliance: Smaller updates are faster to install and therefore help you achieve security compliance more quickly.
These efficiency boosters add to the general benefit that hotpatching installs in the background with no interruption or restarts for increased user and IT productivity.
Why is the hotpatch size smaller than standard cumulative update?
Standard Windows cumulative updates are designed to be comprehensive. Each package contains not only the latest security fixes but also quality and feature updates, along with security and feature updates from previous releases. This way, any device can get fully up to date from a single package. But this also makes the update larger in size.
Hotpatch takes a leaner approach:
- Security-only updates: Hotpatch focuses exclusively on delivering security fixes, rather than combining them with quality and feature updates. This narrower scope significantly reduces package size.
- Incremental model: Whereas standard updates carry forward all the past fixes and features, hotpatch updates build only on top of the most recent quarterly baseline update. Each hotpatch package contains only the incremental security changes for the specific months, within the current quarter.
Note: If a device has been disconnected for a long time, expect its next update to be larger. First, it will receive the latest baseline, which would be the standard cumulative update, followed by the hotpatch update.
What your hotpatching calendar looks like
- Baseline update: Delivered on the first month of each quarter (January, April, July, and October). This is the same composition and size as the standard cumulative update. This update is released on the second Tuesday of the month.
- Hotpatch updates: Delivered on the two months following the baseline update. Devices receive only incremental, security patches that are installed without a restart. These updates also get released on the second Tuesday of the month.
Find the detailed hotpatch release cycle here.
Looking ahead
With reduced patch sizes and fewer restarts, you can join thousands of enterprise customers in achieving your security compliance faster and focusing more on innovation.
Hotpatch is part of the Microsoft commitment to simplify and modernize update management.
Discover related resources to start with hotpatching today:
- Check if your organization is ready for hotpatch updates.
- Has your question already been asked? See Hotpatch for client: Frequently asked questions.
- Learn about Windows Autopatch required to create and deploy hotpatch updates.
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